INDUSTRIAL andENGINEE RING CHEMISTRY
r I
Published by tho Amenoan C h r m l d Sooloty
HARRISON E.HOWE, Editor
I
EDITORIALS Chemistry in Medicine
0N
October 21 and 22 laboratory directors, serologists, and others vitally interested in the program of the Surgeon General to wage a sustained and active campaign against the so-called social diseases, more particularly syphilis, will meet in Hot Springs, Ark. At long last there is frank discussion of diseases which have taken a frightful toll, largely because of prudish silence. Open attacks might well have resulted in curtailment, as in the case of other plagues. The purpose of this assembly, over which SurgeonGeneral Thomas Parran will preside, is to make progress in the evaluation, improvement, and standardization of serological tests for syphilis. The principal tests now employed will be presented by their originators and thoroughly discussed. The program also includes the proper training of laboratory personnel and questions concerning approval by state boards of health or the licensing of laboratories for the performance of serodiagnostic tests for syphilis. The AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY has a place on this program and President Whitmore will discuss the place of the chemist in the clinical laboratory. The tests themselves are chemical in nature. More particularly, they belong in the field of colloid chemistry. The tests of today are not the relatively simple and even crude ones earlier employed in clinical laboratories, to provide the facts upon which physicians could make their diagnoses. Many semiskilled laboratory workers, usually designated as “technicians,” among whom are thousands of nurses and pharmacists, have been taught to perform by rote simple tests, just as laboratory assistants in some large industrial laboratories have learned to carry out many useful and even indispensable functions, but they can be relied upon only when constantly supervised by a director adequately trained in chemistry. The tests of today are far more complex and dificult. Without suitable chemical training those who attempt to perform these tests are lost if something goes wrong, as not infrequently happens. It is then that the chemist thoroughly conversant with the principles of the reagents and the probable sources of error or variation inherent in the technic proves his indispensability. 10x9
It is by no means strange that the chemist plays so fundamental a part in all this work. That body processes are largely chemical in nature was long ago recognized. We are indebted to L. B. Hitchcock for the following quotation from a play written by Collins in 1860, since which time progress in chemistry has been astounding: The best years of my life have been passed in the ardent study of medical and chemical science. Chemistry, espec-ially, has always had irresistible attractions for me, from the eiiormous, the illimitable power which the knowledge of it confers. Chemists, I assert i t emphatically, might sway, if they pleased, the destinies of humanity. Let me explain this before I go further. Mind, the say, rules the world. But what rules the mind? The body. &he body (follow me closely here) lies at the mercy of the most omnipotent of all potentates-the Chemist. Give ; and when Shakespeare has conceived me-Fosco-chemistry Hamlet, and sits down to execute the conception-with a few grains of powder dropped into his daily food, I will reduce his mind, by the action of his body, till his pen pours out the most abject drivel that has ever degraded paper. Under similar circumstances, revive me the illustrious Newton. I guarantee that. when he sees the apple fall, he shall eat it, instead of discovering the principle of gravitation. Nero’s dinner shall transform Nero into the mildest of men before he has done digesting it; and the morning draught of Alexander the Great shall make Alexander run for his life, a t the first sight of the enemy, the same afternoon. On my sacred word of honor, i t is lucky for socirty that modern chemists are, by incomprehensible good fortune, the most harmless of mankind.
A few weeks ago the New York Times discussed editorially the chemistry of insanity and after recounting some of the work done by leading specialists in mental diseases concluded: “Insanity as well as normal thinking must be interpreted chemically. The fact that drugs can accelerate or retard the action of both insulin and metrazol leads to that conclusion. There is work for the biochemists to do. They must discover what goes wrong with the brain’s chemical factory and reduces a brilliant intellect to madness. That done, we shall have a new science of preventive psychiatry.” The AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, under its federal charter, has a duty to perform in aiding that protection of the public which is the chief concern of the Surgeon General and his co-workers. CoGperation must be afforded through training the chemical personnel, developing properly qualified directors, and discouraging the creation of an artificial monopoly of supervision by any one profession.
1090
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
It is the earnest desire of every reputable chemist and SOCIETY that the program of of the AMERICANCHEMICAL the Surgeon General be permitted to deliver the maximum benefit to humanity in achieving this end. The trained chemist has much work to do and a real obligation in properly performing it.
The Encouraging Word ECENT months are reported as having been more difficult for the chemist seeking employment than was the depression which began in 1929. We are informed that men with higher degrees have in most instances found places but it has been very difficult for those with but four years’ work to find employment. We have corresponded with some who have been seeking places and a recent letter from one of these men lists a number of employers who had taken the trouble to write him heartening, sympathetic, and understanding letters, even though they could offer no place while operating at part capacity and with a curtailed budget. Letters of this type, which were so highly prized as to lead our correspondent to make a list of men and their companies, certainly add to the sum of good will enjoyed by those who write them. The other type of letter, the curt reply, seems unnecessarily discouraging. Surely a letter which will strengthen the morale of the applicant requires but little effort and is an example of the common decency which in such times is so valuable. Through our News Edition we offer employers facilities for finding men of the type they need. All who use the service are expected to reply to applicants. To make such replies in a kindly tone regardless of the news they bear is not specified, but may we not expect employers to give more attention to it?
R
permitted precise work to be done on samples a mere fraction of those formerly required. This is important both where the substances are of great value and where only small samples are procurable. Combined with other modern tools^ in analysis, it enables the investigator to carry his work into heretofore dark corners and to obtain results which have been quite out of reach for those who employ only the older methods and technics. Notwithstanding the skill which must be acquired if the best work is to be done in microchemistry, it has been observed that even the student immediately handles such tiny equipment with greater care and hence does better work. As A. H. Corwin has said: “Microchemistry has ceased to be the tool belonging only to the highly trained specialist. It is now available even to freshmen in the green cap stage.” The Microchemical Section made a good record. As a division, this group of earnest workers will go on to still greater achievements in a field that is new, fascinating, and highly useful.
Three C9s
UMANITY has frequently been classified, the category depending upon the point of view of the individual observer. A particularly interesting observation has been made by W. J. Cameron, whose writings have become so well known, thanks to broadcasting. He says that people seem to gravitate into one of three classifications : creative, contributive, and covetous. This is an interesting thought and as we look about us we can think of many men and women who have demonstrated creative ability in different fields. A considerable proportion of the chemical profession is so placed. These people create with the knowledge that everyone will have the opportunity to benefit from whatever contributions to truth they are able to make. Microchemical Diu is ion Then, as Mr. Cameron points out, there are many people who render important and necessary service by HE Council at the Milwaukee meeting approved developing the results obtained by the creative group. the constitution and bylaws offered by the MicroOnce shown, they can see clearly what must be done chemical Section, which thereby became the Division of SOCIETY. and frequently independent of the creative group carry Microchemistry of the AMERICANCHEMICAL their work further, overcome inherent difficulties in There are many contrasts to be observed between old equipment and process, and deliver a better product. and new chemistry, but the differences between the Neither group is likely to harbor the idea that if one technics, the apparatus, and equipment used in the person has less, it is because another has more nor laboratories of a generation ago and those which serve that one man’s success means another man’s failure. the specialist in microchemistry are among the most Unfortunately, there is a vociferous minority who striking. drift into the third group. They are neither creative We recall well-developed courses in microchemistry nor contributive, but covetous. They are inclined to early in the century. But that work was done under the think of possessing in terms of dispossessing, and prefer microscope. The microchemist today employs equipto live by the work of the other groups. Strangely ment frequently so diminutive that a magnifying glass enough, their status is improved as the others progress. is used to make readings and the various tubes, beakers, They may ultimately learn that the success of one man combustion boats, and other apparatus appear like toys. most frequently makes it more difficult for others to fail. Microchemistry and microanalysis have already We hope you have not put yourself under the third C. found a great variety of uses. A few years ago they made If you even tend in that direction, do something about it. an appeal because they not only enabled saving time but
T
’
VOL. 30, NO. 10
H
