NEWS
10
New forests can be created by human work, as is done in England. But subsoil oil deposits, when exhausted by human waste and overproduction, cannot be created anew by human science and technje. If, in the interest of future generations of the United States, the right economic conclusions and consequences of the published statements of thie Standard Oil on the possibilities of t h e I. G.Standard processes are seriously considered by American econo mists, government officials, chemists, and geologists, it seems not improbable that the life of the American oil fields can be prolonged for several decades o n the basis of these chemical improvements a n d b y laws limiting the production of raw oil. It is impossible for me, in Europe, to judge the position in the United S t a t e s , but I venture t o submit this suggestion to the wide circle of American chemists for discussion. Being in no way connected with the I. G. interests, I have not the least interest in making propaganda for the I. G.-Standard Corp., but I am under the impression that these new methods open the way to keep alive the American oil-producing fields for a con siderably longer time, if restriction or prohibition laws are possible in the United States as they are in Europe. Such a triumph of European and American chemical research and experiments and such benefit for future generations of the United States could hardly be expressed in dollars.
Recent Appointments at Mellon Institute The following appointments were made at the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, Pittsburgh, Pa., between July 1, 1929, and January 1, 1930. T h e appointments for the first half of the year appeared o n page 15 of the August 10 issue of the N E W S EDITION of I N D U S T R I A L AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY. SENIOR INDUSTRIAL F E L L O W
James N. Lawrence has been appointed to the senior incumbency of the multiple industrial fellowship on wax. Before accepting this position Doctor Lawrence had wide experience in several fields of chemical research, development, and administration. He succeeds D . K. Tressler, who has joined the research staff of the General Foods Co., Gloucester, Mass. INDUSTRIAL
FELLOWS
Henry A. Ambrose has been appointed an industrial fellow on the multiple fellowship on petroleum production. N. J. Beaber has been appointed to the nicotine fellowship. He was previously engaged a t the institute in research on the gum fellowship. Alexander C. Brown has been added to the personnel of the multiple industrial fellowship on fatty acids. Before going to Pittsburgh, he h a d spent a year in Germany and two years in industrial work o n petroleum. Jasper S. Brown has been appointed t o the multiple fellowship on petroleum production. His previous experience was gained at the Pittsburgh Station of the U . S. Bureau of Mines. Frank L. Jones has been appointed t o the enamels fellowship. Before accepting this position he w a s engaged in work toward the doctorate at Columbia. He has also had teaching and industrial experience. He is succeeding B. A. Rice, who has joined the Pfaudler Co. Ronald B. McKinnis has been appointed to the can fellowship. 5 . M. Martin, Jr., has joined the research staff of the multiple industrial fellowship o n petroleum refining. Before going to the institute, he had had several years' experience in rubber technology. Daniel C. L. Sfcerk h a s been appointed to the wood by-products fellowship. He h a s been engaged in industrial work since receiving his doctorate. Thomas H. Swa.n has been appointed t o the garment fellowship. Since 1924 he has been the holder of the institute's bed fellowship. A. J. Teplitz bias been appointed an industrial fellow on the petroleum production fellowship. Ricltard B. Un&ngst has joined the personnel of the multiple utensil fellowship. Since 1916 he has been engaged in industrial work. PROMOTIONAL CHLANGES—FELLOWSHIP A S S I S T A N T TO INDUSTRIAL FELLOW
J. R. Adams, p-etroleum refining fellowship. Harry C. Donaldson, Jr., multiple fellowship on iodine. M. C. Edwards, organic synthesis fellowship. H. R. Fife, organic synthesis fellowship. R. B. Frazier, organic synthesis fellowship. J. A. Satosky, c a r b o n black fellowship. Carlisle Shade, wax fellowship. FELLOWSHIP A S S I S T A N T S
M. F. Benbow, smoke fellowship. W. H. Bradley, utensil fellowship. Helen Bright, varieties fellowship. Richard F. Brouon, organic synthesis fellowship. Thomas A. Carr, refractories fellowship.
EDITION
Vol. β, No. 4
Alfred T. Clifford, petroleum refining fellowship. James Doherly, petroleum refining fellowship. Howard C. Lawton, petroleum production fellowship. R. A. MacArthtir, organic synthesis fellowship. Dewey A. Miller, pigment fellowship. Earl C. Pétrie, refractories fellowship. Elinor A. Sackter, assistant in the institute's analytical department. W. T. Schelling, petroleum production fellowship.
Instruction in Qualitative Analysis B Y EDWARD H A R T Lafayette College, Easton, Pa.
The success of any preliminary analysis depends upon both the quality and quantity of the information obtained. F o r example, before the Shimer method of water filtration 1 w a s invented, which leaves the contained solids, including t h e bacteria, evenly spread upon the surface of a glass plate to be detected and counted under the microscope, w e determined the "organic carbon" in the water, which w a s a very poor and sometimes misleading measure of what was really needed. The book I used as a student, that of good old Remegius Fresenius, gave in the beginning directions for a "preliminary examination," which often enabled u s to detect substances really outside the proper sphere of any respectable chemist b u t which sometimes insisted on presenting themselves. This examination was intolerably tedious, and this may be t h e reason why it is so often entirely neglected. Nevertheless, it still seems to me t o be important, and I am not sure whether it has n o t gained in importance with the passing of t h e years. We certainly have more villainous and reprehensible mixtures now than w e had then, witness ethyl gasoline, celluloid, titanium paints, and many more. The pages of the first volume of t h e Analytical Edition would have stood on end the hair of any practitioner of the analytic art of 1875. This same Porter W. Shimer was many years ago a student in the laboratory where I happened to be the instructor. He w a s studying qualitative and was away ahead of his class. I found it difficult to keep him busy. I n a determined effort t o do so usefully, I made for his examination a solution which contained many of the ordinary anions and cations. T o this I t h e n added sawdust and several other miscellaneous substances n o t contemplated by the makers of textbooks, and wound up with a glass of beer, not so much frowned upon then a s now. In a few days he reported the anions and cations, including a trace of arsenic, correctly. Then he said he had found a substance which looked like and appeared t o be sawdust. H e also noticed a smell of hops and detected a little alcohol; he t h o u g h t some beer had been added. I t was a remarkable report for s o young a man and indicated that he would be, as h e afterward proved to be, a n unusual man. Upon a subsequent trial with another man I gave out a piece of ordinary coke. H e never did find o u t what this was. The point of all this is that, so far as is humanly possible, we must first teach and then test our learners in what they are doing ; we must make their work so practical that it appeals t o and interests them. Only then can w e reasonably expect t o get from them work that will justify u s in letting t h e m loose upon a patient world. Not all of us—not many of us—are blessed with the kindness and patience of a n Edgar F. Smith, but most of u s can make our boys love us if we deserve to b e loved, and I hold that this is necessary if w e are to succeed. But we must aiso be respected, so that the students m a y n o t post upon us the sign from the candy shop—"Fresh Bvery Day." Teaching of this kind is hard work, but with good material it pays large dividends. There are a few, n o t many, b o y s who can comprehend and assimilate the true spirit o f research— going beyond and independently of the book. If they once g e t fully under their skins the idea that t h e book m a y b e wrong and must be watched they have comprehended the whole spirit of research—real research, »not the kind t h a t begins a n d ends with the getting of the P h . D . 1
J. Anal. Appld. Chem., 6, 252 (1892).
France Seeks Independence in Raw Materials Among the developments in France directed toward greater independence in raw materials is the production of sulfuric acid from gypsum, for which a plant is t o be installed at Saint-Chamas according to the commercial attaché of the department o f commerce a t Paris. It is expected that this will make the country independent of foreign pyrites and sulfur supplies. By further development of synthetic ammonia, it i s expected that supplies of all the raw material for the domestic requirements of nitric acid will be provided.
