222 



NATURE 



[May 22, 1919 



feature of the book is its bibliography and its 

 summary of patent literature, which may render 

 it of use to the works chemist. The main draw- 

 back is, of course, that such summaries in so 

 progressive a subject rapidly become out of 

 date. 



The book concludes with a short statement con- 

 cerning the possible future of a synthetic dye- 

 stuff industry in Great Britain. Here the author is 

 on debatable ground, and certain of his views may 

 be open to criticism. Indeed, he concedes that 

 the question whether such an industry can be 

 established here on a paying basis admits of a 

 considerable difference of opinion. The high cost 

 of transport has in the past been a severe handi- 

 cap, and there can be no doubt that the railway 

 companies have done little to promote the in- 

 terests of the manufacturers ; it remains to be seen, 

 however, whether nationalisation and the re-open- 

 ing of inland waterways and coasting harbours 

 will effect the desired improvement. The author 

 pleads for at least temporary protection to the 

 "key " industries, and especially to the dyestuff 

 industry, which has in effect been promised by the 

 Government. He naturally welcomes the financial 

 assistance by loans and grants-in-aid already 

 made by the State for capital cost of plant and 

 depreciation and specialised technical research, 

 but he sees many difficulties in complying with 

 the conditions imposed by the Board of Trade, 

 and in his opinion the success of the whole 

 scheme of bureaucratic administration is very 

 questionable. He thinks a better scheme would 

 be to establish a central " Board of Chemical 

 Industry " on the same lines as the U.S. Bureau 

 of Chemistry, and he gives a sketch of its con- 

 stitution and functions. As it is suggested that the 

 proposed Board should be a Gt)vernment depart- 

 ment, it is not very obvious how it differs, or at 

 least need differ, from the organisation already 

 proposed, as the admitted aims and duties are 

 identical. Much, of course, depends upon facili- 

 ties for the manufacture of "intermediates," and 

 it is suggested that benzol and toluol producers 

 might themselves convert these products and sell 

 them to the actual dye-makers, or that the coke- 

 oven undertakings might take over their manu- 

 facture. This would, no doubt, be a great advan- 

 tage from a purely economic point of view, and 

 allow the smaller dye-makers to compete on 

 better terms with the larger concerns, and so 

 tend to diminish the chance of the monopoly which 

 the present combine is not unlikely to baring 

 about. 



(2) This little book is a member of Pitman's 

 series of Common Commodities and Industries. 

 It attempts to explain within the limits of 100 

 crown octavo pages the main features of the origin 

 and uses of coal-tar and of the methods employed 

 to obtain commercially valuable materials from 

 it. Although necessarily very slight in treat- 

 ment, it possesses certain features of value which 

 are lacking in the work just noticed. It is fairly 

 well illustrated, and its descriptions of manufac- 

 NO. 2586, VOL. 103] 



turing processes are adequate, considering its 

 scope. The book covers, however, much less- 

 ground than Mr. Barnett's work, and it is not so- 

 much concerned with synthetic dyestuffs as with 

 such products as benzol, toluol, sulphate of am- 

 monia, carbolic acid, creosote, pitch, etc. — in other 

 words, with the primary products of the tar-dis- 

 tiller. It appeals to the business man and the 

 student of commerce rather than to the chemical 

 student or the technologist. Its author is the 

 lecturer on coal-tar distillation at the Hull Tech- 

 nical College, and the book is evidently based upon 

 considerable experience of the industry. It is well' 

 written and eminently readable, and merits the 

 attention of the special class for which it is 

 intended. 



(3) This book is now in its fourth issue. It is 

 a type of work which is becoming increasingly 

 common, and of which practically every country 

 which is concerned to any extent with chemistry 

 and the chemical arts can furnish examples. They 

 are mairtly intended for the chemical analyst, 

 works manager, and consultant, and are com- 

 piled on very much the same lines. They consist 

 for the most part of tables, such as the chemical 

 and physical constants of the elements, critical 

 data of gases, gravimetric factors and their 

 logarithms, molecular and atomic weights and 

 their logarithms, and a collection of useful 

 analytical factors, physical constants of inorganic 

 and organic compounds, hydrometer tables, 

 specific gravity tables, thermochemical data^ 

 tables of weights and measures, a list of defini- 

 tions of fundamental units of weight and mass, 

 etc. An unusual feature is a list of arithmetical 

 problems illustrating methods of calculation occa- 

 sionally needed in industry, with their answers. 

 Certain of these are not original, and may be 

 found in works dealing with chemical arithmetic. 

 But the list is fairly representative, although it 

 might be assumed that any user of the annual 

 would have already familiarised himself with such 

 calculations during his studentship. The compila- 

 tion concludes with a list of the more important 

 books interesting to the chemist which have been 

 published since October, 1913, with their prices in- 

 American currency. 



The value of a compilation of this kind depends 

 wholly upon its accuracy, and it is evident that 

 no pains have been spared to ensure this. The 

 most trustworthy data have been selected, and 

 the editors have had the assistance of a competent 

 body of experts, who have dealt with speciat 

 groups. Although the work is called an 

 "annual," it should be noted that the several 

 editions are not necessarily revised in each suc- 

 cessive year. The first issue appeared in 1906, 

 the second in 1909, the third in 1913, and the 

 present issue is dated November, 1917. Consider- 

 ing, however, the nature of the subject-matter, it 

 is reasonably certain that the book has been kept 

 well up to date, and that it fully realises its aim 

 as a convenient reference book of numerical 

 data. 



