American Contemporaries Charles Albert Browne HE first twenty-two years of Browne's life were spent in the Berkshire Hills in Massachusetts. He was born at North Adams on August 12,1870. A very short time before this his father had lost his eyesight as a result of an explosion in his laboratory, and Browne's earliest recollections are connected with his companionship and help to his father. From his early youth he spent much time reading to his father and assisting him in his experiments. Before Browne was ten years old, he was accustomed to read to his father regularly, especially from Fowne's Chemistry, Ure's Dictionary of Arts, Manufacturers, and Mines, and the Scientific American. At first he could understand little of what he read, but the experience taught him t o read rapidly and well. As he grew older the discussion of these articles with his father assisted in developing his faculty of grasping the full significance of what he read and remembering it thereafter—a faculty which he has developed to a very unusual extent. Browne's father was an inventor—a self-made man—who took out many patents relating t o blasting operations, especially patents on explosives and electric exploders. He had much experience with railroad construction and had charge of the blasting operations, for instance, in the Hoosac Tunnel. It was his exploder that was used to blow up Hell Gate in later years. Although without training in chemistry, the father was a diligent student and acquired an extensive knowledge of the branches of chemistry in which he was particularly interested, especially the chemistry of explosives. In his early years Browne assisted in the work on his grandfather's farm (adjoining his own home), and there had experience that influenced the first years of his professional life. He leached wood ashes and used the leachings for the manufacture of soft soap and participated in the manufacture of vinegar, cider, maple sirup, cheese, and butter. Browne graduated from Williams College in 1892 and immediately obtained employment in a commercial laboratory in New York City, where he spent two years in analytical work of the most miscellaneous nature. Then, for something more than a year, he was instructor in chemistry at the Pennsylvania State College, where his spare time was occupied in the study of organic synthesis under the direction of Tuttle. His work as a teacher was interrupted by an illness of several months owing to experimental work with hashish. His convalescence was spent at his home in North Adams, where he increased the laboratory facilities in the woodshed adjoining the house and devoted such time as he was able to the synthesis of diazo dyestuffs. In the late spring of 1896, he was appointed assistant chemist of the Pennsylvania Experiment Station, which position he held until 1900. There he thoroughly familiarized himself with the knowledge then available regarding the chemistry, and especially the analysis, of agricultural products and feeding stuffs. At that time the field of agricultural and food analysis was very narrow and restricted as compared with the present day. The methods of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists were limited to fertilizer analysis, sugar analysis, stock feeds, dairy products, and fermented and distilled
T
liquors. Even in those subjects many of the methods were in the formative stage and their development and adaptation were regarded as a major problem. His work on these agricultural methods, however, was secondary to research proj-
CHARLES ALBERT BROWNE
ects started during the early days of his connection with the Experiment Station. This work included the study of the composition of apple cider, cider vinegar, and of changes in the composition of apples in connection with the manufacture of such products. It also included a chemical study of butter with special reference to the question of rancidity, a field in which he has ever since retained his interest and made the subject of occasional research. He also assisted Armsby in the development of his respiration calorimeter for animals, and did much analytical work in the examination of the feeds employed by Armsby and of the products of metabolism of the animals. He became greatly interested in the determination of sugar in apples, apple cider, sugar beets, etc., and in the study of the insoluble carbohydrates of the feeds used in connection with the respiration calorimeter, and was especially impressed with the importance of research relating t o the carbohydrates. The next two years, therefore, were devoted to this subject at the University of Gôttingen. His most noteworthy work there was the study of the insoluble carbohydrates of corn pith which formed the basis of his inaugural dissertation. In 1902 he received the degree of Ph.D. in Gôttingen, and the same year was appointed research chemist of the Louisiana State Sugar Experiment Station, then located in New Orleans, which position he held until 1906. Here he studied both the soluble and insoluble carbohydrates of the sugar cane and gave much attention to rice bran, especially with reference to the rancidity and utilization of its oil. Browne was chief of the Sugar Laboratory of the United States Bureau of Chemistry in 1906 and 1907, and was chemist in charge of the New York Sugar Trade Laboratory from 1907 to 1923. In the latter position Browne's primary responsibility was the management of a ceaseless flow of routine work. He so organized it, however, that his time and energy were chiefly devoted to research, which extended over the entire field of the chemistry, production, and storage of sugar, and contributed much to the available information on the subject. His 431
work on the cause and prevention of the decomposition of raw sugar during storage was of exceptional scientific interest and of great value t o the industry. His interest in this work was so great and his relations with all with whom he came in contact so pleasant that it was with the greatest regret that he severed his connection with the Sugar Trade Laboratory in 1923 to become chief of the Bureau of Chemistry of the United States Department of Agriculture. In accepting this position he looked forward to an opportunity for a broad range of research in agricultural chemistry. He hoped so t o organize the work of the bureau that he would be able t o give his personal attention to its research problems, rather than its executive and routine work. In this he was not so successful as he had hoped, for he found it necessary to give much more of his personal attention to the executive work of the bureau than he desired. Nevertheless, he was able to enter actively into the whole range of research work of the bureau and contributed largely to its planning and development. In 1927, when the reorganization of the Department of Agriculture combined the Bureau of Chemistry and the Bureau of Soils, Browne wished to be relieved of the administrative duties which he felt had interfered with the field of work in which he was chiefly interested and for which he was particularly qualified, and he refused the position of chief of the combined Bureau of Chemistry and Soils which was tendered him. He did accept the position of acting chief of the bureau until a permanent chief was appointed, after which he became assistant chief of the bureau and chief of Chemical and Technological Research of the Bureau of Chemistry and Soils, which position he retained until 1935. Then, at his urgent request, he gave up that office in order that he might be still further freed of administrative work and was appointed supervisor of chemical research. While in the Pennsylvania Experiment Station, Browne began a series of contributions to the literature of chemistry which has continued with increasing frequency to the present time. His articles have appeared for the most part in the journals
of
the
AMERICAN
CHEMICAL
SOCIETY, but many of them have been printed in a wide range of other publications. During this period his original papers were related to the chemistry of agricultural products, particularly the apple and its products, the analysis of feeding stuffs, and the chemical composition of butter fat, with special reference t o its rancidity. The reports of his researches on sugar, which began in his early days in the Sugar Trade Laboratory and extend to the resent time, are an important part of the literature of carbohydrates. While in that laboratory, also, he published his "Handbook of Sugar Analysis" and his "Sugar Tables for Laboratory Use." Since his connection with the Bureau of Chemistry, his writings have covered a much broader field. His articles on the history of chemistry, begun while at the New York Sugar Trade Laboratory, have greatly increased in frequency and he has long been recognized as the foremost • writer on the subject in this country. Some of his historical treatises, as for instance, "The Early History of Chemical
p
432
INDUSTRIAL A N D ENGINEERING
Industry in America" and "Chronological Table of Some Leading Events in the History of Industrial Chemistry in America from the Earliest Colonial Settlements until the Outbreak of the World War," are t h e result of laborious study and research. Others, such as "Adulteration and Condition of Analytical Chemistry among the Ancients'' and "Alchemy in Old N e w York," explore quaint and interesting nooks of the past that have been overlooked by others. In the original Journal of the Expedition of Lewis and Clarke, Browne found evidence that the eye soreness reported in the Chopunnish or Nez Percés Indians was due t o the lack of vitamin A in the roots on which they subsisted. His metrical translation of "The Poem of the Philosopher Theophrastos upon the Sacred Art" with the accompanying comments upon his history of alchemy is in a class by itself. During the same period he commenced, and is still presenting, a series of articles and addresses in which he embodies a critical discussion of the interrelationship of different fields of chemistry and the chemistry of different countries. These treatises were possible only because of Browne's wide travels throughout the countries of both hemispheres, as well as his diligent and omnivorous reading. They are numerous and diverse in character, but among them may be mentioned "Relation of Early Chemistry in America t o Medicine," "The Sugar Industry of the Philippines and Hawaiian Islands," and "The Essential Oil Industry of Foreign Lands." H e has also taken an active part in the educational and historical sections of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL S O -
CIETY and has contributed substantially to t h e literature relative t o chemical education, a s for instance, "Chemical Education in America," and "American Influence o n Chemical Research and Education in the Near East." This brief sketch of how Browne came t o be a chemist and what he has achieved in the field of chemistry fails far short of giving a real measure of the man. In his character are combined traits and qualities that would seem t o be contradictory. He is a specialist but endowed with versatility, combining an intimate knowledge of such widely separated fields as world history, world literature, mathematics, Latin and Greek, geology, soil types, the nature of vegetation, and a true appreciation of art. H e has a keen sense of humor and is a good raconteur without ever becoming tedious. He is a bookworm without being bookish. He is an organizer without a liking for executive work. He has an encyclopedic memory, but a memory whose accumulation of data does not interfere with his imaginative and accurate thinking. He is modest, self-effacing, but with a personality that a t once commands respect and confidence. AS a young man he made lasting friendships with the then leaders of his profession; as one of the older men in the profession he now enjoys the friendship and high regard of those just entering upon their careers. He rests from one task chiefly by working at another. He has been "busy all his life, but his latchstring is always"out. He imparts a tremendous personal stimulation to his associates in their attacks on their problems, and he spares no effort t o secure information that others may seek from him in personal calls or by correspondence. The young chemist just beginning his first piece of research and the chemist who has taken up t h e final study of the results of research which he plans shall be his last receive from Browne the same interested, kindly, helpful consideration. W. D. BIGELOW
CHEMISTRY
Personalia A L A N R. ALBRIGHT has resigned from the
VOL. 14, NO. 21
University and is now a research chem ist with the Esso Laboratories of the Standard Oil Development Co., Eliza beth, N . J. AKSEL G. OLSEN, for the last three years director of research and chief chemist for Walter Baker Co., Inc., has returned t o his former position as research chemist for the General Foods Corp., Battle Creek, Mich., where he will resume re search on pectin and other colloids.
Coal Research Laboratory, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh, to accept a position as chief chemist for the Two-In-One, Shinola, Bixby Corp., a subsidiary of Gold Dust Corp., at Indianapolis, Ind. FRANK A. PATTY has accepted a position W. E. BRADT, until September 1 assistant as chief chemist for The Fidelity and professor of chemistry at the State Casualty Co. of New York, New York. College of Washington, is now profes. N . Y., where he expects to be engaged in sor of chemistry and head of the Deboth research and control work in the partment of Chemistry and Chemical field of industrial hygiene. H e was Engineering at the University of Maine, formerly chemist in charge of the Gas Orono, Maine. Mask and Respirators Laboratory of the U. S. Bureau of Mines, Pittsburgh, Pa. J. S. BROWN is now an assistant in the Development Department, Fisher ScienA. G. RUSSELL has left the Chemical Re tific Co.. Pittsburgh, Pa. H e was search Department of the Bell Tele formerly connected with the Mellon phone Laboratories t o become engineer Institute and the Pittsburgh Laboratory of the Manufacture Department of the of the U. S. Bureau of Mines. Western Electric Co., Hawthorne Plant, Chicago, 111. A. R. ELLIS, who has been associated with the Pittsburgh Testing Laboratory in H. W. STIEGLER has assumed his duties various capacities since his graduation as head of the Textile Division, Ameri from Cornell University in 1905, has can Cyanamid Co., Boston Post Road, been elected president of the laboratory. Stamford, Conn. FRANK MALCOLM FARMER, vice president
and chief engineer of the Electrical Testing Laboratories, New York, Ν. Υ., has been elected chairman of the Engi neering Foundation, research organiza tion of the national engineering socie ties. R. H. GOSHORN, who is a candidate for the
Ph.D. degree in chemistry at Purdue University as of June, 1937, was re cently employed a s research chemist for the Sharpies Solvents Corp., Wyan dotte, Mich. ERWIN M. HATTOX, who recently received
the Ph.D. degree in chemistry from Pur due University, has accepted a position as research chemist with the Standard Oil Co. of Louisiana at Baton Rouge. G. E. HINDS, who recently received the Ph.D. degree in chemistry from Purdue University, has accepted a position as research chemist at the Sharpies Sol vents Corp., Wyandotte, Mich. Dr. Hinds was a research fellow with the Purdue Research Foundation. HENRY
METCALF
HOBART,
consulting
engineer of the General Electric Co., Schenectady, Ν . Υ., has been awarded the Samuel Wylie Miller Memorial Medal of the American Welding Society as "pioneer and leader in a welding re search movement which in nineteen years has spread t o the far corners of the world and vitally affected in dustry." HAROLD G. HOULTON, formerly a teach
ing fellow in chemistry at the University of Washington, Seattle, Wash., is now associated with the chemical research division of the Procter & Gamble Co., Ivorydale, Ohio K E N N E T H JOHNSON, S. B. LIPPINCOTT, and
Β. Μ. VANDERBILT, who are candidates
for the Ph.D. degree in chemistry at Purdue University as of June, 1937, have accepted positions as research chemists with The Commercial Solvents Corp., Terre Haute, Ind. A.
LINCOLN
KONWISER,
treasurer
and
chief chemist of the C. F. Kirk Co., Bloomfield, N. J., and a member of the AMERICAN
CHEMICAL
SOCIETY
since
1907, has just celebrated his twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. RICHARD N. M E I N E R T has resigned his in-
structorship in chemistry
at Brown
FREDERICK K. WATSON, after receiving
his P h . D . degree from the Massa chusetts Institute of Technology, has begun work as a research chemist at the Experimental Station, E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc., Wilming ton, Del. WILLIAM P. Y A N T , since 1931 supervising
engineer of the Pittsburgh Station of the U. S. Bureau of Mines and chief chemist of the Health Division, Health and Safety Branch, has been appointed di rector of research of the Mine Safety Appliances Co., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Foster D . Snell, I n c . , Opens Baltimore Branch
Fopening of a Baltimore branch, both office and laboratory, at 215 North Cal OSTER D . SNELL, I N C . , announces
the
vert St., Baltimore, Md. For the present this branch will be under the direction of Theodore M. Miller, for some time in the Brooklyn laboratories of Foster D . Snell, Inc., but who, because of residence in Baltimore, is familiar with business con ditions and methods there. Every form of chemical service is to be rendered by the Baltimore branch by close liaison with the Brooklyn labora tories The main activities are expected to be food analysis and grading, food re search, and industrial and research services to manufacturers in Baltimore and vi cinity. Personnel Changes a t O. S. U . HE Department of Chemistry of The T Ohio State University announces the following additions to its faculty: assist ant professor, LAURENCE L. QUILL, for
merly instructor and associate in chemis try, University of Illinois; instructor, ALFRED B. GARRETT, formerly assistant
professor of chemistry, Kent State Uni vers ity, Kent, Ohio; instructor, JOHN P. HOWE, Ph.D. Brown University, 1936; instructor, W M . M A C N E V I N , Ph.D. Uni versity of Minnesota, 1936; instructor, MELVIN S. NEWMAN,
Harvard University, structor,
FRANK
Eli Lilly
1934-36;
H. VERHOEK,
Fellow,
and in Rhodes
Scholar, Institute for Chemical Physics, Copenhagen, 1935-36.
