NEWS EDITION
J U N E 20, 193Ô
Meeting Calendar AixiericaiiChemical Society 90TH
MEETING.
San
Francisco,
92ND MEETING.
P i t t s b u r g h , Pa., fall of
1936. 93RD
MEETING.
Chapel
Hill,
N.
C,
spring of 1937. MIDWEST
REGIONAL
MEETING.
Louis-
ville, K y . , October 31 t o November 2 , 1935. SIXTH
NATIONAL
ORGANIC
CHEMISTRY
SYMPOSIUM. Rochester, Ν . Υ., Decem ber 30, 1935, t o J a n u a r y 1, 1936.
O t h e r Scientific Societies A M E R I C A N ASSOCIATION F O R T H E A D VANCEMENT OF S C I E N C E . Minneapolis,
Minn., J u n e 24 t o 29, 1935. Pacific Division, Los Angeles, Calif., J u n e 24, 1935. A M E R I C A N H O M E E C O N O M I C S ASSOCIATION.
Chicago, 111., J u n e 24 t o 28, 1935. A M E R I C A N PHARMACEUTICAL ASSOCIATION.
Portland, Ore., week of August 5, 1935. AMERICAN
PHYSICAL
SOCIETY.
LOS
Angeles, Calif., J u n e 26 to 29, 1935. AMERICAN
SOCIETY
Among t h e various kinds of plants, 1934 injury rates were lowest in those manu facturing carbon products. These plants averaged 4.04 for frequency and 0.31 for severity. F u r t h e r comparisons may be obtained from this table:
Calif.,
August 19 t o 23, 1935. 91 ST M E E T I N G . K a n s a s Citv, Mo., April 13 t o 17, 1936.
FOR T E S T I N G M A
TERIALS. Book-Cadillac Hotel, troit, Mich., J u n e 24 t o 2S, 1935. E L E C T R O C H E M I C A L SOCIETY, I N C .
De
INDUSTRIAL G R O U P
OF RHEOLOGY.
Bell
Telephone
Accident Rates in the Chemical I n d u s t r y d u r i n g 1934 HE 1934 accident frequency rate for t h e chemical industry is 5 per cent lower t h a n that of 1933, b u t t h e severity rate is 6 per cent higher, according t o figures of t h e National Safety Council, based on reports from 254 plants, whose employees worked 217,509,000 man-hours. These figures show t h a t these plants averaged 10.30 for frequency, in compari son with 15.29 for all industries, a n d 1.S1 for severity, in comparison with 1.70. T h e injury frequency rate is based on t h e n u m b e r of disabling injuries per million man-hours of work, while t h e severity r a t e is determined b y t h e n u m b e r of days lost t h r o u g h disabling injuries, p e r 1000 m a n hours of work. On t h e basis of the coun cil's figures, chemical plants tied with non-ferrous metal plants for ninth lowest place in frequency of accidents in 30 major industries, and twentieth in severity. Since 1926, t h e frequency of disabling injuries h a s decreased 58 p e r cent in t h e chemical industry, in comparison with a reduction of 57 per cent for all industries. In severity, however, t h e decrease in rate is only 12 per cent against 37 per cent for all industries. In 1934, large units h a d t h e lowest fre quency rates, b u t were outstripped b y small p l a n t s on t h e basis of severity. However, when t h e records of change from 1933 t o 1934 a r e compared, large plants have b e t t e r records t h a n small ones, as is shown in t h e following t a b l e :
T
1934 1934 1933-34 1933-34 FRESE- CHANGE QUEN' CY VERITY IN FRE- CHANGE Ι IN RATE
Large 9.02 Middle-sized 13.34 Small 15.91
RATE
1.96 0.S9 1.05
1933 -34 CHAXHE IN
SEVERITY Per Cent
--·>δ 19 -5 -r 11
οο
+ 2M1 ^-80 + 1 36 -39 -46
— 13 -f-53 + 67
-78 -39 -7-140
The following chemical units were cited by t h e National Safety Council for out standing safety records during t h e year: Canadian Industries, Ltd., Carbo-Oxygen Co., Carpenter-Morton Co., L. D. Caulk Co., Charles Lennig and Co., Dia mond Crystal Salt Co., Elk Tanning Co., Inland T a r Co., Koppers Products Co., Lambert Pharmacal Co., Lever Brothers Co., Los Angeles Soap Co., Morton Salt Co., Paper Makers Chemical Corp., Procter a n d Gamble Co., Ralston Purina Co., Standard Wholesale Phosphate and Acid Works, Trojan Powder Co., Union Carbide Co., Van Cleef Brothers, Western Electric Co., Inc.
Wil-
Labs., New York, X. Y., October 11 a n d 12, 1935.
SIZE G R O U P
1933-34 CHANGE IN F R E QUENCY Per Cent
Pharmaceutical and fine chemical manufacturing Vegetable oil manufacturing Soap manufacturing Not otherwise classified Dye manufacturing Paint and varnish manu facturing Explosives manufacturing Coal-tar distilling
lard Hotel, Washington, D . C , October 10 t o 12, 1935. SOCIETY
263
QUENCY SEVERITY Per Cent Per Cent - 5 +17 —26 -50 - 8 +141
New Data Editor, News Edition, Industrial and Engi neering Chemistry: HE following is a very brief abstract of a master's thesis: Tillandsia nsneoides, a n epiphyte, gen erally known as Spanish moss, is a com mon plant in Florida. T h e retted moss has been used in upholstery manufacture. Botanists claim t h a t it derives all its food from the air. I t s proximate chemical composition was thoroughly investigated bj r Schorger, 1 who, besides reporting a number of interesting extractives, showed the presence of cellulose a n d carbohydrate material yielding galactose, arabinose, and xylose, on hydrolysis. The present work indicates t h a t , after successive extractions with ether, chloro form, alcohol, a n d hot water, t h e Spanish moss residue yields 59 p e r cent of Cross and Bevan cellulose, of which about 70 per cent is alpha-cellulose (44.37 per cent C , 6.11 per cent H ; theory for C 6 Hi 0 O 6 , 44.44 per cent C , 6.17 per cent H). When this residue was subjected to care ful acetolysis by Spencer's method 2 a maximum yield of 30.9 p e r cent cellobiose octaacetate was obtained (m. p . 223.5224° C. [uncorrected]; [a]2D5 + 4 1 . 4 ° ; 49.57 per cent C , 5.52 per cent H ; [theory for C2sH3SOi9, 49.51 per cent C , 5.54 per cent H ] ) . Purified cotton acetolyzed under identical conditions gave a maxi mum yield of 43.7 per cent cellobiose octa acetate (m. p . 225-223° C. [uncorrected]; [a]2J + 4 1 . 3 ° ) . I t is evident, then, that the cellulose from Spanish moss a n d cot ton cellulose contain t h e same recurring unit (i. e., t h e cellobiose linkage) a n d that their chemical constitution is similar. The work on Spanish moss is being con tinued.
T
A. M E E R L. E . W I S E DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY ROLLINS COLLEGE W I N T E R PARK, F L A . June 5, 1935 ι I X D . E N Q . CHEM., 19, 409 (1927). 2 Cellulosechemie, 10, 6 (1929).
A p p r o p r i a t i o n s for
