Am.  Jour.  Pharm  > 
August,  1910.  J 
Book  Reviews. 
38i 
BOOK  REVIEWS. 
Allen's  Commercial  Organic  Analysis.  Fourth  Edition. 
Volumes  I  and  II.  Edited  by  Henry  Leffmann  and  W.  A.  Davis. 
Philadelphia:  P.  Blakiston's  Son  &  Co.,  1012  Walnut  St.  1909, 
1910. 
Allen's  commercial  organic  analysis  is  so  well  known  to  all  those 
who  are  engaged  in  the  assaying  and  examination  of  the  various 
organic  chemicals  and  products  employed  in  the  arts,  manufactures, 
and  in  medicine,  that  the  mere  mention  of  a  new  edition  is  sure  to 
be  welcome  news.  Volume  I  deals  with  the  alcohols,  carbohydrates, 
yeast  esters,  aldehydes  and  vegetable  acids,  while  in  Volume  II 
are  given  the  fixed  oils,  fats  and  waxes,  soap,  glycerol  and  wool  fat. 
The  editors,  who  are  also  well  known  analysts,  have  been  assisted  by 
13  contributors  who  are  specialists  in  their  respective  fields.  The 
text  has  been  completely  re-written  and  a  very  large  amount  of  new 
matter  has  been  added. 
The  present  edition  is  an  ideal  laboratory  manual  in  that 
"  much  descriptive  matter  now  fully  treated  in  text-books  on  chemis- 
try and  technology  has  been  omitted  "  and  with  the  aid  of  a  large 
number  of  specialists,  "  each  entrusted  with  the  task  of  bringing 
a  particular  section  up  to  date,"  there  has  been  produced  what  is 
essentially  a  practical  work  on  the  properties  and  methods  of  analysis 
of  organic  substances. 
There  has  been  some  re-arrangement  in  the  distribution  of  some 
of  the  topics.  The  examination  of  malt  has  been  transferred  to  the 
section  on  "  Malt  Liquors,"  where  it  belongs.  The  subject  of 
Cellulose  Nitrates  has  been  transferred  to  the  section  on  "  Smokeless 
Explosives."  The  chemistry-  of  explosives  will  be  published  in  a 
separate  volume  to  be  published  later. 
The  introduction,  including  methods  of  conducting  organic 
analysis,  has  been  written  by  Wm.  A.  Davis.  The  chapters  on 
"  Alcohols  "  and  "  Wines  and  Potable  Spirits  "  were  prepared  by 
G.  C.  Jones.  The  article  on  "  Malt  and  Malt  Liquors  "  was  pre- 
pared by  Julian  L.  Baker.  Emil  Schliching  wrote  the  monograph 
on  "  Yeast,  Pure  Culture  Yeasts  and  Compressed  Yeast."  The 
chapters  on  "The  Neutral  Alcoholic  Derivatives,"  "The  Acid  Deriva- 
tives of  Alcohols  "  and  "  Soap  "  were  prepared  by  Henry  Leffmann. 
