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Chemical Digest ABSTRACTS Why Not Save a School Year? (Editorial.) High Sck. Quart., 13, 6S-S (Jan., 1925).-The eighth grade of the grammar school is largely a year of lost motion. I t is unknown outside of America. The Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education has made a rather thorough investigation of secondary education in this this conclusion: "The eight years heretofore given country and in Europe. It -hes to elementary education have not as a rule, been effectively utilized.-We believe that much of the difficulty will be removed by a new type'pf secondary education beginning about 12 or 13." C. H. Judd, Ibid., July, 1914, says, ..Every indication wouldseem to point t o the conclusion that even seven years are more than adequate for elementary training in the proper sense of the term." He has since dropped the7th gradefrom his practice school. Wm. F. Russell, J. J. Tigert, I. I. Cammnck and the Editor of School Life are quoted with respect t o a reduction of primary-secondary education. The Querlrrly is not opposed to the Junior High School idea, but strongly advocates that the high school begin "about 12 or 13" believing that in the reorganization, in many cases, a year can be saved by organization an the 11 year basis. J. HOWARD G U ~ M Teaching-A New Science. E. BERG. Oregon Teach. Mo., 29, 21 (Dec., 1924).I n the opinion of Prof. J. F.Bursch "teaching will he a true science when schools of all degrees hecome life itself-not merely a preparation for life." Scientific measurements of individual ditferences and abilities must first become dective. Their use in education is increasing a t the rate of 500% per y~ Within 5 years every institution in the U. S. will use some system of scienbfic testmg. All school work should he motivated by a life motive. All knowledge which is worth while must meet some definite need in society. Practical tests which are time savers for both teacher and student and which can be applied t o all subjects from the grades through college may be classified under4 heads: (1) True and false statements. (2) Completion test. (3) Multiple choice. B. (4) Determination of general law t o fit the specific application. Complexities of the Industrial Chemist. (Perkin Medal Address.) H u ~ n KELSEAMOO?. Oil Paint 6' Drug Reporler, 107, 4, 20 (Jan. 26, 1925).-"The Industnal Chemats' controlling motive is t o translate potential benefits into actual benefits." I n many chemical industries engineers and not chemists are occupying the manager's chair. "What is the reason? May I say that the engineer is human while the chemist is n o t ? . ..The chemist works with inanimate matter: the engineer with both animate and inanimate. It thus happens that the chemist does not understand his fellowmen. While carrying out his projects, he has to come in contact with his fellowman, and in so doing receives jolt after jolt until he acquires the needed knowledge "I wish especially to warn the young chemist of the dangers attendant to the building of a mausoleum and enclosing himself therein. I have known many teachers t o become insuEerable egotists because of their exclusive daily contacts with minds in less developed stages than their own. They become highly incensed and intolerant when they find matured minds do not take them a t their own valuation.. .The hermit cbemist is barn to the people. hut he forsakes his kind for an artificial atmosphere of evil smells. He so loses his sense of the fitness of things as t o he unable to return to his original environment." I n addition to being able t o associate with people in a business way, the chemist should have an understanding of patents, a knowledge of husiness, labor, costs, machinery, 6re hazards, effect of process on public opinion, probability of discovery of superior processes, advertising, etc. The article'concludes with a D. C. LICETENWALNER description of the old type diaphragm cell. Wires Made Flameproof by Selenium Treatment. Scimce Sewice.-Fireproof insulation far telephone switchboard wires is made possible by a new use recently discovered here of selenium, an element whose chief use hitherto has been in apparatus involving the control of electric current by light. The flameproofingof switchboard wires is highly important, for even a small fire can undo many hours of work and throw a whale exchange out of commission. Fireproofing substances now in use are only partially successful. The peculiar thing about the use of selenium for this purpose is that the element itself can be burned. Only when i t is used on the cotton coveringLof the
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wires does i t take on fireproof qualities. But then the wire resists all ordinary flames. and even when ignited by the intense heat of a blowtorch goes out immediately when the outside removed. -~~~ ---- flame is -- ---~-. . Liquid Air Plant at the University of Kansas. H. P. C ~ Y &ad. . Mag. U.of Kansas, 23, 15-7 (Dec., 1924- The original liquid air plant, installed in 1903, was the second in the country in an educational institution and for many years was the only one in the middle west. With it, impbrtant investigations were carried out which were lardcly responsible for the present imlium industry in the C.S. It s3s also possible to show that "nnturnl g x rontains not only hclillm hut also argon, neon, ktypton, xmon 2 n d mdon. in b e t . the whole fiimilv of incn c:aws. A new olant h s iust hren instrllrd. in which a com~r&sorruns the ai; pressureio more than 3000 lbs. & sa. in. A ~ u r i : fying train removes carbon dioxide and water. The air is precooied bf an ammonia refrigeration system before going to the liquefier proper. The capacity is 5 liters of liouid n u hr.several times the rated c a ~ a c i t vof the machine. B. ~ A a u s Gases t from Engines Using'~thG1Gasoline. R. R. SAXERS A ND A C . FIELDNER. 3. Frank. Inst., 199,2714 (Feb., 1925).-Problem of elimination of "knodr" irom operation of the engine. Ethyl gasoline, one of the widely used anti-knock fuels is ordinary motor gasoline to which has been added 3 cc. of tetra-ethyl lead and 2 cc. of a halogen carrier, as ethylene dibromide or trichloroethylene, or approximately 0.04 per cent of the lead compound and 0.06 per cent of ethylene dibromide by volume. Ethyl gasoline should not be confused with ethyl fluid, which is a mixture of concentrated tetra-ethyl lead and ethylene dibromide in proper proportions for mixing with gasoline, but is not a motor fuel and is not sold to the public. The only danger of lead poisoning to the public from products of the combustion of ethyl gasoline seems to be confined to the mechanic. There was no indication of plumbism in any of the animals used in tests, though they were exposed for 188 days during a period of approximately eight months to exhaust gases from ethyl gasoline. See also Serial 2655, Bureau of J. HOWARD GRAHAX Mines. Metallmgg. ("New Light on the Bible, Revealed by Excavations a t Ur.") World's Wmk, 49, 177-91 (Dec., 1924).-A report of the joint expedition of the Brit. Museum and the Univ. of Penna. Museum, consisting of photographs with descriptions furnished by the Univ. Museum. A gold scaraboid, with inscription, is probably one of the oldest, if not the oldest dated object of metal (about 4500 B.C.). Other metal objects found consist of copper, whose use antedates bronze. Artificial Gasoline. EDWINE. SLOSSON. Science Sewice.-"One of the mast pressing problems of the present time is: What are we going to do when the oil runs out?. . Already the question has become acute in countries less oily than ours. In England, Germany and France, chemists are hard a t work trying to invent ways of making something to match the natural petroleum that is still being so recklessly wasted by us.. The British Department of Scientific and Industrial Research is experimenting on low temperature carbonization and has worked out a process that gives a gaseous fuel for local use, a liquid fuel suitable for motors, and a solid smokeless fuel, which they call "coalite," for household and industrial purposes. I n Germany the Bergius process of treating powdered coal with hydrogen under high temperature and pressure is said to be capableof converting low-grade lignite into a synthetic petroleum equal to the natural. In France, a Rumanian chemist, Georges Olivier, in collaboration with a French mining engineer, Charles Andry-Bourgeois, has invented a process claimed to be capable of converting coal, wood or any kind of carbonaceous material into gasoline of higher heating value than that obtained from petroleum. This is accomplished by the aid of certain catalysts which have the power of effecting the desired combination of carbon with hydrogen a t high temperatures. Exactly what these catalysts consist of is not revealed in the account of the process given in the October issue of La Scienccet La Vie but they are stated to be made of certain metallic powders spread upon infusorial earth, pumice, clay, charcoal and other porous bases. The first stage of the process is similar to the familiar method of making coke and illuminating gas. The coal or lignite is mixed with irom five to twenty-five per cent of lime, soda or alumina and heated in tight retorts. The distillate of tar, ammonia and light oils is condensed and utilized. The coke remaining in the retort is converted into water-gas by the well-known method of passing steam over i t while red hot. Water-gas is a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, both excellent combustibles and both employed in later parts of the process. The gaseous output of the coke oven consists of free hydrogen, methane and more complex compounds of hydrogen and carbon. It is essential for the next step that there should be an excess of hydrogen. If the mixed gas contains less than fifteen or twenty per cent of hydrogen by weight more must be added. This additional hydrogen may be obtained -
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from the water-gas or, if necessary, by decomposing water by electric current. The second stage of the process consists in passing these gases through an electrical furnace heated t o 3000 degrees centigrade. This transforms t h e methane into acetylene and changes the other hydrocarbons into forms more active and ready for combustion. The gaseous mixture so obtained is next conducted under pressure through tubes wntaining the catalyzing agents. The temperature a t the beginning of this, the third. stage of the process is about 150 degrees centigrade a t first, but rises t o 400 degrees a t the end. Contact of the gases with these finely divided metals somehow causes the smaller molecules t o hook up together and form larger molecules, and the colorless gas t h a t entered the tube comes out as a colored oil, which, like the distillate of natural petroleum, looks red by transmitted light and green by reflected light. I t contains about 75 per cent of very light gasoline. I n the fourth and final stage this colored oil is again passed over metallic catalyeers with an excess of hydrogen a t a temperature of 180 degrees. The finished product is a light limpid colorless liquid having a v u y agreeable odor. s the benI t consists larxelv of what t h e chemist calls the "hvdrozenated w m ~ a u n d of zene series," such as cydohexane. I n wmposition i t c&ists of abbut 86 per cent of carbon, 13.5 per cent of hydrogen, with very little oxygen and less sulfur. The process seems pretty wmplicated but according to figures of M. Olivier gasoline can be manufactured from the French lignites a t a w s t of twelve cents a gallon, which is less than a third the present price of gasoline in France. The initial plant constructed a t Asnieres ~ s e r p e c t ~todt u r i o u t a tliusand tans a day. Twenty-five per c m t of the carbon in the oxiyinnl coal come? ~ n int the form of gacnline. The rest is mostly empluyed in heating 1l.e ejr aral n u v r a t u i and rurmine the C I I ~ ~ ~ F . ' ' ' ~ h e m i c a iducati ion. , ~ d i t o h n l . ) ii. K.SMITIT.Ch~m.l3~Ncliw.12,42 (1925)The alchrnkts were secretivr uith what they knew. The phlogistonists were 3 bit overtalkatwe. The modern chemkt, since hv has lrarned to so successftAy "check u p the v n g a r m of tile human mind" by experiment, should give more of hi.; diacoverirs to the pulhic. I n trlling the story of his achie\wnents to the public the clwmi*t wtll not only itlnelsc the gmer;tl enlightenment hut will also udd to the public's appreciation of h m and what he has done. In doing this he must spwk in a h n y a g e that is understood Loth by the yuurlycr and the P ~ L S ~gencmtwn. K This task is primarily the opportunity uf the twcher. The local and the national Chemical Education iections are in rxistcnce oartlv for encclurauine and htloinu to oudifv tcadhers for this undertnkine B. CLIFFORD HENDRICRS The Elimination of Waste in Education. 0. W. C A L D ~ L L .Chicago Sch. 3.. 7, 177-81 (Jan.. 1925).-To establish the essentials of any subject the following demands w~llhave to he complied with: \ I aucul drmands. (2, cconomic drmands,~lu in thc whject itself. 1 in the m e t h d s of prerentatiuu, 3) d e m n d s o r , the wbjcrts prcparztory to the one under disruscion. (1 demauds on tho,? subirrts for whwh this one is priparatory, and (5) demands based upon the ability of the individual. Scientific ;I~t&mmaficlnof essmtt-als is a very ex&tirt): work, asevidcnced hy thc recent reconitructiun of algebra, by Rugg and Clarl;. The climinntion of wzste in rduution is one of the most important prohlcms confronting us. R Sponge Iron to Simplify Emaction of Metals. Scienre S w i r e -"The production of spvnge iron, n tinclg scpxatcd form of thc mctll, and very useful in chemical 2nd metallurp!cnl industry, IIHF hccn made possihle on a large swle by reiearrhes comlurtcd a t Seattle hy the B u r e m of .\lines of the I:. S. 1)epartrnent of the lntrriur. The proce*s clcprldi o r , the f:wt t l ~ n most t irora oreqrre ~oxirle* of iron, and tlwt 11 the oxyym can lw cxtrarted ;at trmwmtares ;u low that the iron doe, not fuse or run. 11is left standinv as a very fine, poro& metallic sponge, presenting very large areas of Gee surface, on w&h the reactions of chemical manufacturing processes can take place. The process also promises to render possible the profitable production of iron from low-grade ores and furnace wastes. During the past year afurnaceusing the new process was operated commercially a t Silver City, Utah, producing about three tons of sponge iron daily." University of London's New MSc. Degree. I. B. HART. 3. Educ. Sch. World, 56, 6 0 2 4 (1924).-The University of London is an examining as well as a teaching arganieatwn, and is now prepared to oficr post-ymdunte sciencr for nomspcrialiatr. A w a y is opened for revhrrs of science and mathematics in secondary srltool$ to keep t h e m d v e s fresh and men1;dlv vieorons. L'nlras recent universitv ernclutcs r h o tokc uu tcachmu have opportuniti t o 2 0 some advanced work, they-are apt t o become udambitiaui and rcslincd to &thodux routme. Lvndon uRcrr c&rses in-'.Tlle Study of the History :and hlethod of Scicnre." I t is now pretty gcnerallg reroflized tlvat science means more than t l ~ rrnrre tach value of its utilitarian inventions and the cnwacitv to nroduce "death" and other rays. Scientific education has cultural aspects. '~ndehd. t6e prog-
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ress of scientific thought is closely related t o the progress of civilization itself. The following is an outline of the syllabus: (a) General history of science; ( b ) history of physical~nndmathcmntical sciences; ( c ) history of b i u l o ~ i a sciencei; l ( d ) method and prlm.iples of scimce. ( a ) is com~rulsoryfor all, and either ( b ) or ' c ) must he taken. Pnrt of Id) is rcnuired. The l r r t u r ~ scovering the svllnhus wrll be delrvered a t University and in& Colleges. The course wili take H full year. Part-time students must drvote two years t o t h e wurk. The course IS ope" to external as well as internal stutlents. A science demee from a rcmgnizrd institutwn i r required. I t i i to he hoped tha1 nu one who is attracted to the idrn of thr ncw d e u c e will be deterred frum workinz lor it because he or she cannot have the lectures. "1tis the reading which matters an; which tells in the examination room." For particulars, write to Dr. Charles Singer, University College, London. WILLIAM FOSTER Achievements of Puoils in Chemistr?. S. G. Rrwr. Sch. Sci. Math.. 25. 145-9 llW, 1925.- -4lore rhrrkstry tmts ha& heen made for chemistry than any othcrscicncr The findingsof all trsteshuw a ~ wrange t of attainmrntwithin the school 2nd the cln-s The ratc uf ur#,ncs. of a vroua of ouoili is less than onr-fifth of the ranee of attamment of the cr;IuD The B&-T&: cieveland Coo~erative.and Rich t&ts are compared and discussid according t o nature and content: I n a &mparison of attainmcni as s h o w by Rich's tests an ndvnnre from 43.5 to 532 was made by high school pupil; hetwern the end of thc quarter and the full year. In the same intcn.al wllege %tuderltsarlvnnced from M 2 to %! 3 nnd hieh school nuoils who continued the studv of 57.4 fo; ~pprorimately100 cases. i t is chemistry in college advanced from 55.1 proposed t h a t colleges and universities grant entrance Gedit in chemistry on the basis of two of these tests in which the pupil makes a scare above the mean of the test. H. R. SMITH Status of Science Education in China. GEORGE R. T w ~ s s . Sck. Life,10, 53 (Nov., 1924).-In native ability and in interest in their students the Chinese teachers compare favorably with teachers of other countries, but they are deficient in a knowledge of the fundamental principles of teaching sciences. The few who do have skill in demonstrating, experimenting and scientific thinking are those who have taken courses of training in the laboratories of higb-grade colleges and universities in Europe and America or under highly trained foreign teachers in China. With very few exceptions the science teaching in the middle schools consists almost exclusively of formal and bookish lectures. In most cases lectures are illustrated with blackboard diagrams. Experiments and demonstrations are used, but as they are not skillfully performed and not seen in detail by all the students they are not convincing evidence for reaching logical conclusions. Occasionally one finds a really brilliant lecturer who draws with amazing skill and rapidity while he talks. Still less frequently one finds a lecturer who makes full and efficient use of the apparatus, charts and specimens. In only three of the middle schools is all the science work on a good laboratory basis. Recitations are infrequent. Classroom discussions, blackboard demonstrations by students, reports from reference rex!inp and topical recit:ttions :are very rarely required. Mort questions are anrwrred I,y frum one to five word. Occasionally on? hcnrs a lhuught questrun, but it kgcnrr.#lly directed indrfin8tclv to the whole class. The diflercnt answers wme in a confusinc volley from various &ts of the room. B. The Vocabularies of High School Science Textbooks. S. R. POWERS.Teach. Coll. Kec., 26, 36&82 (Jan., 1925).-A study of certain textbooks in General Science, Biology and Chernislry; in an crfort to determine the numher of unfamiliar words in each trrt. .4s 3 b,siz for such determinarion Thorndike's "Thc Trachrr's Word Hook" is used. Aonarrntlv ninth erade children rwocnirenhout two-thirdsbf the l0.1100 words in the T h o a i k e Lit. T h k i c l e throws some light on t h e extent to which the content t whom they were prqrarcd, and is in of 111~text is suited to the need, of the a t ~ a k n f& a a a y a m e s u r e of the rclntivr ii~ffirullyof tcrt1,ookr. T h e :mthor lind.; t h r t lhlogy texts h a w :t hrecr numbvr ui u n f a m h r words than the chemistrv texts exlmmed. whde t h e general science textbooks designed for ninth made work have fewer unf&ilir words. Stnce chemistry is urually given in the third or fourth year high school cl=;ir.s. this lact was to h;lw been rrpcctal in the caw of chemistry, hut it seems to show thnt tlrc vocahulnrv burden in hioloev i c undulv ercat. Thc author admit.; thnt thesc in>~licationsare>ontroversial andyhhat one & & a n t function of a tent is t o increase the kader's vocabulary. He does find, however, that a large proportion of t h e unfamiliar words are technml and rather ditlicult. and that a large nnmbri, usually more than 50' b. of the unfamiliar words in such ~ c r t aarc used only once. If the purpose of science instruction ir onrtiallv to increase the vocahularv. the instructor will he forced to sunolcment the text in cases where the frequency of words is so low. There seems to 6; no
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convincing evidence t h a t the writers of science textbooks are more serious offenders in this respect than those in history and other subjects. CHAS.E. DULL Citizenship Lectures a s a Part of College Education. ANON. J. Am. Pkarm. Assoc.. 14, 23 (1925).-The School of Pharmacy of The Medical College of Virginia has amnged a wurse of lectures on the general subject of Citizenship, t o be given to all of their students by eminent citizens and statesmen. Some of the most prominent citizens of Virginia have consented t o participate in this enterprise, and i t is hoped t h a t this move will materially aid in enabling the young professional man to realize very definitely JR. his fundamental obligations to the community as a good citizen. J. C. KXANTZ, Character Tests for Pharmacy Entrants. F. J. WULLING. J . Am. Pharm. Assoc., 14, 52 (1925).-The great civic and moral obligations incumbent upon the practise of pharmacy today demand men of the highest caliber for this profession. The logical place t o select the best who came t o the profession is a t the matriculation in the University. The writer suggests that all applicants for matriculation in pharmacy schools be required to pledge themselves t o the high code of ethics established by the American Pharmaceutical Association. By instilling the proper moral co~ceptionsinto the student early in his career, the basis for the productionof a better manis thereby established. Sufficient activity of this kind will likely be the beginning of an ethical and mars1 renaissance within the profession. JOHN C. ~ T Z JR. , Notes on Alloy Metals Used in AUoy Steels. JULIUS L. F. VOGEL. J. SOC.Chem. Ind., 43, 365-9 (1924).-This paper contains excellent information for teaching alloy steels which are under chemical and physical investigations in many laboratories and factories. With the physical structure of alloy steel as a background, tables of useful and deleterious elements in alloy steels are given with brief discussions of the effects of their presence on tbe structure and properties of the alloy. The sources and metallurgy (briefly) of these alloy elements are given. Loms W. MATTERN Relation between Industry and Chemical Warfare. C. H. BBEBE. Chem. Warfare, 2, 2-11 (Jan.. 1925).-"Success in war demands success in industry and pre~arednessreauires the existence of well-oreanized thrivine factories." Sulfuric and hitric acids &td dyes are of fundamental importance. ~ e G u s eof its meat comolexity the dye industry fosters muct other cbwnicli mlustries. It is pcculiaily r d a t e d t o the mmwfacture of pharmaceuticals and explosives 3s well as war pases. An aceomparrylug chart. with descrintive oaramonbs tnken from Chemical Wariare Srrricc Informatinatlonswilltout thr WTP to hate them rqually wriyhtcd. I h r thc ;lbuvr rmsoni rtnndards of mr:lsurinu schievcmcnt.i uf ouujls are dcsatd and better still. methuds ul instruction should be k t e d to know wheibhe; they are certain t o. aive the dkired results. H. R. S M ~ X Artificial Gold. EDWIN E. SLOSSON. S&ce SeNice, Feh. 9, 1925.-"For some three thousand years, off and on, chemists have been trying to make gold out of the baser metals. Just now they are on the quest again with as high hopes as the medieval alchemists and with better reason. We now know that some atoms can be broken t o pieces and that some elements can be transmuted into others. The metal radium decomposes spontaneously into the gas helium and the metal lead. Professor Rutherford
has split up the nitrogen atom into helium and hydrogen. The helium atom weighs 4 and the hidrogen at& wcighs 1. The helium is supposed to be made by the combinationof 4 hydrogen atoms. Now if you suhtract thewcight of thc gold atom (1117) from the weixht of the mercurv atom (201) vou eet 4. So it wotdd seem that if vau could knock outufrom the memu& atom'a h&mitom, or its equivalent 4 hydr&en atoms, you would getgold. But can you? That is the question. This may be, like many another chemical reaction, easy t o write out on paper yet impassible t o accomplish in the laboratory. But two chemists, a German and a Japanese, say that they have done it. Prof. A. Miethe of the Photochemical Department of the Berlin Technical High School, who has been for years studying the discoloration of minerals and glass by ultra-violet hpht, found that the mrrcwy vnpor lamps used ns a source for these rays cenicd niter ;I t m e to work owing to the deposit of n sort oi soat on the quartz glass ~111. IIc tested 11115 deoosit and eot indications of nald Saw it is not sururisinr to find a trace of eold in comkercial s&ples of mercury, Tor mercury is one of thefew lcquids that will dissolve ~ d ind d rs used tl; extract the precious meld from sand or oms. But the mwcury in the lamps had heen twirc distilled to free it from all impurities and on nnzlyci.; .;huwcd no trace of vuld until after it h:ad bren suhiectrd to the orolorteed action of the rlvctric current in
