RECENT BOOKS
A Laboratory Book of Elementary
See https://pubs.acs.org/sharingguidelines for options on how to legitimately share published articles.
Downloaded via 171.78.136.62 on August 11, 2019 at 14:44:34 (UTC).
Organic Chemistry.
lar the applications of the notion of induced polarities in atomic
Alexander Lowy, Ph.D., Professor of Organic Chemistry, Uni-
versity of Pittsburgh, and Wilmer E. Baldwin, Assistant
Professor of Organic Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh.
Second edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York City,
1934. 44 Expts., ix + 182 pp., 74 Figs. 22 X 28.5 cm.
$2.50.
The present edition follows the first edition [J. Chem. Educ.,
4, 1448 (Nov., 1927)] in close detail. Unusual features of the
book apparently have appealed to its users. For example, the
practice of gaining cooperation of industrial firms who have sup-
plied cuts of apparatus and machinery is continued. Students
are introduced to the manufacturing phase while they are learn-
ing the essential facts of theoretical chemistry and laboratory
practice. This unique plan is commended.
Drawings of suggested set-ups for laboratory practice are good
and in several instances enough different from other manual de-
scriptions to warrant attention and use.
The authors have arranged perforated sheets, affording an easy
method of submitting reports. Friend E. Clark
West University
Virginia
Morgantown, W. Va.
A Textbook Organic Chemistry. Joseph Scudder Chamber-
of
lain, Ph.D., Professor of Organic Chemistry, Massachusetts
State College. Third edition revised. P. Blakiston’s Son &
Co., Inc., Philadelphia, 1934. xxv 873 pp. 14 X 21 cm.
$4.00.
The main objects of the revision of this text are, according to
the author, to effect condensation of the more important aspects
of the subject, and to incorporate recent developments in certain
fields. The original plan and scope of the work have not, how-
ever, been materially changed. The subject matter has been
rearranged to isolate in a separate section the discussion of spe-
cial groups, as Dyes, Alkaloids, etc., which though desirable are
not essential to the presentation of the fundamentals of the sub-
ject.
The author has made a step in the right direction in his effort
to reduce the main body of the text more nearly to the essentials.
In the reviewer’s opinion further shrinkage might be effected by
the omission of more of the comparatively irrelevant portions
dealing with special compounds and technical processes. The
latter territory is particularly dangerous for the academician, as
industrial processes, like fashions and morals, depend much upon
environment and local economic conditions. Of limited value
in any case from the pedagogic point of view, their value be-
comes even doubtful when (as given on p. 751) the process for
the production of a substance as important as synthetic camphor
is misrepresented with obsolete procedures and incorrect struc-
tural formulas. A similar criticism might be directed at the
futility of treating rubber in a special section in which the Har-
ries structure is discussed, but the commonly accepted linear
polymer structure completely ignored. One is tempted to ques-
tion the precise function of a textbook which is possibly too
voluminous for introductory courses, and inadequate in content
and treatment for the advanced student.
Many of the errors of fact which appeared in the earlier edition
have been eliminated. While there is among teachers much
difference of opinion as to the order of presentation of the vari-
ous topics, the reviewer still feels that the order of the introduc-
tory chapters (paraffins, halogen compounds, amines, phosphorus
and arsenic compounds, nitriles, iso-nitriles, organo-inetallic
compounds, alcohols) has more to condemn than recommend it.
The advantage of furnishing the student with a background of
structures and reactions for the study of the oxygen functions is
dubious in view of the fact that the latter are in most cases the
materials from which the same background is constructed.
The introduction of the simpler adaptations of the electronic
concepts of Lapworth and Robinson is a welcome addition.
Further discussion from this valuable viewpoint, and in particu-
633
chains, would be desirable.
The book is sound in theory, and remains, on the whole, an
excellent text for the beginner. The author makes liberal use
of graphical formulas and tables, and has taken considerable
pains to explain the subject clearly. The study questions are
well chosen, and should serve the student admirably as a means
of testing his own knowledge and correlating the various func-
tional groups. In spite of his criticisms the reviewer has no
hesitation in recommending this text to students and teachers
of organic chemistry. W. C. MacTavish
Washington Square College, New York University
New York City
A Laboratory Manual of Inorganic Chemistry to ac-
company Holleman’s Text Book of Inorganic Chemistry.
John B. Ekeley, Pli.D., Sc.D., Professor of Chemistry, Uni-
versity of Colorado. Fourth edition. John Wiley & Sons,
Inc., New York City, 1934. x + 293 pp. 47 Figs. 15.6
X 23.6 cm. $2.00.
The author’s justification for this edition of the book is that
it contains 34 pages (including 18 blank pages for notes) devoted
to an “Introduction to Qualitative Analysis.” With the ex-
ception of the addition of 7 electrochemical problems and the
omission of one experiment involving chloroplatinic acid and
another concerned with the effect of silicon and ferrosilicon on
platinum, the first 259 pages are identical with the third edition,
including two typographical errors in the contents.
The analytical section is quite condensed but perhaps is suffi-
ciently complete when the laboratory work is performed under
the direction of an able instructor. The instructions for a few
of the usual preliminary cationic experiments are given; these
are to the point and will not cause the first-year student to be-
come “sunk without a trace” as is often the case when the in-
structions are too detailed. Barring the confirmatory tests for
Zn + + and Mg++, the block outlines for group cationic analysis
are of the standard type. Approximately 2 pages are given over
to 15 of the common anions—four of these being organic.
The author speaks of “twenty-four common metals” (p. 263)
and then tabulates them as cations. On p. 265 the implication
is that the hydroxides of iron and manganese are soluble in am-
monia; also, on p. 267, that HgNH2Cl is black. Perhaps the
least important of the basic salts—that of bismuth—is the only
one to which attention is directed. The statement (p. 267) that
in an ammonia solution, “most of the ammonia is in the form of
hydrated NH3 molecules” is not borne out by the more recent
conductivity studies of aqua ammonia. The phosphate ion is
covered in anion analysis (p. 291), but no provision is made for
its interference in the cation section. With the exception of a
few manipulations, technics and also theory of analysis are want-
ing in the analytical section. Ionization and solubility product
are amply presented in the inorganic part of the book.
A casual search of the literature does not reveal a review of
the third edition of the book, hence a review of the inorganic
part of the present edition may be desirable.
The format is excellent; the content is very accessible; and
the book is unusually devoid of typographical errors. More
extensive legends on the diagrams would be helpful to the stu-
dent. It contains 168 exercises, a few of which are for the more
ambitious students, and 166 problems. It belongs in the recog-
nized first-year chemistry books.
Unfortunately, the author was obliged to correlate the volume
with the text which it is designed to accompany. The prefix
hi for CS2 and K2Cr2C>7 is not commonly accepted in the United
States. The study of atomic weights and of salt solutions occurs
quite late. The laboratory study of mineral specimens of the
heavier metals is undoubtedly quite welcome in the noted min-
eral-producing states. The reviewer cannot subscribe to the
study, in an elementary course, of chlorine dioxide, oxygen com-
pounds of iodine, pcrsulfuric acid, hydroxylamine, silanes, and
sodium nitroprusside. The calculation of the weight of a liter