Oct., 1922
THE J O C R S A L OF I,$-DUSTRIAL A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
is to be noted that no phosphoric acid was found in this precipitate. The cane used in the first six experiments had been windrowed under several inches of earth to preserve it. In Expts. 1 , 2 , and 3, the cane was unwashed and a considerable amount of adhering soil went into the juice. In Expts. 4, 5, and 6 , the mud had been thoroughly removed by washing. Although the figures of the table are incomplete with regard to dry matter of precipitates in 3 and 4, it is easy to draw conclusions from the figures for quantity of ash. The outstanding feature seems to us to be the differences to be noted in total dry matter and ash in the washed and unwashed cane. Attention should be drawn to the ash content of Expt. 3, where Norit was used on unwashed cane, and the ash content of Expt. 6, where lime only was used upon unwashed cane. Norit was an excellent adsorbent, while the quantity of lime used was too small to be considered of much aid in filtering. The balance is still slightly in favor of the washed cane. The washing of cane before crushing is practiced at many Louisiana sugar factories. One factory, a t which this practice had been in force for 4 or 5 yrs., reported in 191gb that the volume of filter-press mud had been reduced 25 per cent. Filter-press mud carries away as much as 6 per cent of sucrose. KO mention is made in this report of the influence of cane washing upon the amount of sirup precipitate. The question of sirup settling, however, is discussed and the difficulty of filtering sirup is mentioned. There can be little doubt in view of our results that the presence of adherent soil upon cane would have a great influence upon the quantity of sirup precipitate formed. This is not surprising when it is considered that soil may contain much matter, both organic and inorganic, in the colloidal state which could readily escape removal by our present clarification methods, including those in which highly adsorbent carbons are employed. It is evident that the formation of precipitate may be attributed to three possible sourcesnamely, from materials used in clarification, particularly in clarification by means of chemicals as suggested in the article of Coates and Slater, from substances present in cane juice itself, as suggested by B i r c h e r and as substantiated by our results with washed cane, and finally from soil adhering to the cane a t the time of crushing. The amount of precipitate that one may obtain from sirup cannot be predicted from the appearance of the filtered juice or sirup. The filtrates and sirups in Expts. I , 4, and 5 were clear. Those in Expt. 2 were very turbid, while in Expts. 3 qnd 6 the liquids were slightly cloudy. In some cases the precipitate had a tendency to fall readily after evaporation and in others there was no precipitation until the sirup had been heated to nearly 100’ C. As pointed out by Coates and Slater, filtration of the sirup for the removal of turbidity or precipitate would be too costly and troublesome, and settling appears to be the most feasible method of handling such sirup. It should be added that even when decolorization with carbon is performed at the sirup stage, a precipitate is to be found in the decolorized product. The precipitate analyzed by us last year resulted from such treatment. There is the possibility, of course, that to some extent precipitate-forming substances may be derived in the colloidal state from the so-called inert filtering media. With settling as the most feasible means of dealing with sirup precipitate, it becomes obvious that two conditions are to be sought. These are rapidity of settling and compactness of sediment. This suggests that the addition to the sirup, after it has been run to the settling tanks, of some adsorbent heavy enough to quickly subside and carry 6
Louiszana Planter, 62 f1919), 187.
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suspended matter with it, might answer the purpose. Fuller’s earth, precipitated chalk, and calcium phosphate are substances we have tried and which show promise in this connection.
A Prescription for Hale, Hearty Life By H. W. Jordan 133 STOW AvE., SYRACUSE, N. Y
Each October we are confronted by t h e choice of wasting the year’s two hundred long, cool evenings in aimless, casual entertainment, or of devoting them t o wholesome recreation, balanced by sound reading and study. Repeatedly we see men past fifty, retired from active business by choice or circumstance, who mysteriously fade and soon die. Investigation usually discloses t h e fact t h a t t h e victim had no impelling mental interest outside of business routine. Like all complex apparatus shut down o r thrown on the scrap heap, he quickly disintegrated. Psychologists have proved t h a t we must grow or go. Post-mortem examination of our friend’s mind reveals the reason of his going. H e had ceased t o grow. H e knew only one subject, his daily vocation. Among ways of attaining active age none is better than t o hold oneself rigidly to an annual program of reading, designed t o impel creative thought. N o t the habit of nightly wading through thirty-two pages of the metropolitan daily, a n action interspersed with naps and subconsciousness, barely aware t h a t we are momentarily hibernating until aroused by a tearful voice, “Mercy, it’s twelve o’clock. Aren’t you ever coming up, dearie?” Instead, a program of three t o ten hours weekly devoted t o earnest study of a group of subjects wholly outside personal business-history, travel, science, art, or music-to educate, t o draw us out of and beyond our technical horizon. If one seeks examples of such use of spare time he only need scan the biography and books of Theodore Roosevelt or Lord James Bryce t o learn the unbelievable extent t o which busy, practical men can carry systematic reading, and the value of the knowledge they thus acquire. This century is destined t o be characterized by enormously increased, practical understanding of the human mind, just as t h e nineteenth century was by colossal applied knowledge of material forces. Exceptional profit and marked individual success is t o be won in commerce and engineering industry by correct application of laws which govern the human mind, as inexorably as ,gravitation and atomic weight rule material action. The Rockefellers and Carnegies of 1950-75 will be industrial executives who have correctly applied this new knowledge of man’s mind t o the greatest good of the greatest number 4 new, extensive literature has sprung up as a result of the war. It is devoted t o the psychology of industrial social life, t o a new interpretation of the Golden Rule which is the law of equal action and reaction, t o t h e biology and evolution of*states and nations, t o mathematical analysis of conservative investment, and t o the ebb and flow of mass mind in t h e seething action of industry and government. Among its authors are Edwin Grant Conklin, Madison Grant, Lothrop Stoddard, Walter Lippmann, Raymond Pearl, James Harvey Robinson, Arthur Pound, Norman Angell, Glenn Frank, Roger W. Babson, Dr. C o d , the French medical psychologist, Anatole Frapce, Walther Rathenau, Guglielmo Ferrero, and John M. Keynes Their books and their articles in our current magazines need he incorporated in our chemical and engineering subconsciousness. If you would be hale and hearty, devote the winter evenings of 1922-23 t o the works of these writers.
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