Vol. 22, No. 11
Drought and Health HE present year will be memorable in many parts of the United States for its extreme heat and drought. Some of our greatest centers of population are in the areas affected, and few communities over great sections of the country have felt free to call upon their water supplies without restrirtion. The old saying “you never miss the water till the well runs dry” has been emphasized the past summer, and manv have awakened for the first time to the realization that water is one of the important irreplaceable natural resources. Leaving industry out of consideration, we mention the more important relations of water to our modern ways of living. First, there is the supply of domestic water, over which chemistry and sanitation stand guard. We have come to know that a pure water supply must be had a t all costs. Second is the place of water in the problem of sewage disposal. Both these requirements are accentuated because we insist upon getting together in large communities, whereby our living becomes more complex, and the arising problems more difficult to manage. Add to this the part rainfall plays in preventing dust, and we begin to appreciate the possibilities where water supply falls below a comfortable volume to insure domestic water without overtreatment, sewage disposal Rith safety, and the prevention of a wider distribution of harmful bacteria by wind-driven dust. It is not our purpose to cause alarm but to emphasize the work which may lie immediately ahead for chemistry as applied in the manufacture of reagents, so important in putting down any epidemic. To mention a few-acetophenacetin, guaiacol, aspirin, hexylresorcinol, phenol, and or1,hophenylphenol. Fortunately we are well equipped to produce these materials, prepared to distribute them quickly, and it only remains to determine what must be in readiness. There is reason to believe that the retail stocks of the above and other compounds are low. It is not likely that either wholesale or manufacturers’ stocks are in much better position. At the suggestion of George W. Merck, representatives of the Manufacturing Chemists’ Association have been in conference with the Surgeon General, and steps are being taken through proper federal channels to ascertain the true situation. Unusual care will be exercised in stamping out epidemics, should they appear, but means must be provided for their prevention. This includes proper attention to diet-a matter already broadcast by the authorities. It is in the rural communities where the greatest vigilance should be exercised. I n many of these the relation of water to crops is understood far better than its relation to health and sanitation. Here some of the newer compounds, such as orthophenylphenol, may prove of inestimable value for use about barnyards and stables. A village should also be watched as carefully as the individual farm. R e may be spared epidemics; we all hope so. Should they materialize, however, i t is proposed to have the chemical and pharmaceutical industry mobilized in advance, and there is no greater service that chemistry could perform.
November 1, 1930
Helium for Peace
A YEAR or so ago when British interests succeeded in acquiring properties which gave them a virtual monopoly of the world’s nickel production, it was announced that the principal use of this control would be to help maintain the peace of the world, since nickel is one of the strategic military resources. The thought was applauded, for who today is not seriously concerned with the maintenance of world peace? The United States is in an enviable position in controlling what appears to be a practical world monopoly of helium. Back in war days, when the Bureau of Mines began its work, no one dreamed that we should presently reach the place where new uses for helium would be sought by commercial firms or where there would be sufficient helium a t low cost to think of using it generously for commercial aviation. Indeed, it was recognized as so important in future military operations that laws were enacted to regulate exportation. Under this legislation requests must be made to the Secretary of Commerce, who in turn obtains the favorable recommendations of the Secretaries of War and Kavy, whereupon each specific request with recommendations is laid before the President of the United States, who has authority to deny or grant it. After the close of hostilities it will be remembered that more than one European aeronautical expert visited the United States and some of them were quite outspoken against the exclusive use of helium in lighter-than-air craft. The greater lifting power of hydrogen, its cheapness, the ease with which it can be generated when and where wanted, the greater latitude in valving it to the atmosphere where the manipulation of a ship requires it-all were stressed t o the disadvantage of helium in operation. Then came the series of experiments leading to condensers to enable the weight of the ship to be maintained, notwithstanding the loss of fuel through combustion. After arguing the question around many a table and even in the press, Admiral Moffett and others reached the wise conclusion that dirigibles of the United States, if they flew a t all, would be inflated with the non-explosive, non-inflammable helium. How wise this decision was has been emphasized by subsequent events. The loss of the Shenundoah in a storm of cyclonic proportions was not accompanied by fire or explosion. On the other hand, the whole world has been shocked by the terrible loss of life which has accompanied the destruction of certain other dirigibles by fire or explosion. As there is no law against the exportation of helium, merely certain well-defined regulations to be met, why has not more helium been exported? We are informed that during the past three years not more than 300,000 cubic feet have left our shores. Requests have been denied only where insufficient information was supplied by the applicant concerning destination of the shipments, the use to which the gas was to be put, and the amount to be exported. Those who would export helium have felt hampered because of the
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delay incident to obtaining permission and the sales handicap which comes in offering for sale a commodity which, when the order is finally obtained, may not be deliverable. Undoubtedly the aeronautical experts of other countries still number many who actually prefer hydrogen, because of its greater lifting power, and are willing to take their chances. Another obstacle is the cost of helium delivered in Europe, which would approximate sixty dollars per thousand cubic feet, including transportation and 730 pounds of containers. The annual supply required to make up losses and repurification are other deterring factors. The disaster to the R-101 aroused the deep sympathies of the world, and has given rise again to the discussion of helium export. Surely so long as our own aerial program is not restricted and our supplies are kept a t a maximum for defense, there can be no objection to the exportation of helium for peace-time and commercial uses. The plant operated by the Bureau of Mines a t Amarillo is believed to be capable of supplying our immediate requirements a t home. The exportation of helium should not be undertaken by the Government, but if a demand for the gas develops it should be met by helium produced by commercial concerns. This would enable these firms to continue their developments and operations independent of government orders and would leave the federal field to the Amarillo plant. I n addition, we would then have fully developed commercial facilities available to supplement federal resources should an emergency arise, Such a policy not only would seem to be favorable to the defense of the United States, should defense be necessary, but would greatly aid in the development of commercial aviation by dirigibles without the frightful hazard necessarily present xherever great quantities of hydrogen are employed. The disasters which have been all too numerous have not shaken confidence in the ultimate usefulness of lighter-than-air craft. They have, however, served to show us how fortunate we are in possessing helium and how great a factor it can be made for the maintenance of peace.
The Sport of Kings I N AX address a t the dedication of the new college for men of the University of Rochester, the Secretary of the Interior, himself a noted educator, described the growth of endowed educational institutions in the United States as a new sport of kings. Horse racing affords excitement as well as an outlet for surplus cash but, as some philosopher has remarked, the outcome is never really in doubt, for in the vast majority of cases, as is to be expected, one horse is a little faster than another. While horse racing is still popular in many quarters, the financial kings of the modern time have turned in considerable numbers to a new sport, no less exciting, no less costly, but far more certain in its constructive contribution. To endeavor to list those whose financial support has made possible the great chain of endowed institutions back and forth across our country might take the pages of an issue. Wherever this is read there will spring to mind a dozen, fifty, a hundred names of men and women who have taken from their surplus generous and substantial sums to endow their particular unit in the field of education, that better facilities in faculty and physical equipment may be available. The real competition is not between these institutions per se, but between their products. If uncertainty in the outcome of a competition is what gives it zest, then surely we have it here in great measure. It takes years to prove whether the investment is fully justified. The attainments of the individuals who have taken advantage of what is offered are the criteria.
VOl. 22, KO.11
Go about any of the academic institutions, whether they be those like Rochester, Duke, Chicago, the new downtown campus of Northwestern, the “white” campus at LIissouri, or Leland Stanford Junior which in a sense have been complete and ready-made, or go t o schools that have grown more slowly through the years. Regardless of the size, you will find buildings inscribed with the names of those who have indulged in this new sport of kings. It must be a satisfactory type of sport; otherwise its indulgence would not be so universal nor its cultivation proceeding on an ever-widening scale. The race is already on, gentlemen, but there is still time ‘and opportunity to place bets.
“The New Oil Scandal” F LATE considerable space has been given in some sections of the daily press to a discussion of ‘%henation’s new oil scandal,” in which headlines alIege the people of the United States have been victims to the extent of not less than twenty billion dollars. The startling disclosures all center around the oil shale deposits and their exploitation. But in view of technical developments of the last few years, the statements appear to be gross exaggerations, and the danger is that some clever individual will see an opportunity for promotion and stock sales which will have no justification in basic economics. There is no difference of opinion as to the extent of our oil shale deposits, nor of their oil content, and perhaps authorities might even agree as to the quantity of fuels and lubricants that can be procured by one process or another from these shales. The experienced technologist will immediately see in the situation a repetition of what he has frequently seen before-namely, you can do what is proposed so far as technology is concerned, but can you do it economically? Can you do it and pay a modest return on the investment? Can you do it and compete with other sources for the same final products? There was a time when it seemed that in the very near future we should have to begin to work the oil shales and suffer the consequences, even though they are far removed from the greatest centers of consumption and their treatment involves handling a quantity of shale which seems large in proportion to the yield. Since then, however, a great deal has been learned about the better utilization of the more readily available crude oil. Also advances have been made in the absorption and other methods of separating gasoline and the like from natural gas and from casinghead gas. Our readers scarcely need to be reminded of the progress in cracking and more recently in hydrogenation. Notwithstanding the predictions of early famine, we find ourselves with a surplus of gasoline and in a position to increase its yield from a given volume of crude just as rapidly as the demand or, to put it in another way, the economics justifies or makes attractive. There is a sound basis for the view that our known deposits of bituminous coal will be drawn upon for motor fuels before we go to oil shale. I n other words, the oil shales are valuable because of the future and should be regarded in that light. The investor attracted to oil shales should have in mind an estate for his grandchildren, or perhaps his great-grandchildren, and not an income for his wife. KO one can properly say, therefore, that the shales today are worth any particular sum. The advance of science and technology has postponed their utilization to such a distant date that events in the interim may find the shales of no greater value than they are today, or they may be of a value too great t o be predicted.
