684 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



There are about 500 examples with answers and, in certain cases, solutions 



^ThTbook can be recommended to students trying for entrance scholarships, 

 and especially to technical and engineering students. ^^ 



CHEMISTRY 



Catalysis and its Industrial Applications. By E. Jobling, A.R.C.Sc, 



B Sc FCS. Reprinted from The Chemical World. [Pp. vm + 120, 



with "12 illustrations.] (London: J. & A. Churchill, 1916. Price 2s. 6d. 



net.) 



THE phenomena which it is usual to group under the term Catalysis have long 



exercised a peculiar fascination for the chemist. The variety of processes which 



can be catalysed, and the variety of substances which function as catalysts, render 



the investigation of catalysis a subject of prime importance, both for chemical 



theory and chemical application. To attempt to present within small compass the 



main features of a field so wide and so varied in detail is not easy. Mr. Jobhng, 



however, has been singularly successful, and any one who wishes to become 



familiar with the possibilities of catalysis in industry cannot do better than read 



this little book. 



The first chapter deals with terms and definitions. To give an exact definition 

 of what Catalysis stands for is practically impossible. One is forced to deal with 

 the matter arbitrarily, and in this connection Mr. Jobling's classification will be 

 found useful. Chapter II is devoted to the problem of the manufacture of 

 sulphuric acid by the chamber process and the contact process, the latter being 

 particularly well described. Chapter III deals with the industrial production of 

 chlorine by the Deacon process, the manufacture of salt-cake ( Hargreaves-Robinson 

 process) and sulphur recovery (Claus-Chance process). The fourth chapter takes 

 up the great problem of the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen. As stress is laid on 

 the catalytic side of the subject, the author has necessarily restricted himself to 

 Haber's process for the synthesis of ammonia, Ostwald's process for the oxidation 

 of ammonia to nitric acid, and Serpek's aluminium nitride process. In Chapter V, 

 surface combustion and its applications are considered. Chapter VI deals with 

 catalytic hydrogenation. Many illustrations of the applicability of Sabatieris 

 method are given, including, of course, the commercial hydrogenation of oils. 

 The industrial applications of dehydrogenation, oxidation, dehydration, and hydro- 

 lysis are discussed briefly in Chapters VII and VIII. 



The best chapter is that which deals with the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen, 

 and more especially with Haber's process. One has only to read Mr. Jobling's 

 description to realise the lessons it has for the chemists and manufacturers of this 

 country. The introduction of modern physico-chemical methods is the secret of 

 success as far as Haber's own part in the work is concerned, whilst the far-seeing 

 policy of the Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik in the support which it accorded 

 to Haber, and the extension of the " pure " research work by the firm's own 

 chemists, is surely an object-lesson for British manufacturers. 



In dealing with a heterogeneous subject, one is anxious to know if any 

 generalisation exists which may serve to link together apparently disconnected 

 phenomena. In the case of catalysis our knowledge of the processes involved 

 is still too slender to afford just grounds for comprehensive generalisation. The 

 only attempt at unification may be summed up in the hypothesis that catalysis 

 i s essentially due to the formation of labile intermediate compounds of polyvalent 



