THE AND VOL.
J O U R N A L O F INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY SEPTEMBER, 1909.
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No. 9
of hydrogen chloride which simply escaped THEJ O U R N A L O F I N D U S T R I Aquantities L through the chimneys and caused great damage to AND E N G I N E E R I N CG H E M I S T RtheY surrounding country; the ammonia liquor PUBLISHED BY
THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. BOARD OF EDITORS.
Editoi-: W. D. Richardson
Associate EditorJ. Geo. P. Adamson, E. G. Bailey, G. E. Barton, Wm. Brady, Wm. Campbell, F. B. Carpenter, Virgil Coblentz, Francis I. Dupont, W. C. Ehaugh, W m . C. Geer, W. F. Hillebrand, W.D. Horne, L. P. Kinnicutt, A. E. Leach, Karl Langenheck, A. D. Little, P. C. McIlhiiiey, E. B. McCready, W m . McMurtrie, J. Merritt Matthews, T. J. Parker, J. D. Pennock, Clifford Richardson, Geo. C. Stone, F. W. Traphagen, E r n s t Twitchell, Roht. U’ahl, Wni. H . Walker, M. C. Whitaker, W. R. Whitney. Published motithly. Subscription price to non-members of the American Chemical Society $6 00 yearly. Copyright. 1909.by W. D. Richardson, Editor.
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SEPTEMBER, 1909.
No. 9
EDITORIALS. INDUSTRIAL INCOMPATIBILITIES.
THE physician and the pharmacist are vitally concerned with the subject of incompatibility as applied to substances in the materia medica, and they must be on guard against therapeutical, pharmaceutical and chemical incompatibilities if their prescribing and dispensing are to be productive of good. A thorough knowledge of the properties of their medicines and the proper application of chemical and physical principles have led them to the refined pharmaceutical products of to-dayproducts that contrast strongly with the crude medicaments of a century ago. Is there not something of the same sort in the industrial world? One does not have to go very far back into the history of manufacturing processes to discover marked “ incompatibilities’’ among industries. The introduction of the Le Blanc soda process resulted in the formation of large
and tar from gas works found their way into drains and rivers; refuse from slaughterhouses constituted no mean nuisance; and even the offal and waste from the houses of a mediaeval city became a source of infection. Thus air, water and the very earth itself were rendered unfit for many industries and offensive to the senses of man. But with the pressure of stern necessity for improved conditions laid upon the manufacturer, and with the growth of new industries, there were developed ways for utilizing the hydrochloric acid, ammonia, tar, packing-house refuse, household garbage and even sewage. The chemical fertilizer, made from factory wastes that had been a menace to agriculture, proved to be the salvation of exhausted farm land; and purified ammonia and coal-tar colors advanced the a r t of the bleacher and dyer mho had complained about the pollution of his water supplies by gas works refuse. Industrial incompatibility gave way before technical progress. Similar results can be expected in the cases of the industrial incompatibilities that remain. The elimination of the coal smoke nuisance, the conversion of smelter gases into Yaluable products, the proper treztment of mine waters, the cure of the dust evil a t manufacturing plants of various kinds, are problems by no means incapable of solution in the near future. As heretofore industrial incompatibility will be replaced by industrial interdependence, but meanwhile the principle of “live and let live” must be exercised or the law of nuisance invoked. 1%‘.C.
EBAUGH.
COMMITTEES.
THE man who remarked very thoughtfully that a committee was a body which took a week to do something which could be done by a good man in a n hour, was nearly correct. And yet the necessity for committee work has increased and is sure to increase in the future with a civilization which is
