Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
Nov..  1921.  \ 
Book  Reviews. 
813 
original  addition  having  been  long  out  of  print.  The  price  of  the 
book  is  given  as  32  marks,  bound,  with  the  usual  note  of  high  per- 
centage increase  under  the  rulings  of  the  trade  union,  but  in  view 
of  the  changing  value  of  the  mark  the  price  to  the  American  buyer  is 
uncertain. 
Henry  Leffman. 
A  Textbook  of  Organic  Chemistry.  By  Joseph  S.  Chamber- 
lain,  Ph.  D.,  Professor  of  Organic  Chemistry,  Massachusetts 
Agricultural  College.  P.  Blakiston's  Sons  and  Company,  Phil- 
adelphia.   $4  net. 
This  work  of  927  pages  is  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  author 
"to  present  the  subject  (of  organic  chemistry)  in  a  sufficiently  ele- 
mentary manner  so  as  not  to  be  beyond  the  grasp  of  the  student  in 
his  first  course  in  organic  chemistry,  yet,  at  the  same  time 
to  make  the  book  comprehensive  in  that  it  takes  up  the 
entire  field  by  taking  up  practically  all  of  the  important  groups  of 
compounds."  "The  book  is  written  primarily  as  a  textbook  for  the 
undergraduate  student  and  the  instructor,"  but,  in  the  opinion  of 
the  reviewer,  the  author  has  reason  for  his  hope  "that  those  who 
have  already  studied  the  subject  may  find  it  of  value  for  its  gen- 
eral presentation." 
It  is  written  in  more  or  less  of  free  lecture  style,  in  language 
that  is  easily  understood.  There  is  some  repetition  of  steps  in- 
volved in  reactions  but  all  is  to  the  advantage  of  the  reader.  In 
this  sense  it  may  be  considered  elementary,  but  when  one  notes  the 
very  large  number  of  classes  of  compounds  and  individual  com- 
pounds that  are  mentioned  he  must  admit  that  in  this  sense  the  book 
is  far  from  elementary. 
A  careful  reading  of  the  most  of  the  text  discloses  but  very 
few  errors,  something  which  cannot 'be  said  truthfully  of  many  new 
works.  Paper  and  typography  are  good.  In  addition  to  31  pages, 
in  double  column,  of  index,  there  are  35  pages  devoted  to  a  survey 
of  contents. 
The  reviewer  knows  of  no  recent  book  which  he  would  more 
earnestly  recommend  to  students  in  schools,  and  others  who  wish  a 
good  general  survey  of  the  field  of  organic  chemistry. 
F.  P.  S. 
