the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institute of Washington and Johns Hopkins University during the academic year 1957-58. Each chapter was mitten by an authority on the topic covered and in most instances consists of a brief review of the subject, followed by a description of the mthor's researches and a reasonably comprehensive bibliography. A good cross section of the many topics in geoehemied research is provided. The book will be most nseful t o researchers on these problems by providing a. summary of recent results. I t will be valuable also as supplementary reading on the graduate level or ss a source for seminar material. The case history approach will allow the geology student t o gain a, better understanding of the broad appliosbility of geochemical methods of s,ttack in the d u t i o n of geological prohlems. The chemistry student will benefit by learning about the many possibilities of applying his knowledge in the relatively virgin field between the sciences of chemistry and geology.
largely concerned with the production of military supplies, and after the peace of Versailles they faced tremendous difficulties including the constant threat of being dismantled. All these matters are discussed adequately. The book closes with a masterly summing up of the social implications of science as presented by this industry. The reviewer likes this hook tremendously, not only for what i t tells hut for the readable manner i t whioh the story is presented. Only a few structural formulas areincluded and then only in footnotes. Tables of economic data which a less skilled writer might have thought essential are conspicuous by their ab~ence. This is B volume t o he enjoyed by students, teachers, practicing chemists, industrialists, educators and government officials, and by the intelligent public.
Ramn E . O E ~ P E R University of Cincinnali Cincinnati, Ohio
The Chemistry of Drugs Geophysical Service Ine. Dallas, Tezas
The Emergence of the German Dye Industry John Joseph Beer. Illinois Studies in t,be Social Sciences. Vol. 44. University of Illinois Press, Urhana, Illinois, 1959. vii 169 pp. 18 X 26 cm. Paperbound, $3 60. Cloth, $4.60.
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As is eminently proper, this historical study opens with the familiar story of A. W. Hofmann, his student William Perkin, and the latter's discovery of mauve, which led to the founding of the aniline dye industry. The influence of the Liebig school on the development of English chemical education is clearly outlined. Succeeding chapters tell the reesans for the decline and lack of progress of the British and French dye industries. Next is given an account of the rise of dye manufacture in Germeny and Switeerland, followed by a, first rate discu~sionof the mutual influence of this industry on the chemistry curricula, in the German and Swiss universities and Teehnische Hochschule and tho relations between sueh schools and the dye manufacturers. An especially good treatment is accorded the rise of the research laboratories within the industry "undoubtedly the greatest single contribution that this industry made to the advancement of science." This account follows in detail the development of the research program in the Bayer works, which was selected as a represent& tive example. The extension of the dye industry into related fields (fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals, photographic supplies, ete.) is given adequate attention. Special chapters are devoted to the growth of gigantic marketing programs and to the relation of the dye industry to the German state (patent laws, tariff regulations, and the like). The important matter of cartels is given a chapter of its own. During World War I, the dye factories were
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Journal o f Chemical Education
Norman Evers and D a n i s Caldwell. 3rd ed. Interscience Publishers, Inc.. New York, 1959. 415 pp. 16 X 23.5 cm. $12.25. The third edition of this book will be welcomed by pharmaceutical chemists who have used the second edition which appeared in 1933. The material has been brought up-to-date and covers hypnotics and antieonvulsants, analgesics and antipyretics, tranquilizers, anesthetics, sympathomimetics and adrenergic blocking
drngs,drugs for tuberculosis, leprosy, trypanammiasis, malaria, and helminthiases. All these are grouped together as synthetic drugs, and in this section are also found synthetic estrogens, diuretics, entieoagulants, and diagnostic agents. Under the heading of naturdly occurring drugs, opium alkaloids, strychnine, and alkaloids from cinchona, ergot, ipecac, curare, coca leaves, colchicum, and steroidal alkaloids are listed. Steroidal hormones. natural drugs also. Each major drug in these many categories is discussed. A brief history is given, extraction and synthetic methods are presented, and a list of physical properties is detailed. These facts ere not presented oritically, unfortunately. For example, whereas only the most prrtoticd method of synthesis is mentioned in most cases, the highly interesting hut equally impractical total synthesis of morphine is spelled out in detail. It is obvious that the authors have emphesieed those drugs with which they have been personally familiar: the total space devoted to vitamins is barely 28 pages. That means that the thoroughness of the treatment of the individual types of drugs is uneven in places, although the novice will get fairly adequate information even from the less complete chapters. This is not true of the biological significance and the mode of
action of drugs. The authors do not claim to cover these asoeets of drue researoh. and what they present in this area is quite inadequate. A valuable feature of the book, especially for readers in the U.K., is a fairly eomplete list of proprietary and non-propriet a w drup names. However, the American reader will stumble over numerous eases where nomenclature used in this country has not been considered. On the whole. thr h w k i, inb,rnm:!Iiw :and rrpn.sr!.ts wn vliurr to vowr s h r g r : t m o u t . I ui matvri:tl in a. slim and relstivcly inexpensive monograph. ALFREDBURGER University of Virginia Charlottesville
Free Radicals:
An Introduction
A. F. Trotman-Dickason, Lecturer in Physical Chemistry in the University of Edinburgh. Methusen's Monographs on Chemical Subjects. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1959. 142 pp. Figs. and tables. 11.5 X 17 em. $2.50.
The short monograph by TrotmanDickenson entitled "Free Radiods: An Introduction," provides the reader mith a hlcid and concise account of free radical chemistry. The reactivity of free radicalls iis the main topic of this exposition, and the author presents his subject in s. systemztitio way by surveying all types of elementary reactions whioh play a role in processes involving free radicals as intermediates. Thus the content of the book is divided into sections such as formation of radicals, their recombination, transfer reactions, addition reactions, decomposition of radicals and their isomerization. The structural problems are only briefly mentioned; perhaps further elaboration of this subject would have been desirable. Also, the dynamics of radical resetion could have been taken further. Since the book is addressed to nonspeoialists who would like to acquaint themselves with the chemistry of free radicals, it would have been advantageous t o discuss some processes of general import,ance and t o show how relatively small variations in the rates of elementary reactions might completely change the character of sueh a orocess.
MICHAEL SZWARC
N w York Slate College of Forestry Syracuse
Pvnched Cards: Their Application l o Science a n d Industry Edited by Robed 5. Casey, James W. Perry, Madeline M. Berry, and Allen Kent. 2nd ed. Reinhold Publishing 697 pp. Corp., New York, 1958. x Figs. and tables. 17 X 23.5 em. $15.
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The second edition of "Punched Cards" is of fss greater value t o chemists, teachers
BOOK REVIEWS of chemistry, and chemical librarians than the first. In addition t o retaining the important fundamental chapters on t,he nature and use of hand- and machincsorted punohed cards and necessary e q u i p ment, this edition contains new chapters on thc npplicstion of punched cards to spoeific arcm of importance to chemists, such as ohemical analy~is by spcctral methods and scxrohing metallurgical literature. There is also a new chapter which roviows several important applications of punrhed csrds to fields such as nucloer and hiological data,,photvgraphy, lnboratory records, t,echmeal aerviccs, market research, ohemical literature, the petroleum industry, and others. The second odition also includes infor-
mation on punched card systems which have afisumed greater importance in the years since the first edition was published, such as the "Prek-&-boo System," the "United System," and the "Zato-coding System." All hut five of the thirty chapters have been changed extensively, many being enlarged substantially. Unfortunately, the chapters on the use of punched cards for systematic indexing of orgsnio oompounds and for scientific oomputation have hem omitt,ed from this rdition, but information on the former is included in the chapters on spectral methods and chemical compounds and an extensive bibliography contains several references to material on the latter. The book has been carefully edited and suffers less than many edited books from a lack of continuity. The reader who has had absolutely no previous contact
u-ith punched cards ma\- have some dificulty in comprehending the operation of some of the svstems described. hut the to this problem. Lihrsrians in d l fields will undoubtedly appreeiat.e the emphasis given to their prohlems on classifying, roding, and retrievine reoorts. oatents. inderine. -. literature se&chhg, &I othrrareas of library work. The physical characteristics of the hook are significantly superior to thore of the first edition u-ith regard to type size (larger in the second edition) and qudity of paper and hinding. KIRSCHFER STAYLEY Wayne State Univemity Detroit, Michigan Silicones
Robert N . Meals and Fwderick M . Lewis, Silicone Products Department, General Electric Company. Reinhold Puhlishing Corp., New York, 1959. xi 267 pp. Figs. 14 X 19.5 cm. $5.05. This most recent volume in the Reinhold Plastics Applications Series will he of wider interest than some of the previous ones. Since the silicone plastics are not based on conventional organic chemistry, as most obher plastics are, the authors have found it desirable to devote almost half of the book t o a consideration of the more fundrtmental chemistry and physics which underlays the technical applications of silieonos. Thus the physical properties of these materials are related to molecular structure and properties u-henever possible and considerable detail about the pertinent chemistry of silicon is given. I n keeping xith this approach there is also a n appendix which outlines the nomenclature of organosilicon compounds. The treatment of these aspects of silicon chemiatry is, of course, not exhaustive but it does provide a good introduction to this increasingly important field. This basic discussion is followed hy chapters on manufacture, fabrication, and applications And finally a most interesting r;urve,v of the ways in which the present nrouerties of silicones may he modified in
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The educational uses of this Series will he mainly in the fields of chemical engineering and industrid chemistry. THOMAS E. FERINGTOV The College qf Woosler Il'ooster, Ohio The Chemical Behavior of Zirconium
Warren B. Blumenthal, Xational Lead Company, Niagara Falls, N. Y. D. Van Nosti-and Go., Ine., Princeton, New Jersey, 1958. vi 398 pp. 16 X 23.5 cm. $11.
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Our knowledge of the ehemistry oi zirconium is changing rapidly from that of an a r t to that of a science. The publication of this comprehensive hook will rcrtninly accelerate the transition. The author's familiarity with the field of ni~coninm chemistry is ohvious in the wide range of topics presented. The (Continued on page :I7761
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