[Book Reviews]

Abstract

DR. LE FEVRE has written a very lucid and useful little book that amply covers the subject-matter, as outlined by the title. The theory in Chapter 1 is clear and fairly simply presented, except perhaps in Debye‘s derivation of orientation polarization (leading to the Langevin function), where the mathematics is abbreviated and the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution is used but not quoted as such ; however, this compression may be intentional in such a slim, volume. Chapter 2 gives all the necessary information required for the measurement of dielectric constants by a variety of methods and the calculation of results : the main criticism that might be offered here is that some of the instructions are too detailed ; for example, in quoting the valve numbers of the author‘s electronic apparatus. Chapters 3, 5 and 6 on solvent effects, intra-molecular rotations and anomalous dipole moments respectively are all very comprehensive, but to the more general chemist the most interesting section of the book is Chapter 4. In this part a wide survey is made of the application of dipole moments to the solution of structural problems, and a large number of actual examples and papers are quoted and discussed.

Dipole Moments

Their Measurement and Application in Chemistry. By Prof. R. J. W. Le Fèvre. (Methuen‘s Monographs on Physical Subjects.) Second edition, revised and reset. Pp. v+118. (London : Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1948.) 5s. net.