(1) Coal-tar Dyes and Intermediates (2) Coal-tar and some of its Products (3) Van Nostrand's Chemical Annual

Abstract

(1) THIS volume, by Mr. E. de B. Barnett, is one of the series of works on industrial chemistry now being published under the editorship of Dr. Samuel Rideal. The series aims at giving a comprehensive survey of the present condition of the chemical industries, the various subjects being treated from the chemical rather than from the engineering point of view. The books appeal mainly to the advanced student, whose mind, in the opinion of the editor, “is often crammed with the hard facts and details of his subject which crowd out the power of realising the industry as a whole,” and who, “on commencing his industrial career, is positively handicapped by his academic knowledge because of his lack of information on current industrial conditions.” There is, no doubt, room for difference of opinion as to the best course of instruction to be pursued in the case of one who is being prepared for a career in applied science, and it may be that the change from the purely academic side to that of application has hitherto been too abrupt, and that something in the nature of an intermediate course on the principles of technology is desirable. This fact, indeed, is now generally recognised, and we have the evidence for it in the creation of such places as the Imperial College at South Kensington, and in the extension of the newer universities, such as Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, and Birmingham, all of which have largely developed their technological side, either by the establishment of new-chairs or, as in the cases of Manchester and Glasgow, by uniting themselves with schools of technology already existing. Conditions arising out of the war will no doubt accelerate this movement, not only in this country, but also throughout the British Dominions. As we know, it has given an enormous impetus to technical education in America and in Japan, and bids fair to jeopardise the industrial future of Germany, at least in the chemical arts. Whatever the future may have in store for our defeated enemy, there can be no odoubt whatever that her supremacy in certain branches of manufacturing chemistry is irretrievably gone.

(1) Coal-tar Dyes and Intermediates.

By E. de Barry Barnett. (Industrial Chemistry Series.) Pp. xviii + 213. (London: Baillière, Tindall, and Cox, 1919.) Price 10s. 6d. net.

(2) Coal-tar and some of its Products.

By Arthur R. Warnes. (Pitman's Common Commodities and Industries.) Pp. xxii + 105. (London: Sir I. Pitman and Sons, Ltd., n.d.) Price 2s. 6d. net.

(3) Van Nostrand's Chemical Annual.

Fourth issue, 1918. Thoroughly revised and enlarged. Edited by Prof. John C. Olsen. Assistant editor, M. P. Matthias. Pp. xviii + 778. (London: Constable and Co., Ltd., 1918.) Price 15s. net.