BOOK REVIEWS learn) about any spceifio topic which intrigues him. I n summary, if you do not know anything about the chemical senses, but would like to find out something about them, tho 80 pages of this book could Re perused with profit in about rtn hour, if the less appealing topics are omitted. Chapter 6, on diagnostic uses of smell, and on the changes in chemical sensory ~ b i l i t y in disease, is hardly worth rending, and Chapter 7, the summary, is more confusing than helph~l. PETER OESPER Hahnnaonn Medical College Philadelphia. Pmnsyluania The Chemical Analysis of Air Pollulantr
Morri.3 B. Jacobs, Air Pollution Control Consultant, New York. Volume 10 of the Chemical Analysis Series. Interscience Publishers, Inc., Xew York, 1960. xviii 430 pp. Figs. and tables. 15.5 X 23.5 cm. 813.50.
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This book is Volume 10 of a "Series of Monographs on Analytical Chemistry and I t s Applications" under the cditarship of P. J. Elving and I. bl. Iiolthoff. Ilr. Jacobs is also t h r author of Volume 1 of this series, "Thc Analytical Chemistry nf Industrial Poisons,Hw.ards,and Solvents." With the realization that air pollution i~ of increasing concern to civiliestion, the suthor has attempted to cover tho complete scope of thc topic, including sampling, equipment, analysis, and interpretation of results. The hook is composed of li chapters, nn appendix of 14 tables, and an xdeqrmtc subject index. There are tables and figrires throughout the text. Representative chapters inelude: Sampling, Soatfall and Dostfall Analysis, Suppended Particulate Matter, Sulfur-Bearing Air Pollutsnts, Organic Compounds, and Radiorhemicnl D ~ t r r m i nations. The author's widespread knoxlrdge of the problems of air pollution has produced a well organized text. I t is unfortunate that the analytical chemisbry portions of the book were not always well prepared. There .we R, number of ineonsistcncics in terminology. Thus, one finds t,he indiscriminate use of opbical density, absorbsnce, transmission, and perc~ntagrtransmittance. The reviewer objrcts t o an analytical method "geared" to a. particolitr instrument. For example, on page 44, is found "mgNH3 = Klett reading X factor.. The proposals range from tho nso of a Cary Model 11 recording spectrophotometer to the nsc of Nessler tubes. Such statements as "compare the color" and "read in spectrophotometer" may he both confusing and misleading. The trace and classicnl methods of analysis employed arc, however, generally up-to-date and can he performed by a competent analyst. The passage devoted to vapor phase chromatography and infrared techniques for organic analyses is very incomplete and insufficient. The book is the first in it8 field, and, for this reason. will he of value to all concerned ( ~ a l i n u e don page A118)
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BOOK REVIEWS
The Story of Chemistry Ceorg L o r k ~ v ~ n n n . I'hilosophirnl
hrary, Inr., Nmv York, I!1.5!I. 12 X l!) rm. $4.75.
I,i2 i i pp.
Reading this l,oolt is ik plenwrr. Lockrmnnn nritea in a sprightly manner, not often thcrasr with historians of rhemintry, and he has n sensrxof humor that rnliven~ the aork. His plraeant caiiy-going stylo is illustmtrd by tht, follonine passage: "[Priestle,y] was a fanatic of religious free-
thought who could tolerntc no idpas hesides his own. Since he was also a hrrwe and doughty fighter he could not remain for long a t peacc wit,h his surroundings. . . . Once when he managed to stay beyond that term apparently fired for him by nature, a. raging mob set fire t o tho roof over his head and he barely escaped with hi^ life. . . . Finally, having broken with one and all, he emigrated t o America in 17!24. He refused the offer of a profcssarahip a t the University of Philadelphia and spent ten years ss a farmer in the area of the sources of the Susqu* hanna. There hc died s t 71, apparently the victim of a poi~aning; but i t is by no means certain that his wild lifo ended that way." Lockemann's stabement about Priestlcy heing poisoned is onc of the oddest fahlcs in chemistry and one t h a t has heen pop.ping... nrr. in European histories for more than a century. It is a mystery who
started this myth, and it is ~ ~ ~ n a r k a b l ~ that a n otherwise careful historian would be snared hy this old t d e , particularly when there are SO many rarefully dornmentcd papars availnblr concerning PriestIcy's lifc in Amcriea. Lockemann writes from the viewpoint of x Gcrman historian. That is, he is thoroughly familiar with the hirtoq. of German chemistry. He is perhaps less familiar with the history of European chemistry, but he is hardly familiar with Bmcrican chemistry. He mentions only 25 Americans oot of the more than lClOU persons listed in thc index. Hc says pmctieally nothing about chemical iodusbry in the Unitcd States, although information on this subject has been availahlc for years in Williama Hnyner' li volume "American Chemiral Industry." 4 s a result the hook appears t o hc a bit logsided. The physical make-up of thc hook requires some comment. First, there are no illnstratinns. This will not neieh rlnduly with a rtmlcr who is already familiar with history of chcmi~try,but it may dull thc vohlmr for someone ~ h iso using t h e Imok as a n introduction t o history. Secondly, i t has no references. This may or may not bo s, drarvhaek, depending on whether the reader is rrading for pleasure or for information, and whet,her thc reader has access to other ST-orks. Finally, it has no subject i n d ~ s . Again, this may or may not be an ineonvr~nirnco, depending on t.ho purpose of t h r readcr. This book would not he witnhlc for a text, but i t wonld certainly be interrsting collateral rrading for a seriep of 1~ctnrt.son history of chemistry. Any chen~istwill enjoy it as light reading. ~
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Nouveou Trait6 de Chimis Minirole. Volume 7 (in two ports)
Edited h Paul Pascol, Sorho~~nu. Mnssan t,t Cie, Paris, 1950. Two volumev tutdling xrrix 1474 pp. 551 figures, :3G3 tables. 17.5 X 26 em. 200 KF.
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Thc division of Vnlume i of Pnsral's new treatise into t\%--o separate parts :1p pears t o have been done more ior the coovenienee oi hinding than far logical repafirtion of material. Paging is eontinuons, and a single index appears a t the end oi part two of the set. The volume is concerned with semdimn, yttrium, the rare carth clcments, and actinium, h ~ i ts r i ~ ~ i dium and yttrium are not considorrd sepxrstely irom the lanthanides hcrr, so that all hnt the lnst 60 pages may he cansidcretl t,o be a trratise on the mre earths. All material, except that on aet.inium by G. Bonis8ierer, was x r i t t ~ n joint,ly by Trombe, Loriers, (;someMahn, ;tnd La Blsnehetxis. Thosr mlthors have prndocecl an excellent piwc of a o r k on thc rnrc r a r t h ~ , pnrtieularly on mineral sourrrr, general methods of separation, chrmirnl and physical properties, and separation by ion rxchnng~. The treatment on m?t,;rl-
(Contimred on page ~4118)
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