I
T IS not without good reason that the Monsanto Magazine (Monsanto Chemical Company, St.
line Division, Allied Chemical & Dye Corporation, 40 Rector St., New York City) has an interesting account of the "Origin of color names," among other articles of interest in the dye industry.
Louis, Missouri) is often considered to set a standard among chemical trade periodicals. In the November number there are several articles of real chemical inThe November Electromet Rmim (Electro Metallurterest, among others one which describes the share which chemistry has taken in the production of the B- gical Company, 30 East 42nd St., New York 17, New York) tells how the Ford Motor Company uses stain29 bomber. less steel in the recovery of sulfur. In the October number of Pittsburgh People (PittsAminco Laboratory News (American Instrument burgh Plate Glass C6mpany, 632 Duquesne Way, Company, 8030 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring, Maryland) Pittsburgh 22, Pennsylvania) is a short article entitled, directs attention in its November number to the be"Making flat glass flatter," which describes the prohavior of metals a t low temperatures and the use of duction of precision plate glass by this organization. low temperatures in what is now being called "cold One interesting feature in the November Merck Re- treatment" as distinguished from "heat treatment." vim (Merck & Company, Inc., Rahway, New Jersey) The recovery of fresh water from the distillation of sea is an illustrated two-page spread on the chemistry of water has now taken considerable interest. The use of the Christmas card. a new self-descaling principle by which boiler tubes Shell N m s (Shell Oil Company, 50 West 50th St., expand and contract in such a way as to remove the New York City) for October, 1944, carries an account scale from their surfaces is described in vol. 7, no. 4, of of the bombing of oil plants and installations in Ger- Mechanical Topics (International Nickel Company, many. The article contains interesting illustrations, 67 Wall St., New York 5, New York). and of course the Shell Company is rather intimately The Milvay Notebook (Chicago Apparatus Company, connected with this campaign. In a previous issue, some of the bombing of other areas was similarly de- Chicago 22, Illinois) carries in itsFal1, 1944, issue an article of interest to high-school teachers entitled, scribed. "How shall we plan for postwar high-school science El'chem (Electrochemicals De~artmentof E. I. du teachinc?" Pont de Nemours & Company, Niagara Falls, New Clinical Excerpts (Winthrop Chemical Company, York) starts a new series in the November number en170 Varick St., New York 13, New York) is a newtitled, "Adventures in chemistry." The first one of these describes an episode in chemical history, "Saint comer to our editorial desk. Vol. 18, no. 7, has an inVincent de Paul and the alchemist." It is interesting teresting account of the part that Monte Cassino and to note that this is taken from THIS JOURNAL for An- Salerno played in early medical history. The article will be interesting because of the part these places gust, 1936. played in the recent news, in the military campaigns in The November number of Dyestuffs (National Ani- Italy.
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The Alleged Poisonous Property of Polar-Bear Liver I N T H E exciting tales related by Arctic explorers none is more interesting than the stary of polar hear hunts. The meat of polar hears is described as having a mare or less fishy taste and odor, the flesh of lean hears being of better quality than that of fat hears whoseflesh hasapronounced fishy flavor. Theliver of these animals is avoided where possible because of the advice of Eskimos or of whalers. Stories are told of sailors who died as the result of eating polarhear liver. Sometimes the same poisonous property is ascribed to seal liver. Symptoms as a consequence of eating polar-bear liver are said t o be vertigo, diarrhea, vomiting, and frequently cutaneous eruption; occasionally the skin may peel to a greater or lesser degree. The nature of this poisonous property is still mysterious. RodahlandMoore [Biochem. J.,37,1668(1943)lhavesought an explanation for the allegedly poisonous character of polar-hear liver on nutritional grounds. During a recent expedition t o northeast Greenland specimens of polar-bear liver were collected and preserved in brine. At the University of Cambridge Rodahl and Moore made a chemical and biological examination of these specimens and learned they were exceedingly rich in vitamin A. By the ShCL method palar-hear livers were found t o contain from 13,000 to 18,000 units of vitamin A per gram of wet m a t e
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rial. Biological assay confirmed the chemical tests, indicating a potency even larger in amount of approximately 25,000 units per gram. These authors klaim that the vitamin A content in itself is sufficient to cause symptoms of hypervitaminosis, and state that the toxicity seems closely associated with the vitamin. Where sufficient of the liver was ingested by experimental animals, as the rat, skin lesions were common, associated with enteritis, emaciation, and pneumonia. I n growing rats softening and fracturing of the bones resulted and in adult rats profuse and sudden internal hemorrhages. Attempts to concentrate the toxic material, if i t is other than vitamin A, met with failure. An aqueous extract of the liver and a liver residue nearly free of vitamin A were both innocuous t o the rats. The reason for such trmendau. stores of vitamin A in the liver of polar hears is unknown. Prohably most of it is in the form of preformed vitamin rather than as carotene (provitamin A), because the diet of polar bears is rich in preformed vitamin A. Their diet is said to be mainly seals, walruses, and fish, with some arctic vegetation. I f the immense quantities of vitamin A ingested in this manner are not excreted normally, the possibility exists that much of it may be stored in the liver.-Nutritional Observatory, 5, 43 (1944).
