Book Reviews AUTOOXIDATION OF HYDROCARBONS MECi•ANISMS, by Leo Reich and Sal- vatore S. Stivala. Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York. 1969. 527 pages. Price $29.75. The 1968 Diploma Examination of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists of Great Britian [J. Soc. Cosmetic Chemists, 20, 61 (1969)] includes the question, "Give an account of the che•nistry of oxidative rancidification .... " Drs. Reich and Stivala an- swered this important question admir- ably. Their book is not for the casual reader it is replete with mechanisms, mathematical derivations, and kinetic expressions. But, it is also full of data, presents an excellent precis of the literature, and is must reading for any chemist concerned with oxidative rancidification or polyolefin stability, e.g., of packaging materials. A few highlights of this scholarly work are: the introduction, a well- presented review of the history, chem- istry, and experimental techniques used to generate the information to follow Chapter 3, a lucid account of the role of antioxidants Chapter 8, a description of experimental tech- niques for investigating polyolefin 825 oxidation (this chapter by itself is well worth the price of the book). My sole criticism is that the sec- tions describing oxidation and auto- oxidation in the presence of metal catalysts do not adequately warn of the dangers of coloring polyolefins with certain metal pigments which might act as catalysts, even at low temperature. There have been litera- ture reports on this subject and the findings are important to technolo- gists in the field. The ambitious reader will want to attempt the problems at the end of chapters for a self-taught, though not easy, graduate course. Rarely am I so enthusiastic over a book. This one is worth your atten- tion. HA}•VEY ALT•Gillette Re- search Institute, Inc. ELECTROPHORESIS--TECHNICAL AP- PLICATIONS a Bibliography of Ab- stracts. B.J. Haywood. Ann Arbor --Humphrey Science Publishers, Ann Arbor, Mich., 1969. 440 pages. Prices $18.75. The author has put together, in book form, a large collection of refer- ences to recent work concerned with zone electrophoresis. The volume is

826 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS divided into t•vo parts the first lists applications papers published be- tween 1965 and 1969, whereas the second part lists background refer- ences. Standard reference •vorks (for example Block, Durrum, and Zweig's text on paper chromatography and paper electrophoresis) are included, as •vell as revie•vs concerned •vith specific techniques of zone electro- phoresis. Each reference is accom- panied by a brief abstract. The ap- plications sections are arranged by separation technique within each subsection (for example, High-Volt- age Electrophoresis, Starch-Block Electrophoresis) the references are listed chronologically rather than by subject. Thus, papers concerned with the separation of a particular mixture of isoenzymes, for example, can be found scattered throughout the book, and a reference to "Serum Protein Alterations in Uremia" is preceded by "The Isoenzymes of Trypsin." The addition of a subject index, possibly •vith cross-references to techniques and authors, •vould make the vast amount of information gathered here much more accessible. The publishers of this compilation have done the author a great dis- service by lack of attention to non- English •vords and phrases. The titles of some papers published in French, German, or Italian are given in the original language however, many are so badly mangled that even one quite familiar •vith both the sub- ject and the language has difficulty in decoding them. It is unfortunate indeed that such a potentially useful collection should be marred by lack of organization and attentionto detail. --V• UsmN--Gillette Research Institute, Inc.