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OCTOBER. 1950 the nonspecialist, the book is not an unmixed blessing, however. Among the more important reasons for this are the following: the introduction and repeated use of terms, notations, and classifications which are of questionable value; the relatively brief exposition of concepts, such rts the polaron and exciton, which are unfamiliar to the novice, while such familiar concepta as the difference between a substance snd s. nlaterial are considered in great detail; and considerable speculation by the author ooncerning the structure of certain specific luminescent centers and the mechanism of luminescence in these cases, which is not clearly indicated to be speculation. Other features which detract from the book are the author's style, which is replete with italics and boldface type and makes profuse use of parenthetical remarks; and the difficulty, in spite of extensive indexing, of finding where a specific property of a specific phosphor is dkcarsed in the text. There is 8. wealth of useful and illustrative data on d l the techI~~cHII? inlport~utp l ~ ~ ) s l ~Thh~wr ~arc . 1)l'mentrd in nulucnll~a t x l h iud exvrllrr~tgmplw. Thrrc is also 8 long biblioyrilphy with enqhit.iix the must rerent work on pLlobphom.
~ ro the 1 1 1 0 ~ 1p ~ a ~ I i cd: ~ l. n ~ f i o 0n1 ) s hydrudynnmio~; X I kinctiu lurnnws ilnd flamcholdcr~. 1ncvit:~hlythe), art; I U I I P V C in ~ (IUIIIily; I,ut r l t r r lrllection -c i v r i 3 f.xir mlllrcr~io~l of ullr kll~wlvd~e ill this field. I t should be emphasized that there are no "review" papers in the collection: tho= aro resemoh papers. A stranger to the field will find no connected introduction here. But the worker in this field will find a variety of current viewpoints drawn together in a stimulating, and ocoasionally contradictory, fashion. Every such worker will want this volume, and will feel indebted to the eommittee which saw the Symposium through the press.
.
BRYCE
L CRAWFORD, dR.
Un~vrnslTmOF M ~ ~ E S O T & M I P W ~ A P MINNEBOTA OL~
0
SUGAR, ITS PRODUCTION, TECHNOLOGY, AND USES
Andrew Van Hock, Professor of Chemishy, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts. The Ronald Press Co., New York, 1949. ix 155 pp. 24 figs. 14 tables. 15 X 22 em. $3.
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THE USE OF CHEMICAL TESTS FOR ALCOHOL IN TRAFFIC LAW ENFORCEMENT Glenn C. Forrester, Manager, Intoximeter Association, Niagara Falls, New York. Charles C Thomas, Publisher, Springfield, Illinois, 1950. 91 pp. 2 figs. 14.5 X 22.5 em. $2. Tms little book discusses the problem of alcohol in traffic cases from three points of view. First, the author points out the difficulties in apprehending an alcoholic driver, indicating that other causes can appear as alcoholism. Secondly, he discusses the advisability of setting up a chemical test program showing the advantages in apprehension, for example, and indicating the difficulties with public opinion, eta. Finally, he outlines the legal aspects of a. chemical test program when installed. Forrester recommends the Intoximeter for chemical tests and goes into some detail to explain its use in the hands of the police officer and ultimately in those of the chemical technician. This discussion is accompanied by a diagram of the Intoximeter and au explanation of its mechanism, physical and chemical.
PROFESSOR VAN HOOK'Sbook is addressed to the cultivsted general reader. I t tells in attractive literary form the wonderful story of a substance that everyone likeesugar. I t describes the history of the substance, its chemistry and technology, its commercial and trade aspects, and the utilization of the by-products of the industry. The author has skilfully presented a vast amount of information in a short book that will appeal to a wide audience. I t is very properly a volume in the "Humanizing Science" series that is edited bv Jarrues Cattell.
FUNDAMENTALS OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY James Byrant Conant, President of Harvard University, and Albert Harold Blatt, Professor of Chemistry, Queens College. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1950. ix 413 pp. 14.5 X 2 2 om. $4.
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OF ORGASIC CHEIIISTRY" ''was first planned .'FCSDANESTALS a simplified and abbrcvistrd version of the third edition" oi the well-kuorn "(hmistrv oi Oraanir Com~ouuJs."but "somc thing more than an abridgmentbas req&ed for the type of student" who would use this book. I t is neoeasary for the premedical student, the biology or agriculture major, or, for that matter, the general student to know a good d e d about organic chemistry today. Yet mast colleges schedule only a one-semester course in the subject far these students. What is essential, then, is to present a clear picture of organio chemistry and its ramifiosr tions far the prospective doctors, biologists, or industrialists in the time allotted. The text for this course must be an unusual one. It must not be too long, yet it must cover the important details and give same applications of the subjeot. To this end the authorshave done a superb job. The problems of what to include, and mare important what to exclude, have been expertly handled. The result is a text for a brief course giving the main points, and in addition some excellent chapters on industrial and biological applications of organic chemistry. All this is presented in a most readable style. The brief introduction concerning chemistry is followed by the unconventional first tonic. Alcohols. an order whichis traditional in Conant's books. & have n i t completed a page before the concept of isomerism is introduced and a t once we find ourselves reading about formulas. In the first few chapters the important bases of organic chemistry are introduced. However, all of thisis not forbidding, and the student is not lost. In the second chapter on alkyl halides, various types of bonds are discussed. Here we learn about rates and conditions for chemical rextions. Only now as we go to chapter three and study the saturated hydro-
iti
THIRD SYMPOSIUM ON COMBUSTION,
FLAME.AND EXPLOSION PHENOMENA Edited by Bernard Lewis, Hoyt C. Hottel, and A. I. Nerad. Published under the auspices of The Standing Committee on Combustion Symposia. The Williams h WilLins Co., Baltimore, Maryland, 1949. xiii 748 pp. 688 figs. 193 tables. 18 X 26 cm. $13.50.
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Tms volume includes 100 papers which were presented at the Symposium held in September, 1948, a t the University of Wie cansin. They are grouped under the following headings: flame stsbilisation and quenching; flame propagation in explosive gas mixtures; flames of fuel jets; ignition of gas mixtures; kinetics and mechanism of combustion reactions; flame spectroscopy and radiation; burning and detonation of explosives; thermodynamies of flame gases and themachemistry; experimental techniques; combustion in engines and rockets; gss burners and furnsces. The numbw of papers, as well as their scope, reflects the increased amount of e5ort being put into this field; publication of the first such Symposium in 1928 took 59 journal pages, publication of the second in 1937-38 took 561, and this third requires its own weighty volume of 748 pages. The field has high scientific fmination and grest practical importance, and the latter has been emphasized by recent wartime developments in explosives and in fuel jets. The papers range from the most elegant theoretical studies in
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