The Aluminum Industry. J m ~ u s D. EDWARDS,Ch.E., Assistant Director of Research, FRANCIS C. F-Y. Ph.D., Director of Research, and ZAY JEamms, Sc.D., Consulting Metallurgist, all of the Aluminum Co. of America, with the collaboration of a group of experts from the Company's staff. Two volumes. First edition, McGrawHill Book Co., Inc., New York City, 1930. Vol. I. Aluminum and Its hoduction, xii 358 pp. 63 figs., 6 tables. 14.5 X 23 an. Vol. Il. Aluminum Products and Their Fahrication, xviii 870 pp. 344 figs., 122 tables. 14.5 X 23 cm. Per set (volumes not sold separately) $12.M). The three major authors are men whose training, experience, and actual achievement eminently fit them for the writing of such a bwk. Because of the backing of the Aluminum Company of America and the collabaration of other experts in the employ of the company, one is assured that no more favorable conditions for preparing a handbook of the aluminum industry muld exist. The hook seems to fully justify this unusual privilege accorded its authors. The reviewer does not presume critical judgment of the technical accuracy of such a work but he can testify t o the great value of the book in the library of the student or teacher of general and physical chemistry. Many of the chapters are so interesting as to tempt more leisurely reading than the reviewing schedule would permit, and even some of the sections promising least t o a teacher prove extremely pleasant and profitable. The table of contents (separate for each volume) lists from four t o over forty sub-titles for each chapter and arranges these in a clear tabulation that shows the outline a t a glance. The index (also separate for each volume) seems adequate but not so extended as t o be cumbersome.
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It is the opinion of the reviewer that each volume should have cartied the table of contents of both and that continuous paging of the two volumes with a single index, printed in each volume, would facilitate its use as a reference work. The subject matter hardly seems t o justify making one volume more than twice the size of the other, although the larger one is not hard t o handle; i t is a pleasure t o open a new hook that is so perfectly bound that it will stay open. The style is not only interesting and clear but is more uniform than one would expect. Sub-titles are in bold type and the less important or highly special sections are printed in smaller type than the balance of the text. The first phrase or sentence usually indicates the content of a paragraph so that skimming is facilitated. References are given as footnotes and are so numerous as t o convince one of the thoroughly scholarly background for the often hrief and clear statements of the text proper. Extended bibliographies are also printed after some of the more technical chapters. As stated in the preface, "the general txeatment has been along broad lines, except in regard t o the production of alumina from the ore. This subject has been treated in greater detail. . . .the available literature has been abstracted and classified with reasonable wmpleteness. . . .original patents and publications have been consulted. . . Volume one deals with the history of aluminum, its ores and their treatment, and the production of the metal. I n the second volume, dealing with the properties of both the pure metal and its alloys, aluminum products, their fabrication and uses, the sections likely t o interest only a few are briefly outlined while such processes as casting and machining are treated in detail. The preparation of a handbook of a
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1976
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
AUGUST,1930
major industry is a monumental task; its successful completion a real service. Congratulations to the authors, the puhlishers, and the Aluminum Company of America. JAMESC. M c C a ~ o u o n
should he realized with little difficulty. I n the concluding chapter Professor Dcming writes: "No great prophetic gift is needed t o foresee that the chemical progress of the immediate future will compel progress in chemical education. I t will OBBBUN COWECE he realized that scientific instruction is OBERLIN.O H ~ O not a hit more scientific when dry as dust. On the contrary, it will he understood In the Realm of Carbon. The Story of that the teacher who presents scientific Organic Chemistry. H o m c e G. DEMfacts without any attempt t o relate them ING, Professor of Chemistry, University t o the philosophy of science or to human of Nebraska; recently 'in charge of the life is one who has failed t o think about Department of Information of Arthur them. He gives only facts because he D. Little, Inc. John Wiley and Sans, has only facts to give. . Chemistry as a 365 science will constantly become more Inc., New York City, 1930. x PP. 15 figures. 15 X 23 cm. 8.M). mathematical, technical, and forbidding; yet chemistry as a cultural subject will In the preface the author states: "This book is intended for the general reader who ever he more attractively presented, mare would like to know something of the man- useful as a part of a general education, ner in which organic chemistry grew and and more intimately related to other developed, and something of its contribu- things worth while." The reviewer r e c tions t o the comforts and conveniences of ommends most heartily "In the Realm of Carbon" as a reference work for a course modern life. When supplemented by lectures in which general principles are in pandemic chemistry. treated more fully than has here been JOHN R. SAMPRY HOWARD COLLHCB possible, it is also intended to serve as an B I B ~ ~ N O A AALABAMA II, introductory textbook of organic chemistry for students not specializing in The Structure of Line Spectra. LINUS chemistry." PAULINO,Associate Professor of TheoThe hook is divided into three parts: retical Chemistry, California Institute Part I. How the Foundations Were GOUDSMIT, of Technology, and SAMUEL Laid; Part 11. The Organic Chemical Associate Professor of Theoretical PhyIndustries; Part 111. The Chemical Acsics, University of Michigan. Third tivities of Living Cells. volume in the I&rnalind Series in Part I is written in a manner somewhat Physics, F. K . RICHTMEYER, editor. heavier than that which the late Dr. McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New Edwin E. Slosson employed when dealing 263 pp. 15 X York City, 1930. x with theoretical matter. The two chap23 cm. $3.50. ters dealing with empirical and structural
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formulas doubtless will prove too heavy for many a "general reader." The task of holding the reader's attention when writing a t length about even an absorbing subject like the stow of organic chemistrv has been made mast difficult, because the modern mamzine contributor has developed to such a high art the ability of maintaining the reader's interest through every sentence of the few brief paragraphs. The second intention of the author
From almost all points of view, the most outstanding achievement of the quantum theory has been its success in solving the problems of line spectra. Perhaps never in history has science been presented with so many apparently closely related facts in such a puzzling and complex array, and it has been a remarkable intellectual triumph t o order these data by relating them t o the structure of the atom, a t the same time securing a most
