BOOK REVIEWS

M. E. RosE, Multipole fields ( John Wi ley & Sons, New York and C h a p m a n and Hall , L o n d o n 1955. viii-99 pages . [ 2).

This is not, un fo r t una t e l y , t he m u c h needed m o n o g r a p h on mul t ipo le fields and thei r appl icat ions , wh ich t he t i t le and t he d i s t ingu i shed a u t h o r ' s n a m e would lead one to expect . The a u t h o r ha s rendered a g rea t service to nuc lear s tud ies by devo t ing considerable effort and care to deve loping th i s sub jec t and i ts va r ious aspects ; i t c a n n o t be said t h a t he ha s devo ted m u c h care to t he compos i t ion of th i s book - - if, indeed, he ha s no t j u s t " c o m p o s e d " i t b y col lect ing s t r a y no tes f rom his d rawers and send ing t h e m s t r a i g h t to the pr in ter .

Ne i the r t he preface no t a careful r ead ing of t he book has m a d e i t clear to me e x a c t l y t he a u t h o r set ou t to do. There is nowhere a n y clear s t a t e m e n t of t he phys ica l p rob lems concerned or of t he m e t h o d s for sub j ec t i ng t h e m to m a t h e m a t i c a l analys is . I t seems t h a t t he a u t h o r w a n t e d to p re sen t e labora te ca lcula t ions of fields, in tensi t ies , m a t r i x e l emen t s and the like, pe r fo rmed by m e a n s of a un i fo rm tech- n ique; b u t he ha s no t a t t e m p t e d e i ther a n y exhaus t ive , s y s t e m a t i c d iscuss ion of th i s m a t h e m a t i c a l t echn ique . T he book therefore, is clearly of no use to t he s tuden t . As to those phys ic i s t s who a l ready know all a b o u t t he subject , t h e y will f ind in i t a c o m p e n d i u m of t h e bas ic def in i t ions and fo rmulae pe r t a in ing to mul t ipole fields, a s u m m a r y expos i t ion of the i r m a i n proper t ies and, filling t he l a t t e r ha l f of t he smal l vo lume , a de r iva t ion of the fo rmulae govern ing in te rna l convers ion and mul t ipole emiss ion .

The a u t h o r ' s mode of expos i t ion is no t felicitous; all too often, excess ive b rev i ty leads to obscur i ty , and no suff ic ient a t t e n t i o n is pa id to t he order in which t he pa r t s of an a r g u m e n t shou ld be p resen ted to m a k e thei r s ignif icance clear f rom the s tar t , w i t h o u t forcing t he reader to re t race his s t eps repea ted ly . The u n c o u t h "Physical Review dialect adop t ed b y t he a u t h o r does no t i mprove ma t t e r s . The t r e a t m e n t of in t e rna l convers ion and emission, in par t icular , is comple te ly t o p s y - t u r v y : the reader is c o n s t a n t l y referred to resu l t s which are going to be der ived in t he n e x t s t age of t he a r g u m e n t , un t i l he begins to wonde r w h e t h e r his own brain, or t he au tho r ' s , h a s u n d e r g o n e a t ime- invers ion .

Yet , t he re is p l en t y of good s tu f f in th i s small , b u t ex t r eme ly c o m p e t e n t t reat ise : m a n y nice po in t s are m a d e -- a b o u t pi t fal ls in t he choice of a special gauge for the po ten t i a l (sec. 26), t he essent ia l s of angu l a r correlat ion, a l i g n m e n t and o r ien ta t ion p rob lems (sec. 32), etc. -- wh ich are bo t h ine t res t ing and useful . I t is all t h e more a p i t y t h a t t h e y shou ld be p resen ted in such an u n i n v i t i n g fashion.

The l is t of references is p roud l y descr ibed as " c o m p l e t e " ; and, indeed, it s t a r t s p romis ing ly e n o u g h w i t h A b r a h a m (Max). But , believe it or not , t h e n a m e of Rub inowicz does no t occur in it.

The book is nea t l y pr in ted , a l t h o u g h the omiss ion of p u n c t u a t i o n m a r k s a f te r d i sp layed fo rmulae is a t ypograph ica l m a n n e r i s m which has no th ing to co /nmend it. The price is too high.

L. R.

G. P. HARNWELL and W. E. SXEP~ENS, Atomic physics: an atomic description o] physical phenomena (McGraw-Hil l Book Co, New York, Toronto , L o n d o n 1955. x-401 pages. 8, c~ 3).

Th i s t ex tbook , whose sub jec t is ou t s ide the scope of t he journal , can on ly be brief ly reviewed. Af ter two i n t r o d u c t o r y chap te r s (93 pages) , the re is an e labora te

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380 nOOK nEVIEWS

treatment of atomic and molecular spectroscopy in 3 chapters (186 pages), including the quantum theory of radiation and hyperfine structure. The last two chapters (108 pages) discuss the properties of mat ter in bulk, or more accurately the influence of the quantal features of the elementary processes on such properties. The book is thus meant as a complement to some more elementary exposition of the atomic theory of matter. The t reatment is theoretical, but with the emphasis on the physical rather than the mathematical features. There are numerous interesting problems and good references for further study at the end of each chapter.

L. R.

R. S. SHANELAND, Atomic and nuclear physics. (The MacMillan Company, New York 1955. xv-529 pages. 44 s.)

This textbook provides a sound general introduction to a vast subject. The material is set out in a clear and concise manner and by concentxating on essentials the author has succeeded in compressing a considerable amount of information within a book of manageable proportions. In addition, he has found space to describe recent important developments in such fields as the fine structure of the hydrogen spectrum lizLes and the production of the transuranic elements to quote but two examples. Where the t rea tment is more superficial as for example in the chapter on the solid state of matter, adequate references to the original papers on the subject are given. The book is well indexed and is supplemented by a comprehensive list of physical constants.

Cr. N. FOWLER