BOOK REVIEWS CHEMISTRY OF PETROCHEMICALS," by Marvin J. Astle. Reinhold Pub- lishing Corp., New York 22, N.Y. 1956. 8 X 51/2inches, indexed. Price $6.50. The fact that approximately 2000 patents relating to the petrochem- ical industry were published in the United Kingdom and nearly 1000 in Germany during the last quarter of 1956 can be taken as an indica- tion of the intensive research and development work being carried out by the various industrial groups operating in this very important field of modern chemical technology. On the other hand, the same figures, to which one must add the 3000 -odd petrochemical patents published in the United States dur- ing the same period, lead one to question the advisability or even the usefulness of presenting to the industry as a whole, a volume such as the one under review which in the author's own words is intended "to discuss the chemistry involved in the conversion of petroleum hy- drocarbon into commercially useful chemicals." The volume of technical literature currently calling for the attention of the specialist in any chemical field, over and above the immediate problems of development and re- search with which he may be con- cerned, has grown to such an ex- tent over the last 10 years that one must now perforce submit any new publication to the criterion of use- fulness as the amount of time available to the specialist to follow current trends is strictly limited. The "Chemistry of Petrochemi- cals" attempts to deal with the en- tire field in 207 pages including the index and this, in the opinion of the reviewers, •s an extremely difficult task. The result of this approach is a very interesting volume pre- senting the characteristics of a con- cise bibliography, predominantly of American origin, spotlighting the main events which have occurred in the highly diversified industry over the last fbrty years and the principal processes at present in operation, together with an indica- tion of the research work which has led up to their adoption within the industry, and of that which stems from the experience gained in their operation. The author has, in fact, ac- complished all that is humanly pos- sible within the terms of reference and the .space allotted, and the outcome is a very readable vol- ume likely to be of interest chiefly to university undergraduates read- ing in industrial chemistry, college lecturers and graduates, and per- haps to a very restricted class of the well-informed general public. One doubts, however, whether it will ever present a heavily thumbed appearance on the library shelves of research and development labora- tories actively concerned with the day to day problems arising in their particular sector of the petrochem- ical field. This book is well produced, is very readable and reasonably priced. --D. A. A. FAGANDINI AND A. T^¾I•OR, Marchon Products, Ltd. 183

184 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS ABR•,6t2 DE COSMETOLO6IE PRA- TIqUE, by Paul Larrieu, Editions Opera, Paris 9, France. 72 pages, size 10a/4 X 7 inches. 1955. This book is very general and elementary in character. It is care- lessly put together. Two of three U. S. references are misspelled. The author apparently is not aware of cosmetic literature outside of the French, if one can use his reference material as a guide to his acquaint- ance. This is a poor addition to the cosmetic literature of the world --M. G. DE}NAVARRE. BASIC FACTS OF GENERAL CHEM- ISTRY, by S. M. Brooks. W. B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, Pa. 1956. 354 pages, size 53/4 X 8 inches, illustrated and indexed. Price $4.75. This book is not what it would seem to be from its title. It is an amazing condensation of inorganic, organic, colloidal and nuclear chem- istry with a section on biochemistry. It is intended for short courses in chemistry as in nutrition or nursing. It is written in simple, digestible form. Everyone should have a book like this. It is a good reference which anyone can understand.-- M. G. DENAVARRE. THE CHEMISTIRY OF TANNING PROC- ESSES, by K. H. Gustarson. Ac- ademic Press, Inc., New York 10, N. Y. 1956. 403 pages, size 6 X 9 inches, illustrated and indexed. Price $9.00. The author evaluates known pub- lished material utilizing his own knowledge of the complex subject. To this reviewer's mind, the two pages devoted to alum tanning are far too few. The subject deserves more consideration. Chrome, aide- hyde and vegetable tannage seem to be well covered. Zirconium tan- ning is mentioned only in the intro- duction. In his introduction the author mentions that chrome and vege- table tanning are the most impor- tant industrially. Accordingly, he stresses these subjects in the text to the detriment of the other tanning methods. The sections on olation (and oxolation) could be enlarged. It is a vast subject.--M. G. DE- NAVARRE. THE CHEMISTRY AND REACTIVITY oF COLLA6EN, by K. H. Gustarson. Academic Press, Inc., New York 10, N.Y. 1956. 342 pages, size 6 X 9 inches, illustrated and in- dexed. Price $8.00. This is a companion volume to "The Chemistry of Tanning Proc- esses." The general properties, physical and chemical, of collagen are stressed. Only an outline of tan- ning is given because the author cov- ers this more completely in the com- panion volume mentioned above. Practically every known chemical reagent is discussed from the point of view of its reactivity (and effect) with collagen. Unhairing is cov- ered lightly for the subject matter deals with collagen. All in all, the book seems thor- ough. No errors were noted.-- M. G. DENAVARRE.