JOURNAL O F CHEMICAL EDUCATION
498 young people. No words are wasted in explaining the point at hand, yet there is no blunt terseness. The expositions are free and easy ta read-in places almost poetic. The student who takes the trouble to digest the explanations can hardly fail to understand them. Unfortunately, most of the illustrations do not match this excellence. As exceptions, the disgram of the open-heaah furnace, the comparative rigidity of Fe, Al, and Mg, the relation between humidity and comfort, the by-products of coal, the Hindenburg in flames, and J. A. Campbell's chart of atomic and ionic sizes are to be noted. But how much longer must we wait until our texts cease to use obsolete line drawings and cloudy half-tone reproductions? Mr. Van Nostrand: Why not commission a set of good illustrations by an artist with technique and imagination? Consider, for example, the illustrations in the Sn'atijic A w i c a n . They are uniformly good. Certainly, the particular style of these illustrations should not he copied, but our students need illustrations which possess unity of style, artistic excellence, and pedagogical clarity. Properly conceived and executed, they should he leas emensive to use than those in this text.
these are the remaining 15 chapters, one each on atomic and molecular structure, the periodic system, formulas and valence, and similar topics; eight chapters on elementary physical chemistry; and two h e chapters on organic chemistry. The treatment is thorough, as a few examples will illustrate: resonance ia clearly explained; astatine, francium, elements 97 to 100 are mentioned several times; ionic strength is defined; the important causes and effects of corrosion are discussed. Short biographioal sketches of famous chemists (and others) are presented in appropriate places. There are 115 useful tables; of these, one on organic reactions and 13 on the preparation, properties, and uses of the compounds of the important cations are particularly good. In summary, this text should be available to all elementary chemistry students as a recommended reference text. And if you are thinking of adopting a new text, be sure to give careful consideration to Sneed, Maynard, and Brasted.
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BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF EXTERNAL X AND GAMMA RADIATION. PART I
Edited by Raymond E. Zirkle, Professor of Radiobiology, Institute of Radiobiology and Biophysics, University of Chicago. McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York, 1954. orvi 530 pp. Many figs. and tables. 16 X 23.5 cm. $7.25.
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THISvolume is one of the most recent of the National Nuclear Energy Series to be published. It is quite late in appearing and because of this fact it loses some of its effectiveness. To anyone who has worked in, or has been associated with, the Manhattan Engineer District, the monumental effort necessary for editing sncha baokis quite apparent. The hook in general is an excellent presentation of methods, techniques, and data of a large part of the radiobiology program pursued during World War I1 a t the Met~allurgicalLaboratory, University of Chicago, snd the National Cancer Institute, B e thesda, Maryland. In the very active field of radiobiology much work has been performed and reported in the past eight years. The great majority of chapters in this volume are dated in or around 1946. The references following each of these chapters are also no later than this period and so give no indication of the large volume of work in the field of historical reference. While most of the chapters are restricted in interest and use, two major chapters are outstanding in interest and value: the chapter on Effects of Long-continued Total-body Gamma Irradiation on
Mice, Guinea Pigs, and Rabbits. 111: Effects on Life Span, Weight, Blood Picture, and Carciuogenesis and the Role of the Intensity of Radiation, and the chapter on Effects of Long-continued Total-body Gamma Irradiation. . . V. Pathological Ohservations. These chapters eontain not only the work done during the second World War, but have been brought up to date, not only in their content but in the references following each chapter. Both chapters show a wealth of material and might he considered as excellent reference sources. These chapters alone make this volume well worth reading. It is very difficult to understand why the chapter titled Hepsrinemia (?): An Anticoagulant in the Blood of Dogs with Hemorrhagic Tendency After Total-body Exposure to Roentgen Rays, and that titled Effects of X-rays on Immunity, should have been included as chapters when the first is only one paragraph long and the second is only four paragraphs long and both contain footnotes explaning that they are only abstracts and that the full information can be found elsewhere. If the reader approaches this book with theview that it contains much of the earlv basic information in the field of radiobioloev. lmt rhqt it ~q nor the most modrrr~rrfrr'ncr on thcsubjrrt, hc, will find it most a,orth-nhilr rradiug.
NEW SENIOR SCIENCE George L. Bush and Will S. Thompson, Department of Chemir0
try and General Physical Science, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio. American Book Company, New York, 1954. ix 642 pp. 16 X 23.5 om. Illustrated. $4.28.
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SCHOOL textbooks are becoming more and more attractive. "New Senior Science" is extremely so, with its colorful cover picture of an oil well among palmetto palms and Spanish moss. I t is profusely illustrated with interesting black and white drawings and instructive photographs. More than twentv vears am. Ohio made senior science an imnortant and valued"n& of & hizh-h-sohool curriculum of Cleveland. 'Pmay ruiur rrimre hus s v:tricty of names througlnout our counrry. In thir; present try!, thr Ohio authors haw 111r l u d d rhvl~estoi thc pr
