I N D U STRIAL andENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
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Published by the American Chemiosl Sooiety
EDITORIALS
HARRISON E. HOU‘E, Editoy
1
The Insignificance of the Chemist
period it would only raise the carbon dioxide content from 0.03 per cent to about 0.032 per cent. However, this overlooks another very important factor, namely, the function of the ocean in stabilizing and regulating the carbon dioxide content of the air. Available data indicate that there is 30 or 40 times as much carbon dioxide dissolved in the ocean as is present in the atmosphere, and the average partial vapor pressure of this dissolved carbon dioxide is probably largely what determines the average carbon dioxide content of the air, so that well over 90 per cent of any excess carbon dioxide introduced into the atmosphere eventually finds its way into the ocean, leaving the composition of the former virtually unaffected. Incidentally, it appears that the temperature of the ocean, which is considerably influenced by glacial conditions and polar ice caps, has been, and probably will continue to be, the most significant factor in det>erminingthe carbon dioxide content of the air. It also appears that if the small increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide should occur, another factor would tend to restore about the present balancenamely, a small increase in the rate of growth of a t least part of the world’s vegetation. The tremendous quantity of carbon dioxide consumed every year by growing vegetation (and practically all returned by its eventual combustion or decay) is more than a thousand times the total amount produced by all the coal and petroleum burned in a year of high industrial activity! “What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?”
HILE the theme and title of this editorial are in sharp contrast with the customary tone of these columns, it is perhaps just as well for the chemist to be reminded from time to time that the forces and quantities which he controls are, after all, rather puny compared with the might and vast resources of Yature. Probably every chemist appreciates that the combined result of all our mining and chemical activities to date has made but an infinitesimal alteration in the composition of the earth’s crust or of the sea water. Taken by and large, the outstanding factor affecting the world’s material balance in this chemical and industrial age is the tremendous quantity of mined fuels which are burned every day of the year. It recently occurred to the writer that the enormous quantity of carbon dioxide produced by this combustion should in time have at least an appreciable effect on the tiny percentage of carbon dioxide which is present in as tenuous a substance as our atmosphere. Such a change might, in turn, promote to some degree the growth of vegetation, which depends almost entirely on this trace of carbon-bearing gas in the atmosphere. It even seemed conceivable that we might eventually begin to reverse what took place during the carboniferous era, when a combination of climatic conditions, probably including a high carbon dioxide content in the air, resulted in the fixing and locking up in the earth of most of our tremendous stores of coal. Using rough figures, it appears that the total world’s production of mined fuels during the last 50 years of high activity has contained about 50,000,000,000 tons of carbon-including coal, lignite, crude petroleum, and natural gas, petroleum constituting roughly 7 per cent of the total. On burning, this mined fuel probably yielded about 180,000,000,000 tons of carbon dioxide, an amount which, if not dissipated in some way, sounds like enough to snuff out most of the animal life in the world, or in any case to make a very substantial change in the 0.03 per cent normal carbon dioxide concentration in the air. Actually, however, calculation indicates that if all this extra carbon dioxide had been dumped into the atmosphere and none removed during this 50-year
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ROBERTE. WILSON
Names Wanted E ARE indebted to Jerome Alexander for the W r hyme : -4 aids development, saves from sore eyes; B (or B,) beriberi defies; C conquers scurvy, and D dodges rickets; E gives ou heirs who can bowl at Life’s wickets; G (or BJ keeps pellagra awayThese are the vitamins known today.
May we emphasize that last line, for it touches a controversial matter. If we include in our references to the literature articles which have appeared in abundance and which should be collated under the head847
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INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
ing of advertising, then there is one more letter in the alphabet which has been appropriated by those who wish other substances to be known and accepted as a vitamin. We are told that when Adam and Eve were naming the animals, it was a relatively simple matter. Thus, Eve said, “That looks like an elephant,” and so Adam agreed that “elephant” it should be. A t any rate, they could see what they were naming. When vitamins were discovered, the most that could be seen was the effect in animal and some human experiments of the presence or absence of these food accessory substances. When the letters were assigned, F was held in reserve because research then well on the way indicated that there was another substance which had the ciharacteristics of a vitamin that could soon be announced. In those days little, if anything, was known of the structure of the vitamins. That was years before the classic work on vitamin B1, reported in detail by Williams at the Chapel Hill meeting, which gave first a reasonable picture of the B1 molecule, was soon followed by the preparation of a highly purified concentrate, and then in 1936 was crowned with the synthesis of this very important substance. We seem to have come, therefore, to the place when what we have known as vitamins are pretty definite entities, for which names, rather than letters, can be assigned. Some names have already been suggested by authorities. Whereas a decade ago there were relatively few recognized vitamins, today there are some 25 chemically different substances which by their effect may be so classed. Let us break away from the unsatisfactory letter designations, many now with subscripts, and proceed to identifying names selected in accordance with chemical composition. Such a procedure will be welcome for many reasons, among them the clarification of certain aspects of extreme commercialism in which the vitamins have been exploited. It was ever thus. Success in some perfectly proper direction always yields its diverse by-products of exploitation, few of which can be justified and all of them designed solely for profit. Unhappy results have occurred when good things have been overdone against the best advice. Overselling may sometimes be the cause. But what about vitamin F? This designation has been applied, so far as we can ascertain, primarily to linoleic and/or linolenic acid which has been found by those researching in biological chemistry to be essential to the nutrition of rats and presumably other of the higher animals. These fatty acids, however, have never been officially accepted as vitamins. The application of such fatty acids having been shown to prevent or cure scaly rat tails, they have found their way into certain cosmetics, soaps, and similar commercial commodities. Those who discovered that such substances
VOL. 29, NO. 8
are essential constituents of the diet did not use the term “vitamin F,” maintaining that it would only complicate matters to designate with a letter a compound that is already known chemically. It would be just as unsatisfactory to assign vitamin letters to each of the essential amino acids. But this point of view is not acceptable to those who recognize in the word “vitamin” a great popular appeal, and “vitamin F” has been adopted by many manufacturers who are apparently pleased to indicate on their labels something supposedly so important. While these acids have been incorporated in cold creams, nail polishes, and various cosmetics, the benefits that may accrue from their use are probably no greater than those which result when you inadvertently spill paint on your hands when redecorating the old wheelbarrow. Remembering how many years of careful research with highly purified diets are required to demonstrate the necessity of almost vanishingly small quantities of fat in a complete diet for the rat and that linoleic or linolenic acid will take the place of the natural fat, it would seem almost impossible for man to select a diet from naturally occurring foodstuffs that would be likely to leave it deficient in fatty acids. Let us, then, not be excited about what may happen to us if we do not get our daily allotment of “vitamin F.” However, let us be very much concerned about this further exploitation of science for no good purpose and speed the day when we will insist upon calling things by their right names, utilizing letters or other means of designation only as a temporary and more or less unsatisfactory expedient.
It Has Been Said What greedy ears receive, loose tongues betray, But no one can repeat what you don’t say. The heaviest burden a man can bear is a chip on his shoulder. Research is an insurance policy, not a fire department. According to Charles F. Kettering: “If a t any time you should want to stop research, I will tell you how you can do it and save time. Just get a small committee together and have them pass on it. What they will say is that you were foolish for having started; so the first thing you can do is to say ‘that is no good’ and throw it away. But if you are curious and want to know what was really happening, keep fussing along with it until you find out why. Most things are known somewhere else.” You say the experiment failed. That is just your alibi. It was your own thinking that failed in the experiment. Remember that an experiment is an impartial judge of your thinking. Knowing how to do a thing and getting it done are two entirely different things.
