Apr., 1920
T H E J O U R N A L O F I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N GIN E E RI N G C H E M I S T R Y
the published price. No established dealer or importer will undertake to purchase books in this manner for American clients on account of the penalty of being excluded from all further purchases from any of the members of the German PubVshers Association a t Leipzig if discovered. A notice sent out by the Leipzig Association on January 1 5 , 1920, states that government cooperation in this matter has been sought, but it is not clear that the government is actually a party to this arrangement. Certain German publishers and dealers bill their goods only in foreign money a t substantially the equivalent of price increment agreed upon by the Leipzig Association. -4 set of Liebig’s Annalen advertised by a well-known German dealer a t 14,000 Marks was sought by an American importer who cabled his Leipzig agent to purchase a t this figure. In due time reply by letter was received to the effect that the price would be 21,000 Marks. A second cable to purchase brought the belated reply that the price would be 42,000 Marks, a t which point negotiations were dropped. This may give your readers some notion of the situation and indicate that the idea of purchasing German books a t this time a t a low figure on account of the exchange rate is largely a delusion. 25 WEST 43rd STREET B. T. BROOKS N E W YORK,N Y . March 2, 1920
CHEMICAL MARKET IN INDIA Editor of the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry: In one of your more recent issues, as I recall, you requested your readers to send in notes which might be of some interest to the rest of the subscribers to your magazine. It has recently fallen to my lot to purchase, or at least try to purchase, chemicals and chemical apparatus. The situation as I find it is that the country has but few houses supplying these things and, due to the war, low stocks. What we do get is Japanese and though these goods had a clear field they have failed utterly to capture the trade or gain the confidence of the Indian manufacturers and the buyers in the many colleges here. Just now supply houses are offering the remnants of their pre-war stocks of German goods, which are being bought in preference to Japanese goods. This is true of many kinds of buyers. I t occurs to me, therefore, that this country offers a peculiarly good place for American goods. I am constantly being asked the names of factories producing this or that thing of a chemical nature and it would seem to me that with the desire of the Indian purchaser t o obtain American material some of our factories might well try to place their articles here. Thus far, needless to say, one cannot get an American chemical or piece of apparatus without importing i t himself, but he can get and will be forced to accept German or other articles unless there is greater ease of purchase of American goods than a t present. With the tremendous industrial development which India is making, and the far greater development which will be one of the not far-
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distant results of the war, this country will be a market worthy of some serious consideration, I trust that this little note may be of some interest to the manufacturers a t home. It is given for what it may be worth, but with the certain knowledge that the field is open and that American goods will receive a ready welcome here. LAHORE,INDIA HAROLD S.BENNETT January 12, 1920
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Throop College of Technology a t Pasadena, California, has recently changed its name to the California Institute of Technology, in order to denote its transformation from a college of local significance to a scientific school of national scope. The institution has recently received two gifts of $zoo,ooo each to form permanent endowments for the support of research in physics and chemistry, and a gift of $800,000 for general maintenance on condition that the new endowment be increased to a total of $2,000,000. Gifts totaling $280,000 have been received for the construction of new buildings, including an auditorium, physical and chemical laboratories, and a laboratory for aeronautical research.
CHANDLER LECTURE The Chandler Lecture will be given on April 2 7 by Dr. Willis R. Whitney a t Havemeyer Hall, Columbia University, on “The Littlest Things in Chemistry.” The Lectureship, which was inaugurated a t the time of the celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the founding of the School of Mines, in 1914, was allowed to lapse during the period of the war, and is now being reestablished.
SQUALENE: A HIGHLY UNSATURATED HYDROCARBON IN SHARK LIVER OIL-CORRECTION I n the article of the above title [THISJOURNAL, 12 ( I ~ z o ) , 63 ] the following correction should be made : Page 7 1 , 1st col., 19th line, “benzene” should be written
“benzine.” TOKYO, JAPAN
MITSUMARU TSUJIMOTO
THE DETERMINATION OF CELLULOSE IN WOODSCORRECTION In my article under the above title [THIS JOURNAL, 12 (1920), 2641 the following correction should be made: Page 267, 1st col., 12th line, “sufficient 3 per cent sodium hydroxide solution added” should read “sufficient 3 per cent sodium sulfite solution.” BERKELEY,CALIFORNIA WALTERH. DORE
SCIENTIFIC SOCIET1E.S ALL READY FOR THE ST. LOUIS MEETING
That the members of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY will
respond in legions to the invitation of our hosts of Missouri is Special Correspondence t o the JOURNALos INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY by JOHNWALKERHARRINGTON shown by the many reservations which are being made a t the
ST. LOUIS, MARCHn~-All signs indicate that the largest SOCIETY ever held will be meeting of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL that of the spring of 1920. If the enthusiasm and interest of the St. Louis Section can accomplish this alone that goal has already been reached. The St. Louisians never fail in anything which they undertake, and the members of this enterprising represent the spirit of progress western Section of our SOCIETY which has always characterized this city of leaders and pioneers.
hotels of the city. Arrangements have been made for special trains from neighboring centers, and it is expected that with the coming of April 1 2 there will be from two to three thousand chemists assembled for the sessions of the SOCIETY. Owing to the forethought of the Section in this city and of that of the University of Missouri, a t Columbia, which joins with it as host, nothing has been omitted for making the stay of the visiting delegation an experience which they will remember with delight in years to come.
