Bebie Jules. Manual of Explosives, Military Pyrotechnics and Chemical Warfare Agents

New York: The Macmillan Company, 1943. — 171 p.It is the chief aim of this book to be of service to scientific and technical workers in the field of explosives and war chemicals and to students who are beginning to specialize in these subjects. In preparing for Engineers’ Defense Training Courses in “The Chemistry of Powders and Explosives,” the author recognized the need for a hook of this sort. The nomenclature in the field of explosives and war chemicals is perplexing. Most of the chief explosives are known under many different names and designations, including the correct chemical name, chemical synonyms, American and foreign trade names, and warfare symbols. In literature on the subject sometimes one term is used, and sometimes another. Unless one knows the meaning of all of the terms, it is often necessary to make a search for information; and this, in the literature on explosives, is a time-consuming procedure. For instance, in a technical article on detonators, a chemist may find a reference to Dinol. He knows this is a trade name; and if he does not know the chemical composition of the product and wishes to find it out, he has to know its correct chemical name. He may spend quite a bit of time before he establishes the fact that Dinol is the commercial term for dinitrodiazophenol. Or, in a scientific journal, a chemist may see a reference to the exceptionally high rate of detonation of cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine. If he wishes to know if this product is made and used under some trade name, how much time will he spend before he finds out that it is “Cyclonite” for which he has been looking?