General Chemistry

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THE THEORY AND PRACI'ICE OF SEMIMICRO QUALITATNE ANALYSIS G. B. Hebig, Aaociate Profeeor of inorganic Ch*, UnlveniW of Minnesota. Minneapolis, Minnwota. W. B. Saonden Company, Philadelphia. Pennaylvmia. 1950. Semnd Edition. 356pp. 15 figs. $3.50.

THEr m n d prlitim of Professor Ficisia'n book ia similar to the first rxeept mom nttmtion is given to equilibrium mnstanta. Proviaion is mndr for using eithrr ecntrifupr or prnsure filter t u h . Rtnndsnl .samples conktin 0.1 ma. o f c ~ r inn h pmscnt and volumea hnndlrd vnry from two draw to 1.5 nd. Thr l m k ir witten for tho= ntudrntn who have had a thorough m u w in p-ntml inurp:mir rhrmistry. I t is intended for a t w q u n r t r r , fivt-crrdit r o u m or its r q u i ~ l e n t . Ilowevrr, i t is nrrnnwd SO llmt m m r of thr, mntrrid may beomitted for briefer I.",,W*.

The fir& part of the book in devoted to theory and calculations. A p*"I list of problem and questions is given a t the end of each ehnptor. The r m n d part of the book is devoted to lnhoratory npr:~tions. Mnny preliminnry cxprimcntn am given for each of the twenty-four cations and twcnty-four nnions provided for. T h n x teschcrs who hnvc students qualified for such a m u m and wiph tu give a COURO in rmimicm nnnlwin would do well to nmriclrr P r o f w m Ilrisig's l m k . RAY WOODRIPP

GExmAL CHEMISTRI

P. W.SelvDod, Ref-r of C

h ~NorIhredern ~ , UnindW. H a n v Holt and Company, hc.. New York, 1950. loii 681 pp. 206 fiqa. 22 tables. 16 X 24 em. $4.60.

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THIRnew text is the outgmwth of s lithaprinted edition dov~lapedby the author during the last thirteen y e m for urn in a n e n l l n l terminal m u m in chemistry a t Northwestern University. The author states in thr prefnm: "The text should domand no l m intellectual eflort thnn the ~trmdnnlehcmistry tmt. . . . Whntcvrr sucrps~this t m t aehieve~will he mcnwltd t inrltrrlml." more by what is omitted lhnn 11ys h : ~ is At Nnrth\v~stivnUnivrrsity the t w t is u a ~ fur l a yenrsoum

with t h m lecture p e r i d s a week, seoompanied by two quis m e e t inm which are reduml later to one eneh week. A lnhoratory mnnunl for one thm-hour period a week has hccn written by the author to accnmpnny the text. The author t h i n k it is&nirahlo to Rcmanto those who have hrul hiah-~rhaol chemistry from t h w who have not, nlthough he finds thnt i t docs not w m to make much dillfmnee i n n eoumc of this type. A. very plen4ng narrntivo style is used by the autbor mmh i n d with what he calla an ntomistic nppmach. A t o m are i n t r d u m l from an historical tmntment of Dalton, and atamie weiahk by the mslrs ~pectrogmph. Cathale rnya and radiosrtivity topirs letul to the octet thmry, which i s u d to intmltree thc concepts nf formulas and cquntions. Frequent uar is mrulo of skctchcs of the Fisher-llimehfcldrr type of malreular drurture m a l r l and occasionnlly interatomic distances nnd hond nnalea arc yivcn. T h e first four chapters drnl with the concepts of atoms, atomic atrueturn, atomic eon~hinationa,and chemicnl arithmetic. I t is not until chnptcr r v m hns been reach14 that the rhemistry of one of the clrmmta, namely oxypm, ia introd u m l . By chaptcr twclve, the fundamentnl principlur hnrc nll hcrn presented except for n later chnpter on clectrochemiatry and one on nuelcar chemistry. The section on writing and hnlnncinp; equntions m m n to the writrr to hn very bricf, throwing tho h ~ ~ n l rofn teaching this section to students with no previous rhrmistry either onto the profrmr's shoulders or perhnps onto an extra quiz mrtion ns provi