NEW BOOKS COUDERC.Encyclopedie Gauthiers Villars, 1932. Dans le champs solaire. BY PAUL Written as a companion to the author’s Architecture de I’Uniuers, the present volume deals, as the title expresses, with the solar system-a rather ungrateful, banal subject, in the author’s opinion, when compared with the newer and wider vistas opened in stellar astronomy. I n order to preserve the sense of unity with the previous volume, this one has been written with the guiding principle that the methods as well as the results of astrophysics should be accorded the principal emphasis, while furthermore the relationship between the sun and its planetary system and the stellar universe at large should be clearly realized. It is natural, therefore, to find that the book differs considerably frommost treatises on the same subject, and i t is emphatically not a textbook. Some of these deviations render the book only more attractive-at least in the reviewer’s opinion, such as the historical introduction, and the rather detailed exposition of the various theories for the origin of the system. Some other features would seem to have just the opposite effect, as, e.g., the unduly emphasized description of the earth and its atmosphere, and the very brief, almost hasty, r6sum6 of the planets and their satellites which are accorded barely as much space as the subsequent description of the nearest stars, the motion of the sun among and with these, and that of the structure and motion of the galaxy as a whole-all of which would seem rather irrelevant in connection with the planetary system. More than one-third of the book is devoted to the sun, while comets and meteors, treated almost as an afterthought, coming after the description of the solar neighborhood, have no more than eleven pages allotted t o them. Probably all this is due to the desire already referred to, to treat the subject matter from the point of view of astrophysics, and always in relation to the stellar universe, With these limitations in view one must admit that the author has succeeded very well, for the book is clearly and interestingly written and attractively illustrated. I believe, however, that it is a fair criticism to say that i t lacks unity; the various chapters are somewhat disjointed, and give the impression more of separate articles written for different purposes. As to more specific criticisms: on page 36 one reads that i t was Bowen, who cleared up the mystery of the Aurora line, while on page 81 one obtains the impression that, among others, the Harvard and Victoria Observatories concern themselves “more or less” with solar studies. The illustrations on the sun may well be called superb; several of those portraying lunar phenomena under high magnification, are, however, distinctly mediocre. W. J. LUYTEN.
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H?/drogen Ions. BY F. T. S. BRITTON. 22 x 14 cm.; pp. xvi 589. London: Chapman and Hall, 1932. Price 25 shillings (not 52 shillings as erroneously printed in the number for October, 1932). For review see volume 36, page 2687. Treatise o n Sedimentation. Second edition. BY WILLIAMH. TWENHOFEL AND COLLABORATORS. pp. 960; 121 text figures: 8 chapters. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1932. Price: $8.00. 261
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The book is a product of the work of the Committee on Sedimentation of the Division of Geology and Geography of the National Research Council. The first edition was published in 1926. The plan of the second edition follows closely that of of the first. Many specialists submitted manuscripts treating of the phases of sediments and sedimentation most familiar to each of them. These manuscripts were organized and edited by Mr. Twenhofel and incorporated into a single volume. The result is a veritable mine of information on the various phases of sediments and sedimentary rocks. The chief advantage of this edition is that it gives a more complete list of footnote references, especially to foreign literature. The book thus provides in compact form, information that would otherwise require extended bibliographic search. It becomes a logical starting point for any investigation involving sediments and their relationship. Many subjects of interest to the student of physical chemistry are presented. These include such matters as the stabilization of hydrosols of iron and manganese by organic colloids; colloidal calcium carbonate and its influence in the formation of limestone; the amount and nature of colloidal silica in ground water, streams, lakes and seas, and the various modes of its precipitation; the transportation of matter in the colloidal state; the flocculation of colloids in brackish water and marine environments and the electrolytes instrumental in producing the reaction; the behavior of gels of silicious dioxide, hydrated aluminum oxide, hydrated ferric oxide and humic acid compounds in clayey sediments and soils; the nature and causes of stratification in colloidal sediments; and the colloidal ground-mass of coal. The reviewer considers this edition a more complete, better organized, and more authoritative contribution than the first edition. It contains few if any of the infelicities of expression, misspellings and typographical errors which marred the earlier volume. It is a compilation that does much t o advance an understanding of the many intricate problems confronted by all students of sediments. GEO. A. THIEL. Organic Chemistry. BY PERKIN AND KIPPINQ. Fifth edition, Parts I and 11, completely revised and rewritten, by F. Stanley Kipping and F. Barry Kipping. pp. 614 xxix. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1932. This work comprises the first two of the three parts of the latest edition of an old, standard textbook on organic chemistry. Instyle and format, there is little change, but the subject material has been brought up to date and many of the chapters have been completely rewritten. There are useful summaries a t the end of each chapter. Parts I and I1 cover the important aliphatic and aromatic compounds and related material, while in part I11 it is planned to cover various special branches of organic chemistry such as terpenes, cycloparaffins, and the like. The book is intended for use both as a text and a laboratory manual, but the directions for preparing substances in the laboratory are inserted in the text along with the descriptive matter. On page 614 there is a special index to these laboratory preparations, comprising about eighty laboratory experiments. The printing is well done, the paper is excellent, and the book is very readable. The index is quite adequate. LEE IRVIN SMITH.
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22 x 14 An Introductory Course in Physical Chemistry. By WORTHE . RODEBUSH. cm.; pp. xiii 4-421. New York: D. Van Nostrand Company, 1932. Price: $3.75. “A generation ago physical chemistry was studied only by a few students who were particularly interested in the subject and who possessed some special aptitude for it. From such, a modest beginning, this branch of chemistry has rapidly increased in
