Ch. N. Hinshelwood, Thermodynamics, translated from the English by E. P. Shubin, edited and with notes by K. A. Putilov, Moscow—Leningrad, ONTI, GTTI, 1933, 174 pp., price 3 rubles.

If, despite the large number of books we have devoted to chemical thermodynamics (courses by Planck, Partington–Rakovsky, Ulich, Kolosovsky, Kapustinsky, Gerasimov, as well as its exposition in the courses of physical chemistry by Eucken, Eggert, Katyukov, Brodsky, Segdin and Laury, and others), a new book devoted to the same subject appears, then there must be weighty reasons for this. And indeed, the merit of Hinshelwood’s book, by an outstanding investigator in the field of chemical ki-

kinetics fully justify the appearance of its translation into Russian. The material is presented with great pedagogical skill. The author uses the method of cyclic processes, whereby the exposition acquires great clarity and simplicity. At the same time, sufficient space is also given in the course to the thermodynamic functions that are usually used in presenting thermodynamics.

The chief merit of the book lies in the fact that the exposition is everywhere connected in the closest way with molecular-kinetic explanations, which, as is well known, bring great clarity and concreteness to the understanding of the formal laws of thermodynamics and give an idea of the true nature of the processes underlying them.

Thus, the book by Hinshelwood is a valuable addition to the thermodynamics courses available to us, which use thermodynamic functions as their principal tool and touch only incidentally on the kinetic nature of processes.

The book is an elementary course in chemical thermodynamics for chemistry students already familiar with a general course in physical chemistry, and it covers the material usually presented in courses of chemical thermodynamics.

After an introduction devoted to the problems of thermodynamics in chemistry (Ch. I), the first and second laws of thermodynamics are set forth (Chs. II and III). This is followed by the doctrine of free energy, entropy, and thermodynamic functions and their application to various chemical and physical processes (Chs. IV, V, VI). Chapters VII and VIII are devoted to the phase rule and chemical equilibrium.

The book ends with a special chapter clarifying the connection between entropy and probability and giving a statistical explanation of the second law of thermodynamics.

From what has been said it follows that Hinshelwood’s book can serve as a very valuable aid in taking a course in thermodynamics for students of universities and higher technical schools, as well as for instructors. Unfortunately, the absence of examples and problems in the book makes it impossible to use it as a principal textbook.

The translation has been done in a literary manner and reads comparatively easily. The translation was edited very carefully. Only notes 5 and 6 to p. 40 cause some bewilderment. If they were to be made at all—and, it seems to me, there was no need for them—then it should have been clearly defined what is meant by a “cycle” enclosed within the limits of two temperatures; for a reader first becoming acquainted with thermodynamics from Hinshelwood’s book, this note explains nothing.

The assertion that the efficiency of a reversible Stirling cycle is less than the efficiency of a Carnot cycle is in general incorrect (note 5).

True, from note 6 we learn that what is meant here is a Stirling cycle without heat regeneration, but this may cause still greater confusion for the inexperienced reader.

A. Monoszon