Structure and Properties of Alloys. R. M. Brick and Arthur Phillips. 227 pages. McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 330 West 42nd St., New York, Ν. Υ. , 1942. Price, $2.50.

1 HE book is the outgrowth of a course in metallography which has been given a t Yale University fbr over 20 years. The mimeographed material previously used in that course, revised at frequent inter­vals to keep abreast of new developments, formed the basis of the book. In the words of the authors, "the primary pur­pose of this text is to correlate, in a sys­tematic manner, the alloy phase diagrams and property data that are available in many books, with selected photographs of the internal alloy structures a t appro­priate magnifications." I t is natural, therefore, tha t the needs of the student are foremost in the presentation. The title suggests a broader field than is actually covered, and the general reader may be

disappointed on first examination. For example, it was a distinct disappointment to the reviewer to find no mention what­soever of solders or of metallic coatings, two subjects which are constantly coming u p for discussion at the present time. Other omissions might be cited.

Despite this criticism, however, the reviewer considers that the authors have done an excellent job in this student manual and that., through its use, the student should attain real familiarity with phase diagrams of alloy systems and especially their practical applicability— a goal which is not often attained by the conventional method of presentation. After the first three chapters, the student has a good "speaking acquaintance'' with the structure of common metals and the structural changes attendant on cold working and annealing. In Chapter IV mention of the phase diagram appears for the first time in the discussion of solid solutions which are presented by using

the copper-nickel alloys as a type and then extending the discussion to other useful industrial solid solution alloys. In Chapter V the lead-antimony S3rstem serves to introduce the eutectic alloy and the discussion is extended to include bearing metals in general. Cast and wrought aluminum alloys form the subject of Chapter VI and the theory and practice of age-hardening easily grow out of this Copper-zinc alloys are covered in Chapter VII. Five chapters are devoted to iron-carbon alloys, steels, and cast iron. The discussion of the subject of heat treatment deserves special commendation. With the S-diagram as a basis, the structural changes underlying quenching and tem­pering are presented in such a simple, easy manner that the mystery commonly associated with "heat treatment" is en­tirely1 obviated. In Chapter XIII , "Mono-tectics", the subject of sintered powder-metal products is presented in a really rational manner.

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II An outstanding feature of the book, the equal of" which th*e reviewer has not found

I elsewher-e, is the series of plates of repre-I sentativ-e micrographs and the accom-1 panyiag explanatory notes which endue

fchem wSth life and meaning. They are I not merely illustrations. In studying them υ one has -the fceliiig of having an instructor II a t his sicie to analyze and explain them.

The b»ook should serve admirably as the Η basis of a "refresher course" for any one

whose notetallogravphic training has become rusty tfcirough disuse and who has not kept at>xeast wi-fch recent developments. Xhis is "especially true for practical heat fcreatcrs of steel. The sets of stimulating anr1 thought-pro>~voking questions which

I close each chapter will assist materially in such a refresher course.

I In maie-up, ttie book is fully up to the fciigh standard established by the pub-

I lishcrs. The excellence of reproduction of the micr-ographs will appeal especially to all metallographeTS.

H. S. RAWDON

j Gas Warfare, The Chemical Weapon, Its UFse and Protection against It. Aiden· Ή. WCLHL 327 pages. Duell, Sloan„ and Pearce, Inc., 270 Madison Ave., New York, Ν. Υ., 1942. Price,

I $2.75.

I JL HIS book has been widely and favorably 1 revicweel in civilian and military publica-! tiom O n e reviewer says: "This is a 1 most extraordinary volume. It is of a I hrighly technical nature, yet written with J all the simplicity of McGuffey's first Β reader/* and again: "If I had my way, I every isolationisfc, every politician, mili-1 tary leader, and air raid warden would be 1 compelled to use it for required home-(| work." I The k « y to the success of the book is that I i t s author not only knows his subject but I knows how to present it, Brigadier-1 General Waitt (now in charge of the I Operations Division of the Chemical 1 Warfare* Service, U . S. Army) is a graduate

ehemicaJt engineer, who knows gas warfare from fle-st-hand combat experience. In addition*, to this, lie has spent a good part

I of his 2 o years a s a professional soldier in I reading, studying, teaching, and writing

for publication o n military subjects re­lated to gas warfare.

II 0Î covurse, neither this book nor any II other contains a l l that is known about I chemicaJL warfare. As its subtitle indi­

cates, it «deals witfa. the use of and protection I against ^»as rather than the technical de-I tails of fehe subject such as are encountered

i n the puroductioo. of gases and in a study of theur toxicology. However, the book covers av large pa-rt of what is essential in

II the use o f gas, i s quite readable, and fur-! rushes SL valuable background for those

-who arô interested in any phase of the 1 subject. DUNCAN MACRAB

C H E M I C A L

X-Rays in Research and Industry. H. Hirst 96 pages. Tait Publishing Co., 349 Collins St., Melbourne, Australia, 1942. Price, stiff paper cover, £5; cloth boards £7 6s.

X H I S small, paper-bound monograph presents the material of a series of lectures before the Physical Metallurgy Division of the Melbourne Branch of the Australian Institute of Metals. On this account the research and the industry mentioned in the title are almost exclusively metallurgical. Six chapters present, respectively, the pro­duction of x-rays; properties of x-radia-tion; structure of crystals; methods of crystallographic examination; applica­tions of x-ray methods; and industrial radiography. Obviously this is a large order for 96 pages, but Dr. Hirst covers fundamentals clearly and capably. The experimenter could scarcely become an expert with the aid of this monograph alone (although the directions, for exam­ple, for making and measuring a powder diffraction pattern are quite explicit), but this might be a good appetite-whetter for real study in more comprehensive trea­tises, which may not be too plentiful in Australia. The author certainly is mak­ing good use of x-ray techniques in the war effort of the Commonwealth as manager of the Metallurgical Division, Ordnance Production Directorate, Ministry of Muni­tions.

The chief criticisms which might be raised are, in large measure perhaps, the result of the brevity and necessarily popu­lar approach to the subject. The author's point of view is considerably narrower than is justified by the progress and growth of x-ray science. Many parts of the subject are not brought up to date, and reference to most of the newest books, methods, and results, particularly from American laboratories, is conspicu­ously omitted. The bibliography lists only editions of standard books which are 10 or more years old. There is an occa­sional slip from accuracy which may, in part, be due to typographical errors, such as the date of the discovery of x-rays given on page 12 as 1897 instead of 1895. The exact nomenclature of space lattices, point groups, symmetry elements, and space groups simply cannot be popularized and dismissed in a few sentences, as is done here, with any degree of safety or meaning. A lack of integration and smoothly de­veloping continuity is also probably the result of brevity. Illustrations are good, considering the inferior wartime quality of paper. The type is about the size of newsprint and so compressed that reading is somewhat uncomfortable. But with all these minor deficiencies, here is a not­able achievement from a nation fighting for its very existence, but clinging with hope and confidence to this and other branches of science to help win a war and prepare for a victorious peace.

G. L. CLARK

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Elementary Physical Chemistry· Merle Randall and Leona Esther Young, 455 pages. Bandall and Sons, 2512 Etna St., Berkeley, Calif., 1942. Price, S4.50.

T H E text is prepared for second- and third-year college students contemplating chemistry as a career or preparing for the fields of biology, geology, and engineering.

The material is presented in thirty-two chapters and includes an unusually wide range of topics. The emphasis is placed throughout upon what the authors designate "modernized classical physical chemistry". The notation used is that of the Lewis and Randall "Thermodynamics and Free Energy of Chemical Substances". Problems are distributed throughout the book and also a large number of clear and well-drawn illustrations. Attention is di­rected frequently to important practical or industrial applications of established physicocbemical principles. An appendix provides lists of physical constants. The index consisting of 18 pages is complete. Throughout the book copious literature references are evident.

The arrangement of material departs from that customarily employed. Instead of beginning with a statement and review of the basic concepts cf chemical science and properties of matter, the authors give in the first chapter C'The Modern Con­cept of Chemistry", 12 pages) references to the 22Si/3 state of hydrogen-like atoms, quantum mechanical specification, quan­tum numbers, co-valent bonds, ionic bonds, oxidation, and polar number va­lences. The chapter contains 36 exercises on problems which are calculated to cause the student to fix in mind elementary principles and facts presented in first-year chemistry courses.

The authors, it is believed, desire to distinguish between the attainment by the chemists of the last century of clear qualitative concepts throughout chemical science and the elaboration of detailed quantitative aspects of chemical and physicochemical phenomena which has been an increasingly obvious characteris­tic of chemistry research in the present century. We observe that physical chem­istry is clearly the embodiment of the quantitative aspect of chemistry, and in this sense it will always be modern in pro­portion to the success with which chemis­try research suggests new or varied quali­tative concepts.

The text really starts with the subject of "Vaporization as a Chemical Process". The authors in using vaporization phe­nomena for purposes of analogy relative to certain aspects of chemical reaction (there is, of course, no real chemical process in­volved) also retain such terms as "heat content" and use the term "heat" other­wise (page 17) in a way to leave the im­pression that one is dealing with a material substance. Perhaps few will be satisfied with the idea that temperatures may be

regarded "as a measure of the escaping tendency of heat" or that a similar order of kdeas suffices to establish "qualitatively a scale of relative tem[>eratures". Again, the authors state (footnote 2, page 17) f "It is not the province of our present treatment to discuss the philosophical aspects of temperature or of equilibrium." But, the concept of equilibrium is funda­mental and the structure built up by Gibbs in "The Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances", for sufficient example, is based squarely upon this concept. Ac­tually the authors subsequently use the term "equilibrium" as often as required.

The third and fourth chapters continue with the same kind of material. A quan­titative knowledge of the physical proper­ties of gases and liquids is assumed and the terms "fugacity" and "activity" are introduced. Neither term is defined or their need made clear except qualita­tively by analogy to vapor pressure, from which the reader is asked (page 27) pro­visionally to recognize no difference. The ground for introducing the term "activ­ity" (page 28) rests on the fact that "we find it convenient to define the escaping tendency in another set of units . . . . which we call the standard state . . . . We then assign to this standard state the standard activity a°." To one not a pro­fessed pedagog this seems a little severe on the tyro in physical chemistry, but perhaps modern students are tougher than those of the reviewer's youth.

After a chapter on material balance for chemical reactions the properties of solu­tions are introduced, employing the usual physicochemical topics accompanied by the introduction of interesting practical digressions on distillation, solubilities, titration, calorimetry, indicators, and buf­fers, to name only a few.

The authors have apparently assumed that users of the text will be acquainted with the reasons for postponing the treat­ment of the properties of gases to the thirteenth chapter, when a knowledge on the part of the student of everything there presented is taken for granted from the first. Besides the introduction of relativity, mass variation, Heinsenberg principle of uncertainty, and quantum theory of rotating-vibrating molecules, the temperature is again defined and based on a molecular-kinetic concept. The chapter following deals with the proper­ties of actual gases and liquids.

The remaining chapters follow some­what the customary order in expounding the physicochemical phenomena of heats of reaction, calorimetry, liquid mixtures, colligative properties, phase rule, numeri­cal computation of "free energy", elec­tromotive force, etc. The final chapter, "Systems Not at Equilibrium", com­prises twenty pages of material referring to catalysis, frequency of characteristic x-ray spectra, radioactive disintegration, Rutherford atoms, radioactive decay, and reaction rates. F. G. KEYBS

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