NEW BOOKS
NEW BOOKS The Chemistry of Large Molecules. Vol. I of Frontiers $11. Chemistry. Edited by R . E. BURK AND OLIVERCRUMMITT.Published under the auspices of Western Reserve University. 6 x 99 in.; 313 pp.; 60 fig.; 31 tables. New York: Interscience Publishers, Inc., 1943. Price: $3.50. This collection of eight contributions by six well-known collaborators constitutes Volume I of a series entitled Frontiers i n Chemistry and sponsored by the Western Reserve University, a t which the material was originally presented in the form of a series of lectures. Professor H . Mark contributes two sections,-“The Mechanism of Reactions of Polymerization,” and “The Investigation of High Polymers by X-rays. Dr. Elmer 0. Kraemer treats two subjects,-“The Colloidal Behavior of Organic Macromolecular Materials,” and “The Ultracentrifuge and its Application to the Study of Organic Macromolecules.” “The Elastic Viscous Properties of Matter” are discussed by three joint authors, Arthur Tobolsky, Richard E. Powell, and Henry Eyring. “The Electrical Properties of High Polymers” is presented by Raymond M. Fuoss, “The Organic Chemistry of Vinyl Polymers” by C. s. Marvel, and “The Chemistry of Cellulose and Cellulose Derivatives” by Emil Ott. This entire work, covering a field of intense present interest, is presented by eminent authorities in their respective subjects. Western Reserve University is to be congratulated upon the successful initiation of a splendid program. S. C. LIND. The Chemical Background f o r Engine Research. Val. I1 of Frontiers i n Chemistry. Edited by It. E . BURKAND OLIVERCRUMMITT.Published under the auspices of Western Reserve University. 6 x 9 t in.; 297 pp. New York: Interscience Publishers, Inc., 1943. Price: $3.50. The most intimate point of contact between chemical and engine research is to be found, of course, in the internal-combustion engine. Here chemical energy and mechanical power come to grips in a way generally familiar to the layman who was quite conversant with the terms “knock”, “anti-knock”, “octane number,” and “high octane gasoline” even long bcfore the present war. Although greatly aided by chemistry, the development of the combustion engine to its present status has been largely empirical. Synthetic organic chemistry has produced the pure hydrocarbons for research which has shown the way so successfully followed by the application of catalytic methods for industrial production of high octane gasoline in vast quantities. In the theory of combustion and the most effective utilization of chemical energy there has been a concentrated attack bringing all the modern principles of thermodynamics and of chemical kinetics to bear on the subject of flame propagation. The reader will recognize in the several collaborators authorities most competent to treat their respective subjects. E. F. Fiock, “Survey of Combustion Research”; F. D. Rossini, “Chemical Thermodynamics of Hydrocarbons”; F. C. Whitmore, “Synthetic Methods for Hydrocarbons”; G. von Elbe, “ICinetics of Flame and Combustion”; Bernard Lewis, “Experimental Side of Combustion Research in Engines”; 0.Beeck, “Some Physicochemical Aspects of Lubrication”. On account of the necessity of war secrecy the field is brought down only through 1940, though new and interesting revelations are promised later. S. C. LIND. Coke Formation Process and Physico-Chemical Properties of Coals. By W. SWIETOSLAWSKI. 6t x 9f in.; viii 145 pp.; 47 fig.; 15 tables. New York: Herald Square Press, Inc., 1942. Price: $3.50.
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