LETTERS To the Editor: In the June issue of your JOURNAL we find a very fitting necrology for Wolfgang Ostwald, one of the, if not the, leading pioneers of colloid chemistry. However, in memory of this great scientist and particularly now where our country has been a t odds with his homeland, a few points should be added to the published biography. Although those of us who were well acquainted with Wolfgang Ostwald knew that he was a German by heart and soul, which was only natural, we also knew that he was a t odds with the regime that plunged this world into the struggle in which we are now engaged. He was first of all a scientist, and as such in favor of international collaboration in the interest of a better world and very much opposed to war and the sufferings resulting therefrom. Nothing can prove this better than the concluding sentences of the introduction to his book, "The World of Neglected Dimensions," which, by the way, was written in the trenches durinp World w a r I in March, 1915, and which reads in t r a h a t i o n as follows: "As convinced as the author is of the just cause of his country and its strength to bring it t o a victorious conclusion, so certain is he that the scientific union of nations can n e v q again be destroved bv, war and that these relations will eventuallv safeguard ~~~~, h u m a n i t y f r m l such events ns wc arc now witnrr~ing. No surrounding9 are unsuirablr and no living conditions too ditxcult to work toward such n xoal w c n in thc most mode%tway."
We who have known him well and all who owe him so much must thank God that R e saved him to he a witness of the disaster into which his nation has plunged the entire world. For the sake of chrouological correctness, i t must also be said that Wolfgang Ostwald visited this country for the last time in 1938 when, accepting an invitation extended to him by the writer, he was the p e s t of honor at the 15th National Colloid Symposium held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on June 9-11. ERNSTA. HAUSER M A S S A C ~ S E T TINSTITUTE S 011 TECHNOLOGY CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
To the Editor: Several people have called to my attention an error in my article "What is a chemist and a chemical engineer" published in the March issue of the JOURNAL OF
CHEMICALEDUCATION.These people state that Arthur D. Little should not be blamed for a definition which he did not make. Furthermore, they cite references to show that he was probably never in favor of the definition as written. On page 170 of t h e A. I. Ch. E. Transactions, Volume 17, 1925, is information hearing on this subject. I did not have access to this material a t the time I wrote the article and therefore quoted directly from Newman's article, which is as follows: The original definition of chemical engineering was that written by Dr. Arthur D. Little in 1922 and is as follows: "Chemical engineering, as distinguished from the aggregate number of subjects comprised in courses of that name, is not a ' composite of chemistry and mechanical and civil engineering, but is itself e branch of engineering, the basis of which is those unit operations which in their proper sequence and coordination constitute a chemical process as conducted on the industrial scale."
The material cited to the contrary is that on page 170 of the preceding reference, which is as follows: "Chemical engineering was initially defined in the Report of the Institute Committee on Chemical Engineering Education (1922) : "Chemical engineering as a science, as distinguished from the aggregate number of subjects comprised in courses of that name, is not a composite of chemistry and mechanical and civil engineering, but a science of itself, the basis of which is those unit operations which in their proper sequence and coordination constitute a chemical process as conducted on the industrial scale. "In the amended farm, however, in which t h a t Report was adopted by the Institute, the word 'science' was deleted. The definition, therefore, now stands as follows, in form unanimously acceptable to the members of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers present a t its Niagara Falls meeting in June, 1922: "Chemical engineering, as distinguished from the aggregate number of subjects comprised in courses of that name, is not a composite of chemistry and mechanical and civil engineering, but itself a branch of engineering, the basis of which is those unit operations which in their proper sequence and coordination constitute a chemical process as conducted on the industrial scale. "Having that authority behind it, it would be presumptuous for me as an individual t o attempt to devise a better one, even if I were disoosed t o do so. "It will be noted that chemical engineering is not reganlrd by its ixactitior~crsas n science in itself, hut as a branch of engineering, which draws freely upon the sciences as its needs require. I t draws so freely upon them that a n arduous training is required t o fit one for the practice of the profession."
A roater jet of 650pounds pressure is used in some paper mills to remove burk from logs. The saving in wood is soid to be as high as 20per cent.
A new surgical lamp projects a cone of ultraviolet radiation, through urhieh germs cannot pass, around a mound.
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