SOYBEANS AND SOYBEAN PRODUCTS. VOLUME I
0
Edited by Klare S. Mcrrkley. Interscience Publishers, Inc., 540 pp. 123 figs. 92 tables. 15.5 X New York, 1950. xvi 23.5 cm. $11.
+
IP A person desires references regarding soybeans from 2838 B.C. to
1949 A.D., together with 8. short but accurate summary of each reference, this is the book to buy. The book is encyclopedic in charaoter, each of its fourteen sections heing prepared by a person thoroughly familiar w i t h his subject. The first three chapters, while not particularly interesting from the chemical viewpoint, make excellent and instructive reading relative to the history of the production, work production, and trade and also to the strucdure and genetic characteristics of the soybean. These chaoters are well illustrated oartieularlv that ttrtainine to United States. The botanical chapter carries a beautiful plate showing the color, ahapes, and sizes of thirty varieties of soybean seeds. The chapter on the chemical composit.ion of the soybean seed is somewhat short but those pertaining to the chemical and physical characteristics of the ail and to the nitrogenous and nutritive factors occupy more than half the hook. Under "influence of maturity" it is stated that "the composition of the soj-bean during its period of development and maturation is in a state of flux until physiological maturity is reached." Another interesting statement in the same section, from a. bulletin of the agricultural experiment ststion of the S. Manchuria Ry. Co., is "they [Tsukunaga and Nishino] found the iodine velue of the ail increased as the seed matured." I t is well known that the iodine number of soybean oil is more variable than is that of most seed oils. One table, four pages in extent, giving the results of analyses of ninetyfive semples of soybean oil from tmelve varieties of soybeans discloses a greater variance in iodine number than is usually puhlished elsewhere. The lowest iodine number is 99.6 and the highest 147.6. Several methods applicable to the analysis of edihle oils are described. Unfortunately in the description of t.he determination of the thiacyanogen value the methods for the prepamtion of the reagents are omitted. Under the subheading "Detection of soybean meal or flour in other materials," is given a twc-page summary of twenty publications of that. character. This may seem very little space, yet this reviewer, who is familiar with several but not all of the publications, can state that if work of that character is suddenly thrust upon an analyst he can ascertain by reading those two pages what methods are hest suited for his problems and then can get the details from the original puhlications. The last chapter relates to mechanical processing and is well illustrated with half-tone cuts of manv oieees of mschinerv.
detail. There is an enormous amount of valuable information in the chapter on proteins and other nitrogenous constituents, and also in that upon nutritive factors, culled from 495 and 204 original sources respectively. When one considers the enormous amount of necessary study, reading, abstracting, and presenting the results in excellent English it is evident that the publishers, the editor, and the contributors have done well in making this valuable information available to all. There is no index, it being reserved for inclusion in Volume 11.
0
SUPERFLUIDS. VOLUME I
Fritz London, Duke University. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New 161 pp. 45 figs. 15.5 X 24 cm. $5. York, 1950. viii
+
IN1911 Kamerlingh Onnes discovered that the electried resistance of mercury dropped to zero near 4.Z°K., the boiling point of helium. Also, the viscosity of liquid helium drops to nesr eero below 2.19'K. In 1933 Meissner and Ochsenfeld cooled a monocrystal of tin in a magnetic field. At the superfluid transition point, the magnetic lines of force ceased going through the crystal and passed around it. The magnetic induction thus vanishes inside the superconductor along with the electrical reesistance. Such behavior is not understandable in terms of classical mechanics. London deals in this book with the efforts to fit these facts into the theories of matter. He' apparently behaves as a BoseEinsteu~gas while He8 does not, as London antioipated. Thc particles of the fluid fiettle down with zero momentum in the superfluid temperature range. As a. result, the oorresponding wave lengths reach maoroscopic dimensions. Such particles have zero entropy. Interpenetrating with these particles in physical space but separated from them in momentum space are random particles which carry the entropy of the system. This book has both the fascination and limitations which go with unfinished theories. I t is dearly written a t the rather mathematical level required to discuss such phenomena. I t should he required reading for anyone who would understand the theory of matter at the lowest temperature. HENRY EYRING U ~ r v ~ n a r vor v Uma ~ A L TLAZE C ~ YUTAR ,
0
CHEMICAL THERMODYNAMICS
Frederick D. Rossini, Head,Department of Chemistry, Carnegie Ingtitute of Technology, Pittsburgh. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1950. xix 514 pp. 76 figs. 19 tahles. 14.5 x 22 om. $6.
+
THISbook is written as a text for a course in chemical thermodynamic,~for those who have studied physical chemistry and calculus. Emphasis is given to practical applications of thermodynamic principles, the material being arranged in the author's plans for instructional use and not necessarily in the order of the chronological development. Tho first five chapters trtke up background material and introductory concepts, and the first law of thermodynamics and various energy chmges are the subjects of the next five chapters. The hroad topics next discussed are entropy, free energy, thermcdynamic relations, energies of reaction, statistical calculations of thermodynamic functions, third law, equilibrium, solutions, equilibrium constant and free energy, electromotive force, thermodynamics of solutions of electrolytes, and applications of thermodynamic calculations. The appendix containins 13 tables of useful data, a table of symbols and bheir defintions, and s, list of 151 references. The author has been cmeful to follow a planned use of symbols which are essentially those prophsed by Lewis and Randall. For discussion of solutions-the symbol * is used to denote a -pure
for examole. standard heat of formation is callo; AHf" and st,and: md incr&nt in heat content for a combust,ion is ~1111edAHRO~
EERMANN C. LYTHGOE
for the teacher and thestudent.
