A comparison of the tables of contents
of "Elements of Chemical Engineering,"
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the Ponchan method is discuslied ade-
q~lstely.
This hook represents a valuable and
bimely rontrihutian t,o the chemical
literature.
UNIT OPERATIONS OF CHEMICAL
ENGINEERING
W. L. McCobe, Administrative Dean,
Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, and
I. L. Smith, Professor of Chemical E g i -
neering, Cornell University. McGraw-
Hill Book Co., Ino., New York, 1956.
ix+ 945 pp. 497 figs. 16 X 23.5 cm.
$10.50.
IN LATE 1855 appeared "Introduction
to Chemical Enginoering" by V'. I,.
Badger and J. T. Banchero. Tho secret
was out. The writing team of Badger
and McCabe that had produced the
highly succeasfnl "Elements of Chemical
Engincering" had gone their separate
ways, each had selected a new co-author,
and two new books would appear to re-
place the 1936 odition of "Elements."
There was no doubt that Badger and
Bnnchero had done a soccesaful job
IJ. CHEM.Emc., 33, 88 (195611. How
would McCnhe and Smit,h compare with
this?
VOLUME 34, NO. 3, MARCH, 1957
"Introduction to Chemical Engineering,"
and "Unit Operatians of Chemical Engi-
neering" shows essentially the same 16
chapters in each. IMcCebe and Smith
have moved four chapters on minor unit
operations of size reduction, handling of
solids, mixing, and mechanical separations
from the rear of the book to a place be-
tween fluid mechanics and flow of heat.
The material on filtration now is included
in mechanical separations. A general
chapter on mass transfer precedes the
chapterson ab.mrption, distillstion, leach-
ing and extraction, and ot,her mass
transfer operet,ions.
If the tables of contents show the same
chapters, how do the two books differ?
Figures show "Introduction" has 753
psgqs and 419 illustmtions; "Unit 011-
eratlons" has 945 pages and 487 illustra-
tions. I t is not sufficient to say therc are
about 200 additional pages. The v i e w
point of McCabe and Smith is definitely
a t 8, higher level than Badger and Ban-
r h ~ r o . "Unit Operations" has 8 chapter
on Fluid Mechanics rather than Flow of
Fluids, and the viewpoint is now more
comprehensive and includes flow of cam-
pressible fluids. I n Flow of Heat,
"Unit Operations" not. only gives more
materid on conduction and convection
but $80 discrmes unsteady state heat
flow and gives much morc material on
radiation. As we might expect, in Dis-
tillation much more cmphasis is placed
on the McCabe-Thiele diagram, though
Each book has its separate field of
greatest usefulness. Badger and Ban-
chero undoubtedly will be used in unit
operations courses given in the junior
yom. McCabe and Smith will be used
in senior Level courses or three semester
courses. The l a ~ g e ramount of material,
particularly equations for special sets
of conditions, will be useful reference
material which the student can find
easily and grasp its signifionnce and
limitations from the other material which
he has studied.
Because the McGraw-Hill Series in
Chemical Engineering has an Editorial
Advisarv Committee. there should be
some action taken on nomenclature.
SIcCahe and Smith have obviod>- tried
to make some symbols ditkrent from
Badger and Banehero, possibly for the
snke of being different. The use of i
for enthalpy is European practice and is
also used in humidification calculations,
hut it in different. from the h used in dis-
t,illation calculations in other textbooks.
Students are going to use several of the
books concurrently, either as t,ests or
references. Why cannot the Editarial
Advisory Committee consider this prob-
lem and exert some influence over authors
who want. to be different in matters of
~omenclnture?
The $10.50 paid for hlrCahe and Smith
compared to the 69.50 for Badger and
Banchero is an extra dollar aell spent.
(Conlinued on page A135)

I t buys 200 additional pages of tcxt
rontaining 80 figures, and all is a t x
higher level of viewpoint. These two
Imoks will dominate the field of teaching
of unit, operations of cbemicnl engineering.
I<ENNETII .k. ROBE
UNIVERBITY
or. T E X . ~
AasTIw. EX*^
GMELINS HANDBOOK OF INORGANIC
CHEMISTRY. SYSTEM 44: THORIUM
AND ISOTOPES
Edited by the Gmelin Institute under the
direction of E. H. E. Pietsch. Eighth
edition. Verlag chemie, GmbH., Wein-
heim Bergstrasse, Germany, 1955. xv
+ 406 pp. 3 5 figs. 17.5 X 25.5 cm.
In wrappers, $54.48; cloth bound, $55.68.
T m new Gmelin volume an thorium is
n~oat,welcome st, this time with the
inrwnsiug interest in thorium in atomic
energy programs t,hroughoui the world.
The t h o ~ . i u m - Usystem
~ ~ ~ comprises one
of the two poasihilitiw for nuclear bleed-
ing, t,he conversion of n natural nuclide
into a nuelear fuel on a large srrtle with
the concomitnnt production of mze1e:hr.
enwgy try the fission of pt.eviooslv formad
fuel. At prcsent no t h o r o ~ ~ g h l satis-
y of content,s. Berauso of the uarticnla~.
f:wAol.y chemical and physiral form of
t l ~ w i u mhas been proposed for the purpose
:md hencc considerable expe~.imentstion
VOLUME 34, NO. 3, MARCH, 1957
may he expected along this line in thr
future.
This Hsndhoak is by far t,he most
complete compilstion of information on
the occurrence, preparation, and t,he
chemical nnd physical propwties of tho-
rium and its compounds ever puhlish~d.
The natural occurrence, geacIemist,ry,
and methods of recovery in pure farm aw
nll covered in considerable detail. In-
form~t,ionis eiven on the nhvsiral nmn-
isot.o~)es. One hnndred sevcnty-five p a p s
are devot,rd to chemical propertirs and
rc%ctions involving t h o r i ~ ~ mits
, alloys,
and its eornuonnds. The last 52 nares .
rover t,he i n h m a t i a n on natural ~ntlio-
active isotopes of thorium.
The claim is made that. the litw.att~re
has heen covered completely until thp ~ m l
of 1949 and t h a t the more important
material published up to the end of 1951
is also included. Thore may be some
question as t o what ~ h o o l dbe ineluded in
t,he more important information. For
example, much of the thorium solntion
chemistry puhli~hed between IW9 and
1955 is not included. I n part,ielllar much
of the work on eomplrxing hy various
anions m d on hydrolysis in ~ L ~ U P O U S
solut,ions is not discussed
It is perhaps unfortunate tlmt the hook
does not have an index as well as a tablr
division of subject mattel. many itoms
are discussed in soveral diRerent plscer.
Far example, some of the same R ~ I I P -
ous chemistry is mcntioned under General
Preparation of Thoriltm Compounds,
Chemical Ikhxvior, The Compounda of
Tharirm (in mwe than one plnec), and
The S a t w z 1 Radioactive Isot,npcs ol
Thorium.
R. 77. STOUGHTON
OAK R ~ D C N*TION*G
E LIBORATOA~
OAR R m m , T e n ~ ~ s s ~ s
Edited by H. EVrjns and C. I. Christen-
sen, University of Utah, and H. S. John-
ston, Stanford University. Anr.ual Re-
views, Inc.. Palo Alto. California. vii +
503 DL.
.. 1'5 X 2 2 cm. 57.
.
T H E fir& six volumes of these Review.;
were edited by Gerhard R. Rollefson.
Following his dcnth on Novernbw 15,
1955, Henry 1':ying assumed principal
responsiihilty for continuing t,lle series.
The high quality of t h e previous vol-
umes has ~ C P I I maintained, and thew
has been no changcin basic policy. Al~out
three of tho tw~nt,y-one chapters each
year are devoted t o s n h j ~ c t s~.eqoiring
only ocrarianal twat,ment. The remain-
ing rhapt,ers ~.rviemthe latest advances
in ~pp1.oximately t h e same fields yen].
after year, lmt the authors are f r w to
treat those aspects of tho general field in
which they s1.o mast interested.
WILLIAM E. CADBURY, JR.
A ~ ~
COLLLCE ~ ~ ~ ~ &
I r ~ u ~ ~ i o PENX~YLYAXI.L
no.