644 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS is somewhat misleading in that virtually all the reference works are from UK and USA, with other European countries a poor third. The first Commonwealth refer- ence was found on page 40- a useful librarian's text book from Melbourne- and four Commonwealth countries are mentioned in the list of societies in chapter 11. Although nominally published this year, it is to be regretted that few of the reference works cited postdate 1962 and organizational changes have since taken place in some of the bodies listed in this type of publication, proof insertion- if necessary by footnote- should have been possible. The index is barely adequate and there is an almost total lack of cross reference between individual chapters casual reading might suggest an omission only remedied by careful scrutiny elsewhere. The book is organized into 12 chapters. The first is a useful concise summary of training and careers in chemistry, primarily from the UK stand-point the function of the RIC is well covered. Some readers might not agree with the statement that the successful student will find "many interesting and well paid openings in industry, government service and teaching"! A rather dry chapter summarizes the organiza- tion of libraries and their classification and catalogue procedures. The next chapter is entitled "Guides" and is concerned with national bibliographies and catalogues, with particular reference to mammoth American collations for journals with book lists and reviews, only four US and two UK are somewhat arbitrarily mentioned. Most of the better known chemical and technical encyclopaedias are quoted and biography, history and personal directories are not overlooked. Chapter 4 is an introduction to the various types of periodicals - general, polyvalent, industrial and specialist and translations of originals. Some readers may be confused by the reference to the existence of nearly 100,000 scientific and technical titles and then- pious hope- to be enjoined to read original papers to see what work supported the published abstract. A most important chapter describes the nature, purpose, scope and indexing of abstracts and lists the principal journals in which these may be found. Special attention is given to the construction and use of Chemical Abstracts repro- duc•ons illustrate specimen portions of the list of journals covered, general text and subject and formula indexes. The leading German, British, Soviet and French abstract services are described. A useful section briefly introduces the novice to systematic searching of the chemical literature. Five more chapters consider the periodicals, serial reviews, monographs, treatises, data and methods collections, and a selection of comprehensive text books, special to General and Physical, Analytical, Inorganic and Organic Chemistry and Chemical Technology respectively. The particular literature of crystallography, spectroscopy, chromatography, polarography and electrophoresis, trade terms and the principal technical polylingual dictionaries, are also dealt with. The diversity of international, British, Commonwealth, US and specialist societies, science unions, research councils, professional associations, in- dustrial organizations and research institutes, are well reviewed in Chapter 11. It is noted that both the US and the UK Societies of Cosmetic Chemists each merit a paragraph but CSMA and BAMA are not mentioned. The final chapter itemizes a variety of US and British government publications including reports and guides special sections deal with atomic energy, patents and standards organizations. This might well be described as an annotated super bibliography or a chemists' source book. It is in the form of a pocket book and is reasonably priced. G. F. PHILLIPS.

BOOK REVIEWS 645 AN INTRODUCTION TO CHEMICAL NOMENCLATURE R. S. Cahn. 2nd. Edn. Pp. x q- 109 (1964). Butterworths, London. 13/6. Chemical nomenclature is a vital subject which is the centre of continuous controversy and confusion. In part, the confusion must be due to the sketchy and scattered treatment given to nomenclature by most chemical textbooks. There is, therefore, a real need for Dr. Cahn's book. The treatment he gives to nomenclature in the three main divisions of chemistry is in justifiable contrast. Physical chemistry is covered by a four-page list of standard physicochemical symbols recommended by the Symbols Committee of the Royal Society (1951). A 28~page chapter is devoted to inorganic chemistry. The basis is the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (I.U.P.A.C.) 1957 Nomen- clature Rules, together with Chemical Society and Chemical Abstract Usage. The full coverage given by this chapter gives it value both as an introduction and as a handy reference to inorganic nomenclature. Inevitably the attention given to organic nomenclature is longer (55 pages), more complex and less complete. The treatment is divided into five chapters General The Principal Functional Group Building a Name Skeletal Types Some Special Cases. The approach throughout is rightly "synthetic", i.e. building up a name from a structural formula deriving the formula from the name will follow naturally from this. Again the basis is the I.U.P.A.C. 1957 Rules with Chemical Society and Chemical Abstract usage. Attention is drawn throughout to contrasting American and European convention. (Minor changes have been made in this edition of the book to take account of the I.U.P.A.C. 1961 Tentative Rules.) This section reveals adequately that organic nomenclature is in a state of flux and that there is not, necessarily, a unique, "correct" name for a given compound, but it does this without confusing the underlying principles. It is in this section of the book that the word "Introduction" properly applies. Information on more specialized topics such as terpenes, steroids and carbohydrates is understandably left to references. However, an explanation of prefixes such as syn-, anti-, endo-, exo-, neo-, allo- is, perhaps, a less justifiable omission. The major change in this edition is the addition of a 13-page chapter of worked exercises - a section that will, undoubtedly, prove of value not only to the student. The style and length of the whole book make it easy to read and any chemical library should benefit by its presence. R.N. BEVITT. CHROMATOGRAPHIC REVIEWS, VOL. 7. M. Lederer, ed. Pp. viii q- 202 q- Ii!. q- advertisements (1965). Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam/London/New York. 60s. Reference was made in a notice of Volume 6 (1) to the broadening of the original ambit of this series. Dr. M. Lederer has continued this trend there are three articles summarizing progress in the application of paper partition (p.p.c.) to highly specialized topics, two monographs reviewing novel extensions of chromatographic procedures and an account of thin layer (t.l.c.) techniques in a particular field of natural product chemistry. L. R. Snyder, from the Californian oil industry, examines in detail the theoretical (1) J. 16 237 (1965).