Dec., 1922
THE JOURNAL OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
1175
JAPAN LETTER By K. KASHIMA, 1125 Ikebukuro, near Tokyo, Japan
NEWPATENT LAWS The Patent Bureau has recently been enlarged and the patent laws have been revised. The following important improvements were made: 1--A patent should be granted to its inventor, but the true inventor is often difficult to find. A patent is granted to the first applicant, and therefore ahen an invention is complete patent application should be made promptly. (Art. 8) 2-An application shall be made public before the patent is granted, to give opportunity for objections or protests. (Art. 73 and 74) 3-111 order to avoid misunderstanding between examiner and applicant, reasons for rejections of applications shall be shown to the applicant so that he may have opportunity to answer the objections. 4-Formerly the final decision was made by the Patent Bureau, but by the new law the applicant can ask for a second judgment and can also appeal to the Supreme Court for a final decision. (Art. 115) &Inventions promote the welfare of the public, and the rights should be given the inventor, even though the invention is made while he is in the service of an employer. If the employer wishes patent rights on the invention, he must pay the inventor. &Under the old law an examination for validity of a patent could be requested a t any time during the continuation of the right. Now, yalidity cannoi be questioned after five years from the date of the grant. (Art. 85) 7-In order to protect industry, a working clause has been inserted in the patent law. (Art. 41)
PULPINDUSTRY
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The pulp industry in this country made rapid progress during the war, but in 1921 there was a decrease in the number of factories and companies, owing to bad economic conditions. The production of pulp in this year, however, was 250,027 tons, compared with that of previous years, which was as follows: Tons 169,039 198,596 235,227 268,261
Year 1917 1918 1919 1920
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It is expected that the production in this year will show an increase of about 30 per cent, or a total of about 326,285 tons. After 1923 probably one-half of the total wood for pulp will be obtained from Kabafuto. The imports and exports of pulp and the total amount produced during the past few years are as follows: Total
YBAR
1917 1918 1919 1920 1921
IMPORTS
Tons 14334 281769 40,581 46,808 38,765
EXPORTS Amount Tons 3,722 3,908 1,106 8,180 1,133
Produced
223,457 274.702 306 889 287:659
Rats and pigeons were bred with meals prepared from 75 per cent protein, 25 per cent butter, and a small quantity of purified oryzanine, and from 75 per cent butter, 25 per cent protein, and a small quantity of the same vitamin. They grew rapidly and were well nourished. From these results it is evident that animals can grow without carbohydrates. They were then fed with meals that contained no fat but contained vitamin A, and they all showed normal growth. It must, therefore, be concluded that carbohydrates and fats in animals’ meals can be replaced to some extent by proteins. Cod-liver oil has been shown to be rich in nutritive value, which is mainly due to the presence of vitamins. Dr. Suzuki claims that he has succeeded in isolating 1 g. of almost pure vitamin A from 1000 g. of cod-liver oil, 0.0001 g. of which has proved to be effective for recovering the health of an animal dying from insufficient nutrition. Vitamin A, isolated by Dr. Suzuki, is a light brown liquid and soluble in almost all organic solvents, giving a yellow to yellowish red solution. By adding concentrated sulfuric acid to its chloroform solution, a deep green color develops, a reaction occurring in tests for cod-liver oil. The same solution gives a green color with Japanese acid clay. M has a reducing action, reducing silver nitrate. Vitamin A is very easily destroyed by air and light, its oxidized product having a peculiar odor. I t is, however, stable in alcohol, ether, and fatty acids. It is a substance like cholesterol, probably an aldehydic compound since it contains no nitrogen. It may be practically used in olive oil solution, which will have more than a hundred times the nutritive value of butter. The detailed report will appear in the Journal of the Chemical Society of Japan.
THEMETRICSYSTEM Japan has always had a measuring system of her own. It was, however, systematically revised in the early part of the Meiji Era, so that it resembled the metric system, as the old system was very irregular. Now, however, the metric system is generally adopted in the scientific world, and the English system in industrial circles. The adoption of the metric system has at last been approved by the 44th Diet, and the Agricultural and Commercial Departments are now awaiting the enactment of the Imperial Ordinance for its adoption. It will probably be in force from January or April 1923. It is expected that the system will be described in the textbooks of schools after three years; government offices and large companies ought to adopt the system after five years, and complete adoption in general daily life should occur after twenty years. October 11, 1922
Chandler Foundation Lecturer
VITAMIN A
Friends of Professor Chandler presented in 1910 to the trustees of Columbia University a sum of money which constitutes the Charles Frederick Chandler Foundation. The income from this fund is used to provide a lecture by an eminent chemist and to provide a medal to be presented to the lecturer in further recognition of his achievements in science. Previous lecturers on this foundation were L. H. Baekeland, Sc.D., W. F. Hillebrand, Ph.D., W. R. Whitney, Ph.D., F. Gowland Hopkins, Ph.D., and Edgar F. Smith, Ph.D. The lecturer this winter will be Robert E. Swain, professor and head of the Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif. . Dr. Swain’s subject will be “Atmospheric Pollution by Industrial Wastes.” The lecture will be in Havemeyer Hall, Columbia University, on January 9, 1923, at 8 : 15 P.M.
At the September regular meeting of the Chemical Society of Japan, Dr. K. Takahashi, of the Agricultural Department of the Tokyo Imperial University, presented an interesting report on thenature of vitamin A. About ten years ago, Dr. M. Suzuki, of the same department, reported oryzanine as vitamin B, and since that time researches on the nature of the other three vitamins have been conducted. Dr. Takahashi has succeeded in determining the nature of vitamin A.
A revised list of the periodicals abstracted by Chemical Abstracts was printed in the October 20 number of that journal. Reprints of this list may be obtained from the editor, E. J. Crane, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, a t 25 cents per copy.
Imports of pulp are mainly from Canada and Sweden, the former aiming to sell in the Orient only. Owing to the high price of woods and wages, the cost of the domestic product is slightly higher than that of the Canadian product. A new company with a capital of 3,000,000 yen has recently been established with a view to shutting out the imported product. The import tax of pulp in this country is now 0.2 sen per pound. As the pulp industry has developed, the Treasury Department is trying to exclude the import tax, but the directors of the paper companies are now opposing it. September 12, 1922
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List of Periodicals
