REVIEWS 693 



Artificial Dyestuffs : Their Nature, Manufacture, and Uses. By Albert 

 R. J. Ramsey and H. Claude Weston. Illustrated by the Authors. 

 [Pp. vi 4- 212.] (London : G. Routledge & Sons, Ltd., 1917. Price 

 $s. bd. net.) 



According to the foreword this book " aims at providing the foundations for a 

 knowledge of the highly important branch of Industrial Chemistry with which it 

 deals. Whilst not claiming to cover the ground exhaustively, it affords a most 

 useful survey of the whole subject in language as little technical as possible." 



Meritorious as are the objects thus set forth, it must be admitted that the 

 performance falls far short of the aim. Exactly how it may have occurred is not 

 our affair, but, whether through carelessness in proof-reading or ill-advised haste 

 in preparing the volume, it shows so many and so serious errors of commission 

 and of omission that it defeats its own ends. 



The general plan is fairly reasonable; thus, Chapter I. gives a general 

 introduction, Chapter II. deals with the distillation of coal and coal-tar, in 

 Chapters III. to VIII. the various classes of dyes are discussed — though the 

 arrangement is not very satisfactory — and Chapter IX. shows the application 

 of the Artificial Dyestuffs. 



(By the way is it really necessary when discussing dyes and colouring matters 

 to adopt invariably the very crude translation of the German " Farbstoff " — namely, 

 dyestuffs? One does not refer to explosives as " Springstuffs " nor to hydrogen as 

 " Waterstuff" ; why not use plain English and term them dyes and colours ? The 

 authors of the volume under discussion are not, however, alone in this unfortunate 

 piece of phraseology.) 



The diagrams of apparatus are fairly clear and well-drawn, and if some of them 

 show signs of similarity to the diagrams in Ullmann's Enzyklopcedie, that is no 

 drawback. When, however, one comes to examine the letterpress, formulas, and 

 general diagrams in detail, one is amazed at the variety and extent of the errors 

 and omissions. Thus, in the diagrams on page 98 we are solemnly assured that 

 phthalimide is prepared from phthalic anhydride by treatment with strong nitric 

 acid I Again, on the next page we are told that the halogen indigos dye reddish 

 shades ; with the exception of Indigo Rathjen, these particular dyes yield actually 

 more greenish shades than indigo. 



As examples of misprints we may quote the word " soda-salt " instead of 

 " silver-salt " on page 76, whilst at the bottom of the same page we are told that in 

 the production of alizarin, at one stage "the supernatant liquor is run off and 

 washed " ; perhaps the authors may understand what this means, but it conveys 

 nothing to any one else. 



It would occupy too much space to give all the obvious errors which can be 

 noted on reading the work. The formulae are strangely inconsistent and often 

 incorrect, as on p. 82 (Alizarin Cyanin R.) ; and on the same page we are told 

 that fuming sulphuric acid contains " sulphurous acid, S0 3 ," whilst no explanation 

 is given for the change from the ordinary formula for anthraquinone on p. 28 to 

 the centric formula on p. 71. 



The formula for Bismarck-brown, as given on p. 63, would cause the Iron 

 Chancellor to turn in his grave. It will be of interest to dye-manufacturers 

 to learn (p. 49) that " salicylic acid ... is a substance manufactured from 

 anthranilic acid ! " Shades of Kolbe ! The choice of dyes is curious ; the chapter 

 on sulphur dyes gives no mention of sulphur-black, although this colour composes 

 considerably more than half or two-thirds of the total output of sulphur colours, 



