Book Reviews MY FIRST ONE HUNDRED YEARS, by E. Emmet Reid. Chemical Publish- ing Co., Inc., New York, 1972. 220 pages, illustrated. Price $10.00. This reviewer first met Dr. Reid in the early 1950's at a Sulfur Chemis- try Conference at the University of Indiana. He was then about 80, elderly, but still vigorous, alert, and active. His six-volume masterwork, "Organic Chemistry of Bivalent Sul- fur" (1958-66), had yet to be issued. Some 20 years later, with numerous publications and patents •in the in- terim, this autobiography has ap- peared. Dr. Reid is still elderly-one hesitates to say old-and his eyesight has failed. But he still calculates molecular weights in his head and is now assembling data for a book on preparative sulfur chemistry. No wonder he has referred to his auto- biography as "an interim report." This book will teach you little about chemistry it will teach you much about being a chemist. Its pages are full of the names of chem- ists, well known and less famous, who have been associated with the author at Baylor, Johns Hopkins, The Chemical Warfare Service, and many consultant companies. The text glows with the inner light of a man who knew he wanted to teach chem- istry and do research, and who suc- ceeded in his desires. In doing so, he profired relatively little in a material sense, but he enriched the lives and careers of those he taught and coun- seled and thus enriched his own. Unlike "The Organic Chemistry of Bivalent Sulfur," this book is not a necessary addition to the technical library. One cannot truthfully say "this book is required for all those who... "Yet it is to be recommend- ed highly. For those of us who have been associated with some areas of organic sulfur chemistry, it will pro- vide several hours of pleasant nos- talgia. Perhaps more important, how- ever, may be its effect on younger chemists. For them it will open the windows on an era in American chemistry now unfortunately gone and will perhaps give them some new insights on what it still means to be a chemist, to teach, and to do research. E. Emmet Reid, truly a gentleman, a scholar, and a scientist, in his hundredth year has produced another important piece of work.- EDWARD F. LEvY-The Gillette Com- pany, Toiletries Division. 215

'216 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS McCvTcHEoN's D•.T•.RCE•TS A• Ex•v•,sn•m•as, 1972 ANNUAL, McCut- cheon Division, Allured Publishing Corp., New Jersey, 1972. 232 pages, indexed. Price $10.00. This new edition retains the over- all format of previous editions listing the trade name, manufacturer, class and formula, form, properties, and uses of detergent and emulsifiers available in the U.S. As such it is a very valuable compilation, although by its very nature the contents can- not change much from year to year. However, there are a number of new materials included in this edi- tion and the increasing use of HLB numbers to define a given detergent is reflected in the expanded HLB in- dex which now includes materials with HLB's up to 42. Unfortunately, in doing this the editors have omit- ted a few compounds such as Aky- porox RLM100 and Zonyl A, which, since they do appear in the main list- ing of the book, are apparently still available. There is a concise, but fairly com- plete, discussion, by J. C. Harris, of the composition of detergents, build- ers, detergent additives, and the sta- tus of the various Government and local laws and actions concerning phosphates, NTA, enzymes, bacterio- stats, bactericides, flame retardancy, and labeling. The absence of a dis- cussion on sodium carbonate is, I think, a serious omission. Neverthe- less, this addition xvill be most use- ful to chemists who need an overall view of the current situation. There are remarkably few typo- graphical errors and the printiug is uniformly clear and readable. A seri- ous drawback of all editions to date, including the current one, is the in- clusion of terms such as "fortified" (page 53), "modified" (page 172), "blend of solvents and detergents" (page 172), and such general terms as "alkyl aryl" or "long-chain." If more complete information cannot be obta'ned from the manufacturer then it might be worth considering omitting these materials. The inclu- sion of the telephone numbers of all suppliers is a valuable addition in this respect which will be useful to many users. Despite these shortcomings, this yeaifs McCutcheon's is an excellent book to look for materials for use in such widely diverse areas as deter- gents, metal cleaners, foods, and the manufacture of polyurethane foams. It should be on every chemist's book shelf.-A. H. GtL•ERr--Lever Broth- ers Go.