1300K •zvI•WS 763 functional derivations. The first seven chapters deal xvith distribution functions in- volving atomic parameters, leading up to a theoretical but sometimes unrestable formulation of equilibrium conditions, whereas the second half deals with transport properties. Although most of the monograph describes only 'classical' liquids, there is a final chapter briefly analysing the relevance of short-range interactions predicted for so-called 'quantum liquids'. For most of the topics reference is made to older texts for more detailed or more rigorous treatments. This is a concise and highly specialised contribution to the statistical under- standing of chemical physics. The author assumes at the outset a working knowledge of elementary quantum mechanics and of 'classical' statistical mechanics in general mathematical proof is preferred to qualitative exposition. However, whereas the publishers' "blurb" on the jacket suggests this is a suitable work forundergraduate study, of interest to chemists, physicists and biologists, one might incline more to the author's own prefatory reference to a postgraduate physics standard in the lectures on which the book is founded. Certainly in the drug and cosmetics field its appeal outside the physical chemistry research laboratory will be limited. G.F. PHILLIPS. HETERO-AROMATIC NITROGEN COMPOUNDS: PYR- ROLES AND PYRIDINES. K. Schofield. Pp. viii + 434. (1.067). Butterworths, London. oe6. This is an academic book, of impressive scholarship, and massively condensed. It is not for casual reading but if this volume is typical of the series, they should serve as most thoroughly gleaned source books for all serious xvorkers in hetero- aromatic chemistry. The series is planned to redress a lack of adequate theoretical treatment in current monographs of heterocyclic chemistry, wherein the emphasis has traditionally lain with natural occurrence and physiological or economic signifi- cance, rather than serious correlation of the considerable volume of isolated physical properties potentially revealing the electronic nature of a molecule. The first volume, which deals with the prototype systems pyrrole and pyridine, is organised in six chapters. in the first three, the essentially aromatic reactivity of these systems is examined within a framework of historical and then contemporary views on aromatic character and behaviour, although the lack of adequate direct experimental verification ls well appreciated. The fourth chapter minutely reviews reactions and functional derivatives of pyrrole, while for the much more extensive literature of pyridine chemistry these two aspects are dealt with in separate chapters. As a useful addition, a page or so of addendum is added to each of these three chapters as a supplementary series of footnotes updating material through 1965. Reactions with both prototypes are logically divided into electrophilic, nucleophilic and free radical addition or substitution, with alphabetical subdivision therein throughout the book modern views in mechanisms are reviewed and critically assessed. The text is liberally supported with tables of properties and the literature coverage (over 2,600 references) is remarkably detailed. G.F. PHILLIPS.

764 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS AN INTRODUCTION TO THE CHEMISTRY AND BIO- CHEMISTRY OF FATTY ACIDS AND THEIR GLYCE- RIDES. F.D. Gunstone. 2nd edn. Pp. x + 209 + Ill. (1967). Chapman and Hall, London,, 63s. (U.K. only). This book is a very concise summary of the present state of fatty acid tech- nology, and is a book of great value to all workers in the field of oil and fats. Some of the descriptions of synthetic techniques are a little oversimplified and one feels that more information on the reaction conditions or at least a reference to a source of this information would have been of value. The book is intended for students as well as chemists in the field but it is felt that the random dispersion of questions throughout the book is unlikely to help either type of reader. Questions, if they nmst appear, would surely be better at the end of a chapter, or better still as a separate section at the end of the book. The amount of detail given for methods of analysis varies from a complete des- cription of the method for determining iodine value to the briefest of details for peroxide value. The industrial importance of nitrogen compounds receives little treatment by the author and peroxy acids and mercaptans are omitted. K.M. GODFREY BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PHARMACEUTICAL REFERENCE LITERATURE. M. Pasztor and J. Hopkins. Pp. viii q- 167. (1,068). Pharmaceutical Press, London. 25s. This is a concise little paperback, printed in the rather diminutive reproduction of typescript apparently favoured nowadays by The Pharmaceutical Press, which is quite a mine of information. It is intended mainly as a list of works used for reference in all facets of pharmacy, although naturally a great many of the references are also of common interest to cosmetic scientists. Perhaps the most obvious users of such a compendium will be librarians or information scientists, but research workers and teachers will certainly find it helpful too. There are sections dealing with drug information sources, abstracting and indexing services. list ot periodicals, handbooks in the relevant sciences and similar topics. There is an interesting section listing books on scientific writing and another one detailing language dictionaries. A wide range of Associations is described, making the odd statement in relation to the Society of Cosmetic Chemists of Great Britain to the effect that "meetings are held irregularly". One hopes this is meant to describe their frequency and not the way they are conducted! N.J. VAN ABBI• COULOMETRY IN ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY. G.W.C. Milner and G. Phillips. Pp. x q- 207 q- Ill. (1968). Pergamon Press, Oxford. 30s. This is the first of a new Pergamon series of inexpensive monographs reviewing, at undergraduate level, important innovations in analytical chemistry. An unusual