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Vol. 82
Conway and Dobry-Duclaux. Subsequent chapters are have contributed to this work. The list of chapters and equally interesting. Very many of the almost endless com- their authors is as follows: Radioactive Neutron Sources plications that can be built into the relaxation of flowing (A. 0. Hanson); Kinematics of Neutron-Producing Resystems by awkward arrangemeits of the interconnecting actions (J. Monahan); Monoenergetic Neutron Sources: bonds are illustrated in these pages. While all flow relaxa- Reactions with Light Nuclei (J. E . Brolley, Jr., and J . L . tions must obey statistical mechanics as expressed in abso- Fowler); Monoenergetic Neutron Sources: Reactions with lute reaction rate theory, the complications in applying the Medium-Weight h’uclei (Jerry B. Marion); The Li’(p,n)theory include the usual extreme complexity of reaction Be7 Reaction ( J . H . Gibbons and Henry W. Sewson); kinetics. Whether one wants help in practical problems or Gas Recoil Counters (A. T. G. Ferguson); Recoil Detection background for his theoretical research one will find much of in Scintillators (C. D. Swartz and George E . Owen); Reinterest in these pages. This is a very useful book in a dif- coil Telescope Detectors (C. H. Johnson); Photographic ficult field and deserves to be widely read. Plate Detection (R. Stephen White); Cloud Chamber Detection (William E. Stephens and H. Staub); Flat Response GRADUATE SCHOOL Counters (W. D. Allen); h-eutron Detection by Reactions OF UTAH UNIVERSITY HENRYEYRINGInduced in Scintillators (C. 0. Muehlhause); Helium-3 SALTLAKECITY12, UTAH Seutron Spectrometers ( R . Batchelor and G. C. Morrison); Gaseous Scintillation Detectors (Charles M. Huddleston); Fission Detectors (R. W. Lamphere); Time-of-Flight Available Energy and the Second Law Analysis. By ED- Techniques (J. H . Neiler and W. M . Good); Neutron WARD A. BRUGES,B.Sc., Ph.D., A.M.I. Mech. E., Senior Flux Measurements (Joseph E . Perry, Jr.); RadioactivaLecturer in Mechanical Engineering, University of Glas- tion Methods of Determining Neutron Flux (Paul R . gow. Academic Press Inc., 111 Fifth Avenue, New York Byerly, Jr.); Targets for the Production of Neutrons (J. H. 3, hi. Y. 1959. viii 124 pp. 14 X 22 cm. Price, Coon); Neutron Collimation and Shielding for Experimen$5.50. tal Purposes (Alexander Langsdorf, Jr .); Laboratory ShieldBy virtue of the second law of thermodynamics, the energy ing (C. F. Cook and T. R. Strayhorn); Fast Neutron of a thermodynamic system can never be completely con- Dosimetry (G. S. Hurst); Fast h-eutron Radiation Hazards verted into useful work performed on the surroundings. (William T. Ham, Jr.); Computer Techniques (Harvey J. If the system is a t the same temperature and pressure as the Amster, Edward J. Leshan and Martin Walt). This book in the main is well written, clear, concise and surroundings, the maximum useful work available is equal very readable. It has also been well edited. This reto the change in the Gibbs free energy: AG = AE - TAS viewer would have preferred t o see the references as footPA V . In the more general case when the system (at T and P ) is contained in an indefinitely large reservoir whose tem- notes on each page rather than have them a t the end of each perature and pressure are TOand PO,the maximum work chapter; however, this is a minor inconvenience t o which obtainable from the interaction of system and surroundings readers are becoming accustomed. “Fast Neutron Physics” will be a welcome addition to PoA V . is the “available energy,” AE - ToAS This concept, first outlined by Gibbs and developed by a the libraries of all scientists interested in fast neutron number of writers since, is manifestly of great importance technology. to mechanical engineers, of lesser importance to chemical DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY engineers, and of still less importance t o research chemists. THEJOHNS HOPKINSUNIVERSITY WALTERS. KOSKI In this small monograph, the author devotes the first two BALTIMORE 18, MARYLAND chapters to a brief and fairly clear review of the first and second laws of thermodynamics (but the concept of heat is never adequately defined, and a careless error has crept into the development of the thermodynamic temperature a t the Nomenclature of Chemical Compounds. Edited by Coordination Committee of Documentation and Library bottom of page 19). Chapters I11 and IV develop the ideas Services, Committee on Nomenclature, and Editorial of available energy and irreversibility. Eight chapters of Board of the Journal of Japanese Chemistry. KENZO applications follow, the last two dealing briefly with chemical U. MIZOGUCHI, and YUICHIYAMAHIRAYAMA, DOROTHY changes. Engineers may find in this book a useful summary MOTO,Editors-in-Charge. n’ankodo, 23-3, Haruki-cho, of problems of thermodynamic design, but little insight into Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan. March, 1960. xii 394 pp. chemical thermodynamics is offered. (In fairness to the 18 X 25.5 cm. Price, yen 750. author, it must be said that the book is written for mechanical engineers, and no service to chemistry is claimed. j Japanese chemists commonly use the English alphabet and spellings in the reproduction of the names of chemical comDEPARTMENT O F CHEMISTRY UNIVERSITYOF CALIFORXIA ROBERT L.SCOTT pounds. Many take an active interest in the careful use of good nomenclature. To this end the Japanese Standing LOS ANGELES 24, CALIFORNIA Committee on Somenclature several years ago sought permission to translate into Japanese the various chemical reports and pamphlets distributed by the Fast Neutron Physics. Part I : Techniques. Edited by nomenclature Committee on hTomenclature, Spelling and Pronunciation of J. B. MARION,Department of Physics, University of the American Chemical Society and to publish them in transMaryland, College Park, Maryland, and J. L. FOWLER, form. With a green light from America and with the Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak lated of the Japanese Ministry of Education and the Ridge, Tenn. Interscience Publishers, Inc., 250 Fifth cooperation UNESCO Office in Tokyo these steps were taken, except Avenue, New York, N. Y . xiv 983 pp. 16 X 2 3 . 5 cm. that the names themselves were not changed. The Japanese Price, $29.00, version of these various pamphlets appeared in 1954 in the “Fast Neutron Physics” consists of five sections. The form of a 250-page paper-bound book. In 1957, a 368-page first four sections are included in Part I and section V will book was published which contained additional material, compose Part I1 which will be published in the future. such as the 1951 rules of the Commissions of the InterThis volume is devoted to experimental techniques used in national Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (the IUPAC neutron studies covering the range from 1 kev. t o several rules), and signed discussions, as in sections on High Polyhundred iMev. The bulk of the material, however, per- mers and Labeled Compounds (cf. review, THISJOURNAL, 79, tains t o energies below 40 MeV. The emphasis of the 5328 (1957)). volume is on monoenergetic neutrons and their interactions In the book now being reviewed, the 1957 IUP=1C rules with nuclei; however, polyenergetic sources also are dis- are included. The 1951 IUPAC rules are repeated, except cussed. for those parts which have been changed and included by the “Fast Neutron Physics” is meant t o be a reference book. IUPAC in its 1957 rules. Included in the 1957 rules are It is written so that each chapter is more or less complete reports on hydrocarbons, fundamental heterocyclic systems, in itself. This makes a certain amount of duplication inorganic compounds and steroids. The 1955 and 1957 necessary; however, the editors have done an excellent job IUPAC recommendations on vitamins are included. in minimizing unnecessary repetition of material. There A Trilingual List of Names for Inorganic Compounds, etc. are numerous cross references t o other chapters as well as to (occupying 21 pages), is included. The compounds are the original literature. Sixty-two authors, which represents arranged according to the numbers of the IUPAC rules a considerablc amount of competence in fast neutron physics, which are applicable, and are listed by formulas, followed
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BOOKREVIEWS
Dee. 20, 1960
by names in English, French and German. In the List of Elements, the symbols recommended in the 1957 IUPAC rules are used. These are written in Roman type and arranged alphabetically. Each symbol is followed by its atomic number and its name in Japanese, English, German, French and Russian. Son-adopted rules, recommendations and reports which appeared in the 1957 edition are included in this book. I n the appendix, the following material is again included: (1) Miscellaneous Chemical Prefixes; (2) Symbols, Signs and hbbreviations; (3) Pronunciation of Chemical Words; and :4! H o w t o L-se Chemical Abstracts. The table of contents and the index are given in Japanese and in English. CHEMICAL ABSTRACTS SERVICE OHIOSTATEUNIVERSITY MARYA. MAGILL COLUMBCS 10, OHIO Microbial Genetics. Tenth Symposium of the Society for General Microbiology held a t the Royal Institution, London, April 1960. Edited by UT.HAYESand R . C. CLOWES,Medical Research Council, Microbial Genetics Research Unit, Hammersmith Hospital, London, W.12, England. Cambridge University Press, 32 East 57th Street, New !.-,rk 22, ri. Y. 1960. s 300 pp. 16X 25 cm. Price, $7.50.
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Every year the Society of General Microbiology in England sponsors an international symposium on a theme or problem of current interest and importance to microbial investigators. The volumes that have emanated from these symposia have proved their usefulness in many ways, some having become important reference works (e.g., .idaptation in Microorganisms, Bacterial Anatomy, Virus Growth and Variation), and they have set high standards for international conferences of this kind. The present volume, the tenth in the series, is an excellent contribution t o the field of Microbial Genetics, despite the fact that in recent years considerable attention has been paid by symposium organizers to this rapidly developing and extremely important field of research. Several notable qualities raise this volume in distinction and value in comparison to other works covering the same field. The f i s t of these qualities is its sensible organization; one gains the impression that as much care was given by the editors to the selection and arrangement of topics and areas for discussion as to the choice of eminent investigators as authors. The symposium is treated as the unfolding of the present state of our knowledge of the hereditary determinants, or genes, of microorganisms. At first, these genes are described as they occur as a group or assembly, namely, as part of a chromosome. Then their individual behavior is analL-zed in terms of their fine structure, their recombinational interactions, and their activity in the metabolic economy of the cell. Further study then is made of their structure and function a t the niolecular level. Finally, some consideration is given t o how they cotiperate in the running o f the complex society of which they are a part, the cell 3 s a whole. Another valuable quality of this volume is the number o f papers that are sufficiently comprehensive and broad in scope to assure the adequacy of the review of the field and to provide some foundation for the other papers which deal with more specific aspects or problems. Especially coiuiiicndable iu this regard are the escellent reviews by Hayes o n the bacterial chromosome, by Pritchard on the genetic fine structure of microorganisms as reveale.1 by recombination analysis (a paper in which the author laudabl!. attempts to bring together the divergeut information that has been obtained from cytomorphological, cytochemical and genetic investigations, and in the higher forms of life as well), by Catcheside on the relation of gene structure to enzyme specificity, and by Brown on the role of the nucleic acids in the synthesis of specific proteins. The remaining papers are uniforiiily of great interest. Kellenberger addresses himself t o the structure of the bacterial chromosome as revealed by electron microscopy, and tries to correlate this information with other chemical information about its mode of replication. Jacob, Schaeffer arid Wollmm introduce a new concept, that of episomes. which are hereditary determinants that may he added t o thc, genetic ronstitutioti of the cell (rather t1i:tii replace S O I I I C
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determinants already present in the cell) and exist in either an autonomously replicating condition or in an integrated state. The notion of episomes not only unifies our understanding of lysogeny, colicinogeny and the sex factor of bacteria, but stimulates interesting hypotheses concerning the regulation and differentiation of cells of higher plants and animals as well. Clowes reviews what has been learned of the fine structure of bacterial genes through use of the mode of genetic transfer known as transduction. Esther Leiierberg emphasizes in particular the bacterial genes governing galactose metabolism. Harriett Ephrussi-Taylor raises some critical questions regarding the heterocitalytic activity and replication of infectious deoxyribonucleic acid during the process of genetic transformation. Garen furnishes a lucid account of an elegant procedure for understanding the control of the gene over the functional specificity of an enzyme through the particular case of alkaline phosphatase. Gierer brings us up t o date on the structure and function of ribonucleic acid in the group of small viruses, which includes the tobacco moc.aic and the poliomyelitis viruses. Maal$e deals with the integration of the genome, the protein-synthesizing particles in the cytoplasm, the enzymes and their substrates and end products in the regulation of growth. Danielli summarizes the results of recent experiments by himself and co-workers on the hereditdry,effects of nuclear exchanges between amebae of different species. For the initiate Stocker provides a necessarily brief and condensed introduction to the concepts and terminology of genetics. Nevertheless, those unfamiliar with microbial genetics are not recommended t o launch upon this volume without first assimilating some more elementary essays or reviews on the subject. Biochemists, however, will find extremely useful those papers dealing with the molecular aspects of gene structure and function whatever difficulty they may experience with the purely formal aspects of genetic organization. For biologists in general, and for geneticists in particular, this book should prove its worth, not only now but for some time to come. DEPARTMENT O F BIOLOGY THEUNIVERSITY O F ROCHESTER ARNOLDW. RAVIN ROCHESTER 20, pu‘. Y . Ph. D., D. Sc., Organosilicon Compounds. By C. EABORN, Reader in Physical-Organic Chemistry, University of Leicester. Academic Press Inc., 111 Fifth Avenue, New York 3 , AT. Y . 1960. x 530 pp. 15 X 22.5 cm. Price, $15.00. This handsome new book is the largest and most ambitious work on organosilicon chemistry to appear in the English language. Dr. Eaborn, reader in physical-organic chemistry a t the University of Leicester, has concentrated within it everything that has come to light during his intensive study of the kinetics of the reactions of silicon compounds, and has used his ideas on the mechanisms of such reactions t o correlate a vast amount of previously published material. The plan of the book embraces 17 logical divisions, starting with preparative methods and general bond characteristics, then proceeding through reactions of all the major types of compound, and ending with a discussion of physical properties and analysis. An indication of the book’s thoroughness is the inclusion of 10 pages and 6 extensive tables on the molecular spectra, interatomic distances and dipole moments of organosilicon compounds. Each chapter contains an exhaustive bibliography, and the reader is further helped by an unusually detailed table of contents and by a 23-page index of compounds and subjects. It is practically impossible t o get lost in the book. In his preface, Dr. Eaborn writes: “While I have drawn frequent parallels with carbon chemistry, I have, against my inclinations, not related the organic chemistry of silicon t o that of other metalloids or metals.” Just why he should go against his inclinations in this way is not clear t o the reviewer (in whose experience the chemistry of silicon is closer t o that of boron, germanium and tin than to that of carbon), unless it be out of loyalty t o his university title or his past training. Dr. Eaborn also explains in his preface that he has placed considerable emphasis on reaction mechanisms as a means of “introdticirig order into accounts of fragmentary and 1111i-cl;ctcri reseal-ches.” In this he succeeds ver>- well. ’111~
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