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INDUSTRIAL AND ENGIiVEERING CHEMISTRY
Vol. 17, No. 3
EDITORIALS Chemistry Wins Recognition A M O N G the acts of the present short session of Congress which we may heartily approve is the one advancing the chief of the Chemical Warfare Service to the same rank as the chiefs of other service departments and the reappointment of Brigadier-General Amos A. Fries as chief of the service for the ensuing four years. Both actions are victories for chemistry and are significant. Those who have looked upon the Chemical Warfare Service as an insignificant and temporary branch of the service to be ultimately combined with some of the well-established branches, must now recognize that the service has come to stay and that they must adjust themselves to the new order of things. The bill to make the chief of the service a majorgeneral was passed, not because that chief happened t o be Brigadier-General Fries, but because Congress and many of our military authorities have become better acquainted with the real status of a service that has suffered much from prejudice and misrepresentation. However, had not the present chief served so well under trying conditions, the change in rank might have been made with much greater difficulty. Brigadier-General Fries has been reappointed because he has developed with his job. His early training did not include chemistry, and when in France he mas ordered to create a Chemical Warfare Service he saw the wisdom of surrounding himself with men who knew chemistry and devoted such time as he could spare from administration to the development of tactics in the field. His continued contact with chemistry has given him unusual insight into that part of the science involved in chemical warfare and he has gained much by observation. From the viewpoint of technical men he has become invaluable to the service, since he appreciates to a greater degree than most men of the regular line the methods and idiosyncrasies of men engaged in research. He has put up a good fight for the service in many quarters and, though funds have been inadequate, has been able to keep together a competent staff and press the more important problems of the service. But notwithstanding these victories for chemistry the Chemical Warfare Service is still being treated like a stepchild by those in charge of Army appropriations. The funds available for the service are about one-third of one per cent of the total Army appropriations and have made necessary such reductions in the technical staff that essentially new things cannot be undertaken and much peace-time development work must be entirely neglected. Let us look a t the facts. Perhaps you have forgotten that before the treaties drawn at the Limitation of Armaments Conference in Washington were to become binding they were to be ratified by the various signatory powers and certified copies of the ratification deposited in Washington. It is now several years since that conference. None of the ratifications have been deposited in Washington, and the treaties respecting submarines and chemical warfare have not been ratified by one of the powers participating in the conference. The United States is not a party to the Hague Conference nor one of the powers signing the Treaty of S'ersailles. In so far as treaties are concerned or might be observed, we are therefore open to attack by any nation a t any time with such weapons as they
may choose to use. The appropriations for research and the maintenance of the Chemical Warfare Service have concurrently decreased from $1,350,000 in 1922 to $700,000 in 1925, to which latter figure should be added 8207,980 on account of reclassification, which means that this sum is to be added to salaries and does not provide additional staff, equipment, or supplies. There has been a steady decline in such reserves of material as were on hand a t the close of the war until the place has been reached where the annual appropriations for the service must be substantially increased if the present level is to be maintained. But would the present level suffice? A correspondent in a recent popular weekly states that Germany has stored, ready for use, sufficient modern gas masks to provide five for every soldier authorized by the treaty. I n the United States we have one modern gas mask per hundred enlisted men in the Regular Army and National Guard. Italy, shortly after hlussolini came into power, established a chemical warfare service modeled along the lines of our organization but with twice the number of officers. England appears to be giving chemical warfare the same importance as its three great arms of national defense-Army, Xavy, and Air Service. Chemical warfare has been placed under a committee headed alternately by a high ranking officer of the Army and Navy. Russia, like England, has placed chemical warfare on the same plane with other important branches of her service. Japan has shown great activity along chemical warfare lines, and it is stated that four divisions of troops have been abolished so that the funds thus made available can be spent on the .4ir Service and the Chemical Warfare Service. Japan has been buying large quantities of chemical warfare supplies from Germany and elsewhere, and is known to be availing herself of the services of the ablest scientists from the German chemical field. France is perhaps as well prepared to use chemical weapons in war as any other nation, though less is known about her plans and actions than any of the other powers. Spain, Switzerland, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, all have chemical warfare service in one form or another, and it will be recalled that Spain used gas against the Moors in one of her campaigns last year. Even Mexico and certain countries in South and Central America are showing a growing interest in chemical warfare. Contrast with this the difficulty we have experienced in obtaining funds for stand-by condition. Should war come upon us our troops would be required to fight the first six months inadequately protected with modern gas masks. Meanwhile, we spend !$1,347,580 to feed the 9230 horses in the cavalry and at the ration allowed for h o r s e s 4 0 cents per day-the 45,000 horses and mules in the entire Army cost 66.570,OOO for forage alone, not to mention housing, harness, care-takers, and replacements. There are 122 veterinary officers in the Army's latest directory of January 1, 1925, and there are 83 officers in the Chemical Warfare Service. The extent to which cavalry has been superseded in modern warfare mas well demonstrated by the World War. The ascendancy of chemical warfare is written everywhere. We have in the Chemical Warfare Association, in the CHEMICALSOCIETY,and in membership of the AMERICAN allied technical men the means for bringing forcefully before those in authority the truth of our situation. Should an
March, 1925
I.VDUSTRI.4L , 4 5 0 ENGIA’EERING CHEMISTRY
inquiry into the status of our national defense grow out of the present controversy over the Air Service, so much the better. To many it is evident that the work necessary for national defense, and lawful under all existing treaties, must be prosecuted with greater vigor and supported on an adequate basis if this country of ours is not to remain in an extremely vulnerable position. It takes time to prepare the way for legislation affecting appropriations. We should begin now on the next appropriation bill.
W. F. Hillebrand
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ILLIXM F. HILLEBRAND, a past president of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY and chief chemist of the Bureau of Standards since 1908, died on February 7 after a brief illness. Dr. Hillebrand typified the science of chemistry. He stood for the most painstaking skill and technic. The accuracy of his analytical work was proverbial. The honesty and faithfulness with which he carried out his investigations left their stamp upon his whole character. The caution which he applied in the analysis of a rock specimen helped to develop a judgment in which we all had great confidence. He contributed more than one hundred papers to chemical literature, and the analyses which he reported, as for example in his classical work, “Rock Analysis,” contained determinations of small fractions of a per cent of the less abundant constituents, which have been of great value to the geologist, though differing materially from the easy expedient so often employed to obtain one hundred per cent by crediting differences to “undetermined.” Dr. Hillebrand was largely responsible for the establishmeiit of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, the need of the men in applied chemistry being one of the problems for his consideration while President of the SOCIETY.He had an appreciation of both the scientific and the industrial phases of our science and was glad to serve wherever he could be of assistance. He lii-ed to be 71 years of age, but there was still important work before him and his principal desire was to lire long enough to complete it. Dr. Hillebrand will be greatly missed in the n-ork of the Bureau of Standards, in the councils of the .AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, and by the great host of friends which 11 ere his.
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contributor, and it mas through his prompt action and great generosity that Dean Pond was able to bid in the Priestley home for cash. At the present time the deed to the property rests with Mr. Teas as trustee for the chemical alumni of Pennsylvania State College. Through his liberality the building and property have been restored, a care-taker has been provided, and many things have been done to give permanence to the home and its surroundings. It is a fine old-fashioned mansion with many unusual features, such as a vault or dungeon in the cellar with masonry walls some two feet in thickness. We are grateful for these additional details regarding the wide interest which has been displayed in preserving and establishing proper memorials to the memory of Priestley. Surely there will be as much enthusiasm in observing the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of our SOCIETY. The program should include an entire day a t Sorthumberland with appropriate exercises. All who will may then have opportunity to gain a better appreciation of the broad interest of Dean Pond, Mr. Teas, and many others who have helped perpetuate the memory of Priestley.
Institute of Chemico-Medical Research N September, 1918, we printed an editorial pointing out Ifavorable the need for intensive chemical research, under more conditions than existed, devoted to the alleviation
of human suffering. The following January a committee of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY was appointed to study the problem and prepare a statement of plans and policies. In 1921 this committee made its report, which has had a very wide circulation in its original form and as one of the books in the more than twenty-five thousand sets of books distributed in connection with the Prize Essay Contest. The next step in the development of this idea has now been reached in that Georgetown University a t Washington, D. C., has set the establishment of such an institute of chemicomedical research as a distinct goal, and a preliminary prospectus has been prepared which explains the endowment needed for this undertaking. Because of a number of fortunate circumstances a t Georgetown, the initial endoa-ment required is considerably less than that which was estimated by our committee and is a sum which the university will undoubtedly be able to secure. The interest of the SOCIETY will continue in this undertaking and in the work which is to S A S editorial in the February issue of THISJOURNAL be initiated under circumstances so fa\-orable as to warrant suggestions were made relative to celebrating the fiftieth our expecting great things. CHEIIJCBL anniversary of the founding of the AMERICAX SOCIETY, and reference was made to the Priestley home, which has been preserved and restored a t Korthumberland, Pa. However, we failed to emphasize the activity of the late Dean George Gilbert Pond, professor of chemistry a t the H E cumulative experience of the older generation is often Pennsylvania State College. When this omission was expressed in a statement of fact without reference to the brought to our attention, we were informed that the Priestley science underlying it. The mother of an investigator prehouse would today be a wreck if, indeed, it mould have sented him a t the time of his wedding with an old-fashioned continued to exist in any form, but for the energetic and sofa covered in green rep. Green was selected because there timely action of Dean Pond. He had been watching the was a saying that moths would not attack anything dyed green. Priestley home for several years with the idea that some or- To the surprise of the mother and even of the investigator, ganization might purchase and preserve it as a memorial. it took the moths but two years to destroy the green rep. Indeed, he attempted to raise money for this purpose but was It was a well-established fact that years ago, beginning unsuccessful. Meanwhile the property depreciated rapidly shortly after the discovery of Martius yellow in 1864, wool and was even used as an Italian boarding-house. Many dyed green had not been attacked by moths, and the investiof the windows became broken and, fast falling into decay, gator became interested in why his sofa had been attacked. the house was advertised to be sold a t public auction. A series of experiments with a large number of samples dyed Dean Pond a t once organized a Priestley fund campaign differently demonstrated that the moths would not attack among the chemical alumni of State College. William H. cloth on which Martius yellow was employed, and it was then Teas, of Marion, T’a., was a most active aid and a very large that it was remembered that nearly every woolen material
The Priestley Home
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Green Dye and Moths
