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.