January 1. 1916.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



175 



The Editor's Book Table. 



CHEMICAL TECll.NOLOGV AND ANALYSIS OF OILS, FATS AND 

 Waxes. By Dr. J. Lewkowitsch, M.A., F.I.C. Fifth edition. Mac- 

 millan & Co., Limited. London, 1915. [3 vols., cloth, Svo, 483, 688 

 and 944 pages. Price, $6.50 per volume.] 



THIS book deservedly stands in high esteem among chemists, 

 and its author is an acknowledged authority on the sub- 

 ject of oils, fats and waxes. The plan of the work is 

 |irogressive. 



The first volume begins with the classii'ication of oils, fats and 

 waxes, and discusses their physical and chemical properties, fol- 

 lo\,ved by a chapter on saponification, and one on the various 

 scries of fatty acids, and the series of alcohols derivable from 

 fats. Preparation of fatty matter for physical and chemical ex- 

 amination, and the application of these methods, occupy the next 

 four chapters, both quantitative and qualitative methods being 

 given. Methods for the examination of mixed fatty acids occupy 

 a section of 80 pages, succeeded by chapters on examination of 

 unsaponifiable matter; detection and determination of rosin. The 

 first volume concludes with the application of the methods to 

 the systematic examination of oils, etc., and a discussion of ex- 

 amination by strictly scientific methods. 



The second volume is devoted to the technology of the natural 

 oils, fats and waxes, taking up the commercial preparation of 

 the raw materials used in those industries, the methods of re- 

 fining them and detecting adulterations. In this section the oils 

 are classified as vegetable and animal; and so also are the solid 

 fats and waxes. 



Each oil, fat or wax is treated individually in the sub-division 

 of its proper group, where its characteristics are indicated, its 

 properties fully discussed, tests given and commercial value in- 

 dicated. In this part are descriptions of the rubber seed oils from 

 Maniliot, Fuiitiniiia and Hevea rubber tree seeds. These are all 

 classed as drying oils. The Jlevea seems to be the most im- 

 portant source of rubber seed oil. "Since the productive planta- 

 tions in the East have become very extensive, a larger supply of 

 seeds is available and their export for purposes of oil production 

 may increase, especially so as the vitality of the seeds for pro- 

 duction of seedlings is very feeble. * * * It is estimated that 

 one ton of kernels [414.400 seeds] delivered in England would 

 cost io \Qs. f$31.60].'' The cake would be unsuitable for cattle 

 feeding, and would have to be used as manure. These figures do 

 not seem to indicate that Hevea seed oil may be expected to 

 become an extensive article of commerce. 



The third volume takes up the consideration of the technology 

 of manufactured oils, fats and waxes, and commercial examina- 

 tion of the products of the oil, fat and wax industries ; concluding 

 with the technology of waste oils, fats and waxes and the com- 

 mercial products derived from them. Under the first division 

 are considered the industries having for their object the refining 

 of oils and fats, and their application to commercial use; as, for 

 example, edible oils, illuminating oils, paint oils and lubricants. 

 Next follows consideration of the industries in which the 

 glycerides undergo a chemical change, but are not saponified, 

 namely, polymerized oils, boiled oils, oxidized oils, vulcanized 

 oils or rubber substitutes, etc. In the latter instance the processes 

 of manufacturing both the dark substitute and white substitute 

 are given in general terms. 



The candle, fatty acid, soap and glycerine industries arc simi- 

 larly treated. The technology of waste oil products is important 

 and interesting. These products are chiefly greases. 



The set of three volumes is fully indexed in the third and last 

 volume. This work on oils, fats and waxes is a valuable work 

 for any chemist's library, especially to the rubber works chemist 

 who is often called upon to examine oils and products containing 

 oils used in rublier goods manufacture. 



CHEMICAL CALCULATIONS. BY R. HARMAN ASHLEY. IM..D., 

 -New York. D. Van Nostrand Co., 1915. (Cloth. Svo, 276 pages. 

 $2.00 net.l 



The author, in his preface, states that this text-book on 

 Chemical Calculations follows more closely than usual the needs 

 of students who will later find occupation in chemical laboratory 

 work. The book, therefore, contains constant reference to 

 chemists' handbooks, particularly to "Van Xostrand's Chemical 

 Annual for 1913." It will be found a valuable source of help by 

 practical chemists and laboratory analysts in their routine work. 

 The text-book is entirely mathematical, the problems treated re- 

 lating to ratios, approximate numbers, interpolation, heat, specific 

 gravity, gas calculations, calculations of atomic weights and 

 formuls, gravimetric and volumetric analysis and the use of 

 specific gravity tables and acid calculations. 



TRADE DIRECTORY OF CENTRAL AMERICA AND THE WEST 

 Indies, 1915. Published by the Department of Commerce, Washington, 

 D. C. [Cloth, Svo, 255 pages.] 

 Printed in legible type in well-arranged and not overcrowded 

 pages, and neatly bound in dark-red buckram, this work was com- 

 piled in the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce of the 

 Department of Commerce from information supplied by United 

 States consular officers. It is a directory of Central America and 

 West Indian buyers and is a supplement to the Trade Directory 

 of South America, published by the Department in 1914. Classi- 

 fication is according to countries, principal cities and 

 trading centers, and the nature of the goods handled, with index 

 and classification schedule and concise notes regarding the loca- 

 tion, population, transportation facilities and exports of each 

 point. It is easy of reference and should be a valuable addition 

 to the library of every manufacturer, merchant or exporter doing 

 business with these countries. Copies are obtainable, at 60 cents 

 each, from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Print- 

 ing Office, Washington, D. C. 



THE RUBBER INDUSTRY OF THE AMAZON, AND HOW ITS 

 Supremacy Can Be Maintained. Based on the experience of Joseph F. 

 Woodrolfe, author of "The Upper Reaches of the Amazon"; edited 

 and with additions by Harold Hamel Smith, editor of "Tropical Life." 

 John Bale, Son & Danielsson. Limited, London. 1915. [Svo, 435 

 pages, with statistical tables and 48 illustrations.] 

 The authors of this compilation of interesting and valuable 

 information on the Amazon rubber industry are abundantly 

 qualified in knowledge and experience to speak with authority. 

 How Brazil's supremacy can be maintained when she has 

 occupied second place as a rubber producer since 1913, is 

 puzzling, to say the least ; however, many potential theories 

 are advanced whereby Brazil's rubber supremacy may be ulti- 

 mately regained. The bock in general is an earnest appeal 

 for the development, preferably by English capital, of the 

 languishing Amazon rubber industry along the practical lines 

 suggested and supported by many facts and figures. 



The labor question, as it should, occupies the first place 

 and is treated with the careful consideration due this subject, 

 upon which the success of tropical ventures invariably de- 

 pends. The natives are to be encouraged to greater effort, 

 that will result in better laborers, rubber tappers and planters 

 of food-stuflfs. Large numbers of Japanese, Chinese and Siam- 

 ese agriculturists must be imported to form colonies and inter- 

 marry with the natives to produce the new blood and sinew 

 that are so urgently required. 



The pages devoted to the history and description of the 

 industry from the early days of the seringas of the aborigines 

 to the present-day methods of collecting the milk and the 

 preparation of modern pclles of upriver fine rubber are par- 

 ticularly accurate and interesting. 



