Finally, in its most exquisite role in this hook, chemistry is Levi's metaphor. The elements that name Levi's chapters took their names from their properties, their origins, or from the mythological gods who shared their traits. Levi gives these traits t o the people and events in his life: his Jewish famdy, unyielding, unchanged hy infusion into other cultures, unreactlve, like argon; his friends. for instance Sandro Delmastro. later todie for the Rcsmarlre,teatin~hisphysiral and mental wdurancr with lung t'oodless treks in the mountains, rlimhing ruck, with primnivr e ~ u i p m c n t as , 11' preparmg hnn41,tamperiny. himself,likernm. On the surfwe, this book coilccts reflertnm ofa lilr in chemistry: It is-or would have liked to be-a micro history, the history of a trade and its defeats. victories, and miseries, such as everyone wants to tell when he feels closeto concluding the are of his career, and art ceases to be long. Having reached this point in life, what ehemist, facing the Periodic Table, or the monumental indices of Beilstein or Landolt, does not perceive among them the sad tatters, or trophies, of his own professional past? (pp. 22G225). But beyond these reflections, in Levi's sensitive metaphor, lies insight into how our training and its accompanying language shapes our view-indeed, shapes the world. As Jacob Bronowski asserted, language is not merely a tool for describing the world, hut rather a means of exploring and organizing it. Amone these chaoten..we also find chemistry as n suhiert, pure, practical, and p117zlmg. Levi's rewllcrtiuns of dilfirult projects such as his etfurls to rcrover "livered" paints-draw us in, make us scratch our heads, test our powers of deduction. He gives us all the facts that were a t his disposal, and shows us the joy of finding that hidden connection, that final clue that unifies all the evidence. Teacher and student will find familiar reactions, a bit of stoichiometry, lab safety notes, but here endowed with literature's immediacy, which approaches that of experience itself. The student who knows that AgCl is not a green gas knows it not from the text or from our mouths, hut from seeing it, white and heavy, in the tube. But the student who reads about Levi's encounter with potassium will know the hazard as if firsthand and will feel with literature's directness the power end the breadth of Levi's advice:
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Levi shapes these chemical reflections beautifully, tastefully, sensitively. He amalgamates chemistry as subiect and chemistry as metaphor without artifice, without pretense. The chemist who reads this book will see the Periodic Table in an entirely new light. The elements who me Levi's characters will henceforth emit a glow from their intersections of family and period, a glow that textbooks never prcduee, that illuminates the human plight as only the experience of our own lives and the experiment of literature can do. Gale Rhodes University of SoMhern Maine Poniand. ME 04103
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School S c l e n c e Safety:Elementary Jack A Gerlovich, (Editor). Timothy F. Gerard, Gary E. Downs, Paul H Joslin, and L. C. Flinn, Jr.. Flinn Scientific. Inc., Batavia, IL. 1984. ix 129 pp. Tables. 22 X 28 cm.
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This hook aimed a t elementary school teachers is similar in structure to the book for teachers in the secondary school reviewed below. The opening chapter is concerned with legal liability. Subsequent chapters deal with laboratory practices in the life sciences and the physical sciences. There is also a good section on classroom facilities and on safety planning. There has been less agreement as to what should be taught in elementary school seience classes, and the hook in same measure will serve as a guide for subject matter as well as safety in presentation. In the reviewer's opinion the text will increase the confidence of teachers through its suggestion of appropriate experiments and projeds in addition to the general instructions on how t o conduct classes with minimum hazards. Teachers who use this hook will benefit nlzo from rending as a compmion the hmk for sercmdary schod reachers. Whenever opportunity offers, we will urge school systems to provide their teachers with both. Malcolm M. Renfrew Un~vers~ty of Idaho Moscow. ID 83843
School S c l e n c e Safety: S e c o n d a r y Jack A. Gerlovich.. IEd~torl. Tmothv F. Ge. rard. Burgess Shrwer. Gary E. Downs, and L. C. Flinn. Jr.. Flmn Scientific. inc.. Balavia. iL. 1984. xl 179 pp. Figs, and tables. 22 X 28 cm.
only t&
This book effectively will motivate science teachers to include good safety practices in their preparation for laboratory classes; it provides reference materials helpful in determining what are good practices. Chapter 1 deals with legal questions which
While Levi knew the holocaust firsthand. this book is not holocaust eore. .(Nor are his other hooks, which deal more direetly with those darker chapters in his life.)
A302
Journal
of
Chemical Education
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Hazardous Chemicals, lnformatlon a n d Dlsposal Gulde, S e c o n d Edition Margaret-Ann Armour, Lois M Browne,
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um, but withsodium nothing would have happened), the practically identical, the appronimate, the or-even, all surrogates, and all patchwork. The differences can he small, but they can lead to radically different consequences, like a railroad's switch points, the
chemist's trade (p. 60)
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and Gordon L. Weir, Lab Store, Milwaukee. WI, 1984. xii 287 pp. 15.2 X 22.8 cm. $20.00 PB.
. . . that
one must distruit the almost-thesame (sodium is almost the same as potassi-
will be raised if there is an accident in the laboratory and warns the teacher about prospective penalties if there has been negligence (and even if there has not). Subsequent chapters are devoted to the specific problems met in handling chemistry, physics, and hiolagy courses. The hook inevitably will he compared with the "Manual of Safety and Health Hazards in the School Science Laboratory" (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1980) and its supplement, "School Science Laboratories, A Guide t o Some Hazardous Suhstanees" ( U S . Consumer Product Safety Commission, 1984). In the opinion of this reviewer the hook by Gerlovich et al. will he the first choice of teachers: it benefit* from the hnnds-on erperlcnce 01 Flinn Scirntific. Ine.. in conducting rafety ir~specrionsand [raining programs in secondary schools. All three hooks deriraldg should br coailv arrepsihlp tu the HS science teacher. Photoreproduction of the typed manuscript has limited the extent t o which the more important materials could he visually emphasized, and there are some typographical errors (obvious errors which will not lead t o misunderstanding). There are useful check lists for safety inspections s t the close of each chapter. Good counsel is offered on the choice and handling of chemicals. The information on eye protection is reasonably mod hut tolerates the use of ohotochromic " lenses, and the authors stop short of requiring eye protection in the laboratory a t all times. This reviewer was startled by the omission from the listed references of "Safety in Academic Chemistry Laboratories" (ACS, 1979), and he was disappointed that readers are not encouraged to follow the safety columns in THIS JOURNAL. Overall. however. the h w k w~llmakeadt.finitecontrib111ionto impnwement in the safetv of lahurntori~rin schools uhercver it ia a w : i a h l ~and 15 used. Malcolm M. Renfrew University of ldaho MOSCOW. ID 83843
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This book is a handy source of physical and chemical properties, health hazards, and handling advice for 220 common laboratory chemicals. Its chief change since the first edition (reviewed in THIS JOURNAL, 60,A-26 (1983)) is the inclusion of laboratory waste disposal procedures that have been tested in the University of Alberta laboratories. For several chemicals new procedures have been developed. An example is destruction of picric acid through reduction to the triamine by tin and hydrochloric acid. This is aneminently practical book for laboratory chemists. Blaine C. McKusick Wilmington. DE
