HE May-June Dupont Magazine (E. I. du Pont de TNemours & Company, Wilmington, Delaware) describes and discusses a varied array of Du Pont products, among which are rayon, nylon, military explosives, neoprene, DDT, plastics, refrigerants, tetraethyl lead, and ammonia. It is well illustrated, partly in colors. The June Crmn (Crown Cork and Seal Company, Box 1837, Baltimore 3, Maryland) bas some pictures and description of the FBI crime detection laboratory, now 12 years old. Some of the methods used are illustrated. Elsewhere is an interesting historical article, "Milk through the ages." The Hercules Chemist (Hercules Powder Company, Wilmington, Delaware) is somewhat more technical than the average trade periodical and No. 14 contains sound information on a number of Hercules products, nitrocellulose lacquers, chlorinated paraffins, pine oils, glycol ester resins, etc. From the June Industrial Bulletin of Arthur D. Little, Inc. (Arthur D. Little, Inc., 30 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, Massachusetts), we quote the following: EOR BEINGS ANIMALCULOUS
An insect's lot is an increasingly unhappy one. Two years ago DDT, a synthetic chemical whose lethal effect on insects could not have been predicted, was hailed as the wonder insecticide. Now another unexpected chemical insect killer, variously called "Gammexane," benzene hexachloride, and "666," has been announced. According to preliminary reports, it promises to equal or better DDT for some applications and on weevils is five times more effective. The insecticidal properties of this long-known chemical were discovered by Imperial Chemical Industries in England during a n extensive search for a rotenone replacement. I n 1942, benzene hexachloride was found t o kill the turnip flea beetle. I n further tests, however, its behavior was spotty-sometimes it was effective, sometimes not. The answer came a year later when the dynamite was identified as the so-called gamma isomer of benzene hexachloride, a form of the chemical, normally present only in amounts ranging from 10 t o 12 per cent. When isolated, the gamma isomer, "Gammexane." proved the most toxic compound t o weevils ever tested by that company. The new insecticide has much in common with DDT. It is a synthetic organic compound produced by chemical reaction. I t is also a white solid, practically insoluble in water but readily dissolved in alcohol, acetone, and many other organic solvents. I t is reported to be exceptionally stable t o acids and high temperatures, hut decomposes in the presence of lime or other caustic alkali a t temperatures as low as 60°F. This may be a drawback in some instances, since lime is frequently used as the inert ingredient in insecticide dusts. Although there are other inert ingredients which might replace lime in a "Gammexane" dust, the presence of lime from other sources could not easily be controlled. Thus on fruit crops where more than one type of spray is used in a season, lime in one spray might diminish the effectiveness of previous or subsequent "Gammexane" applications. DDT'r cardinal advantage is its long life. "Gammexane" is claimed to have great stability to the atmosphere, but there is no definite indication as to how it measures up to DDT, which in some uses lasts several months.
I t is apparently effective against almost the same insects as DDT, hut in laboratory and field tests less seems to go farther. For instance, in one test, a 0.01 per cent solution of "Gammexane" killed 73 per cent of a known number of flies, whereas a 0.02 per cent DDT solution killed only 51 per cent. I n another test, when scattered a t the rate of one-half pound per acre, it killed 97 per cent of the yellow-fever mosquito larvae in two days and 100 per cent in three days; this compared with a 43 per cent kill in two days and 97 per cent in three days with the same amount of DDT. "Gammexane" kills a wide range of insects, including mosquitoes, grasshoppers, cockroaches, lice, and mites, the lethal dose varying with the insect. Like DDT, the new material is fatal to the bee, which helpfully pollinates fruits and flowers. "Gammexane" is a triple threat. If an insect touches it, eats it, or breathes it, his life is over-at least in a few hours. It can he sprayed in a kerosene solution or a stable water emulsion, or used as a dust. I t s high-temperature stability also permits its use as a fumigant by conversion t o a vapor on a hot plate. According t o available information, it is not a menace to the user. but has proved extremely toxic to fish. Although only recently announced, "Gammexane" has been in experimental and commercial use in England since 1943. Presumably it will eventually be available in this country.
A number of the oil periodicals are becoming distinctly air minded. The June Ethyl N m s (Ethyl Corporation, 405 Lexington Ave., New York, New York) is one of these, with a lead article discussing postwar private aviation and the various plane models which are on the way to appearing. Another well-illustrated article, "Oil a t Iwo Jima," shows a number of the ways in which petroleum and its many products contributed to the successful invasion of that island. For those interested in the chemical aspects of oil technology, an article on gasoline blending in the June Pure Oil N m s (Pure Oil Company, Chicago 1, Illinois) will he worth while. Prospecting for oil has always been an adventurous, if important, occupation, and the efforts to make such prospecting more scientific are an interesting part of the story of the petroleum industry. "Finding oil by science," in the spring, 1945, Standard of Cal$ornia Bulletin (225 Bush St., San Francisco, California) tells some of this story.
Shell N m s (Shell Oil Company, 50 West 50th St., New York 20, New York) for May, 1945, describes catalytic cracking in words of one syllable, in an article entitled "Magic powder." It also goes into some of the other functions of catalysts, such as antioxidants. Not to he outdone by 50 per cent of the other trade periodicals, The Glass Lining (Pfaudler Company, Rochester 4, New York) in its spring issue leads off with a nicely illustrated account of the production and use of penicillin. It follows, in more original and no less interesting vein, with one on the quality of ice creams especially as influenced by fruits, flavors, nuts, and colors. Some good suggestions are given on the treatment and handling of such materials.
"CO,, the gas that fights fire," is more than half of the May-June number of Oil-Power (Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, 26 Broadway, New York, New York). The following is taken from the spring, 1945, Milvay Notebook (Chicago Apparatus Company, Chicago 22, Illinois) : WHAT XAKES A N APPLE "BLUSH"?
Nitrogen fertilizer fed t o an apple tree results in redder apples, say men who ought to know . . and the same fertilizer imparts a healthy, dark green color t o the leaves. It follows, then, that hefore the apple has developed, you can tell about how red it will be by the shade of green in the apple tree leaves. Careful laboratory studies were made a t Cornell University on this theory by collecting midsummer leaves from trees under different nutritional conditions. With a spectrophotometer to collect data, a New York Research Corporation prepared a set of seven printing inks carefully compounded to simulate the colors iin the various leaves. A chart was then made reproducing the various colors of leaves. Now an apple grower can hold sample leaves from his trees alongside the chart and determine whether or not the trees are getting the right amount of nitrogen nutrition. I t is also said that a high amount of nitrogen nutrition produces larger apples hut of poor color, so the proper balance between size and color is sought. What's i t all about? Well. everybody knows that a beautiful red apple looks more delicious and hence sells more readily.
.
Nearly every first-year student of chemistry knows that germanium was one of the metals predicted by the Periodic Table, but a lot of other information about this metal which few students are likely to know will be found in a good account in the Monsanto Magazine (Monsanto Chemical Company, St. Louis, Missouri) for June, 1945. It tells how germanium is now being recovered as a by-product of zinc production and how the unusual properties of the metal are beginning to make it more than a mere rare curiosity. Elsewhere in the same issue "A Monsanto veteran reports" on the many military uses of white phosphorus. This element is one of the most important contents of the Chemical Warfare soldier's "bag of tricks."
The Humble Way (Humble Oil and Refining Company, Box 2180, Houston, Texas) makes its initial appearance with its May-June number. A feature is an account of the activities of the "Mud engineer," who makes certain the drilling fluid meets specifications. The May number of What's New (Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, Illinois) starts off with an "Evaluation of skin disinfectants," following with on$ on atmospheric pollen, "What's in the air today." The usual collection of Paintings of Army Medicine this time has a distinctly laboratory and chemical twist, being devoted t o the production of medical supplies. It contains some good pictures of glass blowers and laboratory technicians of various kinds. "Sohio's fire-fighting tests arouse nationwide interest" aptly describes the content of one of the best articles in the June Sohioan (Standard Oil Company, Cleveland, Ohio). It describes how large oil fires were attacked by several extinguishing methods, with a comparison of results. The wartime need for concentrating on "first things first" sometimes temporarily obscures the postwar signiiicance of vital new developments, it is pointed out in the current issue of the Kelloggram (M. W. Kellogg Company, 225 Broadway, New York, New York). In a feature article on the hydroforming process of oil refining, this major development is examined from the viewpoint of its value to commercial production of gasoline for peacetime markets. Describing the efficiency of hydroforming in increasing the octane rating of low-quality naphthas, the article comments, "It is one of the oddities of wartime that hydroforming, a vitally important development in oil refining, should first win national attention as a process for producing toluene for the government's explosive program."
