The introductory chapter an the early chemical arts is perhaps too short and sketchy. Fom pages are devoted to how ancient Egypt made a beginning in chemical research andonly two pages are allotbed to chemistry and alchemy. The achievements of Moslem scientists dming this early period are treated adequately and fairly. As the representative of a metals industry, this reviewer e m heartily agree with the author's statement that "The chemical production of metals can be considered the greatest of all man's chemical achievements." Chapter 2 is appropriately entitled A Break in the Chemical Barrier. I t concerns the work of Boyle, Priestley, Lavoisier, and Scheele. The pseudo-magic of alchemy becomes the science of chemist,ry. The following chapter, Visioning the Unseeable, centers about t,he achievementn of Dalton and Csvendish. Thifi logio;dly loads to a con~idrrationof Gay-I,ussac, Avogndro, and Bereelius in the chapter entitled, Chemical Secrets of the Gases. Chapter 5, On t,he Trail of New Elements, involves Davy, Bunsen, Moiasan, Mend* Igeev, and Ramsry. KekulC and Wiihler are treated in the following chapter entitled Organic Chemistry on thc Move. Science for n New Ccntur.~autlincs the work of Mosclev and the Curies and devotrs a few paragraphs to isotopes, inside the atom, and nuclear fission. Because80 much progress ha8 been madein the laat two decades, this chapter is totally inadequate even if designed for junior high school students. The final chapter, Some Aehievem~ntsof the Chemist in Industry, is more an appendix. I t simply summariaea the t ~ c h nicsrl careers of Hall, Frnsch, Hsber, and Langmuir without giving a ~ t a d e nenough t hnrkground to prepare him for present day indust,rial research or production. High school sbudents will find this book highly usoful 8s a snpplomont to their introdi~ctionto the studp of chemistry. ROLLAND J. GLADIEUX Vnion Carhide Metals Company Niarara F d l s , h'ew York
Property Memrurementr at High Temperatures
'I' D. &Very, Mnssxchusetts Infititute of Technology. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Krw York, 1059. xii 416 pp. Figs. and t a h l ~ s . 10 X 26.6 em. $16.50.
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W. D. Kingery probably has as broad experience in the scientific study of high temperature properties as anyone in the wnrld. He has added to that experience a great amount of scholarly res~arehin ordrr to produce this book on the nature and techniques of high temperature property measurement. The t,itles of the fourtren chapters of the book are Temperature Measurement; 1,aboratory Refractories; Laboratory Furnaces; Heat Conduction and Radiation; Density and Thermal . Expansion; St,rength, Elasticity, and Deformat,ion of Solids; Thermal Stress Resistance; Viscosity; Rate Measurements; Calorim&ic Mmsuremmts; Phaae Equilibria (Continued on page A388) Volume
37,
Number
6,
June
1960 / A381
BOOK REVIEWS and Fusion Chruacteristics; Chemical Thermodynamic Meaurements; Electrical and Magnetic Properties; and Surface Energy. Author and subject indexes and seven brief appendixes are included. The appendixes contain mainly calibration data for temperature measuring devices. Each chapter normally begins with a discussion of the variables that affect the property or subject under discussion and of the particular experimental difficulties involved in a study of the p r o p erty or subject. Various kinds of experimental techniques are then presented and the advantages, disadvantages, and ex~erimentaldifficultiesarising from use of different types of apparatus a; discussed. A section, usually brief, on applications is then fallowed by an extensive list of reference sources. These subject bibliographies are among the most useful features of this useful hook. Illustrating the nature and organization of this hibliogrephical material, the references to the chapter on Thermal Stress Resistance are organized under the sub-hertdings: General Discussions of Thermal Stresses; Internal Stresses; Stresses in Surface Coatings; Thermal Stresses in Brittle Materials; Thermal Stresses in Ductile Materials; and Thermal Stress Test Methods. No chapter lists less than 50 references and several contain more than 100. As a work of English literature the book has deficiencies. Some sections look hurriedly written. A little additional care in the editorial offices could have saved the hook from this deficiency and from the unnecessary number of typographical errors present. But in scientific and engineering content, the book is excellent. Professor Kingery has an enviable faculty for perceiving the essence of a problem and for recognizing and delineating in clear fashion the experimental problems in an investige tion. F e n experts in the various areas covered by Professor Kingery's book will fail to find items of new information or useful suggestions, and investigators who are undertaking studies in new research areas will find the book invaluable. The book constitutes the most useful general reference work now available for those engaged in property studies at high temperatures. ALANW. SEAUCY Universil~of Califmia Bwkeley Comprehensive Analytical Chemistry. Volume 1A: Classical Analysis
Edited by Cecil L. W i k m and David W . Wilsm. D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., Princeton, New Jersey, 1959. xix 577 pp. Figs. and tables. 16.5 x 23 cm. $14.50 subscription: . . $17.501 single volume. This is the first of five volumes, some of several parts, which will cover "all types of analytical determinations." This major work is edited by two distinguished (Cmtinwd m page A38484)
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A382
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Journal o f Chemical Education
