BOOK REVIEWS 59 formation), fluoride acceptors (mainly metal fluorides), salts resisting solvolysis and solution without ionisation. There is an interesting final section on biochemical studies. In a separate chapter other tonising hydrogen halides are considered as examples of very acidic solvents of low dielectric constant. Sulphuric acid is the third protonic solvent of high dielectric constant to be examined - and at considerable length (88 pages and over 200 references). Solution mechanisms and conductimetric data are discussed for organic and inorganic acids, bases and non-electrolytes a special section is devoted to sulphates and bisulphates. Physical and spectroscopic properties of sulphuric acid, and its solutions, are tabulated and then detailed consideration is given to a very wide variety of inorganic and organic solutes. The other half of the book is concerned with aprotic solvents. In a chapter on coordinating solvents, the major media for inorganic studies, the "Solvent systems concept" (due to Gutman) is developed as a model of non-aqueous solvent behaviour. Spectroscopic, cryoscopic and conductimetric methods for establishing the existence of coordination are comprehensively reviewed whereafter the energetics of solvent- solute interaction and methods for recognition of the species present are described. Correlation of the solute products with solvent is examined for nine typical organic coordinating media. Liquid sulphur dioxide is taken as a typical aprotic solvent widely used for the study of organic reaction mechanisms. In two further chapters, apportioned to the halogens and interhalogens, and to the (Periodic) Group V halides and oxyhalides, the theory of halide ion dissociation and exchange is critically assessed. The final chapter reviews the chemical and physical properties and con- stitution of highly ionised and conducting molten salts. Examples are given of industrial applications, including the separation and extraction of metals. This is a most readable and authoritative contemporary review of suitably repre- sentative non-aqueous solvents. The editor has cast his net widely to draw on the research experience of his 15 co-authors one should not carill at the occasional introduction thereby of trans-Atlantic terms, such as "ribtonic spectra." The text is well illustrated with figures and the references are adequate for most purposes. This book may warmly be commended - although the price may well deter the less affluent specialists. G.F. PHILLIPS. INORGANIC CHEMISTRY. J. Bassett. Pp. viii + 347 + Ill. (1965). Pergamon Press, London and Oxford. 30s. The stated intention of the book is to provide students with a concise and readable account of modern inorganic chemistry of a standard intermediate between school "Advanced level" and an Honours degree. It is written around the modem concept of the detailed electronic structure of the elements and their vertical, diagonal and horizontal relationships within the Periodic Table. Part I is the essential prologue and the enunciation of basic principles in Chapters I and II is the key. They deal superficially with the simpler features of atomic struc- ture, electronic configuration and the periodic classification. These vital precepts are perhaps a little too condensed and one might well criticize points of detail, e.g. (1) there is a constant lack of cross-references - as when the reader is told on page $1 of the importance of the Principle of Maximum Multiplicity in connection with paramagnetism and colour but has to read on to Chapter XI before finding a three-

JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS page dissertation thereon, (2) the significance of the K,L,M, etc., X-ray spectra series are neither explained in Fig. 1.5 nor related to the discussion of I•,L,M, etc., electron shells in Chapter II, (3) in discussing quantum numbers, reference is made to the theoretical advances due to Bohr and Schr6dinger but there is no mention of the significant experimental observations of Stark and of Zeeman. However, examples of the Pauli and Hund Principles are worked out in full for the I•, L and M shells and the subsequent exposition of the periodic relations arising from the filling of electron sub-shells is most lucid. The chapter on the chemical bond is particularly recommended - there is an eloquent discussion of the significance of ionic potential, electron affinity and lattice energy. Covalent bond formation, hybridization, electronegativity concepts and intermediate structures are also well summarized it is not unreasonable to refer elsewhere for a mathematical treatment. Metallic and hydrogen bonds, however, are dealt with much more superficially. Particularly concise but clear is the exposi- tion of ionic radius, radius ratio criteria and simple crystal structures. In Chapter V there is a short derivation of the stereochemistry of the non-transition elements in terms of the directional properties of covalent bonding and non-bonding hybridized orbitals. There is a brief discussion of oxidation and reduction, standard electrode potentials, the electrochemical series, and discharge potentials. Examples are given of the use of oxidation number in determining the stoichiometry of redox and dis- proportionation reactions. Chapter VI ends with a short reference to I.U.P.A.C. standard inorganic nomenclature. The last chapter of Part I comprises a general classification of the occurrence, enrichment, reduction and various techniques of purification of metals a number of interesting contemporary examples are included. The remainder of the book comprises a systematic study of the elements the majority of those considered are dealt with by group presentation. The author paints with a broad brush, but this frequently results in very superficial attention. The emphasis is on the principles established in Part I, especially the electronic structure of the subgroup of elements being considered. As a compromise between the classical (see below) and a completely functional treatment of inorganic chemistry as in Ephraim (1), hybrides are classified and considered under hydrogen, but the most interesting are further discussed in the chapter for the appropriate element. Group Ia is only briefly treated but within Group IIa, vertical and some diagonal relationships are emphasized for different artionic and covalent functions. The first long period is taken as a systematic example of the transition, or "d block," elements. Serial properties such as ionic radii, oxidation states, magnetic behaviour and complex formation are reviewed (although ligant field theory is considered too complex for this text) and there is a short account of the major metals in that block, i.e. chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt and nickel. A separate chapter reviews the vertical relation of the coinage metals - copper, silver and gold - which possess the common system of a full 'd' shell and one subsequent 's' electron. Similar treatment is afforded the zinc cadmium mercury triad in Group IIb. The following chapters deal with the interrelation of the commonest elements in successive groups, viz. the boron aluminium pair, Groups IVb and Vb, oxygen and sulphur - of which the acids receive inadequate treatment, the halogens and (briefly) the noble gases. This is a highly readable book, although the telegraphic style is slightly reminiscent of the lecture notebook, a reaction supported by the frequent use of abbreviations and {1) Ephraim, F, Inorganic Chemistry, 4th Edn. {1943), Gurney and Jackson, London.