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Pour Comprendre la Chimie Moderne. By E. CATTELAIN.18 X 11 cm.; 254 pp. Paris: G. Doin & Cie., 1933. Price:. 15 francs. There are some who will condemn this book merely because the theory of atomic structure is introduced on p. 24, whereas no mention of a buret is made until p. 150. In a book of this type addressed to the layman there is, however, something to be said for using this theory as a framework into which the facts of chemistry may be fitted, in spite of the obvious risk that the stability of the whole structure may be thought to depend on this framework. Granting this, certain features of the arrangement of the subject matter may prove useful to teachers who have to “explain” modern chemistry to those who have not had an experimental initiation into the science. On the other hand, the book should not be put into the hands of the novice who might aspire to become a serious student of Chemistry. Apart from acquiring strange ideas about the scope of organic chemistry (p. 17) and regarding the structure of an “unionised molecule” of sodium chloride (p. 236), he would be completely confused in his attempt to understand the explanation of how the volumes of gases participating in a reaction are shown by the chemical equation (p. 73), since the author habitually writes the formulas of hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen as if their molecules were monatomic. H. J. T. ELLIXGHAM. Theorie der Oberlachenerscheinungen. Edited by A. R . RABINOWITSCH, N. A. BACK Charkom, Russia: Technischer Staatsverlag, 1933. and A. G. PASSYNSKI. During September 20-24, 1932, a symposium on “The Properties of Surfaces” was held a t MOSCOW, Russia, under the auspices of the “Assoziation Physikalisch-Chemischer Forschungs-Institute im Karpow-Institut fur physikalische Chemie, Moskau.” The papers presented a t this symposium appear in Band 4, Heft 2, pp. 139-432 (1933), of the “Physikalische Zeitschrift der Sowjetunion.” All papers appear in either German or English. This Symposium may be regarded as more or less analogous to the Colloid Symposiums which have been held annually for the past ten years in the United States. The following twenty-three papers, all dealing with problems of surface chemistry or surface physics, are included in the monograph: M. Polanyi. Adsorption und Kapillarkondensation. M. Dubinin. Kapillarkondensation von Dampfen an porosen Sorbenten. M. 0. Charmadarjan und W. K . Markow. Einfluss der Reaktion des Mediums im Moment der Koagulation suf die Struktur des Silikagels. I. F. P. Bowden. On the Range of Surface Forces. R. Burstein, P. Lewin und S. Petrow. Aktivierte Adsorption von Gasen an Kohle. P. I. Lukirsky. c b e r die Austrittsarbeit der Elektronen und die photoelektrischen Eigenschaften der Metalle. A. Frumkin. Ionenadsorption an Metallen und Kohle. E. Lange. uber die Natur der Quecksilbert’ropfelektrode. B. P. Nikolski. Die Eigenschaften der Doppelschicht und die Austauschadsorption von Ionen an nichtmetallischen Oberflachen. L. Lepin. Die Oberflachenoxyde der Kohle und die Adsorption yon Elektrolyten. H. R. Kruyt. Kapillar-elektrische Untersuchungen an Silberhalogeniden. A. J. Rabinowitsch. Adsorption der Elektrolyte und {-Potential. L. W. Janssen. Der Aufbau der elektrischen Doppelschicht. M. 0. Charmadarjan und B. I. Perwuschin. u b e r einige Erscheinungen bei der Bewegung einer der Elektroden im Elektrolyten und iiber das elektrokinetische Potential.
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F. P. Bowden and A. Dummett. The Influence of the Underlying Surface on the Cataphoretic Mobility of Adsorbed Proteins. M. Volmer. cberspannung. R . W. Gurney. Quantum Mechanics and Overpotential. P. A. Rehbinder und N. Kalinomkaja. Abnahme der Grenzflachenenergie und Zunahme der Dispergierbarkeit fester Korper bei Bildung einer Adsorptionsschicht . W. P. Berdennikow. Messung der Oberfliichenspannung von festen Korpern. D. L. Talmud. Mechanische Eigenschaften der Adsorptionsschichten und Stabilitat der Schaume und Emulsionen. B. V. Deriagin. Mechanical Properties of Thin Layers of Liquids. Space will not permit an evaluation of the individual contributions in this review. Suffice it to say that many of the papers are of the utmost importance and should be carefully read by those interested in the properties of surfaces. The volume can be secured through the American agents, G. E. Stechert and Company, 31 E. 10th St., New York City. Ross AIKEK GORTKER. Gmelins Handbuch der anorganischen Chemie. 8 Auflage. Herausgegeben von der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft. System-Nummer 54: Wolfram. 25 X 17.5 cm.; xi 397 pp. Berlin: Verlag Chemie, 1933. Price: 64 M. Subscription price: 56 M. This volume includes the sources and ores of tungsten, the preparation of the metal, including technical processes and the production of wire for the lamp industry, physical properties, chemical properties, analysis, alloys, and compounds. Among the latter the salts of tungstic acid are fully dealt with, together with the question of the basicity of the tungstic acids. The complex mplybdic acids, such as borotungstic, silicotungstic, and phosphotungstic acids, are included. The volume gives a modern and very complete account of the chemistry of tungsten and is of the same high standard as its predecessors. In view of the importance of tungsten in modern industry, such a monograph is very welcome. J. R. PARTINGTON.
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Recent Advances in Phgsical Chemistry. By SAMUEL GLASSTONE.Second edition. 498 pp. London: J. and A. Churchill, 1933. Price: 15 14 X 21 cm.; viii shillings. This well-planned and well-written summary of recent advances in physical chemistry has won for itself a place in the library of most advanced students of the subject, and the appearance of a second edition will be heartilywelcomed. No change has been made in the general plan of the book, except that the chapter on solubility, perhaps the least necessary or important chapter in the former edition, has been omitted; and the space which has thus been made available has been more than used up in expansions of the remaining chapters. The groundwork of the book remains largely unchanged, although here and there certain paragraphs have been rewritten or modified, and the value of the present edition as compared with its predecessor lies in the new matter which has been inserted. The new subjects discussed include: wave mechanics and its applications to problems of valency and the calculation of energy of activation; nuclear disintegration and the discovery of the neutron and the positive electron; the influence of free and restricted rotation on dipole moments; molecular beims and their uses; potential energy curves; atomic reactions; the kinetics of photochemical reactions; activated and discontinuous
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