488 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF B^c- TERIOLOa¾, by A. J. Salle. Mc- Graw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York 36, N.Y. 1961. 812 pages, illustrated and indexed. Price $11. Every chapter of this fifth edition of a work nearly twenty-five years old has been updated, according to the preface. A significant amount of the text appears for the first time, hence the reader is cautioned not to accept the statements as established fact. In a random checking of the text one fails to find reference to the self-sterilizing properties of certain shell fish and plankton, although the round-up of the bacteriology of the sea is otherwise quite thorough. While there is a considerable re- view of the bacteriology of water, nothing is said about the maximum bacterial count of drinking water. The chapter on bacteriophage is well illustrated. The germicidal proper- ties of the gly. cols and the effect of surfactants is inadequately de- scribed. The book perhaps is a good class text, but it fails to let the student know some of the developments since, say 1950. Although the references heavily cover early years, the subject after 1950 is but sparsely reviewed. Yet a smattering of references up to 1960 are given. For those wanting very basic bacteriological information, this book will be helpful. The subject is clearly and well presented.--M. G. DEN', THE BEH^V•OR OV PL^STICtZEaS, by Ibert Mellan. Pergamon Press, Inc., New York 22, N.Y. 1961. 273 pages, illustrated and indexed. Price $8.00. Most of us think of plasticizers as simple substances added to both rigid and semi-rigid plastics to keep their substance together for ex- tended periods of time--to ensure toughness, increase flexibility or to improve stability. Among the items treated in this book are the mechanism of plasticiz- ers, retentivity, efficiency, flexibil- ity, tensile strength, shrinkage, creep behavior and internal plasticization. Table 2 on pages 28-29 seems transposed. The list of sources commencing with page 261 is a valuable addition, but it does not seem to be tied in with a given plasticizer. It is regrettable that the refer- ences are so few furthermore, most of them date to years before 1950. The index is very insufficient. If one wants to learn anything about plasticizers for nylon, polyethylene, polypropylene or polystyrene, one has to look for it in the text, if the data is there. The index does not list it. And yet the book contains many valuable data formerly scattered throughout the literature.--M. G. DEN. QUANTITATIVE METHODS IN PHAR- MACOLOGY, edited by H. De Jonge. Interscience Publishers, Inc., New York 1, N.Y. 1961. 391 pages, illustrated. Price $13.25. This book is not for the beginner. It presumes a considerable knowl- edge of the subject. It is in fact the proceedings of a symposium held at Leyden in 1960. The book, typical of others re- porting a "proceedings," presents an exchange of knowledge of quan- titative pharmacological methods. Discussions of the papers are also included. A casual examination shows: "distributionfree" not hyphenated biassed not unbiased the grammar, as is often the case in translating into English, is not the best, as in the discussion on page 168.

JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS 489 All in all, this is an advanced book with a strong European flavor. It is good for us to know more about methods used by others.-- I M. G. DEN. INTRODUCTION TO COLLOID CHEM- IISTRY, by Karol J. Mysels. Inter- iscience Publishers, Inc., New York I1, N.Y. 475 pages, illustrated and [indexed. Price $10. Twenty chapters are prepared for Itwo audiences in mind: (a) the Icollege senior (b) the industrial Ichemist or executive. The author luses a presentation that is good for icollege students possibly but not for either the industrial chemist or ex- ecutive, especially the latter. There is no section or chapter on emulsions. The subject is treated or referred to in twelve different places. This is the author's choice of course. Wouldn't it have been better to bring it all together at some point at the risk of some repetition ? As a reference, the book leaves the reviewer bewildered. As a text, a student can learn and under- stand the author's method because he has to. If the book is to sell to executives it will have to be con- siderably simplified, for executives are neither concerned with the ex- tensive mathematical explanations nor do they have the time to figure them out. Even so, there are nu- merous interesting expositions within the covers.raM. G. DEN. NEW HOPE FOR YOUR HAIR, by Irwin I. Lubowe. E. P. Dutton and Co., New York 10, N.Y. 253 pages, illustrated and indexed. Price Cloth Covered $3.95 Paper- back Edition $0.95. Realizing that the book is aimed at the public at large, one discounts the numerous impressions of lack of what some would call "scientific exactness." The layman has to have the material greatly simplified. To do so, many complicated explan- ations of our knowledge of hair must be tailored or altered. The author has been exceedingly clever at achieving this goal. However, on page 52, one wonders why hard candy is all right to eat in an anti-seborrheic diet but saccharin is to be used in place of sugar. Furthermore, if hard candy is per- mitted, why not soda pop? Both contain sugars, acids and flavors. Or does the author refer to cola type "pops ?" On page 147 p-phenylenediamine is not correctly stated and it is also misstated in the index. On page 148, second paragraph, the author misunderstands the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and regulations regarding hair dyes. The warning and patch test go on hair dyes made with coal tar colors which may be injurious to users (Sections 601a and 902a). On page 158 it is not usual for depila- tories to contain barium sulfate. In former times barium sulfide was used. Today, thioglycolates (one 1) are almost universally used, al- though some calcium and strontium sulfides are still in use. Finall. y, Chapter 19 appears to be m•s- named when it is called "Nutrition of Hair and Scalp." A cosmetic chemist could not get away with the implications of such a title. This is no attempt at denigrating the author's efforts. It does point up the difficulty of translating a scientific subject to lay language. For indeed it contains much lucid and factual information for the public. The prophylactic recom- mendations for saving one's hair could certainly be fruitful, for example. Results of work in the area of growing hair is for "tomor- row or the day after." The diffi- culties with transplants the prob-