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The analysis of explosives
II
sible, an important consideration in a book compiled by lawyers but consulted also by managers, safety officers, inspectors, academics, trades union officials and technologists, most of whom lack legal training. In this respect the Redgrave tradition has been admirably retained. Another welcome innovation is the inclusion in the General Introduction of previously scattered notes on the “construction of expressions of common occurrence throughout the legislation”. The interpretations of such terms as “reasonably practicable”, “due diligence”, “wilfully”, “properly maintained”, etc. etc., hallowed by case-law and still providing a living for many a lawyer, have been collected together for the first time. In keeping with the Robens spirit of self-regulation Codes of Practice have been included alongside relevant Regulations, and reference is made throughout the text to Guidance Notes issued by the Health and Safety executive, which, although having no legal standing, are in the long-run likely to save more lives than the strict letter of the law. A new section of the book deals with Fire Precautions which, in the form of the Fire Precautions Act 1971, replace the repealed fire precautions formerly contained in the Factories Act 1961. Apart from being indispensable to anyone in Britain charged with a responsibility for occupational health and safety, the volume gives the foreign student an invaluable insight into the unfamiliar derivation, scope and applicability of the law in relation to health and welfare in British factories. H.S. EISNER
The Analysis of Explosives, by J. Yinon and S. Zitrin, Pergamon Series in Analytical Chemistry, Vol. 3, Pergamon, Oxford-New York, 1981, 300 pp., $60/$25, ISBN o-08-023846-7 (soft cover $22.50/99.35, ISBN o-08-023845-9). The title of this book should really be “Trace Analysis of Explosives” because it is more concerned with the identification or detection of minor quantities of explosive substances. An analyst wishing to carry out assaytype analyses of explosives for, say, quality control purposes, would gain little help from this book. I found the print rather small and variable in thickness whilst many figures such as chemical formulae seemed to be copied directly from an untidy student’s notebook. The book appears to be more a list of references than a genuine text book. Only brief reference is made to a number of important analytical techniques which are in common use e.g. X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, whilst some other techniques are omitted e.g. ion chromatography and laser-Raman spectroscopy. The lack of detailed information on X-ray diffraction is particularly regrettable because this technique provides so much vital information on the precise crystallographic form of the explosive and is invaluable when analysing mixtures.
Most other analytical techniques are described, some in detail, others briefly but all are covered well by references. The sections of the book dealing with chromatographic techniques, spot-test chemical techniques, spectrophotometric techniques (UV, visible and IR) and mass spectroscopy are particularly comprehensive with numerous references. The section on detection of hidden explosives is also comprehensive as far as national security and official secrets acts allow but since most “sniffers” work on the principle of electron capture detection with some form of pre-detector concentrator, the section could have been reduced to a list of available equipment thus allowing more book-space to the more generally useful analytical techniques. In summary, the book is extremely useful as a reference to most techniques used in the chemical analysis of explosives but with a bias towards anti-terrorist and forensic type work. A.F. CHARLES
sible, an important consideration in a book compiled by lawyers but consulted also by managers, safety officers, inspectors, academics, trades union officials and technologists, most of whom lack legal training. In this respect the Redgrave tradition has been admirably retained. Another welcome innovation is the inclusion in the General Introduction of previously scattered notes on the “construction of expressions of common occurrence throughout the legislation”. The interpretations of such terms as “reasonably practicable”, “due diligence”, “wilfully”, “properly maintained”, etc. etc., hallowed by case-law and still providing a living for many a lawyer, have been collected together for the first time. In keeping with the Robens spirit of self-regulation Codes of Practice have been included alongside relevant Regulations, and reference is made throughout the text to Guidance Notes issued by the Health and Safety executive, which, although having no legal standing, are in the long-run likely to save more lives than the strict letter of the law. A new section of the book deals with Fire Precautions which, in the form of the Fire Precautions Act 1971, replace the repealed fire precautions formerly contained in the Factories Act 1961. Apart from being indispensable to anyone in Britain charged with a responsibility for occupational health and safety, the volume gives the foreign student an invaluable insight into the unfamiliar derivation, scope and applicability of the law in relation to health and welfare in British factories. H.S. EISNER
The Analysis of Explosives, by J. Yinon and S. Zitrin, Pergamon Series in Analytical Chemistry, Vol. 3, Pergamon, Oxford-New York, 1981, 300 pp., $60/$25, ISBN o-08-023846-7 (soft cover $22.50/99.35, ISBN o-08-023845-9). The title of this book should really be “Trace Analysis of Explosives” because it is more concerned with the identification or detection of minor quantities of explosive substances. An analyst wishing to carry out assaytype analyses of explosives for, say, quality control purposes, would gain little help from this book. I found the print rather small and variable in thickness whilst many figures such as chemical formulae seemed to be copied directly from an untidy student’s notebook. The book appears to be more a list of references than a genuine text book. Only brief reference is made to a number of important analytical techniques which are in common use e.g. X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, whilst some other techniques are omitted e.g. ion chromatography and laser-Raman spectroscopy. The lack of detailed information on X-ray diffraction is particularly regrettable because this technique provides so much vital information on the precise crystallographic form of the explosive and is invaluable when analysing mixtures.
Most other analytical techniques are described, some in detail, others briefly but all are covered well by references. The sections of the book dealing with chromatographic techniques, spot-test chemical techniques, spectrophotometric techniques (UV, visible and IR) and mass spectroscopy are particularly comprehensive with numerous references. The section on detection of hidden explosives is also comprehensive as far as national security and official secrets acts allow but since most “sniffers” work on the principle of electron capture detection with some form of pre-detector concentrator, the section could have been reduced to a list of available equipment thus allowing more book-space to the more generally useful analytical techniques. In summary, the book is extremely useful as a reference to most techniques used in the chemical analysis of explosives but with a bias towards anti-terrorist and forensic type work. A.F. CHARLES