BOOK REVIEWS ORGANIC PEP, OXIDES, by Arthur V. Tobolsky, Interscience Publishers, Inc., New York 1, N.Y. 1954. 197 pages, 15.5 X 23.5 cm. Price $5.75. This is an excellent book which is strongly recommended to those who want to get an introduction to the field as well as to those who are ac- tively working in the field. There is a real need for this volume in chemical literature since there has been no publication in this field since Rieche's book appeared in 1931. It covers the field of Organic Peroxides comprehensively and is broken into three major sections. The first section of 55 pages deals with the classification, structure, and synthesis of the organic per- oxides and clearly indicates where structures are established or still in doubt. The second section compris- ing 65 pages handles the factors controlling the cleavage of the per- oxides and their decomposition. The third section with 30 pages covers a quantitative study of the role of these organic peroxides in the initiation of homogeneous vinyl polymerization. Appendix 1 lists the physical con- stants of the different organic per- oxides and is an excellent summary of all of the existing data with 114 references. Appendix 2 covers the explosive nature of peroxides which vary from the extremely explosive on the slightest touch to the non- explosive. Appendix 3 covers the commercially available peroxides and Appendix 4 the catalyst ef- ficiency equations. The type of organic peroxides stud- ied are the hydroperoxides, dialkyl and diaralkyl peroxides, peroxy acids and their esters, diacyl and diaroyl peroxides, and the peroxy derivatives of aldehydes and tones. Direfriary butyl peroxide and benzoyl peroxide get the great- est attention as would be expected. The reaction rates and polymeriza- tion of styrene and methyl meth- acrylate receive particular attention. This volume gives a good back- ground to the whole field and is tho. roughly. .documented with no serious omissions or errors. In conclusion, the authors have done an excellent job bringing up to date the available data on or- ganic peroxides and their composi- tion and decomposition in a sur- prisingly complete guide for this field.--DoNALD H. PowErs, Warner Hudnut, Inc., New York, N.Y. ANTISEPTICS, DISINFECTANTS, FUNG- ICIDES AND CHEMICAL AND PHYSI- CaL STEkILIZATIO•, edited by George F. Reddish. Lea and Febiger, Philadelphia 6, Pa. 1954. 841 pages, size 6 X 9 inches, illustrated and indexed. Price $15. Few can appreciate the problem and labors of an editor of a book to which thirty people have contrib- uted. First, there is the problem of maki.ng each chapter read as if it were written by the same man. The style and spelling must be uniform. Final?., the chapters must not be repetitive. All these in addition to completeness and exactness of mate- rial presented. 63

64 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS As one glances over the names of the contributors, there are many well-known ones. So, we can ex- pect an authoritative presentation. Thus, one finds the perennial cham- pions of hexachlorophene, iodine, the "quats," the phenolics, and halo- gens to mention the more common ones. This reviewer cannot resist ask- ing the question, "Does one get the unbiased facts on a subject from a person who is a strong proponent of that subject?" Then another ques- tion must be asked, "Who knows most about a given subject if not the person who has made a long study of it?" These two questions are a little paradoxical. Their res- olution will probably never be pos- sible. With this background, let's expmine the book. Reddish's historical chapter is an excellent one. But on page 16 it is stated that tincture of iodine was introduced in 1830. Gershenfeld, on page 172, says it was 1860. Much of Gershenfelds' chapter has appeared previously in journals and is available as a reprint from the Iodine Educational Bureau. Block brings together many val- uable data on industrial preserva- tives. Cosmetics are covered in- cluding the common preservatives. However, DCMX and PCMX, de- hydroacetic and sorbic acids are not mentioned in this chapter although Klarmann and Wright mention the chlorinated compounds in their scholarly contribution on the phe- nolics. Cade's effort on essential oils is interesting because they have been time-honored germ killers or inhib- itors. Knowing their compositions today, it is little wonder they were so highly prized. Though short, the chapter seems to cover the sub- ject adequately. However, Cade is more in his element in an earlier chapter co-authored by Gump on the "Bis-Phenolics." Though not specifically mentioned the other chapters are equally good. Husa's chapter on antiseptic oint- ments is scanty and does not in- clude the fine work on ointment bases done by Strakosch, Halpern, and Lee to name a few. There are a few inconsistencies in style as "micro-organism" in Price's chapter and "microorganism" in the others. References in the text are handled differently by the authors. And while on this sub- ject, it is unfortunate the Chemical /lbstracts' methods of listing refer- ences was not followed. The subject index needs expan- sion to an embarassing degree. Un- less one knows where the informa- tion might be, it would never be found if only the index were used. As an example, one cannot locate hand washing technics from the in- dex though they are discussed in several places. Index writing is truly a difficult task. But for the index, these are minor faults. All can be corrected in a subsequent edition which, one is certain, this book will enjoy. The price is nominal so that all in this industry should have it. Answering the questions put forth earlier in this review, one must ad- mit that experts wrote each chapter and that they displayed scientific impartiality, whenever the facts were concerned.--M. G. DeNAvAP, P,E AMERlCaS CHEMICAL INDUSTRY, by Williams Haynes, in six volumes. D. Van Nostrand Co., New York 3, N.Y., 1954. 3377 pages, illustrated and indexed. Price $76 the set or $15 per single volume. One must love the work to write a history of the chemical industry that takes ten years to complete. Few in the industry, if any, have