M. A. Konstantinova-Shlezinger, Luminescence Analysis.
287 pp. Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow—Leningrad, 1948.
Price in binding: 14 rubles.

Luminescence analysis is one of the most sensitive and, at the same time, one of the simplest modern methods of analysis in its execution. The range of its applications is striking. Chemistry—inorganic and especially organic—biology and medicine, mineral prospecting, agriculture, the food industry: this is far from a complete circle of major fields in which luminescence analysis is successfully applied. Yet, despite all the simplicity of the experimental arrangement of qualitative analysis by fluorescence color, its error-free use requires of the investigator a certain grounding in physics, an understanding of the physical nature of the luminescence process, consideration of the possible role of the medium, accidental impurities, and the influence of various complex physical processes connected with energy exchange between excited and unexcited molecules, etc. Insufficient attention to possible sources of error is the reason for the numerous contradictory indications in the literature on luminescence analysis.

The principal shortcoming of the monographs on luminescence analysis that have appeared up to now lies precisely in their purely empirical character. Against the background of this crude empiricism, characteristic of all the book literature on luminescence analysis of recent times (see, for example, the books by Dankwort, Radley and Grant, and others), the book under review by M. A. Konstantinova-Shlezinger stands out favorably for its rigorously scientific approach. The first four chapters of this book constitute a physico-chemical introduction. Chapters III and IV are especially interesting and substantial. Chapter III considers the factors influencing fluorescence in a solution and the conditions for observing fluorescence for analysis. Such factors include, for example, the pH of the solution, the influence of the solvent, the relation between the fluorescence of a substance in the solid state and in solution, etc. Chapter IV—“Fluorescence and the Chemical Structure of Organic Compounds”—is also very interesting.

The rest of the book is devoted to luminescence analysis proper. The author appropriately classifies it into chemical analysis and “sort” analysis, by which is meant analysis not connected with questions of chemistry (for example, varietal analysis of seeds). Further, in accordance with the various tasks of analysis and the various methods employed, the author also classifies the methods themselves, dividing them into five procedures. For example, one may use the fluorescence of the substance under investigation itself for qualitative and quantitative analysis (procedures I, II and III, according to the author’s classification); fluorescent indicators may be used in the analysis (procedure IV); and finally, one may introduce a fluorescent substance from outside and, observing its distribution, follow the distribution of liquid in a solid medium, detect cracks, etc. (procedure V). Although such a classification, like any classification, is somewhat artificial, it nevertheless gives the author the possibility of purposefully grouping the various procedures of analysis.

Chapter VIII is devoted to a brief description and applications of the luminescence microscope; chapters IX and X—to applications for the analysis of chemiluminescence and cathodoluminescence. Finally, all the remaining part of the book (chap-

(Chapters XI–XVI) is devoted to the various applications of luminescence analysis. Each chapter is accompanied by a fairly detailed bibliography.

The book by M. A. Konstantinova-Shlezinger will undoubtedly be of great benefit. It is rich in content and very well written. It will help broaden the applications of this valuable new method of analysis in our country and promote its further development. From this point of view, one can only regret that the author does not dwell sufficiently on questions of experimental technique. These include, for example, commercially available light sources for analysis, their spectral and electrical characteristics, light filters—solid and liquid—spectrographs, and the like. This is the only shortcoming, and one that can easily be corrected in subsequent editions. On the whole, it is a good and necessary book, to which one can only wish success.

E. Shpolsky