NOVEMBER. 1953
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to the literature should insure his familiarity with both the techniques of manipulating and the reliable sources of thermochemical data. The treatment of the second and third laws of thermodymmics is far less satisfying to those teachers of physical chemistry whose concern is to develop in their students' minds rtn appreciation of the subtler concepts of free energy and entropy. There is ample opportunity for the student to exercise himself in calculations employing them, but shallowness of real understanding may result unless the teacher establishes emphasis by altering the author's order of presentation or by supplementary discussions. The idea that entropy is a concept made necessary by the irreversibility of Nature's energetic operations is a case in point. The author retains the position of the chapter on Free Ensrgy of Chemical Changes ss the next to the last in the book, an apparent prelude to the hd one on Potentials of Electrolytic Cells. The piecemeal treatment of the van't Hoff equation in the chapter on Equilibrium in Homogeneous Systems alludes to the second law, but focuses the student's attention solelv on the kinetic ~ i c t u r eof
some hydrocarbon reactions. The reactions that are considered m e catalytic cracking, thermal cracking, rtlkylation, isomeriza-
tion, and polymerization. The final ohapter (71 pages) is by A. J. Juhola. on the separation and purification of hydrocarbons by selective adsorption. In general, each section is well written, the material selected with taste, and presented in a scholarly style. Active workers in the field of hydrocarbon technology will appreciate the convenience and utility of this work. Indeed, the vast hordes of petromankind who indulge in high living and low thoughts will find this volume instructive, interesting, and conducive to a high level of reflective thinking. GEORGE HOLMES RICHTER TXBRICEIN~TITVTE HOUBTON. TEX*.
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same time the more abstruse thermodynamic concept of the division of total energy between available and unavailable portions. Likewise, there is no intimation of the very practical implication of the third law that it is possible to use thermochemical data or even the theoretical parameters of molecular structure to calculate equilibrium constants for systems under extremely difficultexperimental conditions. The collection of problems is outstanding, even better than the lists of previous editions. There are no "trumped-up" problems. Some groups artre divided into a more or a less mature set. One of the most gratifying features is the large number of references t o the original literature which are supplied. This is an important advantage for those teachers who me interested in having their students gain an appreciation of the scope and dynamics of research. T ~ CEo f i ~ s a eor W O O ~ T E R woomen, O m 0
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WILLIAM F. KIEBFER
PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY OF THE HYDROCARBONS. VOLUME I1
Edited by Adalbert Forkas. Academic Press, Inc., New York, 1953. x 411 pp. 86 figs. 76 tables. 16 X 24 cm. 59.
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As CHEMISTS putter about their laboratories, they are overwhelmed with the depressing realization that man has lost his primordial innocence and security. He is no longer guided safely by instinct hut is now dependent upon Lehrbucher, mohographs, or treatises. Fortunately, a cloud of critics and compilers hasten to his relief through a generous effusion of such publications. This particular series is an unusually good addition to the literature on hydrocarhons. It attempts to gather material scattered among a large number of sources and to present it in a convenient form. In Volume 11,a group of experts, representing both industrial and academic circles, review the theoretical basis of the properties, reactions, and separation by selective adsorption of hydrocarbons. The book is divided into seven chapters. The first article (80 pages) is by Kurts and Sankin, of the Sun Oil Company, on the density and refractive index of hydracarbons. The second chapter (18 pages) is by 0. R. Quayle and Kurt5 on the surface tension and parachor of hydrocarbons. John G. Aston and Mastrangelo srg the authors of Section Three (32 pages) dealing with the heat capacity of hydrocarbons. C h a p ter Four (22 pages) on the critical heheviar of hydrocarbons, is by R. H. Olds. Chapter Five (33 pages) is a discussion of theoptical activity of hydrocarbons by R. L. Burwell, Jr. R. C. Hansford is the author of Chapter Six (133 pages) on the mechanisms of
BLOOD CELLS AND PLASMA PROTEINS
Edited by James L. Tullis, Harvard University. Academic Press, Inc., New York, 1953. xxi 436 pp. 97 figs. 15.5 X 23.5 cm. 58.50.
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THISvolume is Number 2 in s. series of Memoirs of the Harvard University Laboratory of Physical Chemistry Related to Medicine and Public Health. It consists of manuscripts submitted by 29 individuals who participated in series of seminars on blood during the spring of 1951. The composition, physical p r o p erties, interactions, and functions of the components of blood are exhaustively treated in the various chapters by these authors, all of whom are active research workers in some phase of the subject. Indeed. this reviewer knows of no sin& volume to which one
of the blood: erythrocytes, leucocytes, and platelets. The reader of this book cannot fail to be impressed with the contribution toward a mare complete understanding of the properties and functions of the blood constituents that has resulted from the improved methods for their separation from blood. These methods, developed during the last decade or so, have resulted in largeacdle production of blood fractions whose constituents have undergone minimum changes from their atate in nature. The reader also will appreciate that many of the investigations reported here were prompted by problems of the blood bank. Blood preservation, either as whole blood or ss constituent, parts, whet,her they be plasma fractions or cells, in sneha manner that their original properties will not be lost, presents extreme difficulties. These prohlems of successful preservation are being solved gradually as a. result of many painstaking observations on the blood constituents. The book is divided into seven sections. In the first section, following an historical introduction, E. J. Cohn describes separation af plasma proteins through their interaction with neutral salts, heavy metals, alkaline earths, and as a result of interactions among themselves. A detailed consideration of the numerous factors concerned with blood coagulation makes up Section 11. In this section the structure and properties of the platelets are discussed, espscially in connection with the problem of preserv* tion of these cells in a viable state after their separation from blood. D. M. Surgenor, B. Alexander, J. H. Ferguson, J. T. E d s d , and J. L. Tullis contributed the chapters to this section. The components of humzn blood concerned with immunity are presented in four chapters in Section 111 by C. A. Janeway, J. F. Enders, J. L. Oncley, and W. E. Ehrich. In Section IV, the erythrocytes are considered from the viewpoint of their origin and functions, their preservation and storage by J. G. Gibson, Znd, M. Strumia, and R. B. Pennell. 0 . F. Denstedt has written a h e chapter on the respiratory activity of the mammalian erythrocyte and its enzyme content. Some of the problems involving the white cells, such as their release from the honemarrow, diurnal variations in number of lsucacytes, phagocytosis, hista-
