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NEW BOOKS
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NEW BOOKS
Tables of Physical and Chemical Constants and Some Mathematical Functions. By G. W.
Kaye and T. H. Laby. Ninth edition. 25 x 17 cm.; 181 pp. London, New York, and
Toronto: Longmans, Green and Company, 1941. Price: 18 shillings net.
The ninth edition of this well-known work has undergone revision in many parts. The
inclusion of interesting descriptive matter as well as numerical tables is continued, an attempt has been made to give an account of the basis of the choice of physical units, consideration is given to the selection of general and atomic constants, and explanatory introductions have been added to new tables of radioelements and isotopes. The final inspection
of the text was made by the Physics Department of the National Physical Laboratory. The
handy volume is intended to be a laboratory companion to both the advanced student and
the research worker and much of its contents have a direct interest in physical chemistry.
Although in future editions some sections could with advantage undergo a more thorough
and critical revision, with particular attention to the correlation of interdependent data in
separate parts of the work, and fuller use made of recent critical studies of some fields, the
volume is certain to have a well-deserved welcome and will continue the useful part played
by former editions. The inclusion of references to books and papers dealing with many
parts of the subject is a useful feature. In practically every case the author and date are
given for the constant selected, so that the user is aware of the standing of the figure given.
The layout, printing, and paper are very good. The volume contains much useful information not commonly found in books of tables, as well as the data which could be expected.
The book may be cordially recommended.
J. R. Partington.
Chemical Analysis.
6 x
9f in.;
x
+
Volume
II,
222 pp.; 37 fig.
Chromatographic Adsorption; By Harold H. Strain.
New York: Interscience Publishers, Inc., 1942. Price:
$3.75.
Chromatography involves the selective adsorption of constituents from a solution which
is passed through a column filled with a suitable adsorbent. In the past ten years, extensive
use has been made of chromatographic adsorption analysis for the detection, isolation, and
purification of organic substances which could not be separated easily by other methods.
From a physicochemical viewpoint the present book is not of great interest. Reference is
made to one paper dealing with the theory of chromatography, but, as the author states in
the preface, “major emphasis has been placed upon experimental procedure”. In this respect the author has done an excellent piece of work. This monograph undoubtedly deserves a place in all laboratories in which natural products and other organic compounds are
separated and isolated. The reviewer does not expect that chromatography will play an
important róle in inorganic analysis.
The book contains nine chapters: Historical Introduction; Application of Chromatographic Adsorption Methods; Apparatus and Procedure; Adsorbents; Solvents and Eluants;
Location of Colorless Adsorbed Substances; Chromatography of Inorganic Compounds;
Chromatography of Organic Compounds; Industrial Uses.
A bibliography covering forty pages and an author and a subject index are given at the
end of the book. A very instructive colored frontispiece shows the chromatograms obtained in the separation of carotenes and of xanthophylls.
I. M. Kolthoff.
Experimental Physical Chemistry. By W. G. Palmer. 321 pp. Cambridge: The University Press, 1941. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1941. Price: $2.75.
The exercises in this book have for some time been part of a course of physical chemistry
at Cambridge University. The chapter headings, in brief, are: (Í) gas and vapor densities;
(3) crystallization and the properties of crystals; (3) solutions and solubility; (4) dilute
solutions (molecular weights, osmosis, distribution); (5) thermochemistry; (6) ionization
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(conductance, electromotive force, hydrogen-ion indicators, buffer solutions); (7) velocity
of chemical reaction; and (8) surface chemistry.
The theoretical notes which precede the experimental parts, though “not intended to
replace the use of adequate textbooks on the theory”, are more extensive than those usually
found in laboratory manuals. There are several experiments in each chapter, sometimes
exhibiting a sequence, sometimes merely presenting alternative experiments. Sample
numerical calculations appear regularly.
There appears to be no adequate experiment upon chemical equilibrium. The subject is
mentioned in a theoretical note under thermochemistry, page 157; however, only calorimetric experiments support the theoretical discussion. This omission seems the more
serious in view of the inclusion of several experiments in the second chapter (for example,
the experiment upon the influence of foreign substances upon crystal habit) which, though
interesting, are not so important as are experiments illustrating the application of the laws
of thermodynamics to a chemical reaction.
The following observations were made upon the sixth chapter: There is no satisfactory
definition or discussion of the standard state of an electrolyte in solution (page 197). The
Nernst equation seems to be relied upon in cases for which it is not valid (pages 195, 206,
223). Voltaic cells with liquid junctions, involving indeterminate processes, are employed
in cases where it would appear to the reviewer that cells without liquid junction might well
have been introduced (pages 193, 206, 221, 223). The definition of pH '(page 206) is not
satisfactory, in view of the careful re-definition of this quantity by Maclnnes.
The first and third chapters are especially commendable. Here, and indeed throughout
the book, the author has successfully presented many details of apparatus assembly and of
technique which should be of value to the student who must make his own preparation for
an experiment. The author is also to be commended for his attempt to bring unusual material into the elementary laboratory work of physical chemistry.
T. E. Phipps.
High Polymeric Reactions. Their Theory and Practice. By H. Mark and R. Raff. Translated from the manuscript by Luise Weissberger and I. P. Irany. 15 x 23 cm.; xiii +
476 pp.; 49 fig. 215 Fourth Avenue, New York: Interscience Publishers, Inc., 1941.
Price: S6.50.
This volume, the third in a series of monographs on high polymers, “attempts to describe
the present state of our knowledge concerning the mechanism of chemical processes during
which high polymers are formed.” The book is carefully planned, well presented, and
deserving of careful study. Emphasis in the presentation is on the physicochemical side.
Considerable attention is paid to the fundamentals of reaction kinetics and its application
in reactions of polymerization. This is preceded by a discussion of the structure of high
polymers and of methods of determining the progress of polymerization and the molecular
weights of the products. In the last half of the book the various unsaturated compounds
are taken up one by one, the aim being to “collect the literature on the subject.”
The
collection is not complete, but perhaps a complete literature survey was not intended.
Almost no reference was made to patent literature on reactions of polymerization and
polycondensation.
The pleasure of reading this book is marred somewhat by an abundance of faulty chemical
names.
Throughout the book one encounters such expressions as methylchloride for
methyl chloride, vinylacetate for vinyl acetate, acrylic methylester for acrylic methyl
ester, chinoide ring (page 220) for quinoid ring, methyl acetylene for methylacetylene,
2-methyl-pentene-2,-one-4 for 4-methyl-3-pentene-2-one, and many others. The erroneous
term “isobutene” is used throughout, yet the polymer is always referred to as
polyisobutylene.
In summary, the merits of the book far outweigh such demerits as these. The authors
are to be commended in offering such a worthwhile presentation on so timely a theme.
Charles D. Hurd.