56 JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION

MOLYBDENUM COMPOUNDS. THEIR CHEMISTRY AND TECHNOLOGY

D. H. Killeffer, Chemical Consultant, and Arthur Linz, Vlce- President, Climax Molybdenum Co., with a chapter on The Structural Chemistry of Molybdenum by Linus Pauling, Cali. fornia Institute of Technology. Interscience Publishers, New York, 1952. d v + 407 pp. Illustrated. 15 X 23 cm. $10.50.

FROM thc ( :hm~ic~I point of view, molybd~num ia one of the most con~plicatrd of t,he element,^. I t shows fivc oxidation statce; it is amphotrric, and it forms r. bewildering array of mon- onur1r;w snd polynuclrsr complexes. Becms.usc it is so interesting, n considersl~lc lit~rature has grown up around i t ; heeau~e it is so diffir:ult, this litrrature containa many errors and contradictions. The authors of this book, who have had long expsriencc in the processing of molybdenum rompounda, have surveyed this litera- ture thoroughly and h w e summarized what they consider to be

one gains the impression that future activity in this field of chem- istry will emphasize the genesis and function of these com- pounds rather than their nature. This is also reflected in the greator emphasis, in the fourth edition, which is placed upon nnavmc svstems in which the naturallv oecurrine amines. or their &~umok, nwy itmetion eithw 2~s w l ~ ~ t t a t c 6 orhhihitok.

.\lthutryll thir book i. edl printed and lane a plerriiu~ fonnst <m IS ~ I ~ o d m l :XI tlw prim, o m laz to pav f w thew nrnarlitira.

COTTRELL: SAMARITAN OF SCIENCE

Fmnk Cameron. Foreward by Ernest 0. Lawrence, Doubleday & Co., Inc., New York, 1952. 414 PP. 14.5 X 22 cm. $4.50. - -

t,he most reli;J,le data. They have done this well and have mado a diEt,illCt c:Ont,ribution t , ~ the literature inorganic chemistry. THE foreword of this fine book about an American described ~ h ~ i ~ shilit,l to point out which are unexplored or in which as a man of integrity "whoee allegiances were to mankind and to more information in nreded is particularly vduable. science" was written by Ernest 0. Lawrence of the University

~h~ ohaptpr an the structural ,,f molybdenum, by of California, who mote: "Frederick Gardner Cottrell was dis- Linns Pauling, givcR x brief survey of tho structure determinations tinguished not only hy his own scientific contributions but even of maay types of molybdenum compounds, and is extremely well mart! by his generous spirit and his devotion to helping others

donr. The chxptw on analytical outlines in detail along the paths of progress." $.he- nwthods uncd h j the Climax Molybdenum Co. This hook is really a biography but it is also a great story of

~h~ lattpl. part, of the book is devoted to uses of molyt~denum American industry. The story of the development of helium in ,.oml,OUL,ds i,, the laboratory and in industry. 'rhe most ex. Texas while Frederick Cottrell was associated wit,h the U. S. tensivr une is in catalysts, and many patents on such substances Bureau of Mines and the Fixed Nitrogen Research Laboratory havr been granted. As Killeffer and Lins point out, much of are but two interesting episodes related by Frank Cameron, who lhir pat,ent litorsturc is in error, and tho good can be separated read 10,000 letters and documents as well as the diary which rrnm the I d nnla hv rlnt,a,il~d invpst,imtion. Thev have not Cottrell kept faithfully for 40 years. The whole ~ro jec t re- ..-- --- .-.- .< ~~~~~ - ~~~~ -~ ~~

abtenlpted to do this, hut give an extensive bibliography. quired two years of research. The uses rndyhdenumin thcmetallio state i n alloys are Industry remembers Dr. Cottrell for the Cottrell precipitator,

mnn+innorl which solved the problem of smoke and dust by precipitating L..bY

Written by men actively engaged iu the molybdenum industry, the hook is frankly propagandist. But it is good propaganda, for it is s real scientific contribution. The authors have done well,

DIE BIOGENEN AMINE

them with electricity of high voltage, in some cases reaovering valuable by-products from the precipitated colloidal dust. Until his death in 1948 he was on of the most colorful and leading scientific figures of the century, and yet he remained almost un- known to the layman because of his deliberate self-effacement.

At the age of 23 he went to Germany and worked with the world's gifted physical chemists, Jacob vin't Hoff and \Vilhelm

JOnN C. BAILAR. JU. Ostwald, receiving his degree summa cum laade. Three years later when a professor from Berkeley visited Ostu%Sd's labora- tory, he asked if any of the men had knou-n Cottrell. The in- &&or replied: "He is not here now but his spirit is." This is the feeling one gets today whik r~ad inp "Cottrell: Samaritan of Srienor."

M. Guggenheim, Dr. phil., Dr. med. h.c., Basel. Fourth edition. Interscience Publishers, Inc., New York, 1951. xv + 619 pp.

~ A ~ ~ p ~ , ~ ~ ~ ~ 16.5 X 23.5 om. $19.50.

GRETA OPPE

THE first edition of "Die biogenen Amino" appeared in 1919 and w a s roeognized as an authoritative account of the chemistry . TABLES OF PERCENTAGE COMPOSITION OF of the naturally occ,.urring amines. With the publication of the ORGANIC COMPOUNDS ~ecolld cdition in 1823 and the third edition in 1940 the author t,ook cognizance of the progress made in this field and provided, H. Gysel. Verlag Birkhauser, Basel, Switzerland, 1951. d + in rnrh dit,ion. a comnrehonsivc and scholarlv account of thc 637 pp. 17 X 24.5 cm. 125 fr. .~~ .~~.~- .~~~~~~ . ~~ . rhemist,ry and biochemistry of this group of physiologicall.~im- portant e o m p o u n ~ , hi^ tradition has been oontinu8d in the THIS volume contain8 the percentage atomir compositionr

presr,,,t, fourth, edition ,,f this book, and, as with its and molecular weights of formulas containing C , W and N for

cessom, it almost certainly he as being indispen- C1 to Cnz. These tables uill he useful, as a desk refermcc, to

oablble to in the chemistry bioohemi8- those chemists having a frequently recurring need for such in- t,ry ,,[ ,,itrogenous of origin, ~h~ literature formation. However, since this information can be obtained :appears to hsvc been covered through 1949. rapidly in each case by use of z calculator, either meehanioal or

A feature of the editions was the of slide rule, the oecseianal uaer will find little purpose in purrhnsinp d i n g attention to the existence of nitrogenous bases of unknown volume.

constitution by providing a. separate chapter for these compounds. F. T. WEISS This practioe is continued in the fourth edition hut the list has s,,, D E ~ E ~ ~ ~ J ~ ~ ~ c o ~ p n ~ r become very much smallor than thst of t,ho earlier editions and E I E R Y ~ L ~ . CALIFORNI*