July, 1929
I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING C H E X I S T R Y
High Hat CERTAIY negligible percentage of the moneyed arisA tocracy in one of our great metropolitan districts has decided that street cars no longer operate on the streets of their t o m . They have become trams. By an almost superhuman mental effort they have removed the serviceable elevators from their apartments and have substituted for them the more satisfactory lifts. These and other affectations only cause a broad smile on the faces of most of us and in so doing perhaps display their greatest usefulness. We like people to be natural. Such idiosyncrasy in no wise disturbs us so long as it properly respects the established terminology of the profession. But when a drug store becomes a chemist’s shop and efforts are made to confuse well-defined American terms which could but lead to the same unsatisfactory condition as confronts our colleagues in Great Britain, then we must protest and call upon those in position to do so to help put a stop to this unjustifiable practice. Not long ago we called attention to the misuse of the term “chemist” in the proposed name of a new chain of drug stores. We are happy to be able to announce that the proposed name is not in use and that the company has adopted a name satisfactory to all as describing the business in which it is engaged. One can readily understand the temptation to a drug-store proprietor in a “high hat” district to follow the mode and make the most of the fad. Nevertheless, it is an unjustifiable and inexcusable use of a term which means something definite and quite distinct to the vast majority of our population. We believe such proprietors of pharmacies and drug department stores will be well advised to stay in their own back yards when choosing names for their places of business.
“The Talkies Go Highbrow” HERE were a number of things that will cause the recent national meeting of our SOCIETY a t Columbus long to be remembered. but t o us the outstanding event was the talking motion picture, reported in certain daily papers under the headline we have used in this editorial. Even in southern California, where teachers of elocution are said t o be reaping a harvest, where a wag proposed to rename Hollywood “Howlingwood,” and where there may be opportunities for ventriloquists to speak lines for stars who lack that gift, though they photograph well, the talking picture on “Surface Tension and Films” has made its impression. D. W. Griffith paid a tribute when he said, “This is the first time I ever forgot that I was listening to a sound picture.” To the capacity audience which packed the Ohio State University chapel, President Langmuir’s film seemed to offer a new method, another tool for the advancement of our science. The film su ccessfullly conveyed Doctor Lanpmuir’s personality, voice, and characteristic clear maiiner in presenting his subject. It would have been impossible for even a small class to follow the subject so closely in a lecture room demonstration. The film made it possible for all t o look over the lecturer’s shoulder, when invited to do so. More than this, here is a means for presenting, wherever the equipment is available, lecturers who would find it impossible to appear in the many centers t o which they would be invited. We understand that, in addition to President Langmuir, Sir William Bragg, Michael Pupin, and others, have prepared talking films of this nature. When we remember how few are the really outstanding men in each profession and how much this number is reduced when we include as a specification the ability to discourse satisfactorily upon their
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particular field of work, the value of the talking motion picture is emphasized. Perhaps ultimately it may relieve some of our savants of the necessity of repeating certain standard lectures to succeeding classes of students, and thereby leave them more time for research. We doubt if the new method will seriously interfere with the tenure of office, since there is always a necessity of directing laboratory work, grading the numerous examinations, and giving the student counsel and guidance. It might be argued, however, that it is better for a student to come in contact with a noted scientist by way of the talkie than never to meet him, even though a student in the same institution, which we understand is often the case. Since we predict great popularity for Doctor Langmuir’s film, we add the information that those interested in it should correspond with the research laboratory of the General Electric Company a t Schenectady. We hope it will be possible for a great many of our readers to see and hear this remarkable production.
Fine Birds and Fine Feathers E HASTEN to explain that we appreciate good architecture and delight to find research laboratory buildings of permanence that are pleasing to the eye. We would not have it otherwise, and yet is there not a tendency on the part of chemical departments throughout the country to cramp and limit their work by failing to provide a place where an investigator can drive nails and knock holes in the wall without calling a conference of the board of directors and summoning the regents? Here and there, as we go about, we find high-grade work being done in wooden shacks, in buildings with movable and removable walls, and in structures using sheet iron to keep out the elements. Most of these temporary buildings have been a part of the equipment used by industries, but there is no reason why the universities should not follow this example, especially when one realizes that the cost of construction of these temporary shacks is small indeed. Bt the Mellon Institute and the University of Illinois some such temporary structures arc! in use. There are doubtless other educational institutions that from time t o time have had occasion t o employ such facilities, but too often there seems t o be no place left to erect small wooden or concrete buildings, or perhaps the scenic requirements outlaw them. Investigations which are dangerous or obnoxious, because of gases or excess noise, can be segregated to advantage on a lot dedicated to such useful purposes.
An Intellectual Exchange H E daily press has properly applauded the creation of the Latin-American fellowships of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation announced early in June. In making the announcement, former Senator Guggenheim spoke of the trade which he has long enjoyed with many of the South and Central iimerican republics, and stated that he now proposes to promote “commerce of things of the mind and of spiritual values” between the continents of the Western Hemisphere. Many nil1 be struck by the indication that, as we must have appreciated, we have much to learn from our neighboring republics and the establishment of these fellowships provides another channel for intellectual exchange. Everywhere there is evidence of the trend of thought toward a closer relationship with other countries, and it is encouraging that individuals are to be found with the means and the vision to make possible exchanges of values beyond the measure of dollars.
