VOL.6, No. 3
RECENTBOOKS
organic chemists as there is a lack of works in English dealing with this field. The various operations of the organic laboratory such as distillation, crystallization, sublimation, extraction, filtration, melting- and boiling-point determination, and the analysis of materials for nitrogen, the halogens, and sulfur are discussed. Strangely, a discussion of the determiuation of carbon and hydrogen is not included. The work does not claim t o he complete: it does, however, discuss the difficulties that have been encountered by various investigators, and shows how they have been overcome. The free use of original references is very helpful, and makes it possible for the reader t o obtain readily more information than can he included in a work of this size. The ahuudance of footnotes by the editors is very helpful in correlating German with American practice; furthermore, many methods different from those of the text are suggested. The h w k is not a tent for heginners, but in i t the advanced student should find a wealth of interesting and helpful material, and many valuable references. The translator has done his work admirably; the hook is remarkably free from typographical errors, and is very readable. The print is good, hut the paper only of fair quality. I t is to be regretted that the binding is not better; the reviewer would class it as Poor. Certainly Lassar-Cohn's hook, either the original German or this excellent translation, should be found in every collection of works dealing with organic chemistry. L. DRAKE NATHAN TTNIV~BSITY 0 s MARYLAND COLLBCB P A R K . M A X Y L ~ D
Inorganic Chemical Technology. W. L. BADGER,Professor, and 8. M. BAKER, Asst. Professor, Chemical Engineering Department, University of Michigan. First edition. McGraw-Hill Book Campany, Inc., New York City, 1928. viii 228 pp. 14 X 22 cm. $2.50.
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This book offered as a text for a course in the technology of the so-called heavy
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chemical industries, is written primarily from the viewpoint of the chemical engineer. It describes the manufacture of refining of common salt, sulfuric acid, nitric acid (including the fixation of nitrogen in general), the minor acids and soda and caustic, together with a number of miscellaneous products, all discussed on the basis of the latest American practice. I t is refreshing, indeed, t o find a new book on chemical manufacturing methods, that is, neither a rambling treatise on everything chemical under the sun, "without form and void" nor yet a sketchy encyclopedia of doubtful up-to-dateness. Messrs. Badger and Baker have concentrated an a limited field and have produced a work that is not only intelligible to the novice but one that convinces the more experienced reader of its soundness and authenticity. Some of the processes discussed have not been previously described in the literature, while ample collateral reference to the others is made through a well-selected list of journal articles that, in the main, goes back less than a decade. Of special pedagogical value are the graphic flow sheets and the lists of practical problems included in each of the major chapters. I n their treatment of the equilibrium of gas reactions the authors have mentioned the van't Hoff equations, hut have left much to be supplied by the instructor. I n writing a book of this kind such a policy is doubtless justifiable. The reviewer believes that the adoption of this book will solve, in part, the problems of the instructor in chemical technology who has trouble in finding a suitable text, and he has faith enough in his own judgment t o follow it himself. I n physical makeup the volume conforms t o the high standards of McGrawHill's "Chemical Engineering Series" t o which i t belongs. H. L. OLIN S T A UNLVERS~TY ~ OB IOWA I O W A CITY, IOWA
