The Properties of Silica

Abstract

IT is unusual to write a whole volume about a single oxide of one of the elements; but if any oxide deserves this place of honour, it is certainly silica, since no other compound possesses such an array of interesting physical properties, even if we leave out of account all its chemical reactions. A precedent for monographs of this type has been set by Le Chatelier's books on “Le Carbone” and “La Silice,” and it is not a mere coincidence that the doyen of French chemistry should have selected silica as the subject of his second series of published lectures. Le Chatelier's book, however, is of quite a different character, since it preserves the narrative form of the lectures, and tells a simple story in simple words. Dr. Sosman's book, on the other hand, is essentially a reference-book, in which all the information about the physical properties of the various forms of silica is catalogued and reviewed.

The Properties of Silica: an Introduction to the Properties of Substances in the Solid Non-conducting State.

By Dr. Robert B. Sosman. (American Chemical Society Monograph Series, No. 37.) Pp. 856. (New York: The Chemical Catalog Co., Inc., 1927.) 12.50 dollars net.