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T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING C H E M I S T R Y
Bureau of Physicochemical Standards, with headquarters a t Brussels. Pure Products for Research, in England. Review Service on Industrial and Technological Products, a t Paris. 2-The national committee of each country affiliated with the Union is invited to appoint from its members a correspondent for each of the three sections, through whom they may consider officially all questions which may rise. 3-To permit as rapid as possible a realization of the objects of the Bureau of Physicochemical Standards, the Conference requests the Council of the Union to provide for t h e Bureau a n annual income of ten thousand .francs.
The report presented by Mr. Swarts, for the committee on the establishment of a thermochemical standard, was as follows: The committee resolves t h a t the scientists who publish thermochemical work shall indicate the substance which has served as the calorimetric standard, The committee believes t h a t methods of determining the heat of combustion of a substance chosen as standard should be discussed in a n independent report.
No decision was reached in the matter of international patent. The committee was reappointed until the next meeting. The order of the day involved three questions in applied chemistry. The report of the committee on industrial hygiene, presented by Mr. Carelli, was as follows: T h e committee, composed of Mr. Caseneuve, puesident, and Messrs. Biilmann, Bosshard, Miall, Pomilio, Schmitz, Treub, and Carelli, has obtained a lengthy report, written by Prof. Pietro Biginelli, Chemical Inspector General of t h e Department of Public Health of Rome, and Prof. Giovani Loriga, Medical Inspector General of Industry and Labor. After examining this report, which surveys the chemical industries from the point of view of general hygiene, the committee has decided t o modify its name, It believes i t wise t o consider “the chemical industry in its relation t o public hygiene,” and not t o limit its study t o industrial hygiene. T h e Italian investigators, pointing out the ends proposed by legislations as t o industrial hygiene, set forth very clearly the special position of t h e chemical industry as compared with other industries. The chemical industries are concerned with t h e hygiene of their surroundings as well as of their workers. The report enumerates the dangers which can be oc-. casioned by the chemical industries, and points out that t h e solution of these problems is expressed largely by general formulas. T h e committee recognizes, with its Italian confreres, t h a t in the chemical industries hygiene demands a supervision of a technical character, involving on the one hand the skill of the engineer, and on the other the special training of the chemist. The task of the medica1 hygienist, on the other hand, is well defined and has become considerable. The committee, while agreeing t o the general conclusions of the report, believe t h a t the following supplementary conclusions may be added: The committee fonsiders that there should be given, by means of courses of instruction in the higher schools, t o physicians as well as t o chemists and engineers, the instruction necessary t o a proper appreciation of the questions of hygiene belonging t o industry in general, and to the chemical industry in particular. Finally, your committee, in common with the Italian investigators, believe t h a t an organization for information as t o all t h a t is being done and all that should be done in industrial hygiene would be very useful in mnking popular the means of protection in the interests of the workers as well’ as in t h a t of the neighborhood of the factory. The committee believes t h a t , t o accomplish this end as soon and with as little expense as possible, they could make use of the Revue internationale d’hygilne publique, founded by the league of Red Cross Societies a t Geneva in 1920. This Revue provides original articles and also a critical review of the hygienic movement in all Beside the articles which bear on epidemiology there are its branches. others which deal with industrial hygiene, and which are concerned with protective prevention or with the hygienic supervision of industrial surroundings. This Revue might, by means of a subsidy, t h e amount of which should be determined and subscribed by t h e nations interested, he published more frequently, as a monthly rather than a bimonthly. It would t h u s become an international organ for all civilized nations, and could review the special publications of each chemical industry, thus bringing their work to popular attention. The committee would like the Bureau t o get into communication with the directors of the Revue a t Geneva t o formulate and solve all questions of t h e financing necessary for the realization of the project.
The principle of the creation of national and international laboratories for the study of ceramic products and fuels was decided on the proposal submitted by Mr. Pictet: The preparatory committee in charge of t h e preliminary work relative to the establishment of national and international laboratories for the study of ceramic products and fuels is unanimously of the opinion t h a t a national laboratory should be established in every country of t h e U.nion for the study of fuels. The work of these laboratories would naturally cover all questions connected with fuels, their nature, composition, transformations, and utilization.
Vol. 13, No. 8
T h e committee is equally unanimous in approving t h e creation of re-. search laboratories for ceramic products. But, on account of the frequent connection of fuel problems with those of the industrial furnace, i t would seem possible and desirable t o study the questions relative to ceramics or refractory products as a special section of t h e fuel laboratories. This would avoid t h e probably insurmountable financial difficulties which would arise if t h e attempt were made t o establish distinct research laboratories for refractory products.
A permanent committee was appointed, consisting of Messrs. Bone, Bordas, Etienne, Evans, Huybrechts. Kling, Lecrenier, Levi, Peny, Pictet, van Hutten, and Schmitz. Finally, the report OF Mr. Charles Marie on the tables of constants was adopted, and its author was warmly congratulated for the zeal which he displayed in bringing about the publication of this valuable document. The Conference chose France as the meeting place for the Third International Conference of Pure and Applied Chemistry. As is evident, the work of the Conference a t Brussels was most profitable, and the results obtained were of extreme importance. The task of the delegates was greatly facilitated by the excellent organization of the Conference, in charge of Mr. Dony-Henault. The Belgian government and manufacturers had combined in the welcome, charming the delegates with visits and most cordial receptions. Mr. Jules Destree invited them to the Ministry of Arts and Sciences, where Mme. Destrke graciously extended to them the honors of her home. Mr. Solvay, whose solicitude for the chemists was lacking in no particular, had arranged a visit to his estate a t Hulpe. Mr. Baudouin also entertained the delegates a t the refinery at Tirlemont and a t his estate at La Meck. Finally, the Belgian National Chemical Council gave a banquet, a t which the president of the Union and Sir William Pope, in the name of the various delegations, thanked our Belgian friends for the charming reception which all had received at Brussels a t this second conference.
Chemical Control Committee, Xational Fertilizer Association The report of the Chemical Control Committee, presented a t the recent meeting of the National Fertilizer Association, contained the following paragraphs : The consensus of opinion expressed a t the A. 0. A. C. meeting indicates that borax is a trouble of the past. Only a few samples of fertilizer have been reported over the borax tolerance. No detrimental residual effects were observed in 1920 on fields badly damaged by borax in 1919. Methods for borax determination are now standardized and no further trouble from this source should ever develop. Further analytical ,cooperative work is being done under direction of the referee in order to prove definitely the reliability of the methods. Inasmuch as the du Pont nitrometer is only applicable t o inorganic nitrates and mixed acid and only approximate results are obtained, the referee recommended that work on this method be dropped. This was approved. It was further recommended and approved that the DeVarda alloy method for nitric and nitrous acid fertilizers be studied. Further study of the neutral ammonium citrate solution was recommended and approved. The fact that the official method discriminates in the determination of phosphoric acid available in high-grade precipitated phosphates was developed by the referee and recommendations for further study were approved. Great publicity has been given in the newspapers and technical journals to the pyrolytic method for volatilizaton of phosphoric acid from phosphate rock, as worked out by scientists of the Bureau of Soils a t the Arlington Experimental Station. Whether or not this process is commercially practical for t h e fertilizer industry is yet to be demonstrated. According to recent reports from Germany, Dr. Nathan Van Stone, a Chicago chemist, has been sentenced to four months’ imprisonment by the criminal court a t Frankfort. Dr. Van Stone was arrested on a charge of attempting to bribe a chemist of the Badische Aniline and Soda factory a t Ludwigshafen i n t e betraying factory secrets.
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