BOOK REVIEWS Having pointed out the inadequacies of college programs with respect to distillation trainine. the reviewer will not so on
and suggestions. However, it would seem as though consideration might be given by professors of analytical, organic, and physical chemistry, possibly even those in general and inorganic, as to where in their existing courses a little more could be introduced about the subject of distillation. Even though they have no distillation problems perhaps some of these professors should read a few parts of this fine book.
ARTHUR ROSE The Pennsylvania Slate University Uniwmity Park
A Shorl Guide to Chemical Literature
G. Malcolm Dyson. 2nd ed. Longmans, Green & Co., Inc., New York, 1959. 157 pp. 14.5 X 21.5 em. $3.25.
This second edition of a compact volume designed to educate the reader who plans to make the best possible use of the chemical literature, fulfills its mission. A chemist, be he research man or teacher, must know how to use the chemical library not only far isolated bits of information hut also for exhaustive studv of a meat,
plete survey of a topic for 8, patent search. A chemist must familiarize himself with the sources of information and methods of Library research and know how to train others. To indicate the urincioal haakmmmd
clopedias, journals, texts, and referenoe works, brought up to date since the first edition. From these brief descriptions of the contents of the volumes, their soope and value may be determined. While this emall hook does not pretend to contain a complete list of the important publications, it is an excellent spproximation. Many British authors are included and time limitations necessitate the omission of most hooks published after 1956. Dr. Dyson includes several examples of literature problems and their complete solution which indicate the importance of an active imagination, curiosity, and serious application to learn the extent of the problems. For experienced chemists, this little hook may introduce new lines of spproach. For a student who hss used textbooks, the magnitude of the printed material is a discovery and a delight. The appendix contains a list of many obsolete, yet frequently consulted journals with their unfamiliar abbreviations. There is a table of the most important journals with their volume numbers for each year of publication.
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The larger books on chemical literature m y have mare detail but Dr. Dyson writes a clear, concise, systematic account of the methods of literature research. Since chemistry like law and mathematics has unusually complete organization of its printed records, it is imperative that mch efficient methods be mastered. The book should be welcome both to individual owners and to all chemical Libraries.
VIRGINIA BARTOW Uniue~sityof Illinois Urbana Translation from German for Chemists
H . H . Neville and W . E. Yuill. Interscience Publishers, Inc., New York, 1959. xi 139 pp. 14 X 18.5 cm. $2.50.
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Undergraduate chemists should take available courses in German, and use this book as an assist. Graduate students and practicing chemists need it too. "No previous knowledge of German is assumed" says the preface, but let no one think that fluency in German makes the lessons useless. The devious paths through involved sentences are not straightened (let's not ask for miracles!) but they are traced for all to follow. Had Mark Twain been a student of this little treatise he would have had far less incentive to m i t e his satire on the German language. The authors cheerfully say they are teaching "englishing" and attentive students can learn to english their own thoughts better than they did before they studied Neville-Yuill. The working material contains no stilted, artificial sentences of the conversational phrase book style, such as "the flails keep merry time." Passages are selected from moderately old and quite new scientific German. Some are in the carefully condensed language of the Gmelin and Beilstein handbooks, others from uninhibited, freewheeling miters in chemioal journals. These passagesand theexplanatory text. will not make the student fluent in German; the preface disitvows any such intent. But study and pracbioe will impart ability to english patsages which would formerly have seemed utterly incomprehensible. A dictionary will he needed, but many of the irritating short-comings of dictionaries are explained away. Like Hercule Poirot, the student hill use the little gray cells snd develop tricks of his own. The Neville-Yuill plan is simple (people will wonder why they didn't think of it first), but makes no effort to gloss over the complexityof the subject. Articles, nouns, personal pronouns, some verbs, and prepositions are considered first, then there is a. pause for refreshments in the form of practice translating. Three liberitlly annotated passages are translated to illustrate the preceding discussion. Adjectives, adverbs, and the second chapter on verbs precede the next pause for illustrative translation. Sentence structure gets its share of attention next; relative and demonstrative pronouns are considered, and a third translation practice session (Continued on page AllO)
BOOK REVIEWS follows. Idioms, Words Difficult t o Identify (a chapter on foiling dictionary frustrations), and a chapter on chemical nomenclature lead t o the final round of practice translations. The last chapter reproduces but does not translate five passages from examinations given a t the Royal Institute of Chemistry. Appendk 1 is a list of strong and irregular verbs; Appendix 2 translates (more literally than they would be in elegant English) 16 passages occurring, without translrttion, in the text. Casual readers would probably not notice that the authors are British; differences from American English are not eonspicuous. Chemists who cannot read German as fluently as they read English should use this book; they would be less likely to ignore literature which may be important to them.
JULIAN F. SMITH
Laoir Rhyne College Hickory,North Carolina Steroids
Louis F.Fiesw and Mar?/Fieser,both of Harvard University. Reinhold Publishing Carp., New York, 1959. xvii 945 pp. Figs. and tables. 16.5 X 24 om. 518.
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Ten years have passed since Professor and Mrs. Fieser wrote their authoritative text on the chemistry of the steroids. I t
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has been a decade which began with the discovery of the thempeutio properties of cortisone and is ending with the synthesis (both partial and total) of a very wide vanety of steroid hormones having biological potencies undreamed of in 194% Unparalleled research efforts by phsrmaceutical companies and academic institutions throughout the world have led to tremendous advances in every branch of the subject, although naturally, emphasis has been heavy in areas of biological interest. I t was against this background of rapid and continuous progress that steroid^" was written and the authors have been remarkably successful in capturing the spirit and enthusiasm of contemporary Droaress in their detailed and fullv " dorume&d account of all aspects of steroid chemistry. During this period steroid ehemidry has contributed much t o organic chemistry. The need for specificity in multi-functional group molecules has led to the development of selective methods for oxidation, reduction, substitution and elimination reactions which await application by discerning chemists in other fields of ehemistry. The theoretical discipline of conformational analysis was weaned and grew to maturity on a diet of steroids and related compounds. Major contributions to our knowledge of reaction mechanisms have been gleaned from experimentation with steroid substrates and more rec~nt,lv
total synthesis now rceorded arc olassic examples of the artistry and versatility of modern synthetic organic chemistry. These examples represent but a small fraction of the wealth of information contained in "Steroids." The book is divided into twenty-two chapters each of which is reasonably complete in itself. After an orienting survey, chapters 2 and 3 deal with the classic structurc proofs of ehol&erol and the bile acids. Later chapters review the present day position of the chemistry of vitamin D, estrogens, androgens, progcstationnl hormones, adrenocortical hormones, homo and nor steroids, cardiac active principals, rapogenins, steroidal alkaloid and the tetraryclic triterpenes. Miscellaneous topics such as naturally occurring sterols and bile acida, tho biogenesis of cholesterol, displacements and rearrangements, stereochemical correlations, and oxidative methods are also discussed in detail. The book is written in a masterly fashion and is superbly up-to-date. I t is eminently readable to both thestudent and exp w t alikc and the authors' persandizstion of the steroid story produces a vitality rare in a. hook of this kind. I t is remarkably free from errors and the presentation and printing are excellent. The authors are to he rongratulated on a fine achievement. "Steroids" is a neeessity for every worker in the field and will be a valuable asset to organic chemists everywhere. ALBERTBOWERS Syntez, S. A.
Mezico, D.F.
