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JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
NOVEMBER, 1931
The tent has been divided into four sections (1) papers published prior to 1777; (2) Chemical Treatise on Air and Fire; (3) papers published after 1777; (4) minor communications including several letters. The appendix contains a useful glossary of eighteenth century names of substances, with modern explanations or equivalents: and a table of approximate British equivalents for the Swedish and German weights and measures mentioned in the text. The translator has seen fit not to include any biographical material, but has listed numerons notices and memoirs that have appeared in Swedish, English, French, and German, though exact references to the place of their appearance are given only for the English accounts of Scheele's life and achievements. 0esnT.m C O L L ~ ~ E oaaarm, oar0 "To really know and appreciate Scheele. i t is necessary t o read and study his The Collected Papers of Carl Wilhelm papers attentively in detail. The reader Scheele. Translated from the Swedish cannot fail t o be struck by the extraand German Originals by L ~ o N a m ordinary profusion of the experiments DOBBIN. Ph.D., Lately Reader in which these papers record and by Scheele's Chemistry in the University of Edin- exceptional ingenuity in devising, and skill burgh. G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., London, in executing, these experiments. At the 367 pp. 12.5 X 18.5 em. same time i t is impossible not to recognize 1931. xv 10s. how continually and seriously his outlook The translator, inspired by an intense was hampered and his theoretical conadmiration for the wonderful chemical siderations warped by the dominating genius of the author, has here presented influence of the commonly accepted in a single volume translations of the phlogiston theory, to which he was a firm adherent.. . It is probable that Scheele whole of Scheele's papers as these appeared in various scientific journals and also of would have adopted the new (Lavoihis famous Treatise on Air and Fire. sierian) system had he lived for a few While separate portions of these writings years longer so as to become familiar with have appeared in English translations, the advances of knowledge, particularly copies of these have become scarce and on the quantitative side, upon which that the translator has rendered a distinct system was founded." Scheele's discoveries were not only service t o students of chemistry and its numerous but varied so that every chemhistory hy again placing within their reach these chemical classics. The trans- ist, no matter what his speciality, can here lation has been well done, a feat of no read the original record of some fact of mean proportions, for Scheele's style is prime importance. Even the beginner distinctly abrupt and rugged, his sentences will find described experiments which are often unduly long and involved; the are standard constituents of elementary English rendering has been made as literal courses. Teachers can well recommend as possible, sacrificing, where necessary. portions of this translation as collateral elegance to accuracy. reading, and the reviewer feels reasonably
than with those who do only a limited amount of calculation. The question of cost is not negligible. Many teachers will consider requiring the purchase of the fifty-cent Table Slide-Rule who would not require the purchase of the more expensive conventional slide-rule. There will probably be few converts from the latter, but students who begin with the Table Slide-Rule may become its firm partisans. It is recommended, however, that students in chemistry first acquire facility in the use of logarithm tables, which are an almost indispensable tool for the chemist. The Table Slide-Rule may then be used as a supplement in checking calculations and for three-place calculations in general. L. E. STEINER
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VOL.8, NO. 11
RECENT BOOKS
certain that they will wish t o do so after they have availed themselves of this opportunity to become familiar with Scheele's own account of his remarkable activities. RALPHE. OESPER U N I V B R S ~ ~OF Y C~NCINNATI CINcrNrrArr, Omlo
Lavoisier. J. A. COCHRANE.Constable and Co. Ltd., London, Eng., 1931. xiii 264 pp. 20 X 30 cm. 7s. 6d.
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This book is an accurate and entertaining account of the life and work of the famous French chemist. Lavoisier. I t traces his career from the early days, through his association with the French Academy of Sciences and the Ferme Gknkrole, to the troublous period of the Revolution, which finally led to his tragic death. Much material found only in inaccessible books is included in s condensed form. A careful examination of the book confirms the statement of the publisher that the author "has brought into prominence the event3 in the life of the great Frenchman, and has rescued from obscurity incidents that strike deep into the foundations of European history." The author is just, though somewhat severe, in evaluating the relation of Lavoisier's experimental work t o the discoveries of Priestley and Cavendish. The record of this work is unusually complete and due credit is given the French chemist for his logical treatment of discoveries, his own as well as others, which led to fundamental generalizations, particularly the interpretation of the rhle of oxygen in combustion and respiration. Lavoisier's ability in the fields of geology, agriculture, finance, economics, literature, education and politics are adequately set forth in language which is lucid and often witty. We are shown vividly the ceaseless activity of Lavoisier in a life marked by generosity, versatility, and usefulness. It is clearly demonstrated that while Lavoisier was an aristocrat by birth, training, and association, he was actually and dynamically a rare combina-
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tion of aristocracy and democracy, living and working among the Clite but coincidentally planning and striving for the good of the common people, be they the unfortunate peasants on his own estate or the potential mobs in the cities. The suppression of the Academy that was so dear to Lavoisier, the arrest, imprisonment, trial, and execution are depicted in appropriate words, and Mme. Lavoisier's devotion during the last days is described, perhaps t w briefly, in a way that shows she was a keen appraiser of her husband's worth and his country's infamy. We are fortunate in having in this book an adequate, reliable, and balanced story of the man who is often called "the founder of modern chemistry." LYMANC. NEWELL BOSTON UNIYBRS~IY BOSTON,MASSACXUSBTTS
Physical Chemistry for Colleges. E. B. MILLARD.Professor of Physical Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (International Chemical Series. James F. Norris, Ph.D., Consulting Editor.) Third edition. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 370 Seventh Avenue, New York City, 1931. viii 522 pp. 87 Figs. 13.8 X 20.2 cm. 83.75.
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This book is a revision of the Second Edition, published in 1927, the original having made its appearance in 1921. The author's aim in writing the book was expressed in the preface to the first edition, namely "to bring before college students certain of the mare important aspects of physical chemistry, together with modem data which illustrate the applicability of its laws t o the phenomena observed in the laboratory." The prerequisites to an intelligent use of the book by the student are: general inorganic chemistry, quantitative analysis, college physics, and the simple processes of the calculus. The text proposes not only to emphasize "the limitations of the orthodox laws of physical chemistry," hut also t o impart "an appreciation' of the fact that i t is an unfinished and growing
