(1) A Dictionary of Applied Chemistry (2) A Text-book of Electro-chemistry (3) Thermodynamics and Chemistry

Abstract

IT was almost inevitable that, when the distractions caused by the war had diminished somewhat, there should be a call for a new edition of Thorpe's Dictionary. Wrhilst pure chemistry may have made comparatively little progress during the war, applied chemistry has received a very great stimulus during the period that has elapsed since the former edition appeared in 1912. The first volume of the new edition has expanded from 614 to 752 pages, or rather more than one-fifth, and whilst it is difficult, without a careful comparison with the old edition, to discover where the expansion has taken place, it is easy to see that the most striking developments are adequately described in the new volume, so far as they are covered by the section from “A” to “calcium.” Thus under “acetic acid” and “aldehyde” the manufacture from acetylene is described; under “amatol” there is a fonvard reference to an article on explosives which will appear in a later volume, and a brief account is given of the new methods used to prepare ammonium nitrate on a large oscale. The synthetic processes for the pro Auction of ammonia are described very briefly in a single column, but this is in accord with the classification of the former edition, where a fuL description of these processes is reserved for a later article under “nitrogen.” The revision, as a whole, has been well done, and the new edition can be commended heartily as an accurate presentation of the state of applied chemistry after the vicissitudes of recent years.

(1) A Dictionary of Applied Chemistry.

By Sir Edward Thorpe. Assisted by eminent contributors. Vol. 1, A–Calcium. Revised and enlarged edition. Pp. x + 752. (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1921.) 60s. net.

(2) A Text-book of Electro-chemistry.

By Prof. Max le Blanc. Translated from the fourth enlarged German edition by Dr. Willis R. Whitney and Dr. John W. Brown. Pp. xiv + 338. (New York: The Macmillan Co. London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1920.) 18s. net.

(3) Thermodynamics and Chemistry.

By Prof. F. H. MacDougall. Pp. v + 391. (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.; London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1921.) 30s. net.