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would not be true of most chemists. There is little effort made to define terms and abbreviations, to state conditions under which data were collected, to provide understandable headings in the tahles or to interpret the data, to i t i the nonmetallurgist in using the book. The uninitiat,eJ is rightly expected to turn to textbooks on metallurgy for the needed instruction. This book is a collection of tables, not a treatise. On theother hand, Chapter 11, entitle3 Additional Metals, gives a n excellent brief summary of many of the physical and mechanioal properties of the less familiar chemical eleaents that chemists would have great difficulty to find so conveniently collected elsewhere. Another table that will be of use to the chemist is a long collection of data on the properties of theelements in Chapter 12. Melting points, however, are given only in degrees Fahrenheit. An extensive table of simple tests for identifying metals includes blowpipe tests. This last chapter also includes many useful conversion tahles for units. One glaring fault in the book is the Periodic Table that appears as Table 547. This is in the fonn of the obsolete short fonn, and still inoludes Ma instead of Tc for element 43, Cb for No. 41, Ab for No. 85, F a for No. 87, and shows 94, 95, and 96 as Group VIII transitional elements, andogous, to Fe, Co, and Ni. An ineffective attempt has been made to rectify some of the errors by footnotes. I t is recommended that this feeble table be replaoed by a corrected, modem table in the next printing. Fortunately this lapse is not typical. This excellent data book deserves 8. place an the reference shelf of any technical library. The comprehensive index makes the wealth of information readily accessible to those who have the background necessary to use it. LAURENCE 8. POSTER
Bemom. M~aa*cxos~rra
SIX-MEMBERED HETEROCYCLIC NITROGEN COMPOUNDS WITH FOUR CONDENSED RINGS
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(Volume 2 in the series "The Chemistry of Heterocydic Compounds," Arnold Weissberger, Consulting Editor), C. F. H. Allen, Eastman Kodak Co., in collaboration with D. M.Burness, Jean V. Crcrwfozd, F. W. Spangler, Eleanor R. Webster, and C. V. Wilson. Interscience Publishers, Ine., New York, 1951. dii 345 pp. 7 figs. 41 tables. 15.5 X 23.5 cm. $10 for single volume, $9 for subscribers to the series.
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THIS monograph discusses the heterocyclic nitrogen analogues of the seven different ring systems resulting from the various possible fusions of four benzene rings. In each d the seven chapters one of these ring systems is considered. The scope and arrangement of each chapter is such that eompounds with one heterocyclic nitrogen atom in various positions of the ring system are discussed first. Compounds with two, three, four, and five heterooyclic nitrogen atoms are then discussed whenever information concerning such compounds is available. All compounds in which there is a nitrogen atom common t o two rings of a fused system are omitted in stated anticipation of a. subsequent volume concerning such tmes. Althonghthe author of this volume is C. F. H. Allen, each chapter has apparently been written by one, two, or three of the collaborators and only for Chapter VI does Allen list his name as eo-author. The length of an individual chapter varies from 16 to 93 pages. The longest chapter concerns the azahensanthrenes. Other chapters cover amnephthacenes, s~abena[il]anthracenes, asabeneo[c]phenanthrenes, aztzachrysenes, aeatriphenylenes, and azapyrenes. Much of the material in the various chapters has been summarized in frequent tahles of compounds and their important properties. References have been collected a t the end of each chapter. Apparently the patent literature has been covered carefully, because a large proportion of the 652 references concern patents. I n any extensive discussion of organic compounds with the complexity of those within the scope of this volume, nomenclature
beoomes very important. The authors have choxn to use the so-called "a" or "am" system to name these compounls. For example, the name l-aerunaphthacene, is assigned to the compound which Chemical Abstracts prefers to name naphtho [2,3-gj quinoline. Another example is 6,7-diasabenz[a]anthracene, an alternate name for dibenzo[b,flnaphthyridinp which is the choice of Chemical Abslmets. I t is the opinion of this reviewer that a. name in accord with the "aza" system i3 more easily and rapidly translated to a. structural formula than a name in accord with the syatem which CiLernical Abstracts favors. This
apparently been better resolved with-the naming system used by that abstracting journal. At the belinning of each section dealing with a different nucleus, the structural formula of the nucleus is given with the "am" name used throughout that seetion. Other names including that preferred hy Chemical Abstracts and the Ring Index number where assigned are also given a t this point. These alternate names wil alro be found in the index so that the section in this book deabng with a particular nucleus can easily be located. There is ample justification fov the publication of a, volume concerned with six-membered heterocyclic nitrogen eompounds with four conrleused rings. Many of these compounds are of considerable interest as dyestuffs and i t is not surprising that a group of chemists from the Eastman Kodek Company should be the authors of s. eompilstion of these compounds and their chemistry. Further, many of the compounds within the scope of this volume have interesting physiological properties. For example, the index lists sixteen references to sections in the text concerning studies of the possible carcinogenic or antimalarial activity of certain of the compounds. Two groups of alkaloids are discussed in this volume. One of these is the chelidonium group with bazwhrysene as the. fundamental ring structure. The other is the aporphine group with 6-asabenzanthrene as the nucleus. The most important purpose this work will serve, h o w ever, is to stimulate further research in this particular branch of heterocyclic chemistry. Even a casual reading of a. chapter of this book will indicate the many gaps in the knowledge of this subject. The author and his collaborators have done organio chemistry 8. favor in making available theae excellent discussions. EARL C . S P A E T H
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HETEROCYCLIC COMPOUNDS. VOLUME 11. FIVE AND SIX-MEMBERED POLYCYCLIC COMPOUNDS CONT~ININGONE o S ATOM
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Edited by Robert C,Elderfield, Professor of Chemistry, Columbia University. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1951. vii 371 pp. 15.5 X 23 cm. $15.
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THIShook is the second published volume of a series concerned with heterocyclic compounds. The first volume of this series discussed three-, four-, five-, and six-membered monocyclic compounds containing one oxygen, sulfur, and nitrogen heteroatom. The present volume considers polycyclic compounds with one oxygen or one sulfur heteroatom. I t is proposed that polycyclic compounds with one nitrogen heternatam and heterocyclic compounds with two or more heteroatoms be considered in future volumes. Apparently polycyclic eompounds with threeor four-membered isocyelic or heterocyclic rings with one oxygen, sulfur, or nitrogen atom are so little known that they are not to be given a separate treatment, although in Volume I of this series, the chapter entitled Ethylene and Trimethylene Oxides includes a discussion of compounds with an ethylene oxide ring fused to a beneene ring or to certain polycyclic ring systems. The material within the scope of Volume I1 of this series has been divided into 14 chapters. These are as follows: 1. Benzafuran and Its Derivatives (67 pages), 2. Isobenzofuran, Phthalan,
