REVIEWS 139 



and Prohibitionists being fought with renewed vigour, but the question of 

 using alcohol as a source of motive power to replace or supplement petrol is 

 one of great and growing importance, and, lastly, the use of methyl and 

 ethyl alcohols in the organic chemical industries is one which demands much 

 attention just now. 



The subject is discussed from many points of view, historical, chemical, 

 commercial, and physiological, so that the book should without doubt form 

 a standard work of reference on all matters connected with alcohol. 



That Mr. Simmonds has determined to keep right up to date is shown 

 by the fact that a special section is included on methods of production of 

 alcohol from acetylene, though some figures as to yields and costs would 

 have been of value, and it is of interest to note that the Swiss Federal Govern- 

 ment are interested in the erection of a plant for the synthesis of about 

 28,000,000 gallons per annum of ethyl alcohol from calcium carbide. This 

 affords a somewhat striking example of the manner in which modern organic 

 chemistry is capable of revolutionising an age-old industry, and we may 

 yet see the fermentation industries of the world put out of business by the 

 advent of synthetic alcohol, just as the natural indigo and madder industries 

 have been driven out of the world's markets by the synthetic products. 



The author has, very wisely, inserted a chapter on the preparation and 

 properties of methyl alcohol which will be of considerable value to those 

 who have to deal with the subject. Chapter VI also, on the analytical 

 chemistry of methyl and ethyl alcohols, will repay study. 



The printing and general arrangements are clear and concise, and the 

 text is reasonably free from printer's errors (" diethyl-aniline " on p. 366, 

 line 13, is obviously a misprint for diethyl-amine). The book should be 

 assured of a place in all chemical libraries. 



F. A. Mason. 



Industrial Gases. By H. C. Greenwood, O.B.E., D.Sc, F.I.C. [Pp. 

 xvii -f 371, with 23 illustrations.] (London : Bailliere, Tindall & 

 Cox, 1920. Price 12s. td. net.) 

 Dr. S. Rideal could not have made a happier choice, in his selection of 

 an authority on the above, than the late Dr. Greenwood ; and no better 

 memorial to the author could be desired than his treatise on the manu- 

 facture and technical manipulation of gases. 



Published in November 19 19, Industrial Gases comes at a peculiarly 

 appropriate time. Great Britain, France, Italy, and America are thinking 

 seriously of their combined nitrogen supplies, and it behoves the future 

 workers of the embryo industry to make themselves au fait with the thermo- 

 dynamic principles forming the basis of technical gas reactions. 



Perhaps the most important part of the book is its introduction. This 

 chapter clears up considerably the fog which hovers over one's ideas as to 

 the " specifications " to which a perfect gas should conform. One begins 

 to understand why many important natural gases satisfy only approxi- 

 mately our definitions of a perfect gas ; and due account is taken of the 

 corrections to be introduced in our handling of the gases of commerce. The 

 energy requirements for the compression of a gas both isothermally and 

 adiabatically (Boyle's Law is assumed to apply) come up for discussion ; 

 while in the sub-section on Heat-Interchange reference is made to the work 

 of Porter, Stanton, and Josse, important inferences being tabulated. 



The section on air naturally includes an account of the Joule-Thomson 

 effect, and its application in the Linde process to the liquefaction of air. 

 One cannot help thinking, however, that in the statement of Joule's experi- 

 ment, the conditions under which the experiment is carried out should be 

 specified. We can obviously make the final temperature very different 



