THE CHEMICAL WORLD THIS WEEK centrates the spent acid solution by evap oration, then converts ferrous sulfate to ferrous chloride by adsorption of hydrogen chloride. The precipitated ferrous chloride is removed by centrifuging. The regener ated sulfuric acid is returned without fur ther processing to the pickling line, the ferrous chloride is roasted to produce hy drogen chloride for recycling to the proc ess, and iron oxide is produced as a by product. Blaw -Knox says that complete facilities to process spent pickle liquor in a plant using 10,000 tons of sulfuric acid per year would cost about $500,000. Freeze-Drying Process Gives D e h y d r a t e d Steaks Dehydrated steaks which, according to food technologists at the University of California's Davis campus, taste very much like fresh meat after it is cooked may become a reality for troups, hikers, and mountain climbers. Moisture is re moved from frozen meat with heat under vacuum—the so called "freeze-drying" process used extensively for drying blood plasma. The dehydrated steaks are dunked in water and cooked like fresh meat. They weigh about one fourth as much as fresh meat, have much the same color, and have
DOWN GO PRESSURES W i t h the Eimac H V - 1 highvacuum pump pressures i n t h e order of 4 χ 10-7 m m of mercury a r e assured, a t production
speed
and
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labo
ratory accuracy. The many
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features of this oil-diffusion type pump have m a d e t h e choice
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gists...consider it f o r y o u r applications. C o m p r e h e n
suffered no loss of nutrients. Still un solved is the problem of long-time storage, however, and samples now under study must be refrigerated. The researchers are working toward a product that will not require refrigeration. The U. S. Army Quartermaster corps is supplying funds for the research. Eye Damage From A t o m Bomb Radiation Found Slight A small percentage of those found suffering radiation cataracts from the atom bomb explosions over Hiroshima and Nagasaki show an incorrectible loss of vision. Of 154 cases of cataracts confirmed by examinations with the ophthalmoscope, all but 25 still have normal vision either without or corrected by glasses. The findings were made by Robert M. Sinskey, National Research Council, who recently completed a two-year study of atom bomb survivors in Japan.
RESEARCH H y d r o c a r b o n Data O n IBM C a r d s
Available
Hydrocarbon data compiled by the American Petroleum Institute is now avail able on IBM cards. The central agency for hydrocarbon compilation, API Research Project 44, has its staff at Carnegie Insti tute of Technology. Revised, up to the minute data on physi cal and thermodynamic properties of hy drocarbons extant from API tables from 1942 through June 30, 1952, covers 935 chemicals, largely hydrocarbons but some oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur compounds, and includes more than 110,000 numeri cal entries. For quick scanning of informa tion, IBM cards carry a two line printed interpretation and may be purchased in complete sets of 35,905 cards only for $359.05. Information may be obtained from Frederick D. Rossini, Carnegie Institute of Technology, American Petroleum Institute Research Laboratory, Pittsburgh, Penn sylvania.
sive technical d a t a w i l l b e sent on request.
G e n e r a l Foods Offers New Research Fellowships
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WHITE
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General Foods Corp. has extended its Research Fellowship and Grants-in-Aid Program for food research in universities and other research laboratories. Research activities on the cold sterilization of foods, spray drying engineering, agricultural trace elements and structural design of cartons at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Institute of Ρ e r Chemistry, the univer sities of New Hampshire and Wisconsin, and Iowa State College are being aided by the fund increase, according to Roy H. Walters, General Food's director of re search and development. CHEMICAL
EDUCATION British Scientific Review Fosters Essay Contest Imperial Chemical Industries Limited, publishers of the quarterly scientific review Endeavor, are offering the sum of 100 guineas as prizes for essays on science. First prize will be 50 guineas; second, 25 guineas; third, 15 guineas; and two prizes of five guineas for competitors who have not passed their eighteenth birthday by June 1, 1953. Competition is restricted to those whose twenty-fifth birthday falls on or after June 1, 1953, also the latest date for receipt of entries. Essay topics are: Radio-Astronomy, Color and Chemistry, Biology in World Affairs, Science and Safety in Transport, Science and Art, Scientific Contributions to Medicine, Scientific Societies and Their Role, Power and Civilization. The purpose of the contest is to interest young scientists in the work of the British Association for Advancement of Science which is holding a meeting in Liverpool, September 2-9, and also to raise the literary standard of scientific writing. Suc cessful competitors will be invited to the Association's Liverpool meeting where the prizes will be presented, and t h e first prize winning essay will be published in Ad vancement of Science, journal of the British Association. For further information write to Assist ant Secretary of the British Association, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W.l.
Education Notes
. . .
"Enzymes and Regulators of Carbo hydrate Metabolism" was the subject of seven Silliman lectures, March 19—27, at Yale University, given by Carl F. Cori, professor of pharmacology and bio chemistry, school of medicine, Washington University. Andre J. Quinier of the National Con servatory of Paris delivered the 1953 Robert S. Williams lectures on "Precipita tion Phenomena in Supersaturated Alloys" and "Recent Progress in X-ray Crystal lography" in the department of metal lurgy, Massachusetts Institute of Technol ogy, March 10-12. Lectures were avail able to the public. Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn an nounces its tenth annual series of gradu ate laboratory courses in applied physics. Topics are: Industrial Application of X-ray Diffraction, June 1-12; Weight and Shape of Macromolecules in Solution, July 27—31; and Progress in Polymerization and Copolymerization Techniques, August 3—7. Address inquiries to I. Fankuchen, Divi sion of Applied Physics, Polytechnic In stitute of Brooklyn, 85 Livingston St., Brooklyn 1, New York. AND
ENGINEERING
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