February 12, 1920] 



NATURE 



623 



working- of processes depending upon their reac- 

 tions. The superintendence of such processes is 

 frequently left wholly to the engineer, who is often 

 imperfectly acquainted with the physico-chemical 

 principles on which they are based. Modern 

 methods involving thermodynamical and thermo- 

 chemical principles are becoming of so complex a 

 character that their satisfactory working can be 

 assured only when they are under the joint control 

 and co-operation of both chemists and engineers. 



A chemist, like the present writer, whose memory 

 goes back some fifty years, will read this book with 

 a special interest, and, if his scientific imagination 

 is not dulled with age, he will experience a grate- 

 ful sense of satisfaction that he has lived to see 

 the extraordinary development it records. The 

 whole story, indeed, reads like a romance; even 

 Jules \'erne in his wildest flights never imagined 

 anything so astonishing as is revealed in this sober, 

 matter-of-fact account which Dr. Greenwood has 

 put together. Compare, for instance, the non- 

 metallic section of an early or even of a late edition 

 of Miller's "Inorganic Chemistry" — an excellent 

 book in its day — with the present volume. One 

 thus acquires an impression almost startling in its 

 intensity of the changes which the last half-century 

 has witnessed, even in matters of which the scien- 

 tific history seems completed. The liquefaction of 

 the so-called permanent gases ; the industrial appli- 

 cation of the Joule-Thomson effect ; the manufac- 

 ture of liquid air, its commercial application, and 

 the fractional separation of its constituents ; the 

 discovery of argon and its allies — no longer the 

 " tramps " of the chemical elements "who never did 

 an honest day's work in their lives," but now 

 turned to useful account — the isolation of terres- 

 trial helium, its manufacture, and its use in aero- 

 nautics ; the direct transformation of the " inert " 

 nitrogen into products which serve to increase the 

 food of man, and thus stave off the catastrophe 

 which the late Sir William Crookes foreshadowed ; 

 the application of hydrogen in the production of 

 fats : all this and more is set forth with the preci- 

 sion, impartiality, and unimpassioned detail of 

 the man of science — " the matter of fact being 

 barely stated without any prefaces, apologies, or 

 rhetorical flourishes," to quote the words of the 

 old statute of the Royal Society. 



One closes this book with profound regret that 

 its author's untimely death should have ended a 

 career so full of promise. 



(2) "The Condensed Chemical Dictionary," 

 published by the Chemical Catalog Co., of 

 New York, is a characteristic American produc- 

 tion. To parody Thackeray's well-known phrase, 

 it is written — or, rather, compiled — by hustlers for 

 NO. 2624, VOL. 104] 



hustlers. It is one of those books which " Elia " 

 would have stigmatised as "no book." It has no 

 valid claim to be regarded as a contribution to 

 chemical technology. It is apparently intended for 

 the of?ice-desk of the wholesale distributor or for- 

 warding agent of chemical products who may wish 

 to know something — but not too much — of the 

 nature of the substances with which he deals ; 

 how they are made; what are their "grades " and 

 uses ; how they should be packed ; what is their 

 "fire hazard"; and what regulations the shipping 

 and railroad companies impose on their transit. 

 It makes ample allowance for the ignorance of 

 ' clients, and does everything possible to facilitate 

 business. Should further information be needed 

 it is suggested that reference should be made to 

 other works of a similar character published by the 

 "Catalog Company." 



The plan of the Dictionary may best be illus- 

 trated by an example : — 



" AcETAMiDE * (acetic acid ami^ne), CH3CONH2. 



Color and properties : Colorless crystals ; mousy 

 odor. 



Constants: Specific gravity, i'i39; melting- 

 point, 82° C. ; boiling-point, 223° C. 



Soluble in water and alcohol. 



Derivation : By the interaction of ethyl acetate 

 and ammonium hydroxide. 



Method of purification : Crystallisation. 



Grades : Technical. 



Containers : Wooden barrels. 



Uses : Organic synthesis. 



Fire hazard : None. 



Railroad shipping regulations: None." 



The asterisk signifies that the substance is made 

 in .America. 



All the entries, together occupying more than 

 500 pages of a large octavo volume, are arranged 

 in this manner. The cast-iron uniformity of the 

 plan imposed upon the compilers occasionally gets 

 j them into trouble. Thus in the case of fluorine, 

 which the Dictionary informs us is manufactured 

 in the States for organic synthesis, no practical 

 container has been devised, as all ordinary sub- 

 stances are attacked by it. Nevertheless, a green 

 label is directed to be attached to the vessel which 

 holds it should it be sent by rail. 



Standard works have been consulted in the com- 

 pilation, and care appears to have been used in 

 the selection of recent and accurate numerical 

 data. A number of useful tables are given in an 

 I appendix, together with a list of definitions of 

 physical and other units in common use, and the 

 ! whole concludes with a statement of the regula- 

 j tions governing the transportation of dangerous 

 1 articles, other than explorsives, by freight and 

 express. 



