November, 1925
INDUSTRIAL A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Semicentennial of the Society Plans are under way in Philadelphia to make the most of the semicentennial of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. HOW fortunate we are still to have among us as active members of the SOCIETY some of those who were a part of that first group of chemists who met fifty years ago! Some special recognition must be given our surviving charter members when chemists meet in unprecedented numbers in Philadelphia the week beginning September 6 . The secretaries of our several divisions and sections will see to it that the best talent of their membership contributes to their programs. The meeting will be made more brilliant by the attendance of many foreign chemists, and the occasion will be marked by a historical volume dealing with fifty years of American chemistry, compiled by a committee of our leading chemist-historians under the chairmanship of C. A. Browne. We may have an opportunity to spend a day at Northumberland, visiting the home of Priestley and becoming better acquainted with his environment and work. Notwithstanding the Sesquicentennial, which will be open at that time, ample accommodations will be found for visiting chemists.
International Union For the first time America is to have the privilege of being host to the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. This organization is in a way the successor of the International Congresses of Applied Chemistry, the last of which met under the able chairmanship of William H. Nichols in IYew York in 1912. The International Union is an outgrowth of the war, formed under the auspices of the International Research Council, and American representation is therefore through the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Technology of our own National Research Council. President Norris is a vice president of the Union, and W. J. Hale is chairman of the Council’s division this year. The Union will meet in Washington the week beginning September 13. Although.much of its work is done in committees upon which American chemists have representation, there undoubtedly will be a number of public lectures by world prominent chemists, and frequent opportunities to become acquainted with the leaders of chemical thought in the several nations comprising the Union. It will be another red letter week in the chemistry of 1926.
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JOURNAL worthy of the year in which i t will be published. We are confident that those who make the most of the opportunities presented will find themselves busily engaged but withal so interested that they will look back upon 1926 as a banner year not only for American chemistry and the AMERICAN CHEhxIcAL SOCIETY, but for the participating individuals as well.
E. D. Campbell OR each one of us there is some one who has been an inspiration and some one whose example has been a source of courage. Such a one for us was Professor E. D. Campbell of the University of Michigan. Elsewhere in this issue will be found a brief account of his life and work. No one possessed of his normal faculties can fail t o find encouragement in the thought that here was a man, blind since 1892, who nevertheless continued steadfastly in a profession where progress would seem to be impossible without eyesight, and achieved the distinction of becoming chairman of a great department in a great university. Professor Campbell was an assistant professor of only two years’ experience when the accident occurred that blinded him, but he soon resumed work and with the help of assistants, one of whom read him current literature, he maintained his place as a metallurgist of note and carried on important research in Portland cement. His memory was astounding and years after a student had been in his courses he was able to call his name if he heard his voice. If one so handicapped could be cheerful. productive in his work, and constructive in his thinking, how can the average man complain of his lot and be satisfied with less than his best?
Far-Sightedness
NE or two things have recently transpired in the synthetic organic chemical field which, although by no means unexpected, nevertheless have caused sincere regret among those who really believe in an American chemical industry. We refer to the announcement that the Grasselli Dyestuff Corporation has made a n arrangement with the General Dyestuff Corporation, of which Herman A. Metz is the head and moving spirit. It is Mi-. Nletz’s frank ambition to become the sole importer of German dyestuffs and the Local Section Activities principal. representative of the German Cartel in America. I n so historical a year as 1926, would it not be well for local Some look upon the new arrangement as the first real footsections and indeed our universities, colleges, and industrial hold which the I. G. has obtained in American chemical laboratories to put their own historical houses in order? manufacture, while others maintain that so long as there is Recording the history of any organization is really interesting American production it is only right to classify the plant as a to a comparatively few people. One has to enjoy writing his- part of the American industry. This, however, is not the tory just as one has to enjoy making analytical determi- whole specification. There are one or two questions the annations, if he is to be highly successful at it. However, the swers to which leave no doubt as to whether or not a given ortime comes when historical facts are important, and it is very ganization is American. When tariff bills are before Congress, satisfying to be able to locate authentic data and authoritative will i t join other American manufacturers in asking for reasonsources of historical information. I n nearly every center able protection for American-made products, or will it be there is some man still living who has been with that particu- more interested in making easier the importation of such lar organization since its founding. He knows the personali- products? Would such a n organization prefer to manufacties of the men responsible for its success. He knows from ture abroad and import a newly developed article under a personal experience the difficulties overcome or differences noncompetitive classification and sell i t here a t a certain that have been ironed out and the factors that have meant piofit, or would it choose, after having completed research on much in making progress toward the ideal set. While there is the article, to make it in America and sell it under the comyet time, let these histories be prepared, filed in a n accessible petitive classification a t a slightly lower profit? T o what place, and kept up to date by succeeding offices. The work extent would a manufacturer join with his American colwill be a pleasure to those who undertake it and a valuable leagues in seriously developing a foreign market? Or to contribution for those who follow. what extent would his foreign policy be dictated by interests For ourselves we have no intention of merely planning work other than American? It seems to us that upon the honest for others. We hope, with the continued cooperation of a answers to such questions depends the extent to which a loyal membership, to make the eighteenth volume of THIS manufacturer is truly American.
