BOOK REVIEWS LABORATORY DISTILLATION PRAC- TICE, by E. A. Coulson and E. F. G. Herington, Interscience Publishers, Inc., New York, N.Y. 1958. 166 pages, 51/= X 81/• inches. Price $4.$0. In this modest volume two British chemists address themselves to the practicing organic chemist not fa- miliar with the extensive literature on the theory and practice of dis- tillation. To serve his needs they have aimed "...to present the essential physicochemical principles on which fractional distillation is based in the simplest way..., to describe the construction and opera- tion of a selected range of equip- ment... and to offer some guidance on the application of distillation theory to batch operations .... " In 16 chapters the book deals with such topics as the theory of simple distillation of a binary mix- ture, theory of fractionating column operation, prediction of batch dis- tillation curves, selection of operat- ing conditions, description of frac- riohating columns, packings and auxiliary equipment, measurement of vapor/liquid equilibria, measure- ment of column characteristics, and such specialized techniques as frac- tional distillation at low tempera- tures and pressures, azeotropic dis- tillation and continuous fractional distillation. The authors have succeeded ad- mirably in attaining their objectives. By relying heavily on graphical techniques they make it possible for organic chemists with only a mini- mal training in physical chemistry to benefit from the theoretical discus- sion. Too, the limitations of the theory are pointed out: it • stated clearly where theory ends and in- telligent guesswork begins. The book shows similar good sense in discussing the equipment met with m distillation practice. Rather than going into needless detail the discussion is limited to a few repre- sentative types whose main features may be •eadily adapted to the re- quirem.ents of the particular labora- tory s•tuation. The commercial apparatus described is, of course, of British manufacture but American workers should find no difficulty in translating the specifications to equipment available in this country. "Laboratory Distillation Prac- tice" is a most helpful book. It is recommended to organic chemists anxious to exploit laboratory dis- tillation technique to its fullest.- ARNo CAHN, Research & Develop- ment Div., Lever Brothers Co. 180