EeC& z%ad4 lo~ophy,and religion. I t is evident that he has a great deal of sympathy for the muchmaligned alchemist8 and fecls that the millenium and a half of alchemical studies u w not entirely a period of wasted effort hut one which contributed a great deal of factual knowledge regarding chcmical snbstances and operations. At the same time he recognizes the harm done by the psrudo-alchemists. One might wish that the t,reatment of the alchemist Geber had been amplified in the light of twentieth century aeholarnhip. Whether or not one agrees with t,he eonclusians of Ruska and Krans regarding the existence of the Arabian Jahir ilm Hayyan, it is questionable whether the whale suhjpct should he passed off in threr sentenc~s aa is done in the hook. Except for this one important paint there in little to criticize in the hook. I t is sound in fieholarship, informative on a confusing and frequently misunderstood subject, and interesting. Cpon finishing t,his book one is caused to nonder onrr more live than their Amencan cauntcrpnrts. A A R O N J. IHDE
U ~ r v ~ n a OF r ~ WLBCOXBIN r M*DIBOS.WIBCONBIN
THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF CHEMISTRY Henry M. Leicester, College of Physicians 8 Surgeons, San Francisco. John Wiley 8 Sons, Inc., New Yo&, 1956. vi 260 pp. 15 figs. 1 6 X 23.5 cm. $6.00. College Edition $5.00.
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THIS text is a major contrihutian to the literature of chemical history by sn ardent student and prolific writer. I t is an interesting account of the development of chemical concepts from the ancient world to the twentieth century. Separate chapters on Greek, Chin~se, and Arabic chemistry are includpd which summarize much widely scattered material. The chemist senses that much of his art and science has a romantic background. Here is easy access to the facts. The book should be read hv e w r v
will consult the numerous references given with each chapter. Leicester lists 600 of these, many, of course, to the same authors. The great chemiat,~of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are auoted
growth of chemistry as a profession. Here contrasts in development in several countries, the beginnings of special journals and trends in academic and industrial research are related. The theme merits further expansion in future editions. The concluding chapter on biochemistry has 53 references and hrings the suhject up to 1020. The author states that most JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
Reeewt
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biochemistry is contemporary, no his introduction is truly a historical background. The printing and paper are attractive. The size and weight of the book make it easy to handle. One would wish for more illustrations, and a bit more of the human side of the men who made the history. However, the author has achieved his purpose, and publishers, too, must follow the trend of thr industrial equation, i.e.,
A+B=X. R. D. BIT.LINGER L E H , ~ ,U, V ~ V E R B ~ T I BETHLEHES,. FEINBILV*NI*
SOME ASPECTS OF THE CHEMISTRY AM) TOXIC ACTION OF ORGANIC COMPOUNDS CONTAINING PHOSPHORUS AND FLUORINE
Bernard Charles Sounders, University Ledurer in Chemistry, Cambridge. The University Press. Cambridge. 1957. xvi 231 pp. 2 plates and 23 figs. 14.5 X 22.5 cm. $6.
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AT TEA beginning of World War I1 it was discovered independently in England and Germany that compounds containing the group POF were powerful poisons. The action was ehieHy on the nervous system, and the snbstancea, of which dii~opropyl phosphofl~~oriditte(diisoprapyl tluorophasphonate, I1.F.P.) was t,ypieal, were therefore called "nerve gases." All during the war intensive research on these compounds was carried on, especially a t Cambridge in England. The results of this work and its continuation are described in this monograph. The Camhridge workow quickly became interested also in the extremely toxic methyl fluoroacetate (M.F.A.), in which the aotive group is CHZCO, and the properties of this and related compounds sro also discussed in this book. D.F.P. acts as an itnticholinesterase and thus inhibits transmission of a nervous impulse across a synapse where scetyl eholine is required. M.F.A. is built by the body eneymes into fluorocitrate which ent m the Krcbs cycle of carbohydrate midation and blocks it completely. Since both these processes me essential to life, the extreme toxicity of these compounds is explained. In the present monograph, Saunders, who led the research group a t Cambridge, has brilliantly summed up the chemical and pharmacological reactions of these substances. Many novel synthetic methods are described lor their preparation, and new analytical techniques are reported. Biochemical studies with these omp pounds have provided much now evidence in support of the beta oxidation theory of fatty acids. They are very useful xs insecticides, especially since they can be incorporated systemically into plants and ran thus kill insects which are not reached
operative paralytic ileus. (Cmlinued on page A%%)
VOLUME 35, NO. 5, MAY, 1958
