JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
342 solid derivatives and their melting points. In view of the confusion in nomenclature of organophosphorus compounds the author has wisely adopted the device of tabulating these substances by their condensed structural formulas. These are set in bold type so that they are easily read. The compounds in each chapter are also arranged by classes, e. g., .primary (?HE) secondary (R2PH), and tertiary (Rap) phosphmes, b~phosphines (&P-PHs), and phosphine-methylenes (RaP=CR1). The last section of each chapter consists of a numbered list of literature references which are arranged alphabetically by the authors' names. Professor Kosolapoff's style is both lucid and stimulating and he has been scrupulously careful in assembling the contents of this text. In the absence of any general theory of reaction mechanism for the phosphorus compounds the author has not included this aspect of the topic. The reviewer is of the opinion that the discussion of such material would make this excellent text mare atimulnting. The paucity of information an organophosphorus compounds in most organic textbooks and the merit of this hook make it an important and necessary addition to every chemical library JACOB G . SHAREFKIN
B~ooxfirrrC o ~ ~ a a e BROORLTN lo. NEWYORB
rate of these have been "simplified and adapted" and others omitted. It is frequently the case that students do not "get a. real understanding of a new subject until they observe the phenomena for themselves in the laboratory" and consequently "each topic is introduced by a few short experiments. These are fallowed by a brief and usually very clear discussion oi the theory involved and of its historical development and, at the end of the chapter, other somewhat more dificnlt experiments. "The classical atomic theory, on which the science of theoretical chemistry is largely based, is treated mom fully than usual. In the author's opinion, the history of the atomic theory in the iirst half of the nineteenth century is rarely given the place of importance it merits, and. .it is not surprising that students do not have a clear understanding of its significance." With this opinion the reviewer feels inclined to agree. More or less coincident with the widespread adoption of the concepts of h m i e stmehre a& eketmic theories of wknce as introductory material in the general chemistry textbook, the logic of the d e velopment of our fundamental chemical theory, upon which our whole system of atomic and molecular weights, formulas, equations and valences depends, has disappeared from our books and, it is feared, from our teaching. We might well ponder the effect of this revolution on future scientific thinking. "More experiments are included than would normally be .in an introductory course." The total is aver two done. hundred. But many of these are short and involve only observation, not measurement, and are frequently used as laborstory or lecture demonstrations in the general chemistry course in American colleges. Many of the longer experiments, also, are descriptive in nature and apparently no attempt is made in any of the experiments to obtain results with high precision. No problem or written exercises are included and no references except in a. bibliography of about twenty books, all of English authorship. Thc extensive collection of experiments as well as the clear theoretical explanations of the theory involved make this book worthy of examination by teachers of elementary courses in physical chemistry. Other teachers may find many suggestions of value also. Very few errors of any sort have been found.
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TEXTBOOK OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
Louis F. Fieeer and M a r y Fieser. D. C. Heath and Co., Boston, 1950. viii 741 pp. 16 X 24 em. $6.
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TEE new edition of this well-established text has brought it up to date on recent developments (lithium aluminum hydride reductions, d o n , cortisone, etc.). Two new features, a summary at the end of each chapter and answers to all problems (incorporated a t the end of the book), should ineream its usefulness. The outstanding qualities of exactness in treatment of detail coupled with a. truly interesting presentation have been retained. Errors of fact are few in numher; on page 83, however, the statement that the alkylation of sodium aeetylides is confined to methylation should be modified to include higher primary alkyl halides. One other new feature, the inclusion ot material on reaction mechanisms, has been used with restraint and, for the most part, in places where a more detailed picture will aid in understanding. In a few instances this phase of the presentation has not been handled as well as might be desired. When the autbom suggest that resotions in acidic solutions involve methoxide or hydroxide ions (pages 142, 145, 162) they are more likely to confuse the student than to give him a clearer picture of the reaction in question. On page 66 hypohalite additions to alkenes are discussed as ifthey occurred only in alkaline medium, and hydroxide ion is indicated to be a catalyst for the reaction between chlorine and water. The text may be highly recommended on most connt~. F. G . BORDWELL UNXYERBITY NORT~WEBTEBN EYANBTON, ILL~NOIS
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PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY, EXPERIMENTAL AND THEORETICAL
G. Van Praogh, Head of the Science Department of Christ's Hospital, Horsham. England. Cambridge University Press, New York, 1951. xiv 295 pp. 113 figs. 5 plates. 15 X 22 cm. $2.75.
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As INDICATED in the preface, this book is presented "for a laboratory manual of experiments in physical chemistry suitable for school and college use." Because it is felt by the author that "the limited time and equipment usually available render impracticable many physical chemistry experiments described in existing textrbooks" a. number oi the more advanced and elabo-
W.
B. MELDRUM
H*vanronn ComEoa, HAYEBPORD. PENNBYLVAN~A
SOURCEBOOK ON ATOMIC ENERGY
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Somuel Glasstone, Consultant to the United States Atomic Energy Commission. D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., New York. 1950. 546 pp. 16 X 24 cm. $2.90. v
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ORIGINALLY planned to serve as a comprehensive "sonreebook" on atomic energy for the use of authors, textbook and science editors, Dr. Glasstone's latest volume will appeal to chemistry teachers as a readable and reliable reference book in the rapidly developingfield of nuclear chemistry and physics. I t was witten under the auspices of the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission, and from the unusnallv low mice far which it is offered it is assumed that part of the &st of producing the book was borne by this agency. The first chapter gives a quick review of the atomic theory and the periodic table. Chapter I1 presents an elementary discussion of the developments of ideas about the constituent parts of atoms, going back to the early experiments on the passage of electricity through gases. I t then proceeds to the discovery and chmtrseterization of electrons, protons, positrons, X-rays, particles from radioactive elements, and neutrons. Mesons, neutrinos, and other less familiar entities are not introduced until much later. The few chemistry teachers who find that the first 57 pages contain information with which they are unfamiliar should regard themselves a s nineteenth century in outlook. Chemistry teachers who have ratted themselves as twentieth century types by the above criterion will still need familiarity with the topics
