in the Forward, besides heing a history, Organic Reactions.

Volume I1 practical application, and give reprodue-

the book is an obituary since it is published ible results in the hands of professional
a t a moment when nuclear explosives ap- Edited hy Avthur C. Cope, Mas- analytical chemists.
pear to have sounded the death knell of sachusetts Institute of Technology, The Association of Official Agricultural
"traditional" chemical explosives. Cambridge. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Chemists, familiarly known as the AOAC,
Professor Partington points out that New York, 1960. vii +
501 pp. Figs. was organized in 1884by State and Federal
the use of ineendiary materials was com- and tahles. 16 x 23.5 cm. $12. Chemists who were in charge of enforce-
monplace even in ancient times. This This is the eleventh volume of the well- ment of state fertilizer laws. As the reg-
is brought out from his extensive ex- known series dealing comprehensively ulatory control of foods, feeds, drugs,
amination of manuscripts and evaluation with selected organic reactions. P u b cosmetics, and pesticides became a recog-
of scholarly studies. His handling of lished under a new Editor-in-Chief, this nieed governmental function, the AOAC
source materials leads to convincing con- volume maintains the familiar format and has accepted the responsibility of provid-
clusions regarding some of the knotty high standards of earlier members of the ing accurate methods of analysis. These
problems and legends prevalent with re- series. standard methods are used not only in
gard to the subject. Very frequently he The chapters included in this volume enforcement of laws but by both industry
draws directly from Greek, Latin, German, are: The Beckmann Rearrangement, by and government as a basis for specifioa-
and French texts to demonstrate his L. G. Danarums and W. Z. Heldt; 156 pp. tions and contracts, and also by research
points, or on occasion, to show the reader 596 ref. The Demjanov, and Tiffeneau- workers in agriculture. The value and
that a certain conclusion is not possible. Demjanov Ring Expansions, by P. A. 8. significance of research work which in-
A lengthy chapter deals with the use of Smith and D. R. Baer; 32 pp., 111 ref. cludes data on the protein fat, and carb*
incendiary materials in warfare, partiic- Arylrttion of Unsaturated Compounds by hydrate composition of food, for example,
ularly with Greek fire. With respect to Diaaonium Salts (The Meerwein Aryla- depends directly an standard methods for
the chemical nature of the latter, the bwk tion Ret~ction),by C. S. Rondestvedt, determining each of these items.
fails to arrive a t a definitive answer, but Jr.; 72 pp., 161 ref. The Favorski1 In this 9th edition (1960) the AOAC
examines the various incendiaries Rearrangement of Haloketones, by A. S. presents its methods as revised since the
used before the development of gun- Kende; 56 pp., 130 ref. Olefins from publication of the 8th edition in 1955.
powder and rules out five of them as not Amines: The Hofmmn Elimination R e New chapters on both disinfectants and
satisfying the necessary properties. The action and Amine Oxide Pyrolysis, by drugs in feeds have been added. Num-
axth he suggests as most probably the A. C. Cope and E. R. Trumbull; 177 pp., erous methods have been added in other
substitnce which figured so prominently 398 ref. chapters, especially in the fields of
in the defense of Constantinople against All of the reactions discussed are timely fertilizers, pesticides and pesticide residues,
the Muslims and the defense of Palestine and interesting; the reviews concerning beverages, flavors, drugs, and nutritional
against the Crusaders-a liquid composed the Beckmann rearrangement and the adjuncts. The chapter on soils found in
of a petroleum distillate thickened with preparation of olefins from amines are es- previous editions has been omitted.
resinous substanoes, and possibly with pecially welcome. The pyrolysis of arnine Chromatographic techniques have k e n
added sulfur. Saltpeter (KNOa) as a oxides also has been discussed in a recent a ~ ~ l i eind nearlv everv field of methods
possible component is ruled out because issue of Chemical Reviews; however,
of lack of knowledge of the pure salt be- the two surveys are complementary. To
fore the thirteenth century. date, no reactions have been reviewed in
more than one volume of this series, al- colorimetrioally. A few paper chromat*
The introduction of gunpowder into graphic procedures are included far the
warfare followed the development of though 20 years have now elapsed ~ i n c e
Volume 1was prepared. It is hoped that first time. For many physiologically
ealtpeter production. The confusion of active materials, bioassay remains the only
ealtpeter with natron is examined, with future volumes will contain a second treat-
ment of same of the more important practicable method of analysis.
the oonolusion that the term, as originally As new methods are constantly heing
used, referred to sodium carbonate. organic reactions along with reviews of
Although not directly related to the s u b reactions not discussed previously. adopted, the number of pages hss in-
ject of the book, there is a good treatment creased with each edition. The size of
of the production and use of nstron and ROBERTK. INGHAMthe book has been controlled by abbrevi-
Ohio University ating words and omittingarticles and p r e p
potash in early times. A long chapter on ositions. The format has now been re-
saltpeter relates the known history of the Athens
salt and includes a comprehensive ex- vised to a larger page size containing two
columns of type.
amination of the written statements about
its production up to the beginning of the The teacher of analytical chemistry
Official Methods of Analysis of the should 6nd thi. volume quite valuable as a
nineteenth century. Association of Official Agricullural reference and far special assignments.
The author points out that gunpowder Chemists The student may have some difficulty in
was known to Roger Bacon from Arabic following procedures since they are, of
sources, dismissing the legend of its Edited by William Homitz, Association
of Official Agricultural Chemists, Ino. necessity, written as brief as possible.
discovery by the Fransciscan friar. He
likewise dismisses Berthold Sehwartz and 9th edition. Association of Official L. R. STONE
tho invention of firearms as unfounded Agriculturd Chemists, Washington, Hess & Clark, Inc.
legend, particularly since no evidence for D. C., 1960. xx + 832 pp. Figs. and Ashland. Ohio
the oloric of that name exists. The use tables. 18 X 27 em. $17.50.
of cannon early in the fourteenth century 'l'lh i* a h o k of rnethwls for analysis
is indicated in the frontispiece reproduced of foods, feeds, Irrtilizrm, druys, pestiridrs.
from an illustration from a manuscript and orhrr matFRals n,lated tu agri~wltoml Wave Mechanics and Volency
dated 1326. Numerous descriptions of products. One may find here, for example,
early cannon are included. Separate chap- J . W. finnett, Queen's College, Ox-
procedures for determining phosphorus in ford, England. John Wiley & Sons
ters deal with gunpowder in Muslim, In-
dian, and Chinese records.
fertilizer, DDT in dusting powder, phenol
coefficient of disimfectants, alcohol in dis-
Ine., New York, 1960. xii +
184 pp.
Figs. and tt~bles. 13 X 19 om. $3.
The book is a valuable study of a tilled liquors, vitamins in enriched bread,
complicated ~ubject. It fills a place in fat in milk, vanillin in vanilla extract, "The object of this b w k is to try to
the history of chemical industry alongside protein in stock feed, codeine in tablets, or explain to the experimental chemist the
the author's definitive work an the originsglycerol in vanishing cream. Methods are processes and techniques . ..
involved in
of applied chemistry. adopted by the Association only after tests the application of wave mechanics to the
a t several different laboratories, all follow- electronic structure of atoms and mole
ing the proposed method on the same cules." The baak assumes that the reader
A m o J.~ IHDE sample, agree on results of analysis. has a working knowledge of calculus,
Uniuevsitv of Wisconsin These planned collaborative studies insure such as required of our B.S. chemists,
Modison that the official methods are reliable, have but requires no mathematics beyond this.

Volume 38, Number 8, August 196 1 / 431