622 
Book  Reviews. 
I  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
December,  19 17. 
seems  to  be  growing  rapidly.  There  have  been  published  during  the 
past  ten  years  more  books  of  a  popular  scientific  type,  such  as  the 
"  Chemistry  of  Familiar  Things,"  "  Household  Chemistry,"  "  Chem- 
istry in  the  Home,"  etc.,  than  doubtless  appeared  during  the  pre- 
ceding 100  years. 
The  book  entitled  "  Everyman's  Chemistry  "  is  one  of  the  .fore- 
going type,  yet  essentially  different.  Its  style  is  clever  and  appeal- 
ing. Such  chapter  headings  as  "  Chemical  Miseries  "  and  "  The  Red 
Headed  Halogens  "  give  the  reader  a  sense  of  anticipatory  enjoy- 
ment which  is  not  denied  him  when  the  subject  matter  is  reached. 
The  first  chapter  is  a  convincing  example  of  how  to  develop  the 
reader's  interest  in  a  subject  which  he  may  have  believed  too  diffi- 
cult for  him  to  understand.  The  final  paragraph  from  this  chapter 
is  well  worth  quoting  : 
"  Chemistry  is  not  only  the  intelligence  department  of  industry ; 
it  is  everywhere  and  we  cannot  get  away  from  it.  Every  kitchen  is 
a  laboratory,  every  baker  is  a  chemical  manufacturer  and  every 
butcher  is  a  chemical  warehouse  man.  Chemistry  washes  us,  laun- 
ders our  clothes,  bleaches  and  dyes  them ;  it  provides  us  with  metals, 
with  our  morning  paper  and  with  books ;  it  helps  the  farmer  to  grow 
our  food ;  and  when  all  is  over,  whether  we  be  burned  to  ashes  or 
buried  in  the  ground,  it  is  by  chemical  processes  that  our  bodies  go 
back  again  into  the  great  order  of  things." 
It  is  surprising  how  clearly  and  interestingly  the  author  dis- 
cusses such  difficult  technical  subjects  as  the  ionic  theory  and  col- 
loids. The  description  of  the  composition  and  properties  of  permu- 
tit  is  especially  noteworthy,  and  the  articles  on  iron  and  steel,  glass, 
lime,  mortar  and  cement,  and  indeed,  many  others  in  the  inorganic 
portion  of  the  book,  are  excellent. 
The  portion  of  the  book  devoted  to  organic  compounds  is  a  dis- 
appointment. There  is  much  of  interest  and  value,  it  is  true,  but 
why  such  important  organic  substances  as  argol,  tartaric  acid,  citric 
acid,  gelatin  and  baking  powders,  for  instance,  should  not  even  be 
mentioned  when  considerable  space  is  given  to  the  structural  for- 
mulas of  a  number  of  the  coal  tar  intermediates,  such  as  paranitrani- 
line,  amido-naphthol  disulphonic  acid,  etc.,  is  difficult  to  understand. 
Then,  too,  it  is  strange  to  spend  so  much  time  in  discussing  Van't 
Hoff  and  his  studies  in  stereo-chemistry,  without  mentioning  even 
a  single  word  as  regards  the  influence  of  Pasteur's  work  on  the 
optical  activity  of  the  tartaric  acids  in  this  connection. 
