RECENT BOOKS PH AND ELECTROTITRATIONS. The Colorimetric and Potentiometric Determination of pH. Potentiometry, Conductometry, and Voltammetry (Polarography). Outline of Electrometric Titrations. I. M. Kolthoff, Ph.D., Professor and Head of Division of Analytical Chemistry, University of Minnesota, and H. A. Lailinen, Ph.D., Instructor, University of Illinois. Second Edition. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York City, 1941. ix 190 pp. 43 figs. 15 X 23 cm. $3.00. The present edition is such a considerable enlargement and so thorough a revision of its predecessor that it seems like a different book. A completely new section on "Voltammetry (Polarography) and Ampemmetric Titrations" has been added as Part 4 t o the three parts of the earlier edition. These covered: AcidBase Equilibria and the Colorimetric ~eterminaiionof pH, The Potentiometric Measurement of p H and Potentiometric Titrations, and Conductametric Titrations. The book embodies the subject matter of three one-quarter courses offered t o seniors and graduate students at the University of Minnesota and is intended t o accompany two lectures and four hours of laboratory work a week. Anyone who presents this material will find the book exceedingly valuable both for routine reference and ar. a students' text. I t is especially as a guide to laboratory work in this field that the book will prove valuable, as most of the other works on these subjects are written for research workers rather than for students. The new fourth part is distinctly s pioneering venture, and is a t present the only thoroughly convenient collection of mo3t of the material on the polamgraph and ampemmetric titrations. The emphasis throughout the book is on the simpler types of apparatus which are likely t o be accessible in almost all laboratories, or are easily constructed. The expensive and complicated modern polarographs, spectropbotometers, and conductance bridges are barely mentioned. The treatment of acids and bases i n aqueous solution in the first chapter skilfully combines the Br$nsted-Lowry definitions with the treatment of hydrolysis along classical lines, and a sufficient use is made of the formulas of the Debye-Hiickel theory of interionic attraction t o serve the needs of elementary students. A good selection of problems concludes each chapter, and a four-place logarithm table is included. The makeup of the book is excellent and there seem t o be comparatively few minor errors. N o ~ n r F. s HALL
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Uwrvsasnr OP WISCONS~N MADISON, WrSCONSIN
many introductory texts. However, many of the laws and theoretical principles of chemistry are not treated in as thorough and detailed fashion as is common in most college texts. There is nothing strikingly new in the order of presentation of material, but in this connection there may be mentioned a m i n t of interest t o teachers who do not wish t o follow the order in a n y availnhlc book. The very fact rhnt.someof the theorics and lnuc are trented in lcss detail than is usual will makc it easier t o use this book than most texts, in a course which does not follow a prescribed sequence of topics. The book outlines a rather descriptive course, but the questions a t the ends of the chapters indicate that the authors expect the instructor t o carry the discussions much further tban the text does and t o use the latter as background material. The many questions a t the end of each chapter are among the better features of the text; they are very well chosen and incorporate sound principles of pedagogy. Also, there are 151 supplementary questions a t the end of the book, grouped so that eacb set covers the material of several chapters, which constitute good review questions. There is also a bibliography of journal articles and extracts from books a t the end of eacb chapter. These include ample references t o allow considerable choice on the part of the instructor or student. As indicated, well-organized descriptive material is given somewhat more prominence in the book than are the discussions of the fundamental laws and theoretical principles of the science of chemistry. For instance, the subjects of chemical and physical equilibrium receive abbreviated treatment, but such material as is included is thoroughly up t o date. The way in which this material is handled seems, in many instances, t o encourage the student t o work too much on a memory basis. Too often some of these fundamental laws and principles appear as somewhat isolated material which may not always seem quite essential in the text; or rather, the information does not always seem t o be a necessary working tool for the subsequent material of the course. But, according t o the authors "fundamental chemistry" does receive more extended treatment in this edition tban in the former one. The "middle course" is not a n easy one to achieve. HARRIETT H. FILLINGER
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HOLLINSCOLLEGE HOLLINS, Vr~Omrb
PHOTOGRAPHIC EMULSIONTECHNIQUE. T. Thorn6 Baker. F.R.P.S., A.M.I.E.E., F.1nst.P. American Photographic Publishing Company, Boston. 1941. xii 263 pp. 78 figs. 14 X 20 cm. $4.00.
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INTRODUCTORY CHBWSTRYWITH HOUSEAOLD APPLICATIONS. This is a book for the advanced, experimental amateur in Nellie M. Naylor, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Iowa photography rather than for the casual hobbyist. Research men and photographers interested in the properties of emulsions and State College, and Amy Le Vesconte. Professor of Chemistry, Mary Hardin-Baylor College. Revised Edition. D. Apple- their manufacture will find it extremely valuable. The author's extensive experience has enabled him to include ton-Century Co., Inc., New York City, 1941. xv + 476 pp. a large amount of plant practice and empirical data not available 59 figs. 13.5 X 20.3 cm. 8.25. hi^ is a good, easily readable, and thoroughly modern text in assembled texts or in the general literature, Commercialoperpublished in the james ~ ~ ~century d ~ series l l of science texts, ations are described and scaled-down counterparts of these are middle given for the use of the laboratory emulsion maker. These are ~h~ authors have done a good job of writing a book for it too presented in careful detail. The chemist-experimenter will be course between making a subject too practical and tbeoretical,~ =he book, as stated by the authors, has been particularly fortunate in that much of the required apparatus and him. written primarily for students of home economics. Therefore materials are The topics treated include a brief history of the development many of the illustrations given are drawn from experiences of gelatin emulsions, specifications and handling of emulsion mareferences, however, and common in the home, Except for film, paper,~and special a few such chapters a s "Chemistry in the dry," ~ terials, ~preparation~ of plate, ~ ~ emulsions, i A ~ and~ parts~ of such ~ chapters ; as "waterand Itsuseso and fine grain, slow, rapid, and color emulsions, special development and printing operations, and the testing and control of emulsion is very mud - ~ colloidal h ~ state," the contat of the Many simple sketches and tables are used to supplet h a t of any modem text in general chemistry, ~ ] t h there ~ ~ ~quality. h ment the text. is no such detailed discussion of metals and their compounds, for CHARLES E. RENN instance, as is found in most texts in general chemistry, alloys, HARVARD U~rveasrrv c ~ M ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ a n the other hand, receive good, and fuller treatment than in
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