T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING C H E M I S T R Y .
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for analysis monthly samples throughout the .year from the Columbia and Willamette rivers. As the composition of these waters has not been recorded so far as known by us, the following analyses made by Mr. B. Pilkington of this department may be of interest. The Willamette sample was collected at Corvallis July 18, 1909; the Columbia water was taken August 6 , 1909, at Mayger, Oregon, a point about fifty miles above the river’s mouth. The Willamette at the time of sampling stood 1.7 feet, and the Columbia 9.1 feet above low water.
-
Columbia. Parts per million.
Per cent. of total solids.
Parts per million.
16 4 5 5 5.5 0.08 8 7 2 5 4.0 4.1 0.42 2.4
31.66 10.62 10 62 0.15 16.80 4.83 7.72 7.91 0.81 4.63
1.1 4.7 4.4 0.08 3.8 1 .o 4.9 2.8 0.52 12.1
3 .OS 13.13 12.29 0.22 10.61 2.79 13.69 7.82 1.45 33.80
-
4.25
-
0.4
-
100 00
35.8
100.00
COa..
........
P01..
........
sod.. ........ c1 .......... Ca. ..........
Mg ........... Na
........... ......... S i 0 2 .......... Ab% Fez93.. ....... 2.2 Total.. ..... 5 1 . 8 K ............ “4.
Willamette. Per cent. of total solids.
1.12
The Columbia water is seen t o be relatively rich in carbonate of lime obtained no doubt from its upper course where lime formations are found. The soil of the Willamette Valley, on the other hand, contains only traces of carbonates, which is reflected in the low content of carbonates in the Willamette water. The tributaries of the Willamette are generally high in silica. The ammonium in the samples was calculated from the value for total nitrogen. C. E. BRADLEY. AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, CORVALLIS,OREGON.
BOOK REVIEWS AND NOTICES. Reports of the Chemical Laboratory of the American Medical Association. Vol. I . From its establishment to Jan. I , 1909. Vol. 2, Jan. to Dec. 1909. Reprint of the Reports of the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry of the American Medical Association with the comments that appeared in THE JOURNAL during 1905-8, Vol. I , and 1909, Vol. 2. Published by THE AMERICAN MEDICAC ASSOCIATION.
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I n no other country are there more drugs and medicines consumed per capita than this. Also nowhere else has the sale of patent medicines and proprietaries assumed such tremendous proportions, resulting largely from the extravagant claims. I n order to protect the public as well as the medical practitioner from this avalanche of medicines, the American Medical Association appointed i n 1906 a committee known a s the Council of Medicine and Pharmacy, aided by its chemical laboratory of which Prof. Puckner is the director. ‘She duty of this committee is to examine all remedies applying for recognition before the medical profession, rejecting such as make fraudulent claims a s to origin, unwarranted or misleading therapeutic claims, secrecy as to composition, or objectionable advertising, etc. The Reports of the Chemical Laboratory, serve to give in concise form, the various methods employed in the analysis of the preparations submitted. These afford much valuable information to the general analyst not obtainable elsewhere. The Reports of the Council represent the results of the scientific investigations including all clinical and pharmacologic data a s well as comments. Among these, the reports on Medicinal
June, 1910
Foods, Diastase Ferments, Formaldehyd Derivatives (Vol. I), Isopral and Bromural, show a n immense amount of painstaking labor on the part of the chemist and pharmacologist. I n this connection attention is called to the “New and Non-Official Remedies,” a volume of 256 p. which gives descriptions and tests of all remedies recognized up t o June.1, ’IO. To give the reader a n insight into the kind and variety of work accomplished, a few instances may be cited. An example of a misleading label is “Tyree’s Antiseptic Powder” which states it to contain, borax, alum, phenol, glycerol, thymol, eucalyptol, gaultheria and mefitha (?), was found to consist essentially of zinc sulfate and boric acid with traces of phenol. Thialion a “ sodio-trilithic anhydrosulphate” of formula 3Li20.Na0.S0,.7H0 was found to consist of a mixture of sodium sulphate and citrate with small quantity of lithium citrate. The need of a n invasion into the field of galenicals, is illustrated by the results of a n examination of unofficial non-alcoholic fluid extracts of Hydrastis (Golden Seal). Preparations of this drug are extensively used, and the selling price varies between $1.25 and $4.50 per pound, although all are claimed to be of same strength. Assays demonstrated the yield to be between 0.58 and 1.79 grams of hydrastin per IOO cc., while the Pharmacopoeia standard demands 2 grams alkaloid per IOO cc. Worth careful study are the methods recommended for assay of Phenol, Hexamethylene Tetramine, Castor Oil in Powder form, Croton in Castor Oil, Mercury and Iodin i n Mayer’s Reagent, Pepsin and Bismuth Preparations, etc. (Lab. Reports). We note the melting point of urotropin is given a t 1g4.200~. On page 35, Vol. 2 , Laboratory Reports, we note that the presence of bismuth sulphid is based on the conclusion that hydrogen sulphid is given off upon the addition of hydrochloric acid to a mixture containing bismuth sulphonate, zinc oxid, etc., the operator not having noted the presence of ultramarine blue added as color corrigent. Under Medicinal Foods (Peptonoids, Predigested Beefs, Panopeptone, etc.), none are approved that contain less nutritive value than milk, and a t least 1/4 of the value shall reside in the nitrogenous matter. Such legitimate pharmaceuticals as Taka-Diastase, Maltzyme, Holadin, etc., come in for their share of criticism in that grossly exaggerated claims are made, further that “ t o be of value, statements regarding the digestive power of diastase should be based on standard and uniform methods of testing.” The Council has adopted methods of its own against.the vigorous protests of some of our largest manufacturers in this line. In adopting standard methods, i t would be no more than just and reasonable, t h a t manufacturers who have devoted their entire time to the study of such products be consulted and their methods given a fair trial. It is through such cooperation and study, t h a t a uniformity of methods is secured in conjunction with the good mill of firms whose integrity and experience is beyond question. We must realize that errors of judgment and experiment are possible under all conditions, and where a policy of “control” is to be exercised by a body of analysts and clinicians, the greatest care should be exercised i n formulating standards, Analysts may differ and clinicians usually differ, since therapeutics is not a s yet a n exact science. The judgment of those whose field lies within a special line should never be ignored. Nothing is gained by a “hammer and tongs” policy (perhaps necessary in patent medicine line), when applied towards legitimate manufacturers, they are amenable * t o reason, but once antagonized, their united opposition may sometime overthrow all the good that has been and will be accomplished by the Council. V. COBLENTZ. Fungus Diseases of Plants. BY BENJAMINMINCE DUGGAR. 508 pp. Ill. Boston, Ginn & Co. 1909. Cloth. 8vo. XI1 This book is based principally upon the investigations of the
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RECENT INVENTIONS. past thirty years on the fungus diseases of plants’and i t is the only work of American origin available to the student on the subject. I n plan and execution the work is excellent. The contribution of chemists to the subject lies principally i n the methods of disease control by the use of fungicides. It would appear that there is a n immense field here for the investigator. At present the use of fungicides is based entirely upon empirical knowledge, and i t is probably true that it is based largely upon information accidently acquired. Systematic investigation on the many possible fungicides is but beginning. I t goes without saying that the work will be found of value to mycologists and i t would also prove of value to the chemist working in this field. The book is well bound, printed and illustrated and typographical errors are few.
I
The University, of Illinois, Engineering Experiment Station, has just issued three bulletins of great interest to students and users of fuel. BUZZ. 37, Unit Coal and the Composition of Coal Ash, by S. 1%’. Parr and W. F. Wheeler; BUZZ. 38, The Weathering of Coal (series of 1909)S. W. Parr and W. F. Wheeler; Bull. 39, Tests of Washed Grades of Illinois Coal, by C. S. McGovney. The titles of these bulletins indicate the ground covered and the reputations of the authors will speak for the quality of the contents. From the University of Wisconsin comes Bull. 346, on the subject of Alloys of Nickel and Copper with Electrolytic Iron, by Chas. F. Burgess and Jas. Ashton. This is a valuable contribution to the literature on binary alloys of iron with the common metals-a fruitful field for the student, which has not received a s much attention as it deserves.
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in most respects, has handled his subject impartially and with a scientific spirit. The style in which the book is written is excellent and it will undoubtedly have the large circulation which i t deserves. CLIFFORDRICHARDSON.
R E C E N T INVENTIONS. The following patents relating to Industrial and Engineering Chemistry are reported by C. L. Parker, Solicitor of Chemical Patents, hIcGill Building 008 G S t . , N. W., Washington. D. C.‘ Only a few patents which are deemed of greatest importance are abstracted in this department. Abstracts of all patents appear regularly in Chemical Abstracts, to which publication the reader is referred.
Process of Producing Hydrocyanic Acid. 0. DIEFA N D W. MOLDENHAUER, Darmstadt, Germany, April 5, 1910. It is well known that hydsocyanic acid can be produced by passing a mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen over highly heated carbon, and recent experiments have, moreover, demonstrated that a proportional yield as high as 35 per cent. can be obtained at temperatures of about 35000’ C. For the industrial application of this process a cheap and simple method of producing the necessary nitrogen-hydrogen mixture is of importance. Since the production of pure nitrogen and hydrogen, by whatever method attained, involves considerable expense, the question arises whether the mixtures of the same with carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide, which can be cheaply and easily produced commercially, are suitable for the purpose in view. From the theoretical standpoint, i t would appear that the possibility of so applying these mixtures 954,080.
FENBACH
Dust Preventives and Road Binders. BY PREVOST HUBBARD, 416 pps. illustr. $3.00 New York, Wiley & Eons, Octavo vi
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net. Although at first thought i t would seem t o one who has been connected with the construction of highways for many years that the present is hardly the time to write a book on the subject which Mr. Hubbard has selected, in view of the fact that i t is still in a highly experimental and transitional state, the author has assembled in a very satisfactory way many data, some original with him and more taken from the publications of others, in regard to various materials employed at the present time as dust preventives and road binders and as to their preparation and use, all of which will prove of great value for reference to many engineers and public officials whQ are constructing and endeavoring to improve the character of our highways. H e has also presented some of the conclusions bearing on the application of these materials, which have been arrived a t in the Office of Public Roads of the United States Department of Agriculture during recent years which, although many of them available in the bulletins of that office, are justifiably republished for general use. Mr. Hubbard’s chapter on “The Examination of Bituminous Road Materials and Interpretation of Results” will be acceptable to the numerous chemists who are taking u p such work for the first time, a s is now frequently the case, and will prove of interest t o the more expert operators. Where the author advances opinions as t o the merits of various materials, he hardly seems justified in all his statements in view of the fact that service tests, from which the only satisfactory conclusions can be drawn, have not extended over a sufficiently long period to lead to anything definite. Undoubtedly many of the statements involving mere opinion, which the book contains, will necessarily require modification in the future, but a s a whole the book has a present usefulness which commends it. Mr. Hubbard has wisely avoided the use of trade names and
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