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NEW BOOKS
termination include ultraviolet spectroscopy, polarography, color reactions, and titration of the hydroquinone derivatives. The units for vitamin K activity proposed by several investigators are compared, and i t is suggested that activity be defined by means of an accessible, pure compound. Occurrence of the vitamin and its isolation from natural sources are reviewed; the structure and synthesis of the natural K vitamins, as well as of the group of artificial vitamin K substitutes, are considered in detail. The mode of action in the animal organism, deficiency in humans, and clinical aspects of vitamin K treatment are reviewed. In an article on adrenal cortical hormones by J. J. Pfiffner, the progress which has been made in the understanding of the chemistry of the cortex hormones is summarized. The criterion of biological potency for these hormones is the maintenance of the adrenalectomized animal. MetKods of preparation of hormone concentrates are compared, which so far have yielded five cortin-active compounds and a number of related steroids. The structure of the known cortex hormones and their partial synthesis are considered, Different assay procedures for the evaluation of hormone activity are studied, and the effects of various cortex hormones on carbohydrate metabolism and on other biological reactions are reported. ERWINHAAS.
The Stone That Burns. The Story of the American Sulphur Industry. By WILLIAMS HAYNES. 53 x 8+ in.; xii 345 pp. Xew York: D. Van Nostrand Company, 1942. Price: W.75. Every American chemist is more or less familiar with the Frasch process of mining sulfur by melting i t with hot water and pumping i t up as a liquid, but few chemists appreciate the problems and difficulties which had to be overcome before this revolutionary development came into full operation. All of this, as well as the economics of the world market, are admirably described. A very choice bit of physical chemistry is recalled by the chance discovery that if the temperature of the water became too high, difficulties w'ere encountered in pumping sulfur, owing to its anomalous increase in viscosity. The annual production of sulfur is perhaps the best index to the growth of the entire chemical industry. The author has made a worthy contribution to chemical literature in his interesting portrayal of the American sulfur industry. S. C. LIND.
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ALBERTNOYES, JR.,and PHILIPALBERTLEIGHThe Photochemistry of Gases. By WILLIAM TON. American Chemical Society Monograph Series, No. 86. 6 x 9t in.; 475 pp.; 66 figures; 37 tables. New York: Reinhold Publishing Corporation, 1941. Price: 110.00. The expansion of the knowledge of photochemistry is well illustrated by the necessity of limiting the treatment in a book of nearly five hundred pages to the photoreaction initiated in the gaseous state alone. This choice confines the consideration to that part of the subject to which quantum principles are most readily applicabl'e. Even with this simplification many difficult problem! remain. The technique of monochrpmatic emission, its absorption, and measurement are adequately treated. The relations between spectroscopy and photochemistry are admirably described both for atomic and for molecular systems. This part of the book is equally applicable to systems other than gaseous. In the several chapters on kinetics and mechanism of photochemical reaction many cases are discussed in detail. In about forty appendices all of the gaseous reactions that have been investigated are listed and classified, together with data in each case on quantum yield under various conditions. The present work represents an up-to-date summary of the progress of photochemistry and a thorough discussion of the underlying principles. Evidently neither the theory nor the technique of photochemical investigation has become simpler in the course of its progress. No attempt is made in the present treatise to minimize this fact. But a full realization of the nature of the problems and a clear exposition of the principles that are to be applied in their solution greatly facilitate the mastery of this important field of chemical kinetics. S. C. LIND.
