Sales executives are finding added reason for desiring scienti6c or technical training for their sales force. This was brought to light by Mr. John L. Collyer, president of the B. F.Goodrich Company, who pointed out that the very multiplicity of the new laboratory synthetics is discouraging the public from making any choice from among them. To overcome this, salesgirls "should be taught enough scientific facts so that they can give the consumer an enthusiastic picture of the dollar values and utility that are the real news in synthetics."
H. N. Alyea, of Princeton, one of our experts on lecture demonstrations, comments as follows on the COI demonstration by Wolf, described in the "Basket" in the December, 1940, number: The block of dry ice must be placed in the jar half an hour before it is to be used, or the COZ gas will not fill the jar completely. It is unimportant to remove the COz in the breath. The most spectacular part of the ejrperiment was not mentioned: after the bubble is floating on the COz, pick up the jar and walk around the room with it. The bubble meekly follows, floating in the moving jar.
RECENT BOOKS A LABOXATORY HANDBOOK rn S n ~ A s u sFOR A FIRST Y a m CO~RSE m C m m m . R. M. Whittaker. Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Queens College. Department of Chemistry. Queens College, New York City. 1940. 548 pp. 23 figs. 15 X 23 cm. $1.00. The autbor proposes "(1) to provide a series of laboratory experiments that can be used with any of the standard first-year college texts in chemistry; (2) to provide aseries of report blanks, the completion of which will train the student in the art of observation; (3) to provide a series of problems relating to the subject matter of each unit; (4) to provide a syllabus in the form of study questions to guide the student through the voluminous subject matter of the first-year course; (5) to provide discussions on specialized subjects." The author has provided in thirty-two units-one for each week-the usual laboratory experiments of a first-year college course in chemistry. The records of observations in the form of answers to questions or data sheets are to be tom out of the manual and submitted a t the completion of the unit. A simple scheme of qualitative analysis is given under one unit and thereaaions of each ion under the unit concerning the ion. Very tittle attention is given to the reactions of the metal as such. The manual is intended to he used with a chemistry kit and the materials needed are so arranged. The additional materials for class use are specified by experiment. The manual is well written. The theory is modem. I t should be of value to a teacher who is very busy and needs a combined workbook, manual, and study guide. RUPUSD. REED
dynamics of solutions as applied in the construction of enthalpyconcentration charts known as Merkel and Ponchon diagrams. which are useful in evaporation and distillation. The book should he satisfactory for an undergraduate text if the course is taught by a chemical engineer with a much more extended knowledge of thermodynamics than the contents of the book. The brevitv of exolanation mieht - he a ~ositiveadvantage to such a teacher, as it Leaves to him the possibility of steering student discussion of these matters to a logical conclusion and of filling in some of the desirable material which is not included in the book. ALBERT B. NEWMAN COLLBDB OF THB rnOF NBW YO= NEW YDPP C m
FUNDAMENTALS OF CHEMISTRY. H. G. Deming, Professor of
Chemistry, University of Nebraska. John Wiley and Sons, Iuc.. New York City, 1940. xiii 756 pp. 195 figs. 15 X 23 em. 8.50. We have a feeling that this is the hook for which many teachers of general chemistry have been unconsciously waiting, and helieve that it would have been widelv adooted this vear if it had . appeared in time. Some of its features which will commend it to those who are vying to keep their courses from stagnating are: a marked emphasis on the physico-chemical principles; a definite break with the old traditional sequence, oxygen-hydrogen-watersolutions-halagens-acidsionization-sulfuc.; introduction of the descriptive chemistry of particular elements when it serves to illustrate general principles; an early and dear cooNsw Jsaaau Sram Tsac=~asC o ~ ~ s o l l trast between ionic and molecular compounds; a modern, but M o n m A r a . Nsw Jnsasv not tw extreme treatment of the subiect of electrolvtes and the properties of acids and bases, using the Ur$nsted delinitions: a T ~ m x ~ o ~ m h m=OR c s CHEMICAL ENGINEERS. Harold C. m a g c o u s and highly N C C ~ S S ~ Uattempt ~ to explain some of the Weber, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, Massa- most recent devrlopmcnts; frcqucnt use of the periodic table; chusetts Institute of Technology. John Wiley and Sons. Inc.. emphasis upon science as a method. It neither insults the stuNew York City, 1939. vii 2B4 pp. 102 figs. 15 X 23 an. dent's intelligence, on the one hand, nor plunges him into incom$3.25. orehensible dBculties. on the other. The title is not belied in The preface states, "In this book an attempt has been made to ihe amount of attention given to industrial processes. Technical present the more important thermodynamic relations in a manner terms are not omitted, but, after adequate definition, we often particularly useful to the chemical engineer." The impression avoided by use of simpler synonyms. Altogether, i t is an easy is given that the bwk is designed for undergraduate courses in hook to get enthusiastic about. N. W. RAKESTRAW chemical engineering curricula. This is the first bwk on thermoBaowx U~lvsasxru dynamics written especially for the needs of chemical engineers, PPOVIDBNCB, R ~ D I SBLAN D and the author deserves a great deal of credit for pioneering in this field. The autbor has succeeded in bringing together in CAWINAND ITS INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS. E. SutCrmCisUr logical sequence the principal thermodynamic ideas of chemical and F. L. Brmune. Reinhold Publishing Corporation. New and of mechanical engineering thermodynamics. It is evident York City, 1939. 433 pp. 15 X 23 cm. $8.50. that he was working against space limitations; throughout the whole book one receives the impression that much in the way of SCIENCE READING MATERIALS POR PUPILS ~ W DTEACHERSexplanation and derivation has been left out. 111. Clarence M. Pruilt. Reprinted from Science Education, February, 1939. Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 87-102. 17.5 X The book omits some thermodynamic aspects of particular 26.5 cm. $0.25. interest to chemical engineers, such as the rigorous thermo-
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