AMERICAN CONTEMPORARIES Will iam Τ F ONE i s passing the Mississippi State Chemical Laboratory at midnight he should not be startled to hear a voice from a southwest window. At first he may think it i s a radio giving the midnight news. However, in a few moments he will hear the voice say, "paragraph". It is merely the voice of the character of this sketch putting a few letters on the cylinder, for it would be a crime to take the secretary's time dictating at eight the next morning. Long before World War I, Dr. Hand bought an automobile for him self and a dictaphone for the office. H e soon solved the simple mechanics of the former; s o he sold it. However, it was a man-sized job to keep the old dictaphone going; s o after wrestling with it for a third of a century, World War I I found him trading i t in for a new Ediphone. While some chemists may dream of sud den inspiration or of fortuitous scientific prescience, others realize that through years of continuous service they may ar rive at a goal which far surpasses the con clusions of any particular piece of work accomplished over a much shorter interval of time. That Dr. Hand has attained such a goal in the hearts of the people of Mississippi is shown by the fact that in May 1940, at an impressive ceremony, there was unveiled in the hall of the Mis sissippi State Chemical Laboratory a bronze tablet which reads, in part, as follows: MISSISSIPPI STATE COLLEGE CHEMICAL LABORATORY A Tribute T o DR. WILLIAM FLOWERS H A N D , SCIENTIST, Whose unselfish service, tireless energy, and devotion to the education of the youth of Mississippi, and whose distinguished activities as State Chemist, merit the naming of this building in his honor With the exception of brief periods of study under Dr. Mallet at the University of Virginia, and under Dr. Bogert at Columbia, Dr. Hand's entire life has been spent in the State of Mississippi, where he was born on December 1, 1873. In 1899, Mississippi State College made him professor of chemistry and state chemist (membership in the AMERICAN CHEMICAL
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Flowers Hand
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HARRIS A N D EW1NO
William Flowers H a n d
SOCIETY also dates from this year). H e has more than doubled the combined tenures of his four predecessors. Since 1916 he has been dean of the School of Science and in 1935 he became vice presi dent of the college. This long term of service proves beyond a doubt his love for and loyalty to the college, and we find this account interwoven with reference to the college and to his students. One might well say that the sun never sets o n Dr. Hand's students. They occupy positions all over the United States and its possessions. One of them devised a popu lar breakfast food, another has refined sugar in several countries, recently another took over a major oil company's largest refinery, and still another made a success in t h e field of television after serving his apprenticeship in Dr. Hand's tool room. Many have taken advanced work in large universities and all have been commended for their thorough background in organic chemistry and in chemical literature, taught by Dr. Hand. When Dr. Hand first came to Missis sippi State College as a student, there were only three books and no periodicals in the chemical library. Today it contains approximately 6,000 volumes and 50 journals, all carefully chosen. It serves as a substantial nucleus for Dr. Hand's goal, a new chemistry building equipped for chemical engineering, which he feels is essential for the South in bringing about the much needed balance of agriculture and industry.
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The present laboratory was designed and built under his direction, and has been the object of much favorable comment. The students say that the halls were laid with hexagonal tiles which represented benzene rings that would aid Dr. Hand in arriving at a more difficult aromatic struc ture to give them for memory. In this laboratory is a well-equipped tool room. Here Dr. Hand has put to good use his hobby, which is the design and building of apparatus. Many an afternoon after a hard day he turns on the motor to his lathe. Products of his "relaxation" are almost masterpieces. The needle valves for fat extractors are precisely turned and well-buffed brass outshines the polish of cherry and mahogany. And, speaking of cherry and mahogany, one must men tion the unique fat extractor which Dr. Hand built at a time when no extractors on the market gave almost complete re covery of ethyl ether. T h e extractor which he constructed meant drops of ether saved—representing not only an advance in scientific apparatus, but a saving of money which in turn meant more books or journals for the chemical library. This particular extractor was set in cherry wood which an old Englishman had hoarded for over a quarter of a century. He would not part with enough for all sec tions; so some were s e t in equally beauti ful mahogany. The beauty of the appa ratus did not interfere with its usefulness, for certain sections have been in daily use for over 20 years. Many other pieces of apparatus have re sulted from Dr. Hand's labors and a com pact battery distillation for petroleum was finished and in operation in his petroleum laboratory before there was one on the market. Mississippi is believed to be the second State to purchase an A. S. T. M.C. F . R. motor for the regulation of octane rating of gasoline, and now a cetane motor for fuel oils has been added. Dr. Hand has not chosen to patent or capitalize on any of his apparatus, using it instead for the service and prestige that it might offer his school and state. On his office mantle are two beautiful silver cups, each won three times before becoming permanent possessions. These were the result of analytical success on a series of check samples sponsored by the American
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Oil Chemists' Society. The apparatus used throughout the analyses was HAND built. When the society made the first award to him in 1927 and requested his photograph, he sent instead a picture of the laboratory. With all his success, he has never sent out one word of publicity for himself. Perhaps his mother, Florence Flowers Hand, who taught school until she wras well past 70, taught him that self-praise was half scandal, or his father, Albert Powe Hand, may have told him that the boys would find the path t o his laboratory if he built the right rat trap. Despite his deliberate efforts towards self-effacement, Dr. Hand's work and worth have been widely recognized. H e is listed in American Men of Science, Who's Who in American Education, Who's Who i n America, and on the rolls of many honorary societies. In 1941 the Georgia Section of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL S O
CIETY selected him as the recipient o f the Herty Medal. When he received the un expected telegram of award he was very much embarrassed, for he claimed to have "DO consciousness of such praiseworthy achievement". Although this rendezvous, with the pilgrimage to Milledgeville, was kept under a great physical handicap, the day had not ended until everyone felt that the spirit of Charles Herty still lived. The position of state chemist automati cally made him an active member o f the Association of Official Agricultural Chem ists, and he has served on many of i t s im portant committees, including an eightyear term on its journal editorial board. I n 1921 h e was its president. He has also been president of the Association of American Feed Control Officials, the Asso ciation of South Central States Food, Feed, Drug, and Health Officials, and the Southern Feed Control Officials. He aided in revising the inadequate fertilizer laws of Mississippi and in preparing the original feed, paint, and petroleum laws. I n his nearly half century as state chemist h e has personally done considerable toxicological work, compiling forensic data o n many a poison case, some of national note. Dr. Hand has not been immune t o the usual campus tales, so we hear of scrapes that he got in and out of while in college, and of his absent-mindedness and forgetfulness which equal those of the professor i n fiction. However, those who work with him report that he remembers everything about everyone. He keeps up o n the news of the day, too, and would easily stump the average person in a discussion of current events. Once in a while ne spends a n evening swapping yarns with the Sigma Alpha. Epsilons or attends a college social affair. It is said that in his younger days he used t o slip away from the formal dances, pull off his "tails", push u p his cuffs, and work a little more on his intrigu ing "quinazolines"—while the band played on. Dr. Hand's Chesterfield manner has be 1650
come an example that could easily be used as an additional course for t h e four years of a college boy's life, for he always maintains poise and equanimity through storm and tempest, before friend or foe, superior or subordinate. H e has always been a great lover of children and those of the Mississippi State College campus look forward t o his Christmas gift with the same confidence they look to a visit from Saint Nick himself. Unfortunately his only child, Wiley Nash Hand—a U . S. Naval Academy graduate in 1921— died in 1936. In 1940 Dr. Hand had a coronary throm bosis. The forced eight weeks' leave from the laboratory wras more painful than the cardiac pain itself. Although the physi cian recommended additional weeks off and shortened hours on return, he immedi ately punched the clock along with the other faculty and the Ediphone and the lathe were soon getting their nocturnal work out. Early 1943 will see a new feed and fertilizer mill emerge which removes the imperfections of a former one that w a s superior t o any stock mill for cutting and mixing samples. This brief account reflects only in a small way his real tenacity and his failure t o compromise with accomplishments which are not the best. It is not entirely luck that Mississippi State College stu dents hold their own with those from larger institutions. D r . H a n d once told an analyst who suggested that he did n o t have the time to check samples from all over the United States that, "We shall always find the time t o measure ourselves b y the other fellow's yardstick." I t is now realized that the unsaid portion of his sentence was—"and we'll see that our own measures with the best". M. P. ETHEREDGE
Department of Justice Charges Monopolistic Practices H P H E Department of Justice on Decem ber 9, 1942, filed a complaint in t h e United States District Court at Trenton, N . J., charging seven manufacturing companies, two trade associations, and a testing laboratory with monopolistic prac tices and restraint of trade in the fluores cent lighting industry. Named as defendants in the complaint were: General Electric Co., Interna tional General Electric Co., Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co., Corning Glass Works, Consolidated Electric Lamp Co., Claude Neon Lights, Inc., N . V. Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken, Reflector Lamp Manufacturers' Institute, FleurO-Lier Manufacturers, and Electrical Testing Laboratories.
C H E M I C A L
National Safety Council Officers Π Π Η Ε following members of executive committe, Chemical Section, National Safety Council, have been elected for 1942-43: General Chairman, Major R. C. Stratton, CWS, Office of the Chief of Ordnance, Safety & Security Branch, Chicago, 111. Vice Chairman in Charge of Program, James J. Duggan, Carbide & Carbon Chemicals Corp., South Charleston, W. Va. Secretary, H. F. Gilbert, American Cyanamid Co., New York, Ν . Υ. News Letter Committee, Allen L. Cobb (Chairman), E. F. King, W. C . Shaw. Engineering Committee, D . O . Mason (Chairman), E . G. Meiter, E . J. Sait. Data and Instruction Card Committee, R. S. Mackie (Chairman), R. C. Hamil ton, John W. Sawyer. Health Committee, S. W. Gumey (Chair man), Leonard Greenbuig, S. M. MacCutcheon, H . H. Schrenk. Membership Committee, C. E . Sevrens (Chairman), W. L. Hammersley, James H. Hayes. Poster Committee, M . R. Budd (Chair man) and P . C. Lamb. Statistics and Contest Committee, M . A. Snell (Chairman), E . J. Riederer. Advisory Committee, F. W. Dennis (Chair man), R. O. Keefer, R. L. Rogers, Jr., H. L. Miner, John Roach, John S. Shaw, A. L. Watson, S. E . Whiting.
Data Published on Selective Service TT>ECAUSE of the wide interest in -*-* this subject and the need for obtaining trained men for our Pro duction Army, we give below refer ences to information w e have pub lished on occupational deferments, including those of men in training, and the need for technically trained persons. Future developments will be brought to the attention of our readers. Chemical and Engineering News ( N E W S EDITION previous t o
1942)
Vol. 18 (1940), pages 890,1127 Vol. 19 (1941), pages 129, 311, 457, 459, 489, 520, 587, 681, 797, 1164, 1412, 1464 Vol. 2 0 (1942), pages 110, 157, 472, 579-80, 788, 812, 837-39, 985, 1099, 1100, 1219, 1294, 1392, 1514, and 1536. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Vol. 3 3 (1941), pages 1, 135, 283, 561 Vol. 3 4 (1942), pages 2 , 131, 259, 648, 1134
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