but prefer t o devotemost of the very limited amount of timeavailable for chemical engineering in the undergraduate curriculum, t o applications which more directly and quantitatively illustrate and develop fundamental principles. However, many schools believe strongly in a largely descriptive course in the industrial processes, and for use in such a course Dr. Shreve's hook is one of the best the reviewer has seen. In covering so broad a field, the author has perforce been obliged to treat a good many subjects in which his own experience is quitelimited, and small errors are bound t o creep in which would be noticed only by the expert in a given field. On the whole the book seems to he quite accurateand free from major errors which could very easily be made in a book covering such a subject. The reviewer believes that the author has made a valuable contribution t o the literature of chemical engineering, and most students and practicing engineers will find this book a very useful addition t o their libraries. BARNETTF. DODGE OAI
RIDDB,TBNNBSSXE
OF PENICILLIN. Boris Sokoloff. Ziff-Davis PubhhTHE STORY ix 4- 167 PP. 13.5 X 20 ing company, New ~ o r k 1945. , cm. $2.00. Dr. Sokoloff has written what might be called an intelligent layman's history of antibiotics, including penicillin. He has used a method that might be applied profitably in the fields of chemistry and physics. The book has been prepared as a short, fast-paced review of the literature on antibiotics, hyperthyroid in spots, but always open and Free running. The unbroken narrative is followed by an appendix in which the keyed footnotes are developed in considerable technical detail. I n this way the formidable features of reviews that distract the general reader are eliminated and the good retained. The author performs a specially valuable service to biology in emphasizing the role that antihiasis plays in the balance of P ~ Y S ~ O logical processes in the microbial world. dder phenomena and concepts are described and the characteristics and possible uses of many recent produets from bacteria, and algae are given. ~ h less ~striking, ~ the~ book his more appropriately, A bibliography "Penicillin and Other Antibiotic 389 sources from the English language literature is given. cHARLEs E, R~~~
seventeen papers included deal with p i t u i t w hormones, two with adrenal, two with pancreatic, one with thyroid, and one with gastrointestinal. Steroid hormones are further treated iii three other articles. Much material is condensed in the wellexecuted figures and tables. Unified spellings and terminologies are used throughout. Far example, all of the hormone factors often written with the suffix "-tropicM are here consistently called "-traphic" hormones because they nourish as they cbange the tissues which they stimulate. I n a work such as this which requires many months for its preparation the reader should not expect t o find the very latest advances recorded right up t o the month of printing. However, the wisdom and experience of the authors have in large measure compensated for this by the intellectual tone of their contributions, in making clear what yet remains t o be learned about these problems, and what the immediate prospects are for acquiring such knowledge. No snap judgments have been given, t o be later reversed. The viewpoints are firmly based on reliable data in a conservative manner which a t the same time does not obstruct the forward vision true ~ - of -~ - the ~-~~~ scientist. Reports of laboratory findings are varied by illustrative case histories, and most of the chapters contain brief introductions, summaries, and conclusions t o help the reader whose time is severely limited. The quality, appearance, and readability are all the more remarkable because. as stated in the foreword, :This volume has been printed during a period in which many difficulties and delays have been encountered. . . ." D a m LYMAN DAVIMON Gosmvus J. ESSBLBN. IAC. BoSrox.
OF ORGANIC E' Professor of eganic Chemistwin the University Of Second tion. The Blakistou Company, Philadelphia, 1945. xiv
TEXT'00K
+
pp. figs. + "lored plates' 50 l5 23 '4. The 'general Purpose and plan of this text is the same as the first edition reviewed in J. CHEM.EDUC.,17, 99 (1940). It has been brought UP to date and the order of the chapters changed slightly. New tables. pictures, two color plates of mo~ecular models, additional review questions, and literature references including 1943have heen added. The hook is obviously written for the instructor who desires the student to he supplied with a wealth of material and detail. I n such a text going well beyond what could be covered in a twoMASLIACWSBTTS D B P A R ~ E N01 ~ PUBLIC H B U ~ CAYBRIDYB, MASS*CBUSBTTS semester course, the choice of what supplemeutaty detail t o include is largely arbitrary and any criticisms would he primarily hased upon the reviewer's preferences. In text of this detail this reviewer would have included, for example, the Reformatsky THE CHEMISTRY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF HORMONES.Edited by Forzs8 Ray Moulkm. American Association for the Advance- reaction and Clemmensen reduction, the ozonization of benzene ment of Science, Washington, D. C., 1944. 243 pp. 40 figs. and O-xyleneas throwing light upon the structure of benzene, and 89 tables. 19.5 X 26.5 cm. Members, 8 . 5 0 ; nonmembers, the 1.4 addition to alpha-beta unsaturated ketones. A special $4.00. chapter is devoted t o the Grignard and Friedel and Crafts reactions. I n such a chapter itwould seem justifiable toincludea fuller All who are interested in hooks biochemical, problems physio. treatment of side reactions in the former case and mention of the logical, and matters medical will find much of "due clearly and branching of the chain during alkylation in the latter case. While in their respective attractively presented by leading specialties in this excellently balanced and integrated symposium theory is by no means neglected, the author tends t o lean t o a facvolume which has been developed from a five.day Gibson ~ ~ tual l presentation ~ ~ of d the subject. The nature of the above comsummer conference held in 1943. The 18 authors whose careful ments is indicative of the fact that essentially all standard introincluded. discourses are here presented are doctors of medicine and chem- ductory The style of the author is straightforward and clear. his istry in the employ of prominent North American medical schools, g o v e r n m e n t d e p a r t m e n t s . a n d p h ~ a ~ e u t i ~ ~ 1T~~ ~ ~ r p edition. ~ ~ ~ ~ . as the first, has a number of excellent features not found in introductory texts. These include a large numof these, Hans Jensen and Abraham white, F, C. ~ ~wereh U~Ually , of ~organic chemists with thumbnail ~ ber of~ half-page l portraits t ~ the publication committeewho worked with ~ o ~R~~ e ~ t biographical sketches, review questions and bibliography a t the as editor in setting up an admirable source book of the facts of re. search progress in this field. The bibliography lists the approxi- a d of each chapter, a chapter upon identification, and an appenmately 1200 references from all the chapters together, and re- dix of 39 Pages. The appendix indudes a number of industrial quires 32 of the large two-column pages in which the whole hook flow sheets, a book list, a glossary, a chronological table, a list of organic radicals, and a table of physical constants of approxiis printed for easy and efficient reading. Impressiveindeed are thelengthy and toilsme procedures here mately 700 compounds. I t is a most useful addition t o the text. The book is well printed and bound and, while similar in make-up outlined for the extraction, concentration, and naturally occurring hormone ti^^^ of some to the first edition, it has a somewhat more finished appearance. R. Q U A ~ E OSBORNE syntheses of steroid hormones further build up awe and respect for Exon7 U - B R S ~ ~ the work of such specialists in organic chemistry. Five of the ~ a uNlveaslru. r ~ G~~~~~~ ~ ~
