Mathematics, our great heritage: Essays on the Nature and Cultural Significance of Mathematics. Selected and edited by William L. Schaaf. 291 pages, 14 × 21 cm. New York, Harper & Brothers, 1948. Price, $3.50
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 1949
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 56 KB
- Volume
- 247
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0016-0032
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✦ Synopsis
BOOK NOTES. 529 uses of organosilicon compounds are discussed, the physical chemistry of these materials is almost completely ignored. The chapter on nomenclature is adequate and consists for the most part of quotations from the article by Sauer, and the report of the American Chemical Society's Nomenclature Committee on rules for the naming of silicon compounds. It is unfortunate that these rules have been so consistently violated in the text. The tableof physical constants includes values of melting point, boiling point, density, and refractive index for most known organosilicon compounds and is the most useful feature of the book.
This book may be of value to workers in the field who want in one place an extensive bibliography with some comment on each reference. It may be helpful to those who wish to know about the various uses of silicone materials, although the chapter on this topic has a confused organization. It will be useful for its list of physical constants of individual compounds.
The book will be confusing to the average chemist with no previous knowledge of the field, and it is likely to be of little value to students or to non-chemists.
The statements by the publisher on the dust jacket that this book "critically evaluates all lhe vast amount of work done in this unusual and little understood department of organic chemistry," and that it is the "first critical summary of the subject," are both unwarranted and unfair to the author who makes no such claims. ARTHUR E. NEWKIRK.