- Email: [email protected]
Sampling
292
iwoKilI%nws
suitable substitutes and related materials. Such a broad spread is to be commended, but also has its drawbacks. One wonders, for example, if a cosmetic scientist requires 80 pages of detail on glycerine manufacture. The book is well presented in 17 chapters written by a total of 13 authors. As may be expected with such a text, the style of writing varies and there are some minor overlaps of material. After the introductory chapters, there are two chapters giving very detailed analysis of manufacturing methods and phmts, especialty in the USA. There follows chapters dealing with the chemical reactions of glycerine, its phonic properties, analysis and safety. General&, these are comprehensive although it is surprising that no JR spectrum is inclwfed. Chapter 9 on economics may have sat more easily in the section on production. There follows 6 chapters dealing with aspects of the use and evaluation of glycerine in cosmetics. These are comprehensive, many taking the form of reviews of pubhshed work, although in chapter 13 the words ‘speculate’ and ‘surmise’ occur too frequently. The least successful chapter is the one dealing with monoglycerides where there are several mistakes, a tendency to repeat material and only 2 references post-19X3. The book concludes with two chapters dealing with a&natives to glycerine and its non-cosmetic uses. ~rou~ou~ the book is well referenced, enabling the interested reader to delve further into the subject The editors have done a commendable job in producing such a text whiih will be a valuable resource for cosmetic, and other, scientists. A. J. Stunpllag: G. E.
BAIU~ESCU, P.
DUM~~RIXXJ and P. GH. Zt.r~~vmcu,
WINFIELD
Ellis Horwood, Chichester, 1991. Pages 184.E45.50.
Short, snappy titles may be eye-catching but they are not necessarily informative and can even be misleading. This is such a case. The authors state quite clearly that they consider the word sampling to apply to all the procedures prior to the measurement step, that is to include sample collection, handling, storage and preparation for analysis. That is acceptable, but the authors then all but ignore that very operation which most people would consider as “sampling’‘-the taking of a sample. This is admitted in a one paragraph appendix which gives a few references where readers will find relevant information. Ar&ysts seeking guidance on how to collect particular samples or even how to undertake the analysis will not fmd it in this book. Indeed it is neither practical nor a reference book but more of a phi~o~ph~~l discussion on the importance of correct sampling in the overall scheme of analysis. Them are just five chapters with a few sub-divisions and as a consequence there are large blocks of unbroken text with few figures or tables. The philosophical approach means that there are no sub-divisions for types of analyis or instrumentation, or of an overall consideration of the requirements. Although one could not expect such a book to be comprehensive there are some surprising omissions, Spark source mass spectrometry appears in a list of eight techniques which the authors consider to be the only ones applicable to trace element analysis but there is no mention, here or elsewhere in the book, of other more modern techniques, for exampk TCP-mass spectrometry which is becoming widely used in multilement analysis. The tendency to simplicity can lead to misleading statements such as the “potted history of mass spectrometry” which appears in one sentence. There is no statistical treatment of the requirements for representative sampling. In summary, this is a disappointing book. That is not to say it is not worth reading. It is written in a very easy style and would be a useful bed-time book for all analytical chemists because the authors hammer home the importance of sampling within the whole analyticat scheme. There is a lot of background information, much of which will be in areas of study other than the reader% own. It will probably make the reader think about their own approach to carrying out analysis and it emphasises the importance of the role of the analyst. The authors repeatedly make the statement that ‘“no analysis is better than the sample itself”. If this comes across to the reader then the book is successful but the problem is that the process starts at the sample collection stage and if that is not done properly the test is meaningless. J. Teckaiqaes for ~~ of EIee&adea and ~ Wiley-~nte~en~, New York, f991, Pages xii + 780. E89.70.
m
]BXCaN
R. V~KM~ and J. R. SEL~+QLX (editors),
This volume collects together fifteen reviews, varying in size between 16 and 96 pages. The techniques covered are ellipsometry, photothermal deflection spectroscopy, surface x-ray absorption spectroscopy, surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy, neutron scattering, Mdssbauer spectroscopy and laser interFerometry as applied to electrode surfaces. Mounts in s&u are stressed whenever poasibfe. There are also two reviews on electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, two on modelling techniques~ two general surveys &ohd electrolytes and molten salts) and a short review on dit&action techniques for determining the structure of liquid electrolytes. To take the reader from fundamentals to applications in an average of some SOpages is a tall order and I generally found it heavy going in style and content. I found myself wishing for a mom elementary approach and an earlier appreciation of the relationship beween the electrochemical phenomena and the measured characteristic. Perhaps lack of space enforced a formal approach. As a whole, however, this volume has value as a substantial source-book for those interested in electrodes, but one would need more extensive texts before adopting these techniques. The electrochemistry is directed towards corrosion and electrode processes rather than analysis. Analytical interest, in a narrow sense, will thus tend to be in the applications of the techniques rather than the electrochemical results presented. The book will clearly have its uses in a farge electrochemical research laboratory, but probably not in many analyticai laboratories. I doubt if anybody who could use a library would think it necessary to have these reviews bound together.
iwoKilI%nws
suitable substitutes and related materials. Such a broad spread is to be commended, but also has its drawbacks. One wonders, for example, if a cosmetic scientist requires 80 pages of detail on glycerine manufacture. The book is well presented in 17 chapters written by a total of 13 authors. As may be expected with such a text, the style of writing varies and there are some minor overlaps of material. After the introductory chapters, there are two chapters giving very detailed analysis of manufacturing methods and phmts, especialty in the USA. There follows chapters dealing with the chemical reactions of glycerine, its phonic properties, analysis and safety. General&, these are comprehensive although it is surprising that no JR spectrum is inclwfed. Chapter 9 on economics may have sat more easily in the section on production. There follows 6 chapters dealing with aspects of the use and evaluation of glycerine in cosmetics. These are comprehensive, many taking the form of reviews of pubhshed work, although in chapter 13 the words ‘speculate’ and ‘surmise’ occur too frequently. The least successful chapter is the one dealing with monoglycerides where there are several mistakes, a tendency to repeat material and only 2 references post-19X3. The book concludes with two chapters dealing with a&natives to glycerine and its non-cosmetic uses. ~rou~ou~ the book is well referenced, enabling the interested reader to delve further into the subject The editors have done a commendable job in producing such a text whiih will be a valuable resource for cosmetic, and other, scientists. A. J. Stunpllag: G. E.
BAIU~ESCU, P.
DUM~~RIXXJ and P. GH. Zt.r~~vmcu,
WINFIELD
Ellis Horwood, Chichester, 1991. Pages 184.E45.50.
Short, snappy titles may be eye-catching but they are not necessarily informative and can even be misleading. This is such a case. The authors state quite clearly that they consider the word sampling to apply to all the procedures prior to the measurement step, that is to include sample collection, handling, storage and preparation for analysis. That is acceptable, but the authors then all but ignore that very operation which most people would consider as “sampling’‘-the taking of a sample. This is admitted in a one paragraph appendix which gives a few references where readers will find relevant information. Ar&ysts seeking guidance on how to collect particular samples or even how to undertake the analysis will not fmd it in this book. Indeed it is neither practical nor a reference book but more of a phi~o~ph~~l discussion on the importance of correct sampling in the overall scheme of analysis. Them are just five chapters with a few sub-divisions and as a consequence there are large blocks of unbroken text with few figures or tables. The philosophical approach means that there are no sub-divisions for types of analyis or instrumentation, or of an overall consideration of the requirements. Although one could not expect such a book to be comprehensive there are some surprising omissions, Spark source mass spectrometry appears in a list of eight techniques which the authors consider to be the only ones applicable to trace element analysis but there is no mention, here or elsewhere in the book, of other more modern techniques, for exampk TCP-mass spectrometry which is becoming widely used in multilement analysis. The tendency to simplicity can lead to misleading statements such as the “potted history of mass spectrometry” which appears in one sentence. There is no statistical treatment of the requirements for representative sampling. In summary, this is a disappointing book. That is not to say it is not worth reading. It is written in a very easy style and would be a useful bed-time book for all analytical chemists because the authors hammer home the importance of sampling within the whole analyticat scheme. There is a lot of background information, much of which will be in areas of study other than the reader% own. It will probably make the reader think about their own approach to carrying out analysis and it emphasises the importance of the role of the analyst. The authors repeatedly make the statement that ‘“no analysis is better than the sample itself”. If this comes across to the reader then the book is successful but the problem is that the process starts at the sample collection stage and if that is not done properly the test is meaningless. J. Teckaiqaes for ~~ of EIee&adea and ~ Wiley-~nte~en~, New York, f991, Pages xii + 780. E89.70.
m
]BXCaN
R. V~KM~ and J. R. SEL~+QLX (editors),
This volume collects together fifteen reviews, varying in size between 16 and 96 pages. The techniques covered are ellipsometry, photothermal deflection spectroscopy, surface x-ray absorption spectroscopy, surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy, neutron scattering, Mdssbauer spectroscopy and laser interFerometry as applied to electrode surfaces. Mounts in s&u are stressed whenever poasibfe. There are also two reviews on electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, two on modelling techniques~ two general surveys &ohd electrolytes and molten salts) and a short review on dit&action techniques for determining the structure of liquid electrolytes. To take the reader from fundamentals to applications in an average of some SOpages is a tall order and I generally found it heavy going in style and content. I found myself wishing for a mom elementary approach and an earlier appreciation of the relationship beween the electrochemical phenomena and the measured characteristic. Perhaps lack of space enforced a formal approach. As a whole, however, this volume has value as a substantial source-book for those interested in electrodes, but one would need more extensive texts before adopting these techniques. The electrochemistry is directed towards corrosion and electrode processes rather than analysis. Analytical interest, in a narrow sense, will thus tend to be in the applications of the techniques rather than the electrochemical results presented. The book will clearly have its uses in a farge electrochemical research laboratory, but probably not in many analyticai laboratories. I doubt if anybody who could use a library would think it necessary to have these reviews bound together.