served hond shortenings and excess enthalpies" (p. 42), he uses the concept extensively through the book without further comment. Chapter 3 contains the faundations on which the detailed chemistry is developed and it is important as a summary of the author's philosophy of phosphorus chemi8try. The chapters all start with a hrief historical introduction followed by a. detailed presentation of data from the literature. Chapter 4 covers elemental phosphorus and phosphides; Chapter 5, the chemistry of the hydrides, halides, and pseudohalides, and their organic derivatives; Chapter 6, the oxides, sulfides, nitrides, and related compounds; and in Chapter 7 the lower oxyitcids of phosphorus, their salts, and esters. Much of the author's own ~uhlishedwork aDDears in Cha~ters 8, 10, 11, and 12, n.hich rovers the strwt . m and propcrticti of ron&nwl phoc phatcs, inJisihnl chnir~p l ~ ~ ~ p l ~ nring tcz, and branched phosphates, and amorphous phosphates including phosphate glasses, condensed ~hos~hohoric acids, and ~ h o s phate esters. chapter 9 &em orthophosphoric acid, its salts, and esters and it contains a. detailed discussion of calcium orthophosphates. Chapter 13 contains information on halo-, peroxy-, thio-, and amido acids of phosphorus. The book is completed with three appendixes, one lise ing data on phosphateminerals, the second, a collection of single hond distances and energies for use in calculations concerning phosphorus compounds, and the third a collection of thermodynamic data on phosphorus compounds. There are few errors of fact, and some cases of too many literature references keyed to one sentence, with the result that the sentence does not accumtely reflect the content of the papers. Each individual reader, especially those working in phosphorus chemistry will find statements to challenge concerning the interpretation of data, and the results of the author's speculation, because he makes his points quite emphatically. Exclamation points are used freely! The book contains a wealth of structural data, some of which is based on nuclear magnetic resonance results. There are also many phase diagrams, and considerable information on the physical properties of phosphorus compounds. For its size, the hook is amazingly free of typographical errors. All in all it is an excellent source of reference material.
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EDWIN M. LARSEN The University of Wiscasin Madison No More War! Linus Pauling, Professor of Chemistry, California Institute of Technology. Dodd, Mead and Co., New Yark, 1958. ix 2.54 pp. 14.5 X 21 em. $3.50.
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When 11,000 scientists of 49 countries petition the United Nations to stop nuclear testing it is newsworthy. When 37 of those petitioners are found to be Nobel Laureates, science teachers should be impressed. But when highly regarded scientific apologists for the United States program of nuclear testing discount the
532 / Journal of Chemical Education
f e w of those thousands of petitioners the public, maybe even the science teacher, is understandably confused. "No More War?' is addressed to the confused puhlic. In ten chapters, starting with an introductory, The End of War, there follows: The Nature of Nuclear Weapons; Radioactive Fallout; Radioactivity and Heredity; Radiation and Disease; The Facts about Fallout; Nature of Nuclear War; Scientists Appeal for Peace; Need for International Agreements and s. Proposal; Research for Peace. Four appendixes contain two .appeals by Albert Schweitzer; the declaration of the Nobel Laureates and a listing and classification of the signers of the United Nations ~ e t i tion. A hrief bibliography of pertinent books and journals and a double columned seven page index add to the book's offering for those who would return to it for specifics. For those who are less than up-to-date on nuclear ~ciencethe first two chapters are especially helpful. Aspecta of the current controversy that receive especial scrutiny are: the illusion regarding clean bombs, the scarcity of public information regarding the superbomb, the disregard of the cumulative build-up of radioactive poisoning in the human system, and the public apathy toward the generic long-range menace of radioactive fallout. That which has the least general agreement has to do with the effects of fallout upon germ plasm. I t is conceded that. it may now he too early to draw more than tentative conclusions on germ plasm mutations. However, when such seasoned generalizations are fully accepted it may be too late to repair the damage already wrought. This book is not altogether pleasant reading and the reader may not fully agree with all that is said. However, he may, by its help, escape from what the author calls "a protecting cloud of remuring verbage." The horrors of nuclear war and the menace of nuclear testingwill no longer he "something far away." B. CLIFFORD HENDRICKS Lmuer Columbia Junior College Lrmgwiew, Washington
History and Philosophy of Science
L. W. H. Hull. Longmans, Green & Ca., Inc., New York, 1959. xi 340 pp. 66 figs. 16 plates. 15.5 X 22.5 cm. $5.
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The title of this book is somewhat misleading. It is actmlly a history of the development of the scientific method. As such it includes much of the history of ecience, especially for the earlier periods, and a considerable amount of the elementkry philosophy of science, including the relation of this specialized branch to the wider cosmological problems which the great philosophers of the past have attempted to solve. The changes in the relationship of science snd religion over the centuries are discussed in same detail. The sections on Greek science are devoted largely to the development of mathematics and astronomy, and well show how the basic principles of scientific method
came from these sciences. The develop ment of mechanics in the Renaissance period is well treated, and the gradual change in philosophical outlook as scientific ideas assumed a more dominant position is clearly shown. The influence of the separation of the separate sciences of chemistry in the eighteenth and biology in the nineteenth centuries and their effect an society are discussed. Although the details of the development of chemistry are not given, there are few chemists who will not profit by reading this book. The illustratiom are excellently reproduced, but one serious error is made. We are shown pictures of the busts of suoh immortals as Hippacrates, Aristotle, and Archimedes as though these were authea tic representations. The late George Sarton has often discussed the historical inaccuracy of suoh a procedure. A note of what must be conscious humor is introduced in the plate of the portraits of the four great evolutionists of the nineteenth century, on the overleaf of which are the portraits of four anthropoid apes. Althoueh this book does not eo d e e ~ l v into eithei the historv or the hil lo so oh; if stimulating. It should he of the greatest value to young scientists who have been exposed only to teohnical courses in their own fields. Such readers will find a whole new world opening to them, and many of. them nmy be stimulated into becoming something more than mere technical experts.
The Pirotechnia by Vannoecio Biringuccio Edited by Dwek J. Price, Institute for Advanced Study. Translated from the Italian with an introduction and notes by C@l Stanley Smith and Mattha Teach Cnudi. Basic Books, Inc., New York, 1959. xxv f 477pp. 94 figs. 20 X 27 em. $8.50. The "Pirotechnia" was first published in 1540; it was the first printed work to cover the whole field of metallurgy. Its importance was evidenced by the subsequent appearance of numerous editions in Italy, France, Germany, England, and now in the United States. These are discussed in considerable detail hy the present translators and editors. This latest translation is the first complete translation of the "Pirotechnia" into English. I t appeared first in 1942, was reprinted in 1943, and this 1959 issue is a photographic copy of the 1943 printing, in which a few typographical errors have been corrected and the index extended somewhat. The volume is beautifully printed and comes boxed. In harmony with the title, this text deals with the application of heat in the field of metallurgy and related areas. Among the chief topics are mining, working of ores, assaying, alloys, casting (particularly of hells and cannon), prep(Continued on page A638)
