IiVD USTRIAL -4h-D ESGINEERI1Z;G CHEMISTRY
July, 1927
Hazard from Mercury Fumes Editor of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry: Recent references to mercury poisoning have been made in JOURSAL. The writer cannot speak for the effects of mercury poisoning on an individual, but opportunity is taken to point out a positive hazard from mercury fumes in a rather common laboratory tool. On November 14, 1926, in the writer’s laboratory, the quartz tube of an ultra-violet ray lamp exploded with a loud report, shattering the tube and filling the laboratory with dangerous vapors and causing nearby inflammable materials to be ignited. FREDJ MECHLIS SHREVEPORT, LA. THIS
June 3, 1927
Zinc in Cosmetics Editor of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry: I have just noticed in your June issue a quotation from the article entitled “Harmful Drugs in Cosmetics,” which appeared in the May 20 issue of the Gnited States Daily. Since this article was printed the Public Health Service has had some correspondence with the New Jersey Zinc Company, and has also had occasion t o look up all available references to zinc preparations as used in cosmetics a t the present time. The statements made in the article which you quoted are based upon experimental work done a number of years ago. A t that time the poisonous effects attributed t o zinc compounds were not known to be due to impurities, such as lead and arsenic, then
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frequently contained in zinc preparations. Recent research literature on the subject of zinc preparations gives insufficient evidence on which to ascribe serious harmful effects to the use of cosmetics made from pure zinc compounds alone. This statement is made from a desire to be fair to those engaged in the commercial preparation of zinc compounds. By direction of the Surgeon General, C. C. PIERCE U. s. PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE WASHIXGTOX, D. C. Assistant Surgeon General June 14. 1927
Standard Iodine Solution Editor of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry: I am in receipt of an article entitled “Standard Iodine Solution-A Method for I t s Preparation,” by H. I,. Payne, reprinted from the Journal of Analytical and A p p l i e d Chemistry of September, 1892. This article contains substantially the same idea as that of my article published in the May number of THIS JOURNAL.
Before submitting the article I had searched the literature for several years back, since it seemed that the idea was a fairly obvious one which had somehow escaped attention. I found nothing and believed that the idea was original with me, but I did not search back for thirty-five years. Mr. Payne deserves the credit for originating the idea. FRED C. BOND COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES GOLDEN,COLO. May 16, 1927
BOOK REVIEWS The Scientific Principles of Petroleum Technology. BY LEO GURWITSCH,translated and revised by HAROLDMOORE. 470 pages. 13 diagrams and 8 plates. D. Van Nostrand Company, New York, 1927. Price, $8.00. This book, which was first published in 1913, has been favorably known in the German edition. It was thoroughly revised in 1924. The English translation, which appeared last year and of which the present edition is a reprint, contains material added by the translator. The rapidly growing interest of petroleum technologists in the chemistry and physics of their raw materials, processes, and products will be advanced by a study of this book. The author does not attempt to treat practical questions of petroleum technology, but limits himself to scientific principles. About one-half of the book is devoted to a consideration of crude petroleum and the rest to a review of the chemical and physical principles involved in the processes utilized in the manufacture of petroleum products. The literature on the subject appears to have been carefully examined and with nearly every statement is given the reference upon which it is based. What is known of the coniposition of the various types of petroleum is given and the reactions of the several classes of compounds which have been isolated from petroleum are described in some detail. Under physics are considered specific gravity, viscosity, surface tension and emulsions, and optical, electrical, and thermal properties. The section devoted to the treatment of the raw material includes divisions on various types of distillation, pyrogenic decomposition, heat economy in distillation, refining,, and the utilization of waste products. The products of the industry are adequately characterized and described. The author has succeeded in bringing together into a limited space a vast amount of valuable information in a well-ordered and clear treatment of his subject-there are no useless words. Even one who has devoted much time to the study of petroleum will find many facts new to him. The scientific investigator who is attracted to this field will find the book suggestive, point-
ing out important gaps in our knowledge. The careful reading of this book by a well-trained student of organic chemistry possessing scientific imagination would, no doubt, create a strong desire to enter the field of petroleum chemistry, in which so much has been done but in which many ripe fruits are ready for the picking. JAXES F. NORRIS Eminent Chemists of Our Time. BY BENJAMINHARROW. 2nd edition, enlarged. xx 471 pages. D. Van h-ostrand Company, h-ew k’ork, 1927. Price, $3.00.
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The first edition under this title, which appeared in 1920, dealt with the lives of eleven chemists-Perkin, IIendelbeff, Ramsay, Richards, van’t Hoff, *4rrhenius, Moissan, Curie, Victor lleyer, Remsen, and Emil Fischer. This edition is nearly twice the size of the first because of the addition of an account of the work of these same chemists. Of these eleven, only Arrhenius, Richards, and Curie are now living and Remsen has just died, but one finds in the present edition no additional material on their lives. Madam Curie’s trip to this country, the presentation to her of a gram of radium by American women, and her election to the French Academy are not mentioned. Her daughters, how delightful, remain thirteen and seventeen! ilside from this fact that the account is not exactly “of our time,” the lives are full of incidents and anecdotes, not found in “\Tho’s iVho,” which have both historical value and great interest for chemists. Naturally, many chemists now living figure in the stories that the author has assembled and any chemist who really loves his science will keenly enjoy reading the charming account of these great leaders. The second half of the book contains a historical sketch o f the development of the researches that have made these chemists eminent. To go through the original papers for this material required several years of work, but the author found it “exhilarating.” The reader may miss the excitement of the chase, but if stimulated by this book, as he should be, he can follow up some of the numerous references given in the bibliographies a t
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I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING C H E M I S T R Y
the close of each chapter, and easily perceive plenty of unsolved problems springing from those already studied. So manifold were the activities, the author did not have space to follow his characters into every field, and many researches are barely mentioned. Anyone who could pass an examination on this book would have a good education in chemistry, for the writer includes many well-known texts in his references. The book is well bound. The only errors noted were in a few names. Radon should probably now be substituted for niton. ROGERC. WELLS
Vol. 19, No. 7
lator’s preface, and again later in the work, the claim that the discovery and investigation of accelerators originated with the chemists of Bayer & Company. Those of us who have been intimately associated with the development and use of accelerators from 1906 know that the tremendous growth in their use in this country in no way owes its origin to the HoffmanGottlob patents. On the contrary, if the truth were really known about accelerator work in Germany, i t would perhaps be found that the work of Bayer & Company was begun because of factory practice seen here by visitors from Germany during the years 1906-12, and that the real stimulus to German chemists came from the American factories. And when likewise the Fertilizers, Their Sources, Manufacture, and Uses. BY HER- translator mentions but one paper, and that by an Englishman, excellent though it was, from the recent meeting of the AMERICAN BERT CAVE. 116 pages. Illustrated. Sir Isaac Pitman & CHEMICAL SOCIETY in Philadelphia, one cannot resist the conSons, Ltd., London and New York, 1927. Price, $1.00. clusion that the work has been written and translated purely Recalling the many books, periodicals, bulletins, and journal from the German and English viewpoints, and that it will not articles devoted to this subject, one would scarcely expect that appeal,to the American reader. WILLIAMC. GEER in so small a volume a serious effort would be made to cover the subjects assigned by the title. Accordingly the reader, ex- Reports of the Progress of Applied Chemistry. Vol. XI--1926. pecting little, is surprised to find so much that is good-so many Issued by the Society of Chemical Industry, London, 19217. of the essentials presented in an attractive manner. 724 pages. Price, 17 s. 6 d. to members; 12 s. 6 d. to nonI n the words of the author’s preface, “The books that have been written about fertilizers heretofore have been addressed members, post free. mainly t o the farmer, the agricultural scientist, or the fertilizer This annual publication, for the information of those not famanufacturer. So far as the writer is aware, no inexpensive book on this subject, designed to appeal to the general and com- miliar with it, is a compilation of the abstracts, classified and briefly summarized, that were published in the Society’s journal, mercial reader, has yet appeared.” Chemistry and Industry, in the current year. The work is done Having chosen a non-critical audience, the writer proceeds with his presentation in a non-critical manner. His description by a corps of specialists, each of whom contributes in addition a rCsum6 of the economic progress and the new developments in of the ingredients of fertilizers, their sources, and the technology of their fabrication will interest the commercial reader. The his field. Subject and author indexes make the contents readily romance of modern chemistry is suggested by a brief discussion available, while footnote references serve as a guide to the of the nitrogen fixation industries and production resulting there- original papers. During the years that this volume has been published it has from. But his presentation of fertilizer uses, while in line with elementary textbooks on the subject, adds little value to the made such a place for itself as a reference book for both academic and industrial use that comment on its value is almost superfluvolume, since age-old misconceptions, controversial subjects, ous. Each year brings an addition t o its size; the issue for 1926 and even sales propaganda are intermixed somewhat indiscrimilists more than three thousand authors. Unquestionably, it is nately with authenticated scientific fact. one of the best and most convenient aids to the busy technical The book is written from the point of view of British practice, but since fertilizers and the science of fertilization are inter- man in helping him keep up with the times. H. L. OLIN national this fact does not detract from its value. To the reader who has little knowledge concerning fertilizers, Contemporary Developments in Chemistry. Lectures delivered but would learn the elements with the minimum expenditure a t Columbia University in the special course in chemistry of time, funds, and distraction, this book is commended. given in the summer session of 1926 on the occasion of the J. W TURRENTINE opening of the Chandler Chemical Laboratories. 464 pages. Columbia University Press, New York, 1927. Price, $11.00. Gofflob’s Technology of Rubber. Authorized English edition, Chemists will be gratified to know that this series of lectures translated and revised from the German edition of 1925 by is now available in book form. It is obviously out of the quesJOSEPH I,. ROSENBAUM.350 pages. Maclaren & Sons, Ltd., tion t o review adequately in any reasonable space a series by so many authors, and we offer therefore for the information of London, 1927. Price, 42 s. our readers merely the fact that the volume includes chapters The introduction describes the chemistry of the pure natural and authors as indicated below. I n many cases a list of reading rubber hydrocarbon. Following this is a general discussion references or bibliography is included with the paper. of the technology of rubber, and a second part contains some essentials regarding methods of manufacture of various hot- Synthetic Organic Chemistry in the Study of Odorous Compounds, by Marston T. Bogert. vulcanized rubber goods, written with the assistance of several Chemical Reactivity, by James F. Norris. technologists. Chemical Relationships of Sugars, Optically Active Amino Acids, Hydroxy The translation is excellent. The book is easy to read, being Acids, and Halogen Acids, by Phoebus A. Levene. of large size and printed on high-quality paper in good type. Reversible Oxidation-Reduction Reactions in Organic Systems, by W. The scientific phases of rubber are clearly expressed and most Mansfield Clark. theories are mentioned. Crystal Structure in I t s Relation to Chemical Problems, by Ralph W. G. Some of the chapters, however, are not so strong as they Wyckoff. should be. The descriptions of factory practice are far from Catalysis and the Mechanism of Chemical Reactions, by Hugh S. Taylor. modern, even with respect to German methods. These parts were evidently not thoroughly rewritten. Such operations as Carbohydrates, by Sir James Colquboun Irvine. Oxidative Catalysis in the Body, by Edward C. Kendall. the manufacture of proofed cloth, hard rubber, cut sheet, and Immunology as a Branch of Chemistry, by H. Gideon Wells. dipped goods are described in some detail. In a few isolated cases, such as internal mixing machines, attempts have been Rare Gases of the Atmosphere, by Richard B. Moore. Synthetic Organic Chemistry, by E. Emmet Reid. made to introduce brief descriptions of modern practice. Permeability and Electric Phenomena in Membranes, by Leonor Michaelis. Although the author states that the book is written for three types of readers-for the scientifically educated technologist, for Radicals as Chemical Individuals, by Charles A. Kraus. The Influence of Pressure upon Chemical Transformations, by Ernst Cohen. the man in the industry who desires the scientific foundations, and again for the consumers and dealers-so ambitious an A Development in the Chemistry of Sanitation, b y John Arthur Wilson. objective has scarcely been realized. The body of the book is The Direct Measurement of Osmotic Pressure, by J. C. W. Frazer. old and the discussion of modem conceptions seems to have Chemistry of Bacteria, by Treat B. Johnson. Contact Catalysis, by Wilder D. Bancroft. , been an afterthought. One frequently finds contradictions Water-Soluble Vitamins, by Elmer 1’. McCollum. and statements which indicate a lack of acquaintance with modem practice. Then again it is written from the German Quantitative Research in the Chemistry of Nutrition, by Henry C. Sherman. Theory of Velocity of Ionic Reactions, by J. N. Bronsted. point of view, and although reference is sometimes made to Physico-Chemical Principles in Electro-Metallurgical Research, by Colin G. the results of research from other countries, and occasionally Fink. to technical practice in the United States, these references seem to be minimized and credit for achievement given almost ex- Reactions in Liquid Ammonia, by E. C. Franklin. Agricultural Chemistry, by Charles A. Browne. clusively t o the Germans. It is, for instance, somewhat amusing t o find in the trans- Completing the Periodic Table, by B. S. Hopkins.
July, 1927
I S D U S T R I A L A S D EAVG12VEERINGCHEMISTRY
Technical Methods of Analysis as Employed in the Laboratories of Arthur D. Little, Inc., Cambridge, Mass. Edited by ROGER CASTLE GRIFFIX. 2nd edition. 936 pages. McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York, 1927. Price, $7.50. The second edition of this book, like its predecessor, which was issued in 1921, represents a well-arranged manual for general commercial laboratory procedure and technical analysis. I t should also prove of value to the analyst who occasionally requires data and information for a specific investigation in this realm. The text is excellently arranged in a series of twelve chapters, opening with general instructions relative to the preparation of the reagents required for conducting the various laboratory methods outlined in the book, and closing with a chapter on some typical miscellaneous analyses often sought. Throughout the text there appears an abundance of references to standard individual authorities on many subjects, as well as citations from associations and societies specializing and representing various fields of particular endeavor. There are also copious quotations from government bureaus. One also finds an abundant supply of useful analytical reference tables throughout the work. The outstanding chapters are those on Analysis of Oils, Fats, Waxes, and Soaps; Wood, Paper, and Paper-Making Chemicals ; and Analysis of Foods. The chapter on the Analysis of Textiles and Textile Fibers seems weak and somewhat short. Many of the subjects covered under Miscellaneous Analyses are treated all too briefly. Such fields as leather, coal-tar roofing pitch, and bituminous and asphaltic road binders come under this category. The book closes with an excellent bibliography. To meet all the requirements and demands of the profession in a volume of this scope is unquestionably an impossibility. We have in this book an excellent digest of the more generally wanted ‘methods of procedure and the result is a useful referencelwork that should find a valuable place in any laboratory or library where technical methods of analysis are being used. IRVING HOCHSTADTER Tungsten. A Treatise on Its Metallurgy, Properties and Applications. BY COLIN J. SMITHELLS. 167 pages. D. Van Nostrand Company, New York, 1927. Price, $6 00. This volume, by a member of the research staff of the General Electric Company, Ltd. (British), presents in very readable and interesting form, also in considerable detail, the story of ductile tungsten. Brief chapters describe the treatment of ores for the extraction and purification of the oxide, the industrial applications of the metal other than the drawing of the wire, and chemical and physical methods for the determination of‘ impurities. The reduction of the oxide, the manufacture of the ductile metal, its metallography, and its properties occupy the ;attention in five of the ten very well written chapters which make up the volume. These five chapters, containing a wealth of material compressed very skilfully into 102 pages, will give the reader a complete idea of how the results of research in many fields have developed in the hands of experts the wonderful a r t of making the modern tungsten filament. The text is illustrated by numerous excellent microphotographs and reproductions of photographs of manufacturing apparatus used in the British plants. Many tables containing valuable data, graphs, and equilibrium diagrams are given. Extensive literature and patent citations are found a t the end of each chapter. The subject matter could very easily have been expanded into two or three times as many pages by a verbose writer, so that the author deserves to be congratulated by the busy reader for his conciseness and clearness. The volume will be a distinct addition to any collection of monographs on the metals. J O H N B. EKELEY Metallurgy. A General Treatise for the Use of Students in Engineering. 731, HENRYWYSOR. 3rd edition. 433 pages. The Chemical Publishing Co., Easton, Pa. Price, t%.OO. As an artist blocks in his outlines with broad strokes, so has the author wrought a skilful study, producing thereby a volume stimulating and instructive to laymen as well as to metallurgical students-one which provides a groundwork for superficial or detailed study. Beginning with the history of metals, he traces the progress of metallurgy from an art among the ancients, through its scientific development in the Middle Ages, when sharpster alchemists
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plied their tricks, to its present industrial perfection. With painstaking care he portrays for the reader the processes to which virgin ore is subjected from the time it leaves the mine mouth to the completion of the finished product. The smelter, refinery, laboratory, foundry, factory, etc., processes of each metal and its commoner alloys are clearly and convincingly treated, as well as the invention and development of specialized equipment that has made possible the progress of metallurgy. Altogether, this is a decidedly valuable contribution to the literature of metallurgy, clearly and convincingly set forth by an author who knows his subject, remarkably free from verbosity and digression, and well worth reading by either layman or scientist
w. h1. CORSE The Romance of Chemistry. BY WILLIAMFOSTER. 4G8 pp. The Century Company, New York, 1927. Price, 53.00. This popular discussion of chemistry was evidently intended to attract those who, though not technically trained, have become interested in the science through the more popular writings of other authors and who next seek a book less difficult than the average textbook and yet containing more of the actual science than the books they have previously read. The author has included much of historical interest, has not hesitated to employ scientific terms, and even formulas where they are helpful, and has not written down to the same non-technical level that most writers of popular science have done. The book might be described as bordering upon natural philosophy, and throughout it shows signs of the textbook method of treatment. A t places the author shows a tendency to be diverted from his main theme into the byways of the subjectbut what author does not? Some of the facts given are of academic interest only-as, for example, on page 118 where it is stated that “when an electric current is passed through a solution of hydrochloric acid equal volumes of hydrogen and chlorine are set free.” I n some places illustrations have apparently been placed without reference t o the text. The absence of definitions of unusual words and terms indicates that the appeal is made t o the intelligent, cultivated reader, or a t least one who does not hesitate to use a dictionary and who has one a t hand. An enormous number of topics are included in the 447 pages, t o which is added a list of reading references especially applicable t o each chapter. Proceedings of the International Conference on Biturninoiis Coal. New Developments in Utilization. Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh, Pa. 530 pages. Price, $7.00. The first International Conference on Bituminous Coal, held a t the Carnegie Institute of Technology during Xovember, 1925, was a notable event. It has been widely recognized in the technical press as one of the most helpful and constructive efforts which has been made by anyone in the advancement of the use of bituminous coal along efficient and economic lines. The printed proceedings of that conference are equally worthy of commendation. They record in detail all the technical papers and the informal discussion of the sectional sessions. Carnegie Institute again deserves the congratulations of those interested in fuels on the form in which they have issued these proceedings. The volume has been carefully prepared arid creditably printed. It will occupy an important place upon the fuel engineer’s book shelf for many years to come, especially because it includes in many instances papers which are the first comprehensive and authoritative statements of new coal-processing methods, presented in most instances by the inventors or de\-elopers of the processes themselves. R. S. ~ I C B R I D E Lehrbuch der Enzyme. B Y CARL OPPESHEIMER.George Thieme, Leipzig, 1927. In the review of this book which appeared in the April issue of THISJ O U R N A L the statement that “tliis is the fifth edition of a text first issued in 1900 under a different title” should read: “This is a textbook based on the fifth edition of ‘Die Fermente und Ihre LYirkungen,’ by the same author.”
Correction-The price of “Manufactured Gas. A Testbook of American Practice. 1-01. I-Production,” by Jerome J. Morgan, which was reviewed in the May issue of THISJOURVAC, is $7 50 and not S i 00 as given.
