JANUARY. 1955
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The second section of this work (100 pages) deals with the transformation of aldehydes into a great variety of derivatives t,hat are of signi6eant value in the identi6catiou, purification, replacement, or protection of the CHO group. The treatment of the subject is very systematic: examples of the reactions, preparation of reagents, splitting of the products, eta., are described m an unambiguous manner. The volume concludes with s short statement an the production of optically active aldehydes and isotopic modifications. The index refers to approximately 2500 compounds. "Die Methoden der orgmischen Chemie" is truly one of the most significant reference works in organic ohemistrythat has appeared in recent years.
5. I t is confined to visible light, dthough much of the treatment is more general. Dispersion may serve to illustrate the treatment. It is introduced and defined on page 3 in the six-page introductory section on refractive index, and appears implicitly throughout the subsequent discussions of refractivity and structure. I t is then treated in detail historically, starting on page 78. There are eight pages and some 200 references on Dispersion Equations from Cauchy to Sellmeier, in which the development of the ideas and their embodiment in suitable equations sse outlined. The dispersion equations of Sellmeier, Ketteler, and Helmholta are then discussed in seven pages with some 150 more references. This treatment concludes with short discussions (five pages) of anomalous dispersion, some numerical dispersion results, and GEORGE HOLMES RICHTER dispersion and chemical composition. TABRIOEINBTZTDTE Dispersion is again taken up under the electromagnetic theory H o n s ~ o xTEXAS . of light, starting on page 513. Twenty-five pages (in two separate sections) and some 400 references complete the treatment. The discussion of results of the modern quantum theory of dispersion is limited to a little more than a page, introduced by thc 0 ORGANIC PEROXIDES: THEIR CHEMISTRY, statement, "It [this theory] is mathematically too difficult to DECOMPOSITION, AND ROLE IN POLYMWZATION allow of adequate treatment here." This treatment of dispersion, with its virtues and its deArthur V. Tobolsky, Princeton University, and Robert B. Mesrobian, Polpmer Research Institute, Polytechnic Institute of fects, is typical. The 189 pages on The Polarization of Light include four on polarizing apparatus, and a t the end of these four Brooklyn. Interscience Publishers, Inc., New York, 1954. x is one paragraph on Polaroid, concluding with the sentence, 197 pp. 15 X 24 cm. $5.75. "It is supposed that the eye of a bee detects polmized light, ORQANIC peroxides, as sources of free radicals, play an impor- which guides the insect in flight." The treatment of lighb tant rolein polymerization, oxidation, and halogenation reactions. scattering by particles small compared to the wave length is The authors of this book, who have contributed a great deal of satisfactorily complete, but that of scattering by larger particles, original research in this field, have filled an urgent need in com- on which so much research is now going on, is inadequate. nilinp: d l available information on this interesting- class of com- Throughout the book in general the interrelations among the pounds. earlier theories, their successes and failures, the reasons for and The volume is divided into three parts, as indicated in the the results of particular postulates are all clearly displayed, but subtitle. Peroxide-induced polymeri~ationis treated in great theviewpoint is that of some year8 ago: detail, and it is perhaps 8 pity that no similar exhaustive discusSuch a treetment is interesting and valuable for many classes sion of the other reactions induced by peroxides was included. of readers, but not for all who might expect to find help. The A number of valuable tshles are included, summarizing kinetic student who has occasion to read the early papers or who endata on polymerization initiated by a variety of peroxides, counters an uniamilirtr equation in such compilations as the physical con~tantsof organic peroxides, conditions of their safe "International Critical Tables" will find background and exhandling, and their commercial availability. planation. The soholitr concerned with the history of ideas snd techniques in theoretical physics will find a clear outline of this HERBERT MORAWETZ history for the topics covered. The experimentalist who merely POLYTECHNIO INBTLTUTE OP BROOKLYN wishes to select an appropriate equation for use its a laboratory Bnoax>rr, NEW YORX t a d may become lost in the details, but enough critical oomments artre included to guide his decision if he persists. The person who is concerned with research on such a subject as dispersion itself, however, will receive relatively little help, for the discns0 AN ADVANCED TREATISE ON PHYSICAL CHEM- sion does not adequstely cover those preseneday problems on ISTRY. VOLUME 4: PHYSICOCHEMICAL OP. which research is now proceeding. TICS
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1. & Partington, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, University of London. Longmans, Green and Co., Inc., New York, 1953. xl 688 pp. nlustrated. 16 X 25.5 cm. $15.50.
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Tms book is the fourth volume of a well-known series. It is in the same style as the preceding volumes on "Fundamental Principles and the Properties of Gases," "The Properties of Liquids," and "The Properties of Solids," and is in seven parts, as follows: A, the Refraction of Light (100 pages); B, The Polarization of Light (189 pages); C, Optical Activity (101 pages); D, The Eleatromagnetic Theory of Light (201 pages); E, Magnetic Rotation (40 pages); F, Piezoelectricity and Pyrcelectricity (6 pages); and Appendix (39 pages). The treatment is encyclopedic on those subjects that are treated a t all. The basis of selection must he appreciated to understand both the omissions and the usefulness of the book. The book is intended to fill certain gaps in an otherwise moderately well-equipped library. It does not discuss lenses, prisms, mirrors, and the like, which are adequately treated in the usual books on p h y s i d optics. Neither does it cover atomic ~peetra, which have have been covered in Volume 1 of this series, nor molecular and Ramsn spectra, which will be covered in Volumc
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CATALYSIS. VOLUME I: FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES, PART I
Edited by Paul H,Emmett. Reinhold Publishing Corp., New 394 pp. 15.5 X 23.5 om. Illustrated. $10. York, 1954. vi
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THIS text is the h t of a series dealing comprehensively with catalysis and is edited by Paul H. Emmett, who is widely known for his researches and contributions in the catalytic field. IIe has written a chapter on methods of measurement of the surface are:% of solid catalysts and other solids in which various methods and their applications are presented and critically discussed. The chapter on physical aduorption, which is writtea by Herman 1:. Ries, Jr., deals briefly with the classical work nnd also wit11 tlw more recent developments in this field. Three chapters, comprisiug nearly half of the book, ase written by Keith J. Laidler. In his fint chapter, experimental evidence, mechanisms, and
