GUARANTEED COLOR STANDARDS The Taylor Model T-O Comparator for pH or Phosphate
in Taylor pH, Chlorine, & Phosphate Comparators A s su re Con t i η υ i tig Accu racy at Economical Cost E v e r y liquid color standard sup p l i e d w i t h T a y l o r Comparators carries a n unlimited guarantee a g a i n s t f a d i n g , t h u s y o u are as s u r e d of continuing accuracy in making determinations. T a y l o r C o m p a r a t o r s are easy t o u s e s i n c e there are n o fragile, s i n g l e standards t o handle. E a c h C o l o r S t a n d a r d Slide houses a complete range of standards for a n y s i n g l e determination. Slides a n d b a s e s are m a d e from rugged, d u r a b l e plastic. E a c h complete s e t i n c l u d e s base, s l i d e , reagents a n d accessories. Carrying cases a r e also available. T a y l o r s e t s are available for c o m b i n a t i o n s of p H , chlorine a n d p h o s p h a t e , c o m p l e t e water a n a l y s i s a n d m a n y more determina t i o n s . W r i t e for t h i s free booklet d e s c r i b i n g a n d illustrating t h e full T a y l o r l i n e . Also g i v e s t h e o r y a n d uses for pH, chlorine, a n d p h o s p h a t e control in 34 basic industries.
SEE Y O U R DEALER FOR EQUIPMENT W . A . T A Y L O R AcNoD 418 RODGE'RS FORGE RD. · BALTIMORE-4, M D ,
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THE SECRETARY'S OFFICE W r i t i n g Abstracts A crane in flight sticks a long neck far out. The Crane who edits Chemical Ab stracts, in flight with his p e n ( a letter to his 800 abstractors), has admitted sticking his neck out by discussing such subjects as hyphens and dangling participles i n his revised "Directions for Abstractors and Section Editors" of Chemical Abstracts,' which 46-page booklet has recently ap peared. The new section on style contains a number of paragraphs o n the kinds of mistakes in the King's English ( I suppose w e now must s a y the Queen's English), which abstractors and other scientific writers most commonly make. Here are two examples. 1. Such expressions as "10 times longer" or "5 times smaller," often met in scientific literature, are not exact. T h e first of these expressions is ambiguous and the second one is meaningless, even monstrous. The writer of "10 times longer" probably means "10 times as long/* but he could mean "11 times as long." The writer of "5 times smaller" probably means "one-fifth as large" and should say so. 2. Such an expression as "an accuracy of 5%" as applied to an analytical or other method has the sanction of usage, but this is not good because what is meant is that the error is plus or minus 5%. According to this method of expression fca perfect analytical procedure would have ' a n ac curacy of 0%" which means no accuracy at all. It is all right to speak of a method as accurate to within 5%. An expression about precision should, above all others, b e precise. The purpose o f the "Directions" is to foster the preparation of adequate abstracts in good, clear, concise English, with forms correct and consistent, and style suitable. Emphasis is placed on the desirability of being exact in writing as a scientist must b e in his work i n the laboratory. Exact ness is partly a function of t h e use of good nomenclature, a n d so the "Directions" contain numerous paragraphs, concisely stated, on approved chemical nomencla ture. The eight pages devoted t o this list ing deserve the attention of everyone who writes chemical papers. While the "Directions" are naturally written primarily to instruct abstractors, they contain much information which chemists writing for other purposes have found useful; I have. What is said about mixed verb forms, dangling participles, "owing to" versus "due to," the verb close to the subject, u s e of hyphens, and other like matters are terse reminders t o all writers of what i s good usage. This general value has resulted in a strong demand for copies of t h e "Direc tions" by other than CA workers. Accord ingly, at 25 cents each, copies have been made available for general distribution
CHEMICAL
(from the office of Chemical Abstracts, Ohio State University, Columbus 10, Ohio). Some chemical companies pur chase in quantity. T h e Editor, who believes strongly in thorough indexing, considers Rule 35 to be the most important one in the "Directions." It reads: Since Chemical Abstracts is intended to be a complete and permanent record ol all chemical work, it is very important that abstracts sJwuld contain, or make specific reference to, all the information in articles that is suitable for index entries. This would include every measurement, ob servation, method, apparatus, suggestion, and theory that is presented as new and of value in itself. All new compounds and all elements, compounds, and other sub stances for which new data are given should b e entered in abstracts. Carrying out this rule may require the listing of a good many compounds or other substances, but inasmuch as each should be indexed these should be given. Do not say "In frared transmission spectra of 29 hydro carbon gases are charted" and stop with out specifying the hydrocarbons. Unless the information is of special significance it will not be practicable to list substances for which negative results are given, as when many compounds have been tested in an investigation of the trial-and-erroT type. This explains the lists which many users have observed. Emphasis is also placed on making ab stracts informative rather than merely descriptive, and on taking the source of a paper into consideration in deciding the amount of detail to include in an abstract. While many factors enter into a decision as to the proper length of an abstract, one consideration of much importance is the desirability of reporting papers fully in CA if these appear in rare publications or in languages not read by many Americans. The "Directions" include the official word abbreviations, describe the use of the commoner symbols met in chemistry, and contain much detailed information concerning forms and notations used by chemists. A table gives the standard proofreader's marks and another provides a comparative . Russian-English alphabet for transliterating Russian names and words. A novel feature of the revised "Direc tions" is a 9-page subject index. One of the CA slogans is: "To authors it's fairer the rarer an error." Maybe all of us should adopt that slogan modified to fit our situations.
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