BOOK REVIEWS

which tables of data have been taken without modification to ensure uniformity of
test methods or of presentatio n. For example, the data in tables 20 and 20(a) would
have been much easier to use if combined. Too often trade names only are given
when the chemical name is well known. A full account of the practical methods
used for testing plasticizers and the properties required for specific applications should
have been given, since this information is essential for satisfactory selection of
plasticizers. The space devoted to PVC is disproportionately small in view of its
outstanding importance.
The second section consists mainly of data which have been abstracted from
manufacturers' literature and similar criticisms apply. Much of the data given is
a measure only of the purity of the plasticizer. Since this is only applicable to a
particular manufacturer, and might be modified, a section on standard specifications
for plasticizers should have been included instead and would have taken less space.
Lack of care is shown by at least three plasticizers, i.e. di-isodecyl adipate, di-
isodecyl phthalate and dinonyl phthalate, being included twice with different sets of
data.
The book may be of use for reference when data on a particular plasticizer are
required but as a guide to the applications of plasticizers it is inadequate.

H. C. MURFITT

Interaction o/Plane-Parallel Double Layers

I)EVEREUX and DE BRuY~
M.I.T. Press: Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A. 361 pp., 7 in. by 10 in., 94s
THE application of the theories of both Derjaguin, and Verwey-Overbeek to prob-
lems of sol stability, coagulation etc., requires the evaluation of the interaction
energy of charged particle surfaces as they approach one another and of the
material, attractive forces (van de Waals) at small separations.
This book is concerned only with the former, treating both like and dissimilar
particle surfaces in a common, symmetrical electrolyte solution. After summarizing
the essential mathematical treatment and definitions (50 pp approximately), the
remainder of the book (300 pages) tabulates the interaction energies, computed on
an IBM 7090 machine, for a wide range of experimentally possible,, similar and
dissimilar, surface potentials and distances of separation giving significant interaction.
The book might well be appreciatively referred to by those regularly concerned
with stability and flocculation problems as 'The double layer interaction ready-
reckoner', and will no doubt be much used by those lacking stamina and/or computer
facilities.
H. W. DOUGLAS

Physical Properties of Textile Fibres

W. E. MORTON and J. W. S. HEARLE
Butterworths: London, 1962. 608 pp., 5½ in. by 8½ in., 105s
THE authors set out to write a textbook for textile students proceeding to B.Sc.
(Tech.), Dip.Tech. or equivalent in Textile subjects. This book will undoubtedly
appeal to a far wider range of readers and should establish itself as a standard work
of reference not only in teaching, but in industry. It is very probable that the
majority of copies will be sold in industry as the price is rather high for students
to spend on a textbook covering only a special aspect of their course.
The authors have covered a very wide range of topics. There are chapters
devoted to density, moisture relations, mechanical and electrical properties, optical
and thermal properties and friction. Where necessary, the text includes discussion of
related forms of materials, e.g. film properties. The authors express the hope in
their preface that the text will furnish a background 'which is unlikely to change
radically with the passage of time'. They have chosen to start the book with a long
section on fibre structure (ten per cent of the total) and it is this section that will
probably be altered considerably before the next edition. Experimental facts are
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 BOOK REVIEWS

unlikely to be disputed, but fibre structure is largely the interpretation of diffuse

spots and haloes on photographs and the recent work of Hosemann and others is
already challenging the established theories. In other parts of the book theoretical
speculation on measured properties is less obtrusive and the comprehensive cover,
together with the juxtaposition of properties of fibres often treated in isolation, makes
this book extremely useful to the newcomer to textile technology and science.
There is a very valuable chapter on sampling which puts succinctly the pitfalls that
bestrew this subject and this chapter made quite clear to the reviewer the inevitable
consequences of different methods of sampling. The remaining chapters in the section
on fibre dimensions consider fibre length, diameter and density.
The next section is entitled moisture relations and, in an effort to be really
thorough, some very difficult byways of the subject have been explored. The
reviewer would dispute, however, whether the BET equation and theories of multi-
layer adsorption can really be described as physical properties of textile fibres.
The section on mechanical properties is excellent; the complexities of time effects
and dynamic testing are introduced after the simpler ideas and the problems of
variability have been tackled. It is symptomatic o f the unbalance of the research
work in this field that only 26 pages could be devoted to deformations other than
extensional. This is no fault of the authors. Some of the later chapters on electrical
and optical properties are less expansive and, in parts, achieve the breathless quality
of a catalogue. In these later chapters it is unusual to find a reference to work
published after 1957 which is five years before the date of publication.
The book is produced throughout with excellent line diagrams and many half-tone
illustrations. It is a first-class book which will provide a good reference source. If
the authors'had exercised more discipline over their pens, particularly in the sections
on structure and moisture relations, it could have been an excellent one.

K. W. HILLIER

Ultrastructure of Protein Fibres

Edited by RumN BORASKY
Academic Press: New York and London, 1963. 72s
THiS book consists of a collection of papers (some of them subsequently expanded)
presented to a symposium of the Nineteenth Annual Meeting of the Electron Micros-
copy Society of America held at Pittsburgh in 1961. The morphology of fibrous
proteins and its possible relationship to primary, secondary and tertiary protein
structure is discussed by correlating the results of electron microscopy with structural
information obtained by chemical and, in particular, X-ray techniques. Modern
theories relating biological function, mechanical and physical properties of natural
proteinous materials to ultra and molecular structure are presented.
Because of its mode of conception as a series of papers, this book is not a complete
exposition on the subject of fibrous protein structure and its biophysical implications.
Particularly, it lacks details of the instrumental techniques used to obtain information
in this field; this is unfortunate and detracts from the value of the book. Nevertheless
as an exposition of modern research work into the ultra structure of fibrous proteins
this book is a useful collection of review papers by the experts for the expert or near
expert in this field.
H. BLOCK

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