BOOK REVIEWS consuming processes of electron promotion and vaporization of metali. Some instances of this are given in dealing with the nonexistence of AsC15, CdlCh. The subject matter is interesting. The book is well written and well documented. I t would be of interest t,o most inorganic chemists but its place in the classroom is not clear. Perhaps i t could provide a useful bayis for a short seminar type course a t the senior or first year graduate level. Such an exercise would be an invaluable experience for the student and a challenging one for the teacher.
ROLAND WARD University of Cmnecticut Storrs
Oxidation Mechanisms
T . A. Tumey, University of Auckland, Nem Zealand. Butterworths, Washington, D. C., 1965. viii 208 pp. 14.5 X 22 em. $6.50.
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This little (and relatively inexpensive) hook is rather completely uncritical, is not particularly well written, contains some errors, and is not very attractively bound. I n addition, the selection of material covered seems quite arbitrary. None the less, this hook is one which I feel sure will find its way to the shelves of the
A760
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lourno1 o f Chemical Education
libraries of almost everyone with an interest in oxidation. The book is divided into chapters chiefly according to the type of reactants involved; e.g., cation-cation, cation-substrate, anion-anion, and others, ending with homogeneous gas phase oxidations and heterogeneous oxidations. The subjects are treated from both theoretical and experimentalpoint of view, the theory being exceedingly brief (with no mention, for example, of the work of R. A. Marcus). The real value of this vulume is that it is well indexed, both according to authors and subjects, and it contains a wealth of references to a great many subjects for book so small. Thus, if one wants to know, for example, something of what studies have heen made in inorganic systems using oxygen as the oxidant, he can find references to some (but not all) work of this type; and this can be done quickly and conveniently. Another valuable asset of the book is that one can quickly find an interpretation of extensive data in terms of kinetic chemical equations followed by the rate law which applies. One overall reaction will seldom occupy a complete page and often a half-dozen reactions will be so laid out on a. single page. Therefore, many reactions are covered in spite of the slimness of the book. I t can serve as valuable outside reading for sti~dents from sophomores through the gradmte level.
F. R. DUKE Purdue Uniuemily Lafayelte, Indiana
Fr6dCic JoliocCurie: His Theories
The M a n and
Pzerre Biguard. Translated by Geoffrey Slrachan. Paul S . Erikswn, Inc., New York, 1966. vi 192 pp. Photographs. 15 X 23 rm. 3.5.
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(Jean) Fr6d6ric Joliot (lYO(t1958) was trained in physics under P a d Langevin and then became personal assirtant to Marie Curie who taught him the techniques of radioactivity. IrAne Curie (1897-1956) was likewise working in her rnat,her's laboratory. She and Joliot were married in IWti, and since the Curies had no sons he added his wife's name to his own so that thi* famow name would not die out. They had two children; a boy and a girl. The Nobel Prize for chemistry was a ~ - a r d e djointly to the JoliotS!uries in 1935 "far their synthesis of new radioactive elements." She, in their collorative work, NRS more concerned with the physical aspeots while he, de.spite his early training, was especially interested in the chemical identification of the r a h active substances. In 1932 they just missed the discovery of the neutron and in 1939 their extremely promising work on the establishment of a, nuclear chain reaction, based on the fission of uranium, was interrupted by the outbreak of World War 11. Their supply of uraninm and heavy water w a s secret,ly shipped to England. "There is little doubt that, had the war not intervened, the world's first self-sostaining r h ~ i l lrextion wodd (Cmlinuerl on page $789)
