THE JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL AND E N G I N E E R I N G C H E M I S T R Y VOL.
AUGUST, ~ gI.r
111.
T H EJ O U R N A L O F I N D U S T R I A I L EDITORIALS. AND ENGINEERIN CGH E M I S T R Y THEENDOWMENTFUND. PUBLISHED BY
THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL, SOCIETY. BOARD OF EDITORS. Editor : M. C. Whitaker. Associate Editors; Geo. P. Adamson, E. G. Bailey, H. E. Barnard, c. A . Browne, G. E. Barton, Wm. Brady, Wm. Campbell, F. Carpenter, Francis I. Dupont, w. c’ Ebaugh, Wm. C. Geer, W. F. Hillebrand, W. D. H o m e , Karl Langenbeck, A. D. Little, C. E. Lucke, P. C. McI1hiney, E. B. McCready, Wm. McMurtAe, J. Merfitt Motthews, T. J . Parker, J. D. Pennock, W. D. Richardson, G ~ c.~Stone, . ~~~t Twitchell, Robt. Wahl, mirn. H. Walker, W. R . Whitney. _.-..____
Published monthly. Subscription price to non-members of the Americori Chemical Society $6.00 yearly. Entered a t t h e Post-Office, Easton, Pa., as Second-class Matter Foreign pojtage. seventyfive cents, Canada, Cuba a n d Mexico excepted -
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AUGUST, 19 I 1.
Vol. Ill. ~
No*
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CONTENTS. EDITORIALS: The Endowment F u n d . . Pure Drugs and Medicines.. ........ ORIGINAL PAPERS: The Electrical Precipitation of Suspended Particles. 13y F. G. Cottrell. Paper-M akers Bowack and Percy Davidson.. A Scheme for the Rapid Analysis of Cement. By Clarence N. Wiley and,W7.A. Ernst The Determination of Sulphur in Coal by Means son’s Candle Turbidimeter. B y Henry F. Muer. The Accurate Technical Estimation of the Calor ue of Anthracite Coal. By A. G. Blakeley and E. M . Chance.. , Preparation of Neutral Ammonium Citrate Solutions by the Conductivity Method. By Robert A. Hall.. A.Polariscopic Method for the Determination of Malic Acid and I t s Application in Cane and Maple Products. BY P. A. Yoder Coconut Oil of High Iodine Value. By W. D. Richardson.. , . . Determination of Vanadium in Steel and Iron. By B. 0. Crites ................................................. The Loss of Carbon during Solution of Steel in Potassium Cupric Chloride. By Helen Isham. Contributions to the Chemistry of Anaesthetics, 111: Nitrous Oxide. By Charles Baskerville and Reston Stevenson. Soaps from Different Glycerides.-Their Germicidal and Insecticidal Values Alone and associated with Active Agents. B Y H . C. Hamilton.. ................................... The Availability of the Insoluble Nitrogen in Certain Commercial Fertilizers. By Burt L. Hartwell and F. R. Pember. The Nature of Some Coal Dusts and Mine Air from Colorado Mines. By John B. Ekeley.. ..... The Quantitative Determination of By E. K. Nelson The Manufacture of Smmonia in By-product Coke Ovens. By
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MARKET REPORTS..
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No. S
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I use the word ‘‘the” as though the visions of Chairman Hyde, indicated by the insert in the June number, were already realized. Like Crockett’s coon, the aiming of a gun when a good man’s behind it, is almost the same as having hit the mark already. I n the minds of all good members of the Society, there is a more or less well-defined spirit of altruism. The willingness t o help is prevalent. This common feeling is certainly developing with rapidity in our country-at-large. I n spite of the criticism of a few apparently short-sighted people and of c0nse.vatives who ask, “ W h a t has posterity done for plan and spend for i t ? ” we us, that we find sorts Of efforts being expended for the general, as distinct from the individual good. The term “ conservation of natural resources ” is rapidly becoming an activity. It is a moving force which acts not as the exceptional idea of a single able enthusiast, but as an advance for which our time is ripe. A few seem t o fear what they call paternalism, but this name less perfectly fits the case than fraternalism, against which fewer could scoff. Our very laws are many of them founded upon the same fraternalism, Our factory laws, the pure food law, etc., stand for the wish that every one should be assisted in his life, liberty, and pursuit. A federal department devoted t o the instruction of mining engineers and miners in the safer execution of their work is not alone a monument to the peculiar foresight and ability of a single man, however much he may developed the idea’ He was not separated from his environment. The work was largely a growth of the times. I t is a n indicator like the wind-indicating straw. How far the principle may develop, not even the most visionary can imagine. So long as i t calls for life?more effort, more hope? it reasonable. When, if ever* it merely reduces for the individual the call for his efforts, instead of substituting needs calling for greater total efficiency in living, then the years of the lean kine will arrive. Paternalism might do this. And this leads t o the subject of our Endowment. An endowment controlled b y the American Chemical Society could do a great deal of good. According t o the Constitution of the Society, we stand for “ t h e advancernent of chemistry and the promotion of chemical research.” This is really quite distinct from the advancement of certain chemists and their promotion. An artificial help t o the latter might cripple Some of them, but any amount of help t o the science will only enable the chemists t o more efficiently help themselves and the rest of mankind. Many men who are connected with manufacturing
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T H E J O U R N A L OF INDUSTRIAL A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY..
find themselves in contact with new materials, with physical, chemical and electrical phenomena, with which they, and possibly others, are not familiar. The necessary work of discovery is undertaken after the available knowledge is utilized. This individual research, which discloses necessary and always some unnecessary facts, often remains solely the property of the discoverer. It usually has an intrinsic value because of this fact. The more knowledge we have available, the better, and this applies t o the industries and to the individual chemist. I t is along this line t h a t I believe in the power and utility of a n endowment. It is that our stock of general knowledge may be increased. Consider examples a moment. A couple of men working for a prize discovered and disclosed the law t h a t permits all of us t o know and always remember the approximate specific heats of elements and even solid compounds. Thousands of men have made good use of this law. Countless time has been saved t o investigators in this way. Imagine the increase in the rapidity of a n advance if we knew the laws governing the hardness, the ductility, the tensile strength, the expansion coefficient, etc., etc., of metal mixtures, especially if these were simply related to some other known properties. A number of chemists have advanced a little way along the road of agricultural chemistry. I t is public knowledge that plants need potash, nitrogen, phosphorus, etc., but the crops of the farmer who places more reliance on the common chemical knowledge than on the old barnyard manure can scarcely be considered hardy. Certainly this condition will improve, but the speed would be greater if facts were collected faster. There are a great many laws, principles and facts in chemistry the discovery of which seem particularly fitting t o our teaching laboratories. The discoveries of the fundamentals of our industries usually originate there. It is there, too, t h a t financial help is most needed. When discoveries assist solely a single industry, it seems fair t o expect the industry to bear the cost, but all chemists and manufacturers may share in the product of general chemical research such as the universities of the world are producing. I n general, one would apparently not be far wrong who said, let us raise an endowment fund to help young chemists to advance themselves and their science b y carrying out research work for publication under the guidance of our good teachers. W. R. WHITKEY.
PURE DRUGS AND MEDICINES.
The protection of the public is amply provided for through our national codex, the United States Pharmacopoeia, which defines the standards of purity and quality of most medicines and chemicals used in compounding prescriptions. This u. s. Pharmacopoeia is the standard accepted b y our National Food and Drug Law. It is also the standard adhered t o b y all conscientious pharmacists and manufacturing chemists. Upon the request of the “New York World,” the
Aug., 1911
writer undertook the analysis of about 2 30 prescriptions compounded in various pharmacies located in New York City. The prescriptions in question were of the average type calling for chemicals, galenical preparations, tinctures and fluid extracts. About half of those compounded were materially below the official standards or such standards as were demanded by the physician who wrote the prescriptions. Due allowance was made for deviations in approximate weighing and compounding. The following summary will illustrate the deviations above or below the standards in a number of instances. Solutions of sodium iodid, 15 to 16 per cent. short and 14 t o 2 1 per cent. in excess. Solutions of potassium iodid, 1 2 t o 7 0 per cent. short. Solutions of three alkali bromids, 8 t o 2 2 per cent. short. Solutions of strontium bromid, 2 0 per cent. short to 298 per cent. in excess. Solutions of rubidium iodid, 9 t o 36 per cent. short. One party dispensed plain hydrant water in place of the salt. Guaiacol.-All samples were below the U. S. Pharmacopoeia standard, varying from -45 t o 60 per cent. of true guaiacol. Iodine Ointuneutt.-Of 14 prescriptions, five were passed as being within reasonable limits. The shortage in iodine varied from 2 0 t o 92 per cent. while that of potassium iodid varied from 14 t o 79 per cent. Several specimens were colored brown t o cover their deficiency in iodine. Fluid Extract of Ipecac.-These varied from 24 t o 43 per cent. below the standard in alkaloidal content. One sample dispensed was not ipecac. Fluid Extract of Coca.-While these were fairly good, one party dispensed a fluid not coca extract. Tincture of Ipecac.-From 16 to 42 per cent. short in alkaloidal content. Tincture of Opium.-Four samples showed a deficiency, below the standard, varying from -56 to -67 per cent. Another lot, of five, varied from 8 t o 1 5 per cent. below. Spirits of Camphor.-Two samples out of five were 30 and 3 7 per cent. short in camphor content. Solution of Ethyl Nitrite.-The five prescriptions were below the official standard, namely, -IO, -25, -37, -44 and -92 per cent. Since manufacturers supply ethyl nitrite in concentrated alcoholic solution, contained in small sealed tubes ready for dilution, there is no excuse for this deficiency. Eight ounces of the sweet spirits of niter were called for. Fluid Extracts of Pilocarpus.-Belladonna (leaves and root) and Gelsemium were practically all far below normal standards. Physiological assays of such active drugs as digitalis and strophanthus demonstrated a very wide variation in their relative potency. This demonstrates the necessity of the adoption of physiologic standards. The retail pharmacist cannot be criticized for the discrepancies occurring among some of the preparations dispensed for he depends upon the wholesaler for his supplies. He should, however, be more discriminating as t o the origin of these goods before dispensing for the sick. A careful review of our findings is given
