0
ATOMS AND ENERGY
to analysis, structure determination, characterization, and other problems of the organic chemist are described and evaluated. Of special value are a chart and table of charscteristio infrared of London. British Book Centre, Inc., New York, 1953. 174 pp. group frequenoies and a table of characteristic ultraviolet 14.5 x 22 cm. $3.50. absorption bands. The ohapter on "Lipids" is divided into two parts; the first PROFESSOR MASSEY'Sobjective is to help the non-technical reader appreciate what is taking place during the release of section on simnle linids. written bv J. C. Cowan of the Northern h cokrs the origin and uses of fats, nuclear energy. He is concerned with both the particles and the Regional ~ e s e k ~ahbratotory, the identity and distribution of acids in fats, the reactions of the energy involved, and he starts from scratch with both subjects. In the first chapter, he t&es up the three fundamental particles free acids and synthetic glycerides; the second seetion on the and how they fit into our picture of atomic structure. Then he compound lipids, written by H. E. Carter of the University of shows how atoms combine into molecules and describes the Illinois, covers the sources and chemistry of such phospholipids magnitude of the chemical forces involved. The quantities of as lecithin, cephalin, and phosphatidyl serine and such sphingoenergy liberated in nuclear transformations are enormously lipids as sphingomyelm, eerebrosides, and gagliosides. The chapter on "Organic dyes" is written by H. W. Grimmel of greater than are possible in any chemical reaction. The reason for this is explained and a number of techniques for studying the Metro DyestuffsCorporation of West Warick, Rhode Island, and is a fairly extensive survey of organic colorants hut nuclear changes are described. In the fourth chapter he discusses fission and funion reactions emphmi~iees those known to have been used commercially. and methods for concentrating UP". In Chapter 5 he turns to Methods of synthesis starting with common intermediates, atomic energy a t the service of man, and the find chapter carries properties of dyes, effect of structure and substituents on shade the reader into frontier research on cosmic rays, mesons, and the and fastnem are given for the standard groups of dyes. Both old and more recent literature and patent references are listed. new ether. The discussion of "Some aspects of chemotherapy," by Dr. Profeeaor Maasey's handling of energy concepts is particularly effective. Although he has no particular flair for dramatic 11. R. Ing of the University of Oxford, is kept within the hound8 presentation, well-chosen diagrams and photographs supplement of the definition eiven hv Paul Ehrlich: that is. the treatment of a carefully written text. He has an American audience in mind infections by c h h d ;td,etnnrw which nrt! toair M the nlirrowhen he consciously avoids using "billion" in the English sense, organism but relntirely harmlcsr to the hoxt. Dr. Ing us?" thc hut he does use "nucleic" instead of "nuclertr," and there are a topic$ sntirrptivs n m l disinfrrtsnt~,nntimlsrinls, trylmnwirlsl agents, and arsenical drugs, to present the relationship of funcfew other unfamiliar terms. The science student as well as the intelligent layman will find tional groups, molecular structure, and physical properties of the chemotherapeutic agents to the effect on the microorganisms. this hook helpful and interesting. Although very few methods of synthesis of the drugs are given, RICHARD WIElTAR literature references to this information are in abundance. The tonic of "Antihioties" is treated hv Dr. Lee C. Chenev of Bristol Laboratarks as a diaoussion of the~ renrespntntive demada~-~~~ r- . ~ ~ . ~ tion reactions, approaches to or tat$ syntheses of the three impartant commercial antibiatics-penicillins, streptomycin, and chloromycetin. The physical properties, physiological activity, 0 ORGANIC CHEMISTRY: AN ADVANCED TREATISE and source of many other antibiotics are tabulated at the end of Edited by Henry Gilman, Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa. the chapter. VolumeIV. "The terpenes," by Richard H. Eastman and Carl John Wiley & Sons, he., New York, 1953. Vol. Ill: x-iii R. Noller of Stanford Universitv. beeins with a discussion of 580 pp. 39 figs. 48 tables. Vol. IV: urviii 665 (581-1245) monoterpenes and proceeds throigh the intermediate classes to pp. 20 figs. 30 tables. 15.5 X 23.5 cm. $8.75 per volume. the polyterpenes. The fascinating chemical behavior of these THE suoce9s and usefulness of the original two volumes of compounds is represented by various synthetic and degrsdative Gilman's advanced treatise have now been augmented by the reactions of acyclic and cyclic members of eaeh class. appearance of the third and fourth volumes covering twelve The chapter "Heterocyclic chemistry," by Richard H. Wiley of further topics in organic chemistry. In eaeh instance it has been the University of Louisville, is an excellent 178-page introduction necessary for the specialist to write a composite and selective to, or review of, this important field of organic chemistry. The review of the recent developments in the field and this is supple- five- and six-membered ring heterooyclic compounds of oxygen, mented by the inclusion of many recent literature references and mlfur, and nitrogen are included. The discussion of eaeh ring general references to more extensive treatises. system includes the feasible methods of preparation, the importVolwne ZU. "The study of organic reaction mechanisms," hy ant substitution and addition reactions and conditions under Paul D. Bartlett of Harvard University, comprises an excellent which the rings are opened. introduction to an increasingly important aspect of organic chemThe short chapter on "Starch," by W. Z. Hassid of the Univeristry. The chapter begins with an outline of principles and sity of California, reviews the mare recent work of American, methods applied in the study of organic reaction mechanisms. English, and Continental investigators on staroh to 1953. The This is fallowed hy a discussion of the displacement reaction, subjects include the characterization and proposed chemical reactions of alcohols, ethers, halides, and the carbonyl group. constitution of amylase and amylopectin, approscbestomolecularFoil A. Miller of the Mellon Institute ha8 written the chapter weieht estimation. the crvstalline structure and helioal eanon "Applications of infrared and ultraviolet spectra to organic figuration of starch, the noncarbohydrate substances in starch, chemistry.', Applications of data from the two spectral regions starch esters and ethers, and enayme action on starch.
H.S. W.Massey, F. R. S., Quain Professor of Physics, University
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JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
50
The chapter on "Chemistry of explosives," by George F Wright of the University of Toronto, is iestrieted to developrnenta in explosives since 1943 or to information released from security regulations since that time. An introduction discusses experimental and calculated heats of explosion, the qualitative estimation of explosive types from the types of bands and different atoms involved. the sensitiveness of emlosives and exolosion
uitroguanidine and derivatives. As one would surmise from the title of the chapter "Reactions of organic gases under pressure,'' by W. E. Hanford of M. W. Kellogg Company and D. E. Sargent of General Aniline and Film Corporation, the emphasis is on industrial reactions and thus the majority of the references are from the patent literature. About onehalf of the chapter is devoted to a discussion of the polymerization of alkenes. The remainder of this section concern8 other reactions of dkenes, oxidation and substitution of alkanes, polymerization of and addition to acetylene, and a brief mention of the reactions of carbon monoxide and dioxide. In the chapter a n "Oxidation processes," William A. Waters of Balliol College, Oxford, considers all of the oxidizing agents of importance to organic chemists. The discussion centers largely on mechanisms of action of the reagents in the course of which the range of applicability of eaoh is delineated. HAROLD A. IDDLES HENRY G. EUIVILA ROBERT E. LYLE 01. NEWEAYPBBIRE UNIVERSITY DORBU. NBWH*YPBBI..
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ATOMS, MEN AND GOD
Paul E. Sabine. The Philosophical Library, New York, 1953. x
+ 226 pp.
14 X 22.5 cm.
$3.75.
Tm+author of t.hia hook has ~. s, r nrohlem which he thinks mav be ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ a common one among scientists who have not put science in the place of religion in their lives. He states his problem thus: "Can I he intellectually honest in believing what as a Christian I profess to believe and a t the same time accept the teachings of modern science and psychology regarding the nature of man and God in the physical world?" He tries to show evidence of a spiritual evolution paralleliug the verv ~. nrahahle~ nhvsical . . evolution. He savs science and rrligion hxre ' w m m o n pound" in r n q and "comm~mu r i ~ i ~ ill i" the first reactions of primitive m m tuwunl hir en\ironrnent. A pattern of development of wirntifiv thought ia then truwl through seven chapters showing how the findings of modern science, which does not propose to explain first causes, serve to highlight the existence of an Intelligence directing nature. Science is seen from a religious point of view. In the final chapter the author endeavors to look a t Christian faith from a scientific paint of view by regarding it as a "mutation" in the spiritual evolution of man. The historic facts of Christianity, he says, are explained as an "extension of theideaof purposive evolution." In the soul of Jesus "there arose to bumau consciousness an Idea, a. spiritual reality. The expression in one perfect human life of the Idea of God in Mau is hoth natural and supernatural in the same way as are the origins of Life and Mind." As an alternative to a scientific approach to the prohlem "of the antithesis of the natural and the spiritual in the origin of Chi* tianity2' he chooses to examine the Gospels, which accounts he regards as "unfortunately ...tradition and legend." The fourth Gospel he regards as interpretative of events in the life of Jesus in t e r m of the prologue, "In the beginning was the Word(Logos) and the Word was with God and the Word was God....." By an act of rational religious faith, he says, one may identify the creative will of the evolutionary process with the Logos of John's Gospel, hut notes that in the evolutionary Will there are no ~
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ethical or spiritual implications. This act of faith, be says, can regard Jesus either as a perfect man or as the "uniquely divine Son of God." Therefore, he concludes, His teachings may he accepted as any well grounded theory would be. In the future evolution of society, he thinks, the great issue ia whether the unfolding is to be guided by Marxian materialism and Communism or by the ideds of Jesus. This reviewer found some parts not too clear. The following quotations would lead one to wonder what is the author's concept of God, if not the final, ultimate reality. Page 12:". . .we must think of Nature and God, not as two separate existences, hut as two aspects of a single final reality that includes hoth the natural and the divine." Page 216: "If that faith (in a loving Father and s world order ruled by love) should die out in human hearts then the story of the man of Galilee. . .would have to be relegated to the limbo of mvth and outmown sunerstition." 219:('. y. that re&ation (of the free. conscious Self)comes >am ~"~ -~~ only with the mytical yet -&lily ruriorbal experience thkt God wrd the atoms and the human wul 9re on* in essence, a spiritual rrirlity, three expressions of the utliry of the living soul of n liri~rp, universe." On page 212 there is s. misprint of "World" for "Ward" in the quotation from the Fourth Gospel. On the whole, the author seems to recognize that science haa tried to know only the world and remains ignorant of the most important trutha about it. The world is intelligible only in terms of hoth man and God. This understanding be would have strictly rational and scientific. He has accomplished his purpose in that he offers for consideration, to scientilically-minded scholars reared in the Protestant tradition who have s. "will to believe," such a solution of a common problem. He feels that he has offered a t least a detour around some bothersome difficulties, e. g., he gives substantial reasons for having confidence in the teaching of Christ even if one does not believe He is God. Far those who know science, hut have no faith, the book might be an incentive to search further. This in itself would make it well worth the writing. For those who have the gift of faith and who follow the direct road of revelation with no conflicts, Chapters 3 through 7 are a fairly comprehensive survey of the development of scientific thought and theory. Furthermore, they may iind it pleasant to have faith confirmed by science and to find illustrated the fact that truth is one. ~
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SISTER M. CONSILIA HANNAN SAINTJOBJPX COLLBQE WEBTHIBTPORD. CONNECTICUT
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GENEAKZ. BIOCHEMISTRY
Joseph S. Fruton and Sofia Simmonds, Rcdessor cd Biochemiahy and Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Miorohiology, respectively, Yale University. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1953. xii + 940 pp. Nustrated. 15.5 X 23.5 cm. $10. Tars is a welcome arrival in the field of hioohemiatry. W r i t ten for the graduate student, it treata the subject of biochemistry at an advanced level, yet assumes no previous training in the field. A thorough grounding in chemistry a t the undergraduate level should, however, precede a course in which thirr text is wed. Although written primarily far the graduate student in biology or chemistry it should also serve as an excellent text for a medicalsrhool t,ioehemist~rourae. Thr authors have ,dopted n fresh apl,roseh to the prr*entation of l~iovhnnistrv. Thr first part of the hook is devof~dto an extensive discussion of the stricture and chemistry of the proteins, a subject on which the authors can write with considerable authority. This is fallowed by sections on enzyme chemistry and biological oxibtion. Then came sections on the chemistry and metaholiam of the oarhohydrates and the lipids. The metabolism of proteins and nucleic acids fallows, and the book concludes with a section on the role of inorganic ions, hormones, and vitamins in
