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day had the Colorado summer habit, and on one of those summer excursions in the late nineties Professor Franklin married Effie June Scott, sister of Charles F. Scott, a Kansas Congressman a t the time, and with her he has lived happily ever after, the father of three children, two fine boys and a girl with an M.D. and other academic appurtenances. His home has meant much to him and meant much to us who love him. It is a magnet which would draw us for a hundred miles or more whenever we were near: a beautiful home filled with music and books and fine talk and affection; one of those academic homes, a type of its own kind in America, whereon is developed most of the light and leading in this country one way or another. From these campus homes have come the generations that rule our modern world. The Franklin home for thirty years has been such a power-house of joy and inspiration. When Professor Franklin left Kansas University for Stanford he left a scar in the academic life of that state that never has been healed. His academic place has been filled adequately and splendidly. But his place as a leader of youth is vacant. It was unique. His home, his class room, his professorial office was a loadstone which directed to him all sorts of inquiring, aspiring, and spiritually needy youths, chiefly with a scientific bent, He told them some things, gave them some directions which were not very important, perhaps some instruction which was good, but what he gave them that lasted was affectionate consideration. He could pat a man on the shoulder in trouble and move mountains from it. He was so kind, so just, so penetrating in his sympathy that one never inquired whether he under* stood; one only knew that he cared anyway. Now this sort of a character is generally slovenly in his academic work; often lets good nature answer for good scholarship. The marvel of Franklin is that with all the knowledge he acquired, with all the tremendous capacity for detail which he developed in chemistry, he did not atrophy his emotional nature,
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did not dull his joyous helpful contact with youth. A man does not become professor of chemistry in a university of high standing such as Leland Stanford is, and chief of the Division of Chemistry of the United States Public Health Service, as Franklin became from 1911 to 1913, without having some rather definite knowledge of the subject, some rather peculiar distinction in his life. This also may be said of one who is a member of the United States Assay Commission. During the war he was a member of an advisory board of the United States Bureau of Mines, and physical chemist in the United States Bureau of Standards, and consulting chemist of the Ordnance Bureau. He served his country with all his talents and with all his heart when his country called him away from school work. Incidentally traveling along he worked a sixteen-hour day since he left the University of Kansas, he has been made a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the president of the AMERICAN CHEVICAL SOCIETY, and a member of the Washington Academy of Arts and Sciences. These honors are top honors in his profession. He is a general in the army of chemists and still is on the firing line with the boys. A t sixty-five he is in the midst of his career; vigorous, wise, and kind. He was never crabbed or grouchy in his life. He was never idle for a moment; not that he hasn’t played. He has played more than most people, but work is play for him. He is that kind. He plays with a keen delight in his work, and works with a keen delight when he plays; a full-blooded, big-hearted, generous man. No shriveled academician is he, no musty cloistered dullard of the schools. Here is a man of the world, a man of the flesh, and a man not without a good deal of the devil in him one sort or another; a kindly devil to be sure, but mischievous and frisky and always gay. And this is a life-a full, fine, free life of a scholar and a gentleman. WILLIAMALLEX WHITE
NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE Embedded Emery in Polished Lead Editor of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry: I was much interested in the article by Vilella and Beregekoff on polishing lead, etc., that appeared in THISJOURNAL,19, 1049 (1927), and would like t o congratulate the authors on the excellent photomicrographs shown. Their emphasis of the importance of avoiding “disturbed metal” is well deserved. I have had a little experience in the metallographic work on lead and soft alloys, and tried a method similar t o that recommended by the authors, but with pure lead was unable t o prevent particles of emery from becoming embedded in the specimen. The authors do not mention this difficulty, and some of their illustrations seem t o show traces of it. A method t o avoid this trouble was used by Rutherford, A. S.T. M. Standards, 1924, p. 1172, and I believe that Rutherford’s work, though less thoroughly advertised than that of Lucas which the. authors mention, is equally deserving of consideration. GEORGEF. COMSTOCK 967 HARRISON AVENUE NIACARA F A L L S , N.Y. September 19, 1927
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Editor of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry: The point raised by Mr. Comstock as t o particles of emery becoming embedded in specimens of pure lead is one difficulty that we are fortunately able to avoid by our method of polishing.
It may very well be that they do become embedded during the early stages of the process, but if they do they must fall out again during wet polishing, as we never have been able t o detect them. Not knowing what Mr. Comstock considers particles of embedded emery in our illustrations, we are unable t o discuss the subject specifically. Concerning Rutherford’s work, we feel that his method may lead t o very good results, but only when employed in conjunction with deep etching, In view of all the difficulties we encountered t o avoid the formation of disturbed metal on the prepared surface, i t is very difficult for us t o conceive of specimens of pure lead polished only on files and broadcloth and not being covered with a heavy film of distorted metal. We feel, however, that we are not in a position t o comment on the merits of Rutherford’s method because we are familiar only with the condensed description of it given in A. S. T. M. Standards for 1924. J. R. VILELLAAND D. BEREGEKOFF U N I O N CARBIDE AND CARBON
RESEARCH LABORATORIES,
THOMPSON AVENUEA N D MANLEYSTREET LONGI S L A N D C I T Y , N. Y. October 7, 1927
INC.
Correction In our article entitled “Magnesium and I t s Alloys,” THIS 19, 1193 (1927), in Table X the impact value under 1-inch-pound blows for extruded Dowmetal “D” should be 140,000 instead of 14,000. JOHN A. GANNAND ARTHUR W. WINSTON
JOURNAL,
