NATURE 



421 



THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 1918. 



SOME CHEMICAL MANUALS. 



<i) Treatise on Applied' Afialytical Chemistry: 

 Methods and Standards for the Chemical Analy- 

 sis of the Principal Industrial and Food Pro- 

 ducts. By Prof. V. Villavecchia and others. 

 Translated by Thomas H: Pope. Vol, i. Pp. 

 xvi + 475. (London: J. and A. Churchill, 1918.) 

 Price 2 15. net. 



{2) Trattato di Chimica Generale ed Applicata 

 all' Industria. By Prof. E. Molinari. Vol. i., 

 Chimica Inorganica. Parte Prima. Quarta 

 edizione, riveduta ed ampliata Pp. xiv+560. 

 (Milano : Ulrico Hoepli, 1918.) Price 12.50 lire. 



(3) Notions Fondamentales de Chimie Organique. 

 By Prof. C. Moureu. Cinqui^me edition, revue 

 et considerablement augmentee. Pp. vi + 548. 

 (Paris : Gauthier-Villars et Cie, 1917.) Price 

 20 francs. 



(4) Reagents and Reactions. By Prof. E. Tog- 

 noli. Translated from the Italian by C. Ains- 

 worth Mitchell. Pp. viii + 228. (Lx>ndon : J. and 

 A. Churchill, 1918.) Price 65. net. 



<i) pROF. VILLAVECCHIA, the director of 

 ^ the chemical laboratories of ihe Italian 

 Customs, has compiled this useful treatise for the 

 purpose of facilitating the examination of indus- 

 trial and alimentary products, and of the raw mate- 

 rials of their manufacture. It would seem to be 

 especially designed for the exact charactef- 

 isr.tion and valuation of commercial products by 

 experts and inspectors appointed to enforce con- 

 tractual conditions in connection with the pur- 

 chases and supplies of the State. It is, in fact, 

 such a book as might be put together by the head 

 of our own Government laboratory for the use of 

 the members of his department. It covers, how- 

 •ever, a far wider range of analytical work than 

 usually falls to the lot of a Government chemist 

 In this country, who is seldom called upon to make 

 many of the very specialised analyses which are 

 treated of in this book, as they have no direct con- 

 nection, as a rule, with the requirements of the 

 State. In the few exceptional cases in which such 

 examinations are needed special arrangements are 

 made. The Government departments in this 

 country have probably much larger and wider faci- 

 lities for enlisting the services of specialist ana- 

 lytical experts than is the case in Italy, which may 

 account, therefore, for the' comprehensive scope 

 of Prof. Villavecchia 's work, which was primarily 

 designed for use in his own department. 



The book treats of the analysis of potable waters 

 and water for industrial purposes ; of the exam- 

 ination of a great variety of chemical products, 

 inorganic and organic, such as the common acids, 

 alcohols, estei s, salts, mordants, sulphur, etc. ; of 

 the more important fertilisers ; of cement mate- 

 rials ; metals and alloys ; fuels ; mineral oils and 

 their derivatives ; fatty substances ; and a variety 

 of industrial products obtained by the treatment 

 of fatty matters, such as stearine, soap, glycerin, 

 hydrogenised oils, etc. 



NO. 2518, VOL. 100] 



The methods, as a rule, are judiciously selected 

 with special attention to the particular point to be 

 ascertained, and with due regard to the limitations 

 of time imposed on official work of the kind, where 

 it often happens, as in tender samples, that large 

 numbers have to be dealt with as quickly as pos- 

 sible. At the same time the analytical processes 

 are scientificidly sound, and capable of affording a 

 satisfactory degree of accuracy. Most of them 

 have been repeatedly tried in the laboratories under 

 the author's direction, and in cases where the ' 

 methods yield results which are only relative to 

 the procedure employed, the conditions needed to 

 ensure strictly comparable results have been care- 

 fully studied. Mr. Pope, the translator, has made 

 some additions and modifications in order to 

 render the work more applicable to conditions in 

 this country, but the departures from the Italian 

 text are few and comparatively unimportant. We 

 can confidently recommend the book to all analysts 

 who are concerned with the analytical examination 

 of the various classes of material of which it 

 tieats. 



(2) Dr. E. Molinari is professor of chemical 

 technology in the Milan Polytechnic. His work 

 under review, now in its fourth edition, was first 

 published in 1904. The fact that it has passed 

 through so many editions in such a comparatively 

 short time is a sufficient indication of its success 

 ill meeting the demand in Italy for a comprehen- 

 sive treatise on chemistry, both general and physi- 

 cal, applicable to the arts and manufactures. The 

 present volume is concerned with the inorganic 

 (non-metallic) division of the science. It has been 

 carefully revised and brought up to date, and is 

 fairly well illustrated. It contains, for example, 

 an excellent account of modern methods of making- 

 sulphuric acid, with special reference to the vari- 

 ous contact processes in use in Germany and Eng- 

 land, with diagrammatic representations of the 

 plant as shown in the patent specifications. The 

 methods of liquefying air and the fractional 

 separation of its main components, as practised on 

 the large scale, are well described and illustrated, 

 as are the methods for the utilisation of atmo- 

 spheric nitrogen, so far as these have been made 

 public. The book is admirably printed in excellent 

 type on good paper, and is a thoroughly sound 

 and eminently readable treatise. 



(3) Prof. Moureu 's "Notions Fondamentales de 

 Chimie Organique," now in its fifth fdition, is too 

 well known to need any detailed account. The pre- 

 sent volume is, of course, necessarily enlarged in 

 order to do justice to the growth of knowledge 

 since its first issue in 1902, but in its general plan 

 and arrangement it differs in no essential parti- 

 culars from its predecessors. The author has 

 added some pages on new developments of the 

 atomic theory, with special reference to valency, 

 and the article on stereochemistry has been recast. 

 Soecial attention has been paid to the treatment 

 of the connection between physical properties and 

 chemical constitution, and some account is given 

 of the mechanism of chemical change. The book 

 already enjovs the distinction of being one of the 

 most generally preferred text-books on its subject 



