JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS 355 in one single tabulation. Despite the obvious shortcomings of the opening chapters, they will be use- ful to those responsible for safety considerations in chemical manu- facturing plants and laboratories. The remainder of the book, al- most 1000 pages, is devoted to the description of the hazard ratings of thousands of individual chemicals. The hazard rating takes into con- sideration local and systemic tox- icity, recommended cautions in handling, etc., fire and explosion hazard and the need for protective clothing, etc., by personnel. A detailed review of these ratings is, of course, impossible. However, a spot check has disclosed no serious errors or omissions, especially with regard to chemicals which are en- countered routinely in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry. This reviewer was interested in the toxicity rating of mineral oil and, accordingly, was referred from the entry, mineral oil, on page 1010 to an entry under lard oil on page 926. On the other hand, on page 1081, petrolalum (sic) liquid refers the reader to oil, mineral, which is entered on page 1059. It is interesting to note that the entry under lard oil, pure (•2 mineral oil), differs appreciably from the entry under oil, mineral. Probably a few other inconsistencies and errors have crept into the enormous quan- tity of information compressed into this volume. Thus, an occasional defect of the type cited above does not detract from the value of this book. This volume should be a useful desk reference for every safety director in the chemical and manu- facturingindustry. It should prove equally valuable to laboratory per- sonnel who are constantly using and exposing themselves to a variety of chemicals, the natuye of which is freq•e.n, tl.y not fully..known to them. It is apparent that this volume fulfills a very valuable service. It is hoped that it will receive the wide distribution that it deserves and that it will be consulted fre- quently.--M. M. RIEGER, Warner- Lambert Research Institute. CLINICAL ToxicoLoGY oy COMMER- CIAL PRODUCTS by Marion N. Gleason, Robert E. Gosselin and Harold C. Hodge. 2nd Edition, 1200 q- Pages. The Williams and Wilkins Co., Baltimore, Md. 1963. Price $22. Since the first edition of this volume appeared in 1957, much has happened to make the public more aware of potential hazards resulting from misuse of commercially avail- able chemicals and household prod- ucts. It is no surprise, therefore, that a second edition of this volume was finished sometime during 1962. In contrast to the above reviewed "Dangerous Properties" by Sax, this volume is directed toward physi- cians and others interested in the pre. ven. tion of accidental death from poisoning. Despite emphasis on therapy for poisonings, this volume will interest formulatoTs, chemists and almost all others who, in one form or another, handle chemicals. This volume is divided into eight sections, each of which is color coded. These sections in the order of their appearance are: First Aid and General Emergency Treatment, Ingredients Index, Therapeutic In- dex, Supportive Treatment, Trade- name Index, General Formulations, Manufacturers' Names and Ad- dresses, Classification of Poisons. The first and fourth section are, of course, of primary interest to the clinicJan and are of limited interest to the chemical industry per se. Section •2 is a compilation of in- gredients commonly used in house- hold products. Over 2000 in-

356 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS gredients are briefly described and grouped into one of about 75 dif- ferent classes of compounds, so- called reference congeners. These, in turn, are discussed in detail in Section #3. Here toxicologically related compounds are satisfactorily grouped under a single heading so that a variety of different compounds are discussed simul- taneously. Sections #2 and 3 to- gether permit direct access to therapy: By starting with the name of the chemical involved (in Section #2), one is referred to the reference congener (in Section #3) with de- scriptions of systemic toxic mani- festations and of recommended treatment. Section #4 supplements Section #3 by giving detailed thera- peutic procedures and supportive treatments for acute chemical poisonings. These two sections (#3 and #4) form the heart of this volume and are its raison d'•tre. The largest section of this volume, Section #5, is the Tradename Index. Over 14,000 tradenamed products which might cause poisoning by ingestion are listed in alphabetical order. Many of them are further identified with regard to their composition and active ingredients. Such a list is of obvious importance to the practitioner who may be con- fronted with an acute case of poisoning with no information ex- cept the name of the offending product. It is likely, of course, that Poison Control Centers, which have sprung up through the United States, have still more detailed in- formation than that which can be found in this volume. These pages together with the information on general formulations contained in Section #6 are a gold mine of in- formation for the practicing chemist. As can be expected, the pages de- voted to cosmetics were of particular interest to this reviewer. Some common compositions are listed which have been formulated with raw materials which are identified in some of the other sections of this volume. The basic compositions, although they would be a formu- lator's nightmare, are essentially correct, as are the additional in- gredients which may be contained in some of these products. No serious errors were detected. Throughout the book, a so-called toxicity rating is given for every chemical or formulation described in this volume. These can range from 1 (which is practically non- toxic) to 6, which is supertoxic, i.e., lethal when administered or ingested at a level of 5 mg. per kg. Most of the cosmetic preparations are either classified as practically non- toxic or as slightly toxic (toxicity rating #3, i.e., lethal when ad- ministered at a level of 500 mg.-$ gm. per kg.). Although this volume is designed primarily for the clinicJan and toxicologist, it deserves a prominent place on the bookshelf of chemists engaged primarily in formulation work. A quick check in this book will frequently disclose that use of an ingredient is not advisable in a given household product. Ob- viously, blind reliance on the rat- ings given in this book is no excuse for formulating products with in- gredients which may interact or possess undesirable synergistic ef- fects. However, judicious use of this volume by formulators should be most helpful.--M. M. RtEOER, Warner-Lambert Research Insti- tute. INTERFACIAL PHENOMENA by J. T. Davies and E. K. Rideal. Academic Press, New York and London. 2nd Edition, 1963. 480 pages, illus- trated and indexed. Price $14. This is the second edition, the first having been published only in