BOOK
REVIEWS
Physical Chemistry
Gorda M . Bamm, Case Institute of Technology, Cleveland, Ohio. McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York, 1961. xiii 694 pp. Figs. and tables. 17.5 X 24 om. $8.95.
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This text may he recommended to the instruetar in the elementarv course who
more modern aspects. It should prove particularly valuable to the graduate student interested in a comprehensive survey of the field. The average beginning student will find the pace and level a challenge to his ability; the superior student will find a course built around this text an exciting experience. Atomic structure, molecular structure, and chemical bonding are treated at greater length than is customary in an elementary text; about one-third of the subject matter falls in this general area. The discussion of such topics as crystal field theory, ?mamagnetism, and NMR spectroscopy gwes some indication of the level at which structure and bonding are treated. Approximately one-third of the hook is devoted to thermodynamics. The
-Reviewed
statirrtieal approach is used to reinforce and explain the observations and laws of classical thermodynamics. The latter area is the only one in which tKe book is open to serious criticism. The statements of the first and third laws are particularly misleading. The treatment of chemical equilibrium is so abbreviated as to be of little value to the student who has not already acquired a thorough grasp of the principles involved. Perhaps the most outstanding chapter is that dealing with the rates and mechanisms of reactions. The emphasis here is placed, as it should he, on the use of rate laws in unravelling reaction mechanisms, particularly in the field of organic chemistry. The application of such modern techniques as flash photolysis and mass spectroscopy to problems of current research interest is described in a manner calculated to excite the interest of the student. This same rcseerch-oriented itp~ r o s c his used in B chanter on macromolc~~ulm where 1i.e ~ p l ~ l i w t i ouiun ~ & m uf the terhnicws t o t l drrrrmiwition ~ srurrurr of proteim a d ~,tl,trpulynaeric materials is discussed. I t is highly unlikely that all the material in this text could he covered adequately in a year course in elementary physical chemistry. The arrangement of material,
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in This Issue
Gbrdon M . Barrow, Physioal Chemistry
L. Eade Arnow and Marie C. D'Andrea Logan, Introduction to Physiological and Pethological Chemistry Harold Hart and Robert D. Schuetz, A Short Course in Organio Chemistry Robert B. Fiseher, A Basic Course in the Theory and Practice of Quantitative Chemical Analysis
0.W . Nilz, Introductory Chemistry I . M. Kolthoff and Philip J . Elving, Treatise on Analytical Chemistry. Part 2, Analytical Chemistry of the Elements, Volume 5 S. C. Wallwork, Physical Chemistry for Students of Pharmacy and Biology David J . G. lves and George J . Janz, Editors, Reference Elcotrodes: Theory and Praotiee The NMR-EPR Sta$ of Varian Associates, NMR and EPR Spectroscopy E. H . B. Pietsch and the Cmelin Institute, Editors, Gmelins Handbuch der Anorganisohen Chemie. 8. Auflage. System 9, Sulfur, Part B P . Colmnt, Chimie Gknkrale et abrkgk de Chimie Minkrsle Leo. E. Klopfer, The Discovery of Bromine, The Chemistry of Fixed Air Soviet Research on Organo-Phosphorus Compounds, 194S195G
however, is such that one could select for discussion a limited number of topics without sacrificing clarity or continuity. In particular, several topics indicated in the text by asterisks could readily he omitted. The problems at the end of each chapter are graded in difficulty and are, for the most part, adequate though hardly inspiring. The numerous illustrations throughout the text are uniformly cxcellent. The frequent use of literature references serves to stress the major theme of this text-the application of physical chemical principles to modern chemical research.
Introduction to Physiological and Pothological Chemistry
L. Earle Amm, Warner-Lamhert Research Institute, Morris Plains, New Jersey, and Marie C. D'Andrea Logan, S t . Vincent's School of Nursing, Indianapolis, Indiana. 6th ed. C. V. Moshy Co., St. Louis, Missouri, 1961. 490 pp. Figs. and tables. 17 X 24.5 cm. $5.50. This textbook for nurses is written in a very readable style. The student nurse is led by the hand through some of the common pitfalls such as the balancing of chemical equations and the solving of weight-weight problems. Clinical and other applications are numerous. However, this is a mediocre textbook of chemistry because it has a very inaccurate and shoddy presentation of chemical principles. The following quotations illustrate some of the false statements which students will grasp with case and relinquish with difficulty: "Calcium hydroxide (Cs(OH)$) is a. weak base" (p. 85); "Only molecules having electrovalence can form ions in water" (p. 95); "Some water molecules possess electrovalence hut most water molecules contain only covalent linkages" (p. 95); "Equilibrium between silver chloride and the ions which unite to form it (Ag+ and C1-) is not possible, then, because the silver chloride does not remain in solution and therefore cannot dissociate again into tons" (p. 102); "Organic acids are muoh weaker than inorganic acids" (p. 159). Although the new definitions of the meter, the latest metric ~refixes,and a list of nuclear particles and anti-particles are included, the current symbols for argon and einsteinium are not. Hydrolysis is defined too broadly as any reaction involving water. A saturated solution is d e h e d awkwardly as one which contains all of the salute it is capable of holding. I t is implied that isomerism is unique to organic compounds. The alkyl halides are called esters. Resonance is shown as a n equilibrium phenomenon. For the hydrolysis of sodium carbonate, with conditions unspecified, the reaction is said to he fastest for the formation of unhydrolyzed sodium carbonate.
Volume 39, Number 2, February 1962
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