C/inica/Materials 1986; 1 : 309

Book review

Ash M and Ash I editors 1986: The thesaurus of chemical products. Volumes 1 and 2. London: Edward Arnold. 364 + 380 pp. s

This two volume set totalling around 750 pages claims to provide over 50,000 national and inter- national tradenames. It is certainly comprehensive, but appears to be made for the American market. Both volumes are of obvious use to anyone con-

cerned with chemistry, but would find only limited usage elsewhere.

There are several drawbacks: one is the price which at s seems rather expensive for the general user. There are also numerous examples of generic names which are as meaningless as some of the tradenames that they are supposed to interpret.

Reviewed by R Smith, Department of Materials, Queen Mary College London