J. Strong (in collaboration with H. V. Neher, A. E. Whitford, C. H. Cartwright and R. Hayward). Procedures in experimental Physics. Pp. X + 642. Prentice Hall Inc. New York, 1945.

Strong’s book, written by him in collaboration with a number of well-known experimental physicists, is a guide to the techniques of the laboratory experiment. Each chapter of the book is written by a specialist with extensive personal experience in one or another area of experimental operations. Some of the methods and results reported in the book are published there for the first time. The contents of the book by chapters are as follows: I. Basic operations in the laboratory. Glassblowing art. II. Laboratory optical work: grinding and polishing glass, making optical surfaces, making concave mirrors, testing optical systems, optical work with crystals, polishing metals. III. High-vacuum technique. IV. Coating surfaces by evaporation and cathodic sputtering. V. Use of fused quartz (chiefly, the making of and work with thin quartz fibers). VI. Electrometers and electroscopes. VII. Geiger counters. VIII. Vacuum thermoelements and measurement of radiant energy. IX. Optics: light sources, filters and optical instruments. X. Photoelectric cells and amplifiers. XI. Photography in the laboratory. XII. Notes on materials (metals, alloys, wood, cements and sealants). XIV. Notes on the design of instruments.

The book contains chapters that are unusual for manuals of this type. Thus, for example, Chapter II—“Laboratory Optical Work.” It is not known whether one can teach oneself the delicate operations described in this chapter, but it undoubtedly contains many useful indications. This remark, incidentally, applies perhaps to any kind of experimental technique: in order to learn quickly any delicate operations, one must work in a laboratory where such or similar methods are in use. This, however, in no way diminishes the importance of books like the one reviewed here. The chapters on coating surfaces; work with fused quartz (making thin fibers, microbalances, etc.); and the making of vacuum thermoelements deserve special mention. Absolutely indispensable are the drawings with which the book is abundantly supplied. They have the appearance of sketches made by hand, but are notable for remarkable clarity and expressiveness. In many cases these drawings simply replace the text, and it is not for nothing that the name of the artist (Roger Hayward) who created them appears on the title page of the book among the coauthors.

The book has had exceptional success in the United States. It went through 10 editions in 7 years. The sequence of the dates of these editions is of interest. The first edition appeared in October 1938; the next three editions appeared in 1939, 1941, and 1942, but in 1943 alone three editions appeared, and in 1944 two editions. A Russian translation of Strong’s book is not only desirable, but necessary.

E. Shpolsky