BOOK REVIEWS investigators so that they will he informed sooner of contemporary researches outside their own geographical territory. The bibliographies in the three volumes a t hand indicate that it may take American journals a long time to reach the shelves of libraries in the U.S.S.R. I t has become apparent that in some fields of the physical and mathematical sciences, the Soviet literature is a t par with, or occasionally ahead of Western pnblications. On the other hand, the English-language reviews of Soviet medicine picture many areas of medical science in the U.S.S.R. s t a point which has long
since been passed in the American litersture. One gains the same impression from the three volumes under review. In the application of quantitative physical measurenlents to problems of phermacy, the careful recording of data, and their evaluation can he termed excellent. American pharmaceutical investigators will have much to learn from these researches (Val. 1). The trends toward practical problems are held on a relatively high plane, and testify to the good standards of applied research in the U.S.S.R. The srtioles in this volume are concerned primarily with problems of ~ohbility, stability, ion exchange and colloidal p r o p erties, and physical data of pure eompounds and pharmaceutical preparations.
The title of Volume 2, i.e., Pharmscognosy, is somewhat deceptive. Actually this book covers 61 papers on alkaloid isolation and chemistry in which the great Russian tradition in this field is eontimed. Seven articles on essentials oils. this volume. Volume 3, Medicinal Chemistry, contains papers on structure-activity relations in many areas, primarily in those of antiinfective drugs. The level of exprimentstion and scientific thought in these articles, some of which have been published as late as 1955, reminds one of the papers in pharmaoeuticsl chemistry as they were published in major Western journals in the late 1930's. There are exceptions to this generalieation, partieularly in several articles which try to explain biological activities in terms of resonance phenomena. I t is unfortunate that an apparent lack af communicstion led several Soviet investigators to duplicate experiments which had been reported in American and British journals years before. The rationale of basing medicinal chemistry on biological antagonism seems to have advanced but little in Russia. aecording to these papers. The few statements in this field which e m be found are more in the form of a review, and disregard essentially the innumerable intricacies of metabolite antagonism encountered in hiochemical ~tudies. One hopes that a part of the great scientific potential of younger Soviet chemists may be channelled into this fssoinating field of medicinal theory. The three volumes are printed by an offset process from typewritten copy, and are paper hound. Their extremely high cost reflects the effort of rendering an aoourate translation of 1400 pages of 8 X 11 in. manuscripts. Libraries of departments of medicine, chemistry, and pharmacy in universities and the pharmaceutical industry will find it essential to acquire the books, and for some specialists the pertinent volumes may become a storehouse of factual references. TJniuemity of Virginia Chadottesoille
Rapid Analysis of Nonferrous Metals m d Alloys Geo7ge Norwitz.
Chcmicd Publishing Co., Inc., New York, 1058. 112 pp. 12 X 18.5 cm. $4.25.
The author has presented methods for the determination of some 20 elements found in various combinations in nanferrous metals and allays. The book is divided into 16 brief chapters; for example, Chapter 2, Ingot Copper, Chapter 14, Lead-Tin Solders, and Chapter 1, Special Reagents. The methods stress the use of colorimetric procedures, use of perchlorie acid, mathematical eorreotion factors, and directions for making several determinations orr Lhe a m p l e (sequence procedures). (Continued on page AI74)
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B O O K REVIEWS The tent essentinlly contains eookhook directions. In many places it is too hricf, and clarity has been sacrificed. One ensmple of eonriseness is the frequent statement "Deduct a blank." The eolorime& ric procedures contain poor or no directions for the preparat,ion of calibration curves. One examplc of inconsistent directions appears on page 86: "Turn down the flame somewhat and move the flask to bhe edge of the hot plate." Perhap8 the author refers to a gas hurner hot plate which is rarely used in modern laboratories. This hook will serve an an aid to the analysis of nonferrous materials, although it is helieved that many of the procedures will present difficulty to the routine operator. JAMESM.PAPPENHAGEN Kenyon College Garnbiar. Ohio
Metallurgical Thermochemistry
0. Kubasehewski, Senior Principal Srientific offieel. a t the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, Middlesex and E. LL. Euans, Senior Scientific Officer a t the Chemical Research Laboratory, Teddington. 3rd. ed. Pergzman Press, Inc., New Yolk, 1958. xiv 426 pp. Many figs. and tahles. 14.5 X 22.5 em. $10.
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Research and process m~tallmgists know the v d n e of an up-to-date edition of this standard work. It $so helongs on the 1ihrsr.y shelves consulted hy physical ohemistry ~tudents. No professor who has ~trllggledto m&e a sound phenomenological baais for thermodynamics seem real to students can afford to overlook this prolific source of interesting examples taken from practical thermodynamics. Having worked such problems, students are hound to appreciate how ten minutes with a slide rule and free energy tables can save thousands of hours of costly trisland-error experimentation.
W. F.K.
Nouveau Traid d e Chimie Mine'rale Volume 12 Edited hy Paul Pascal, Honorary Professor, Sorbonno. Mxsson et Cir, Paris, 1958. xaxix 692 pp. 95 figs. 17.5 X 26 cm. Paper bound, 6000 fr. Clot,h hound, 7000 fr.
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A departure from the original plan of Pascal's new treatise is noted in this volume. Volume 11 was to have included the material on arsenic, antimony, h i s mnth, vanadium, niohium, tantalum, and protoactini~imhut the edit,or has decided to publish the data in t,wo volumes instead of one. For this reason, Volume 12 contains vanadium, niohium, tantalum, and protoactinium instead of the elements (Continued on page A t 7 f i )
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