haloslkanes, alcohols, etc. In the eleventh chapter, the carho- hydrates, a very useful feature is noted, every mono- and di- saccharide has both the straight-chain and ring formula. side by side. Now the authors feel the student is ready for nomencla- ture, which is the title of chapter twelve. Aromatic chemistry is covered in the next four chapters. The hook concludes with: "Heteroc,yclie oompaunds," "Industrial developments in organic ehemisbry," "Biological developments in organic chem- ist,ry," and "Organic reactions in vital processes.'' What is in realitv a twmtv-first chmte1.. for it f0hw6 the format of me- ,, ~ ~ " . ~, vious ones but is included in the appendix, is "Warfare develop- ments in organic chemistry." The index completes the hook.

0 0 I t is of interest to note that S) and N) are used in the

Nn Qn n - - first part of the book, hut in aromatic compounds s/*- and

n I n " x<: appear. On page 85 the arrow is used to show the fact

that hydrogens attached to carbons alpha to a carbonyl group are more labile than other hydrogens. The same representation is found in other books; however, it seems best to confine the use of the arrow to signify coordinate covalent bonds. Somp other points noted for improvement again apply to other texts as well. Symbols for carbon should be more pronounced than those for hydrogen and the valence lines should be shorter. This will enable students to make visual pictures of isomers more easily. Wurte ~.eactions can be used to make uneven numbered alkanes; and most important of all, treatment of a primary amino with nitroun acid is the poorest possible method for preparing primary alcahola.

The authors have fulfilled their objectives rather well and have given the students and teachers a book that is readable, teach- able, and can he nicely completed in one semester. A good balance is kept between aliphatic and aromatic ohemistry as sel l as between industrial and biological applications. Teachers r h o have classes predominantly of nonchemiatry majors would do well to give this hook consideration.

lRTHUR FUHST SAN PAANCIBOO CITY COLLEGE S*K rr,,",,,,,, c*,,..rronrr*

0 SCIENCE FRENCH COURSE

C. W. Page t Moffatt. Revised by Noel Corcoran. Fourth edition. University Tutorial Press, Ltd., London; Chemical Publishing Co., Inc., New York, 1951. viii + 332 pp. 12.5 X 19 cm. $4.75.

THAT this i~ a good text of its kind is attested by its passag? into a fourth edition. The elements of French grammar, em- ploying Fame scientific terms in the examples, occupy 91 pages. Then follow 24 brief nontechnical essays on miscellaneous topics ranging from the seasons to fishing in Iceland. Of the selections from journals and BSe. papers physics gets 56 pages, chemistry 32, and some other sciences smallor space.

Apparently about the only change in this edition is the adding of some 150 words to the vocabulsry, which, however, is still incomplete. Some of the terms noted in the chemical section but not in the voel~hulary are herdnique, brome, brornuration, oyanure, dlazofque, eaus-mhs, 6talonner, filtrer, groupement, huileux, iod6, iodure, rev6tement. (One must admit, by r a y of excuse, that a complete vooahulary in a. foreign-language reader is an exception.) The survey of grammar is well handled and the printing is attraotive.

One may aek, of what value is such a course? Its announced purpose is "to provide etudents who have to read French hooks on scientific subjects with the necessary minimum of grammar and a seleotion of extracts from which a little preliminary prac- tice may he obtained." I t does just that, but the claim on the jacket, "This book enables students without any previous knowl- edge of the language to read French scientific and technical litera-

JOURNAL O F CHEMICAL EDUCATION . ' , . .

ture," is not justified. The reviewer's experience with "science readers" for science majors has been disappointing. This one may provide pleasant reading for a student who wishes practice in French and who is interested in science, hut it will give him only tl smattering of soientific terms. The difference between ordinary and soientific French lies in t,he technical vocabulary of the latter. As a rule, a science st,udent who has French articles or hooks to read has a main interest in a particular branch of science. For him, in the writer's opinion, s. "soience French course" would be largely a. waste of time. He had better secure a faundrttion in general French and then get down to the French of his speoialty. In this way he will he improving his gencral Iknowledge of the language and a t the same time acquiring an adequate technical vocabulary in a particular subject. This vocabulwy can of course he extended to other scientific subjects as occasion warrants. The same considerations apply to the study, as a tool subject, of German or any other foreign language.

AUSTIN M. PATTERSON .&NTIOCX C O L L E ~ E

YELLOW SPRING& OHIO

0 PLASTICS, SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL

H. R. Fleck. Third edition. Temple Press, Ltd., London, 1951. xv + 414 pp. 76 figs. 14.5 X 22.5 em. 40s.

THE new edition of this standard text is a ~velcome addition to our growing literature on plastics. I t continues to be a hal- anced summary oi plastics information up to 1949, with special reference to the British position.

After a very cursory survey of raw materials and theoretical principles, the hook treats the chemistry of plastic materials in more detail. Laboratory procedures are given. Fourteen pages ai-e devoted to the manufacture of plastics, and 69 pages to physical properties. Chapters follow on "Synthetic resins," "Synthetic fibers and textiles" (which is particularly inadequate and obeolete), "Adhesives and plywood," "Moulding tech- niques," and "Chemicsl ansly& and testing."

Very little material in this book cannot be found in other more detailed, and more modern, references. The primary at- traction of this book is that it is a hound compilation which can serve as an "additional" reference. The U. S. hook literature h&s been so abundant since the prevjous editions of this volume that, it, has lost, muah of it8 attractiveness and value. I t is recommended to libraries and technical men who should have all the hooks on plastics published here and abroad.

ROBERT Z. ARIES

0 HETEROCYCLIC COMPOUNDS. VOLUME I: Three-, Four-, Five-, and Sir-Membered Monmyclic Compounds Containing One 0 , N, and S Atom

Edited by Robert C. Elderfield, Columbia University. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1950. vii + 703 pp. 4 figs. 1 table. 4 charts. 15.5 X 24 em. 511.

THIS is the first volume of a proposed series concerned with the chemistry of heterocyclic oompounds. The editor of this series has reoognized and has stated in his preface that ". . . a definite need existed, for a detailed treatment of the chemistry of these interesting compounds which u.ould concentrate on the chemical principles involved rather than attempt to give an encyclopedic coverage of the field."

Apparently, the present volume begins an attempt to fulfill this stated need by providing a series of critical review€, each of vhich is to deal with one or more heteraoyclic ring systems. This first volume contains separate discu~sions of the following topics: Ethylene and Trimethylene Oxides (60 pages), Ethyl-