Book Reviews HANDBOOK OF INDUSTRIAL TOXICOL- OGY, by E. R. Plunkett. Chemical Publishing Company, Inc., New York, N. Y. 440 pages, indexed. Price $16.50. This book is designed primarily for use by health officers and physicians who may be called upon to administer aid in eases of intoxication. The book is essentially an alpha- betieal listing of commonly used in- dudtrial chemicals which are either toxic or irritating to the human body. Each listing includes synonyms and a description of the chemical, probable occupational exposure and preventive measures, the threshold limiting values as established by the American Conference of Governmental Indus- trial Hygienists, and the prominent symptoms of toxicity. One can find little fault with this arrangement, and a brief volume of this type appears to be a sensible and practical approach. The author stresses insecticides in his selection of chemicals for inclusion in this book. Some toxic compounds are not included in this list, while substances of questionable toxicity and of little commercial use are in- cluded: Tetrachlorosalicylanilide is no longer used in soaps tin oxides 2O5 are erroneously classified as cosmetic ingredients among the missing are all types of detergents, sodium tri- polyphosphate, and the bromates potassium hydroxide, lead salts, mag- nesium sulfate, and Paris Green certainly should be included in a volume on toxicology in preference to "wood." The book is relatively free of typo- graphical errors and contains much to recommend it to those who may depend on it in the performance of their professional or Samaritan func- tions. M. M. RIEGER Warner- Lambert Research Institute. SURVEY OF PROGRESS IN CtlEMISTRY, edited by Arthur F. Scott. Academic Press, New York. 1966. 292 pages, illustrated and indexed. Price $7.95. Volumes I and II of this series were reviewed in 1965 (Vol. 16, pg. 542). This, the third volume, con- tinues the excellent presentations of chemical topics which began in 1963 with Volume I. The five chapters in the latest volume are concerned with photosynthesis, flame chemistry, ki- netic isotope effects, asymmetric re- duction, and stereoregular polymers. It is unlikely that cosmetic chem-

206 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS ists would be particularly interested in flame chemistry, although this chapter appears to be a suitable in- troduction to this subject. Similar comments could also apply to the chapter on asymmetric reduction but the use of these techniques in terpene chemistry certainly has a bearing on the synthesis of perfume ingredients. On the other hand, the remaining chapters appear to this revie•ver to deserve study by chemists engaged in the development of consumer prod- ucts. Of special interest is the chap- ter on stereoregular polymers, which have found application in the manu- facture of some of the most impor- tant packaging materials available today. This chapter alone is wdl worth the price of the book. The subject of the kinetic effects of isotopes has been explored by organic and physi- cal chemists for a quarter of a century. Unfortunately, this phe- nomenon has occasionally been neglected in studies of the in vivo metabolism of tagged chemicals. The very basic importance of photo- synthesis need not be belabored here. Suffice it to say that the recently claimed photosynthesis in the ab- sence of living cells holds great prom- ise for supplying the food require- ments of future generations. As anticipated in the earlier re- view of Volumes I and II, this survey by topics has proved valuable, and all of us look forward to forthcoming volumes in this series.--M. M. Rieger Warner-Lambert Research Insti- tute. THE CONDENSED CHEMICAL DIC- TIONARY, 7th Edition, edited by Arthur and Elizabeth Rose. Rein- hold Publishing Corp., New York, N. Y. 1966. 1044 pages. Price $17.50. This reviewer had the pleasure to review what appears to be this book's companion volume, Encyclopedia of Chemistry by Clark and Hawley, several months ago. Readers of these columns may recall the breadth and scope of the contents of this encyclopedia. The Condensed Chemical Dictionary, on the other hand, is a reference volume, the main value of which is to be found in its large number of entries. It is next to impossible to de- scribe the contents of this volume ex- cept by stating that in its pages can be found about 40,000--50,000 sep- arate descriptions of pure chemicals, trade name chemicals, and rdated information. The alphabetical in- clusion of trademarks and the list of almost 600 different suppliers of chemicals makes this volume not only a desk reference for the chemist but a guide useful for purchasing agents and chemical executives. The individual entries supply a wealth of useful information, the nomenclature is good, and the book appears to be essentially free of typographical errors. Although the price is relatively high, this dictionary should pay for itself with the time it can save those who are seeking quick authoritative information--M. M. Rieger--Warner-Lambert Research Institute.