HISTORY OF CHEMISTRY Another study on superphosphate, that involving the effect on ammonia absorption of various particle size, was reported by Charles E. Water, of Allied Chemical's Nitrogen Division. In laboratory scale tests, he notes an increase in absorption with a decrease in particle size. J. H. Caro, U S D A, said that emphasis should be placed on physical characteristics such as surface areas, in addition to chemical characteristics, in considering natural and processed phosphates. H e set forth such data for a wide variety of natural, commercial and furnace products. Presently known plant food raw materials and processing equipment limit the total plant nutrient content of liquid fertilizers to 3 0 - 3 5 % , Peter G. Arvan, Monsanto Chemical, reported. Crystallization and other reactions occur at higher concentrations. Liquid fertilizers contain primary plant nutrients completely dissolved in water. These nutrients are derived generally from combinations of phosphoric acid, monoammonium phosphate, diammonium phosphate, anhydrous or aqueous ammonia, urea, ammonium nitrate, ammonia-ammonium nitrate liquors, ammonia-urea liquors, and potassium chloride. Compositions are adjusted to obtain complete solubility at temperatures as low as 32° F. and pH between 6 and 8. Arvan says that low cost equipment can be used successfully in manufacturing these liquid fertilizers.
to soils to be tested and placing such soils in leaching frames, it is possible to estimate quickly and economically die loss of plant nutrients by leaching action. Trace Elements. Correcting soils for deficiencies in trace elements often poses problems, says A. A. Nikitin, Tennessee Corp. research laboratories. Relationships between soils, major plant nutrients, and trace elements are often complex. One frequently interferes with another and thus affects availability of trace elements to plants. In the case of boron, N. R. Page, Clemson Agricultural College, said that the more soluble borates such as sodium borates often provided toxic amounts of boron to plants or were leached out by rain. H e proposes use of less soluble borates, as calcium borate, or possibly boron containing frits to overcome these difficulties. On some acidic soils, molybdenum is not available to plants. This is generally overcome by liming, according to Charles H. Kline, Climax Molybdenum. H e says that plants which ordinarily require a rather high p H can b e grown successfully at lower p H if molybdenum is supplied in small amounts such as one ounce of molybdate per acre. This is equivalent to adding one ton
of limestone. H e reported successful results on leached soils in N e w Zealand and Australia by means of aerial topdressing of hilly pastures with molybdate in conjunction with fertilizer, sprays, dusts and seeds. Because silicon is not considered an essential plant nutrient, its role in plant growth is often overlooked, reported H. P. Cooper, South Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station. He pointed out that in silicon accumulating plants and timber trees, the silicon has a significant passive role in the uptake and synthesis of carbon dioxide. Chelating Agent Use. Applications of chelating (complexing) agents as trace element carriers is spreading, James M. O'Donnell, Woonsocket Color & Chemical, says. Studies he has conducted indicate that the chelate compounds not only supply trace elements but may also be absorbed in the plants themselves. Edwin J. Haertl and Albert E . Frost of Bersworth Chemical and Martin Rubin of Georgetown University, all say that stability and resistance to microorganisms of synthetic chelates is an added advantage. These agents are derivatives of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid. Application of synthetic amino acid chelating agents may serve to correct unbalance in mineral feeds.
DIVISION OF HISTORY O F CHEMISTRY
• Scientific Farming Enters Application of chemistry to crop production on 45,000 acres has increased crop yields approximately 40%, Frank App, Seabrook Farming says. Changes have been made in fertilizer and cover cropping practices which usually result in lower plant food consumption per unit of production. After deter r mining fertilizer levels necessary for optimum yields for both cash and cover crops, soil analyses are made each year for each field and plant food added to meet required standards. Soil Testing Appraisal. Soil testing is now being extended beyond pH and "available" phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium, J. F. Reed, American Potash Institute reported. Determination of organic matter, nitrogen in various forms and certain trace elements and more tests on the available constituents are made often. Jackson B. Hester, Hester Agricultural Research Laboratories, in discussing a related topic included as important factors, salt concentration, oxidation potentials, mechanical analyses and profile characteristics. Hester also said that by addition of potassium chloride VOLUME
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Chemist's Link to Humanity • Linking chemistry to chemical pioneers a n d their a p p r o a c h e s , fires h i g h schooler's interest • Earliest c h e m i c a l t e c h n o l o g y w a s d e v e l o p e d b y w o m e n ; it routes f r o m her c u l i n a r y skill E ARE EXHIBITING the
dry
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and ignoring the spirit of chemistry, said Bernard Jaffee before the Division of History of Chemistry. To arouse interest of high school students in chemistry, teachers should sacrifice some of the sterile, nonessential facts of chemistry for the cultural, humanistic, and imaginative aspects of it, continues Jaffee, a teacher at James Madison High, Brooklyn. The historical approach to chemistry has subtle, inspirational overtones. It gives high schoolers a real concept of the spirit of the men of science. Moreover, at the high school level, the most
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important objectives of science instruction is to inculcate and spread more widely the habits of scientific thinking and acting. Facts and formulas of elementary chemistry disappear rather quickly, according to Jaffee. The scientists' method of approaching and solving problems has a better chance of being retained longer. An effective way to teach the methods of science is to show how our great scientists reached their goal and how their minds worked in the process. According to Jaffee, teaching the history of chemistry is the best method available to teachers for illus3841
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trating open-mindedness, freedom from prejudice, the willingness to give up old cherished ideas when new and better ones are found, the facing up to a problem with courage, and the realization that there is always the need to check and recheck the withholding of judgment until all the facts are in. Several chemistry textbooks now reflect teaching with the history of chemistry as a tool, states Jaffee. Moreover, a few colleges have or are now giving courses or doctorates in the history of science including chemistry. These colleges are Brandeis, Brown, Bryn Mawr, Cornell, Dickinson, Harvard, Hobart, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Purdue, Princeton, Radcliffe, the Universities of Delaware, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Williams College. Writings of Chemical History. To promote the writing of better histories of chemistry, we must take greater pains than we have taken in the past to preserve the source materials necessary for accurate writing, says Aaron J. Hide, University of Wisconsin. Secondly, we must train scholars who are not only competent in chemistry but in history as well. The place of chemistry in the history of civilization is receiving recognition, says Ihde. There is an increasing awareness of the interrelation of economic, social, intellectual, and political factors with the history of chemistry. Consequently, writers of the history of chemistry should write works acceptable not only to chemists b u t also to historians. It is important that we do not continue to pass on unfounded legends as truth and that w e be sure that our sources of information are carefully documented. Writers of the history of chemistry should be objective and avoid biased writing and the inclusion of worshipful biographies and company histories. Writings of historical chemistry should not be weighty factual presentations b u t should b e written in a clear and readable fashion for a wide audience. Despite growth of professional training in history of science, these histories will probably be continued to be written mostly by amateurs, says Ihde. Interest in history of chemistry is often late in its development, growing to full fruition only after the completion of formal education. More often, there is the fear that serious pursuit of historical studies will leave one at an economic disadvantage as compared to concentration on the more scientific aspects of chemistry. An amateur must shoulder certain obligations if he takes on any research work in the history of chemistry, says Denis I. Duveen of Duveen Soap. For 3842
eral, but also the complex world in which we now live. • Ancient Chemical Technology
Ancient Mesopotamian distillation vessel. According to Martin Levey, Penn State, most chemical equipment, such as sublimation, extraction, distillation, and filtration flasks, was either developed or derived by women from cooking utensils accurate writing of t h e history of chemistry it is always essential to go back to the primary source. Moreover, Duveen feels it is better to take a relatively small subject and concentrate historical research a n d writing on that than on a comparatively large subject. The most fruitful method of contributing to the history of chemistry is by the use of personalized bibliographies, according to Duveen. If one wishes to know and fully understand a man and his work, it is necessary to know when h e began to write, have information about everything that he wrote whether published in printed form or not, and to comprehend what prompted him to undertake each individual work. Conventional biographies usually prove to offer insufficient detail. Chemical Development in the Broad Sense. In writing the history of chemistry for the scientists of our time, a main task is to show connections with general scientific ways which led to chemical specialization, according to Eduard Farber of Timber Engineering. Along this line of thinking, H. M. Leicester, College of Physicians and Surgeons, San Francisco, says that development of chemistry in the broad sense can contribute much to an understanding of human thought. There is need for a better comprehension of the place of chemistry b y physicists and mathematicians w h o are the chief workers in the general history of science. There is also a need for a better realization of the wider aspects of early chemistry by historians of this science. Today, there is stress on the economic concept of history, according to Desmond Reilly of Food Machinery & Chemical. This concept of history is incomplete without a knowledge of the scientific discoveries that have affected man's lot at different times. The history of chemical discovery and chemical development helps in understanding not only chemistry and science in gen-
T h e history of ancient chemical technology dates back to prior to 3500 B.C., and had its origin in Mesopotamia, says Martin Levey, Pennsylvania State University. At that time chemical apparatus, such as sublimation, extraction, distillation, filtration, and separatory equipment were all available, continued Levey. In some of the ancient vessels there have hardly been any changes to date since prehistoric times. The mortar and pestle serve as an example. T h e grinder employed b y the ancients is still in use in the Near East today. T h e ancients employed a comparatively simple method of performing filtrations. Strainers covered with wool or hair were employed as filters; a porous unglazed clay vesse 1 contained t h e solution to be filtered. It was placed inside a second vessel which was glazed to retain the filtrate seeping through the walls of the inside container. Moreover, drip bottles with small diameter spouts, located very low on t h e vessel's body, have been uncovered. These were used for pharmaceutical preparations in early times. Palladium Controversy. Richard Chenevix, born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1774 of Huguenot extraction, became a chemist through the hands of fate, according to Reilly. Chenevix lived for some time in France and during t h e Reign of Terror he was imprisoned with French chemists. Lavoisier was believed to be one of these. Chenevix's interest in chemistry fired from his contact with these French chemists. He later became noted for his analytical work. In 1803, Nicholson's Journal (the chemical newsmagazine of its day) published a report on a new compound by an anonymous discoverer. Later a reward was offered for its synthesis. Chenevix professed the new compound to b e an amalgam of platinum and mercury. This belief was proved to b e erroneous by experiments of many other scientists of his time. The anonymous discoverer, later turned out to be a man by the name of Wollaston, the new compound—palladium. Though Chenevix was wrong in his original assumption he laid the foundations of palladium's discovery, by making a palladium-mercury alloy about 1805. In organic chemistry, he successfully prepared acetone by distillation from acetate. Moreover, his first paper in English was an analysis of a new variety of lead ore (the muria-carbonate).
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