B O O K REVIEWS is to be kept within a reasonable size, this means that some of the less usual terms even in the field of the science concerned will be omitted. I t is not possible to have everything. The present dictionary is exactly what it claims to be, a. dictionary of chemistry and chemical technology. I t gives the English equivalents of a. very large number of highly technical chemical terms, chemical abbreviations, and the specific chemical meanings of more general words. I t omits a large amount of the general vocabulary needed to make a connected whole out of even a. fairly technical passage. Thus it could be used alone by someone entirely familiar with Russian, but not sure of the technical chemical meaning of words in the language. For someone less familiar with Russian, it could not be used alone. However, since i t has so many chemical terms which are seldom to be found in other technical dictionaries, it is sure to be of the greatest value to the increasing number of chemists who are now attempting to learn scientific Russian. The Hosehs deserve great thanks for their ompilation of so many highly technical terms, and when this dictionary is used in conjunction with a more general one, it will permit the translation of aln~ost any passage of chemical Russian. HENRY M. LEICESTER College of Physicians and Surgeons Unlverslty of the Pacific San Francisco, Cali,fornia
A432 / .lournol of Chemical Education
Practical Handbookon Spectral Analysis
V . S. Bwakov and A. A . Yankovskii, Moscow. Translated by R. Hardbottle. Translation edited by S . Tolansky, University of London. Macmillan Co. (a Pergamon Press book), 190 pp. New York, 1964. xiv Figs. and tables. 15.5 X 23.5 em. $12.
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This text, as the title indicates, is a handbook describing methods for t.he analysis of ferrous and non-ferrous alloys 8s they are used in the USSR. Detailed descriptions of the spectrographic e q u i p ment are also given. Many practical suggestions have been collected here, some of which are obvious to anyone versed in the art. A third of the book (50pages) is devoted to visual methods of semiquantitative a n d y s i ~ ,where a visual comparison is made of the relative brightness of two spectral lines in order to establish the percentage oi the metal in the allay. Photographs of parts of the spectrum so used are given with pairs of lines properly labeled ior nearly all the alloying elements usually determined in steel and nonferrous alloys. These methods are tedious and lack precisian and are rarely used in this country. Photographic methods are next described (32 pages) in which a. "nine-step absorber" is used. The more commonly used methods for establishing 8. calihration curve for the emulsion characteristics by means of a stepsector or related techniques are not mentioned.
The following section (20 pages) eont,ains nrsetieal su~eestionsfor the sneetral
or mentioned in the literature. An atlas of the iron spectrum in the visible region of the spectrum in color on a fold-out page is well done. There is also an atlas for the W region, obviously taken with a law-dispersion spectrograph, but on this fold-out page the different strips of the iron spectrum are out. of order and fallow no apparent sequence. The literal translation from the Russian has resulted in many peculiar and in some cases meaningless phrases. Statements such as "standard No. 125 from the 12th set of standards of the Urals Metal In-
cal journals. This book has little to offer for an experienced spectroscopist but would be ofbome valueto one sitting up a spectral laboratory. However he would not find descriptions of methods commonly used in t,his country. T n a x ~ 1s h VRIES P a d u e University I,afayette, Indiana
