BOOK REVIEWS CHEMICAL PILOT PLANT PRACTICE, Vol. I, by Donald G. Jordan. Interscience Publishers, Inc., New York. t955. 150 pages, 33/4 X $1/2 inches, illustrated and indexed. Price $3.50. The content of Mr. Jordan's little book will, we think, come as quite a surprise to those chemical engineers who purchase it solely from a consideration of its title. The problems involved in the operation of a chemical pilot plant are extremely varied, and a great many texts on the subject are available, no one of which (nor any group of which) even touches on all of the important ramifications. Mr. Jordan addresses himself almost exclusively to those aspects which are most likely to be of concern to management: whether or not a pilot plant should be constructed, what answers it shoud provide, how big it should be, how much it should cost, where it should be located, how it should be staffed, how its answers should be reported, and what value these answers can be expected to have. All of this matter is handled skillfully, and with the clarity and persuasiveness of a man who is obviously highly experienced in his field. This information is hard to come by, and should prove of considerable value to those who are now strug- glingwith these questions. When he gets down into such details as to how to construct a pilot plant, it seems to us that Mr. Jordan's suggestions are of strictly limited value. He recommends, for example, as a batch reactor for general purpose work a type 316 stainless steel, 100-200 gallon kettle, jacketed to take a steam pressure of 140 psig., with internal baffles, and a turbine- type agitator, and equipped with an overhead stainless condenser. The writer's last three pilot reactbrs were designed, respectively, for studying the sulfation of fatty alcohols with chlorosulfonic acid, for the formation and washing of thioglycolate esters, and for the condensing of tertiary fatty amines with benzyl chloride. Not a single one of Mr. Jordan's specifications for his reactor would be sound for the construction of a reactor intended for the study of any of these re- actions. Mr. Jordan's book is strongly recommended to the attention of those who are debating the installa- tion of a pilot plant, or wondering how to integrate such an endeavor into existing research and produc- tion departments. It will also be of ' specific interest to engineers and chemists who are piloting polymeric reactions of the type which Mr. Jordan uses as his examples.--Ross WHITetAN, Raymond Laboratories, Inc. PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY OF THE SKIN, by Stephen Rothman. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 37, Ill. 1954. 741 pages, 61/4 X 91/4 inches, illustrated and indexed. Price $19.50. This book is an obelisk to the author. Its outstanding importance 332

BOOK REVIEWS 333 earned its author the "Special Award" of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists last year. And well it did, too, for Rothman seems to have I put into this volume his entire , life's work, he•fully embellished by contributions trom such outstanding , researchers as Felsher, Flesch, , Lerner, Lorincz, Pinkus and Wells. Twenty-eight chapters comprise this volume. Each has its ramifica- tions in some phase of cosmetic practice. This reviewer enjoyed in particular the chapters on percu- taneous absorption, those relating to sweat and its secretion, the sebaceous gland and its excretion and hair growth. The references for the most part cover earlier work the author, discussing this in his preface, mentions that he preferred "proven" work to uncon- firmed data, thus pointing up the background to younger workers who think that all the great discoveries were made in the last decade. The chapter on percutan. eous absorption includes all pernnent material and quotes quite a variety of references. Throughout, the arrangement and presentation of material have been carefully planned. Similarly, sweating is described i in every phase of the study except I for the formulation of deodorants or • antiperspirants. Flesch's contribution on hair ß growth makes fascinating reading. His bibliography of over 500 refer- ences is a task in itself. Checking the •pages closely failed to uncover any errors. The illus- trations are well chosen and executed. The type and style are easy to read. In all, Rothman truly has set up a monument to his life's work. This is a must book for any who consider themselves informed in the cosmetic science.--M. G. DENA VA P•P•E. PACKAGING ENGINEERING, by Louis C. Barail. Reinhold Publishing Corp., New York 22, N.Y. 1954. 407 pages, 6 X 9 inches, illustrated and indexed. Price $9.50. The inside of the jacket on this book states that, "it will become the standard reference work of the container industry," referring to the present book. This reviewer doubts It. Though not a packaging engineer, this reviewer has had twenty-five years experience in formulating, manufacturing and packaging drugs, cosmetics and related products. In his opinion this book is a poor collection of miscellany having to do with packaging. The chapters on drugs and cosmetics are very weak and typify the balance of the book. The portions of the book dealing with mildewproofing (page 35) fail to mention one of the most widely used compounds, dichlorophene. The best contribution in the book are the nine pages on plastics listing brand name, chemical type and a discussion of properties.--M. G. DENAVARRE. WOOL, ITS CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS, by Peter Alexander and Robert F. Hudson. Reinhold Publishing Corp., New York 22, N.Y. 1954. 404 pages, 51/2 X 81/2 inches, illustrated and indexed. Price $10. The authors have spent quite a few years in one phase or another of wool research. Here they bring to- gether a vast knowledge for new workers in wool, protein researchers and the practical men in the wool industry. Twelve chapers constitute the book. Important reactions like the disulfide bond, cross linkage, rate process, acid base characteristic, sorption and swelling and mechani- cal properties to name some are all