1330 Book reviews / Talanta 44 (1997)
A Manual for the Chemical Analysis o f Metals, by
T.R. Dulski, ASTM, West Conshohocken, PA,
1996, x i v + 251 pp., US$89. ISBN 0-8031-2066-4.
This book is a comprehensive laboratory man-
ual that deserves to become a best-seller in the
metal analysis community. The book is a treasure
trove of information, providing extensive and up-
to-date references on all aspects of the analytical
process. Furthermore, the author is a gifted writer
and as evidence of this I confess to packing the
book for my summer vacation. The book is di-
vided into 5 sections that progress from Materials
(laboratory design, equipment and reagents) to
Samples (sampling, sample preparation and disso-
lution in acids) and thence to Separations fol-
lowed by Measurement (gravimetry, titrimetry,
absorption/emission spectroscopy etc.) and,
finally, a section on Quality (reference materials,
calibration, validation, statistics, good laboratory/
administration practices and personnel). The
book concludes with a series of Appendices that
provide at-a-glance information on the chemical
behaviour of analytes and strategies for their
analysis.
It is the width of subject material and the depth
to which it is treated that makes this book so
valuable and unique. In addition to this the book
is ruggedly b o u n d - - a n important consideration
for a laboratory manual. Finally, the really good
news for cash strapped laboratories is that all this
can be yours for a mere $89.
B.A. McGaw
PH S0039-9140(96)02147-9
EqCaL for Windows, by L. Lackman, Biosoft,
1996. £125.00.
The package supplied includes a well presented
manual which accompanies the disk containing
the program which is for use with Windows 3.1 or
later versions. The terminology used, both in the
manual and the disk, for accessing and using the
program should present no problems to those
who are familiar, with Windows 3.1. To operate
the system the user will need a 386SX or higher
processor with a minimum of 4 Mb of memory
and 1 Mb of free disk space. Installation proved
very straight forward. The system is well designed
and does take the tedium out of the cumbersome,
time consuming calculations required for deter-
mining the equilibrium concentrations of the indi-
vidual components in, for example, buffer
solutions, chelation or binding interactions and
other complex multiple equilibria reactions. To
use this program the user must have prior knowl-
edge of both the equilibrium constant and the
balanced chemical equation for each of the reac-
tions involving the components of the solution
from which all the species present at equilibrium
are formed. It will not cope with the ionic
strength effects on the equilibria of the addition of
ionic components not taking part in the equi-
libria.
The readily understandable manual clearly ex-
plains both the conventions using the EqCal pro-
gram and how to use EqCal. The instant 'user
friendly' Help facility in the program supplies the
operational answers to any difficulties the user
may have with the program.
Data input is comparatively straight forward.
The sample session included in the manual is a
particularly good guide to the on screen informa-
tion and data/calculation handling facilities. It
would have been helpful to have included in the
manual a typical screen output for the equilibrium
and total concentration calculations for the com-
ponents present. On screen editing of the data and
equations, and the storage and retrieval of the
final templates and calculated values is easily
done. The final results can be customised using
display fonts and then printed out. The on screen
data can also be easily copied into the clipboard
for future pasting into a spreadsheet or wordpro-
cessor.
A high quality presentation which does exactly
what it claims to do.
R.R. Moody
PH S0039-9140(96)02148-0