VOLUME 33, NO. 2, FEBRUARY, 1956
99
rirconyl nit,ratc method for the ~epsrationof phosphate. 111 Chapter IX, reactions and tests for compounds of thallium, tungsten, molybdenum, gold, platinum, palladium, selenium, tellurium, vanadium, beryllium, titanium, zircunium, umnium, cerium. and lithium :we niselv included. The litst chanter de:~ls
though the text is general in its approach, not emphasizing unduly one or another branch of the subject, it favors human and medical biochemistry with a closing chapter. Each chapter has a practical set of references t o more detailed texthook and general review material.
mon metals and several miscellaneous separstions for Rome of the less common elements. A 14-page appendix contains the usual tables of atomic weights, concentrations of reagents and test solutions, snd special reagents along with four tables of buffer solution standard8 follomd hy tables of logarithms and antilogarithms. The text contains too much material for the usual one-semester course in qualitative inorganio analysis. If material is selected properly the book can serve the elementaq student, t,he more advanced student, and the practicing analyst. I n presenting the ion-electron method of balancing equationr, the author says: "Since nearly all t,he leactions encountered in qualitative analyais are ionic in eharaoter, the expression of chemical reactions as interaction between the ions is, for many reasons, an advantage." However, throughout the text praatioally all the equations are in the molecular form, thus omitting ionic equations. In the theoretical section, 27 problems w e stated and their solutions given. However, t,he test contains no problems for the student to work. The author's aim is "to provide a text-hook oi macro and semimicro qualitative inorganic analysis a t moderate cost which can he employed by the student continuously throughout his study of the subject." H e has done this and done it well. The book is worthy of consideration by many teachers who feel that inorganic chemistry receives far too little attention in the presentday college-chemistry curriculum.
and graduate students majoring in bacteriology, botany, chemistry, physiology, and eoology." It seems t o the reviewer t h a t many a wise teacher, who would hate t o put a 1500-page text in the hands of a beginning student lest the sheer hulk discourage him with its indigestibility, will find Dr. Haurowite's trim new text, w r y useful, though hy no means simple fare.
HORACE E. ROGERS
ELIOT F. BEACH METROPOLITAW LIFE INBORANCE COYPANT Nr;,,' Yon=. N. Y.
ELEMENTARY QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS ON THE SMALL SCALE
0
Peter Woodward. Lecturer in Inoraanic Chemistw. Universitv of Bdstol. Oxford university Press, iondon, 1955. .'vii 9 2 pp. 7 figs. 14 X 22 om. $2.
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THEauthor "88s the term "small" because ot a question of semantics; his interpretation appears t o be quite reasonable. The term "small" is used as a substitute for the "semimicro" now in wide use in qualitative snalysis work in this country. The book is on a "small" scale, too. The brevity has been achieved by the omission of problems and theory. Some brief background comments on reactions and some equations are included. The analysis scheme has few unique features. It does, however, include separation of Groups IIA and I I B with lithium hydroxide, and removal of phosphate with zirconium nitro+-
0
BIOCHEMISTRY: AN INTRODUCTORY TEXTBOOK HARRY R. BATEY. JR.
Felix Hourowitz, Professor of Chemistry, Indiana University. 485 pp. Figs. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New Yerk, 1955. xvi and tables. 15.5 X 23.5 am. $6.75.
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NEAT-MINDED people in many areas of biochemistry hut pwtitularly those in teaching will be gratified t o see this new introductory text. As progress in the field has continued with an aeceleratingpaee, textbooks have also grown until most of themnow contain from 1200 t o 1500 pages. With knowledge accumulsting, Rome expansion is, of course, an absolute essential, but much of the bloating in current texts could he advantageously avoided by condensing disoussions and omitting much nonessential material. The author's discernment in carefully selecting his material has resulted in a terse and practical book. The fact that this is an introductory text might a t first sight lead one t o helieve that it oresents o n h the matters of easiest
of late advance which are fundamental t o the neh,er understanding of the chemical functions of living things. The arrangement of material is a. refreshing departure from the usual tmatment. The book opens with u. diseusuion of fundamnental biochemical p1,inciples and espeeialls the mechanisms of enzymaticallv suooo~.ted chemical transformations in cellular metah, oliam ' T h ~ hp!qo,rm the 9tudt.n~w i ~ h.t (1, wintic wtwt*pr f t h r ~ul.jcr~I from l h t , sto1.t 1llat is quit? cia.lttial i l l 1 l . i ~1nn.t. &i).iu which biwhtmi.atvv i< c o n v ~ i w d:ts :c .+tt~dy of wutiuuow ntt.t* I d i e rlv~ngrsorrurrinp :n I ; h i l v z ! s t t m ~ ~r:~tl.er thau ns aiml.ly "11.~ < l . t m ~ s t roi ~ n:>iumI ~rwJu,%3."' h i - iotrwlwtim is i o Imr.rd Iw s disruwim oi ~ i l r l ~ o l ~ v d r arowi t v ~ ,in^, n r d lil,lds iron) the standpoint of their structure, function, and met,abolfsm. Excellent chapters follow on porphyrins and their role in life proccsscs, mineral metabolism, enzymology, and nutrition. Al-
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STAPECQLLBCE Or. W*.HIN.TOS PULLPAN. W*B"INOTOH
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CALCULATIONS OF ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
L. F. Hamilton, Professor of Analytical Chemistry, and S, G. Simpson, Associate Professor of Analytical Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Fifth edition. McGraw-Hill Book Co., Ino., New York, 1954. xii 340 pp. 16 figs. 12 tables. 23.5 X 15.5cm. $5.
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THE appearance of this well known text in a fifth edition is ample indication of the worth of the book for students and teachers in malyticill chemistry. The reviewer has long recommended that his own students turn to this book when in need of euplanations and a variety of problems. Previous editions have been followed in the format and in tho general arrangement of the disoussion and the problems. There has been some deletion of the former problems. Expanded or rewl.ittan sections include errors, precision measures, titration curves, electrodeposition, and titrations involving potentiometric, conduotometric, and an~perametricdetermination of equivalence points. New topics include iodate and bromate processes, and colorimetrio methods. The hook is recommended far teachers who want a separate book for problem work in elementary analytical chemistry, especiaily quantitative analysis. Alao, it is valuable t o the atudent who needs or wants something of this nature beyond what is to be found in the usual t,ext a n elementary quantitative analysis. M. G. MELLON Ponoue U~rvenslrr L * r * r r m ~ ,III)I*N*
