INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
2
Neivs Edition
Expansion of Chemical Abstracts The Directors of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY a few months a g o addressed a proposal to the SOCIETY'S corporate members, to a selected list of corporations whose prosperity depends on chemistry, and to a few individuals believed to be able, by support, influence, or advice, t o assist in carrying o u t the plan unfolded for the expansion of Chemical A bstracts. It was pointed o u t that two things were essential: first, the investment of not less than $50,000 a year in addition to funds which could be taken from the SOCIETY'S resources to enable Chemical Abstracts to fulfil i t s mission; second, the creation of a capital sum, the income of which is to be devoted to the continuation of that work. m The SOCIETY had turned but seldom to industry for substantial assistance, and some doubted the success of the undertaking. A t the S t . Louis meeting t h e group was electrified b y the announcement t h a t the Chemical Foundation, Inc., through its president, Francis P Garvan had made available t h e s u m of $50,000 p e r year for five years to be used in such mariner a s the Directors of the SOCIETY should decide for t h e development ol Chevnicd Abstracts I t was also announced t h a t already a considerable sum h a d been offered by industry,;. h ^ciea b y an annual gxft of $10,000 for five years from the Allied Chemical & Dye Corp. T r i e announcement of these additional sums further encoiuragcd those^responsibleif or financing t h e S O C W T J si programs, smce it enabled the Directors to complete their part o f the agreem e o t withi the General Education Board, whose support of the Second Decennial Index to Chemtcal Abstracts^was o n the basis of a revolving fund t o be brought to $100,000 to guarantee the future compilation and publication of such collective indexes. Since l i a t memorable S t . Louis meeting.the work has gone forward i n a dignified, q^iet yet persistent w a y and i t has been rnost heartening to see the splendid spirit with which t h e industry has responded t o the proposal made by the Directors. Today we are able t o pubhsh a list o t h o s e ^ J ^ ^ ^ . ^ ^ ^ sher* of Chemical Absgactsan^ S H w C i S d ^ ^ S s ^ & S * , ;, " (jjenn „ „ a r t „ rt„ i , ™ ^ ;„ :„, r ^i„„^ TTS/^ Q „ ^ J„ ffied t o a l o u n f e ^ t L X s t x y ^ ^ ^ for the n e x t five years Chemical Abstracts will expend, in addition t o sums from the resources of t h e SOCIETY of not less than $110,000 a year, $50,000 on this key to the chemical literature of the world. The t o t a l of one-qu&rter of a million dollars, made available b y the Chemical Foundation, becomes the nucleus o f a capital sunn necessary t o guarantee in perpetuity this much-needed support. The work, therefore, is but partially completed, but what has been accomplished will surely facilitate the completion of the effort I t may not b e generally known that in 1927 Chemical Abstracts published 32,909 abstracts, of which 7872 were abstracts of patents. This was a n increase of more than 3700 abstracts in comparison with 1926, which was again nearly as great a n inmease o v e r 1925. T h e distribution of abstracts, inclusive of patent abstracts, arranged b y subjects is as follows: apparatus and plant Equipment 333
the greatest increase. Enforced economy has made necessary the neglect of t h e patent literature of recent years, but in 1929 the patent literature will again be thoroughly covered and informative abstracts will be given of Austrian, Belgian, British, Canadian, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Swedish, Swiss, and United States patents. T h e number of scientific journals now systematically abstracted j s more than 1300, and they represent many languages. The published "List of periodicals Abstracted by Chemical Abstracts with Key to Library Files" (225 American and Canadian libraries) is an 89-page pamphlet, available at 35 cents per copy, and said to be by far the most complete list in existence of current periodiCals of chemical interest, Chemical Abstracts will continue to strive to excel in completen e s s > s o t h a t t h e c h e m i s t c a n u s e abstracts with a feeling of reaS011 able security against missing anything of value in contempoT h e quality of the abstracts, which has r a r y chemical literature. b e e n g o o d i n s p i t e o f t h e n e c e s s i t y for extreme brevity, will be i m p r 0 v e d by t h e reasonable lengthening which i s now possible. T h e s e a b s t r a c t s are> f o r t h e m o s t p a r t > p r e p a r e d by specialists actively interested i n the various subjects. Other specialists serving i n the capacity of assistant editors, of which there are 4 0 ^ v e f u r t h e r examination to the prepared abstracts, checking A special feature of Chemical t h e m o v e r before publication. Abstracts for many years has been the Subject Indexes. These T h e editor a r e t r u e s u b j e c t indexes, not indexes of words. i v e s t h i s w o r k h i s c l o s e p e r s o n a l attention, seeing to it that the i n d e x e s a r e a c C urate and complete with the entries properly corThe e l a t e d a n d w i t h s u p e rfluous words and entries eliminated. e n t ry-a-line style, w i t h systematic writing and arrangement of modifying the subject headings, makes for convenithe p h r a s e s ence in use T h e A u t h o r , Subject, and Formula Indexes for 1927 entries totaling over 150,000. contSLined With the support which has come to this uniquely useful publi. wiJI ^ position to care for the normal growth of the { * « * * Hterature a n d at the same time expand t h e abstracts to the m o s t effective average length. Abstracts are t o be made more informational a n d will Ippear more promptly I t is planned to g»ve industrial chemistry in all its phases increasing attention The e / *f a ^ e a t feeling of satisfaction when a n enterprise has u **** developed t o the point where it excels in its specialty. This 1S t r u e o f Chemical Abstracts. N o t only will chemistry and the AMERICAN CHEMICAI, SOCIETY benefit directly from the expansion f ? Chemical Abstracts, but t h e many sciences which depend upon * a f l d ^ c h contribute but little to its maintenance will also P r o f i t - T h e c o s t ? f Chemical Abstracts to users is absurdly low; lts n e a r . ^ competitor is offered at several times its subscription price. The support received, therefore, not o n l y constitutes a soun 4 investment for industry but enables industry in a very practical manner and a t relatively small cost to encourage saence in general and benefit a great number. It only remains to cornP l e t e the capital sum required to place Chemical Abstracts permanently on the sound foundation its service warrants, List of Subscribers T h e following corporations have subscribed to t h e cooperative
General a n d Physical Chemistry Subatomic Phenomena and Radiochemistry
2628 1623
plan for t h e i m p r o v e m e n t a n d p e r f e c t i o n Of t h e r e s e a r c h i n f o r m a t i o n S e r v i c e Of t h e AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY t h r o u g h
Electrochemistry Pfaotograptiy itxorganic Chemistry Analytical Chemistry Mineralogical and Geological Chemistry Metallurgy and Metallography Organic Chemistry Biological Chemistry Foods General industrial Chemistry Wat«r, Sewage, and Sanitation Soils, Fertilizers, and Agricultural Poisons Tfae Fermentation industries pharmaceutical Chemistry Acids, Alkalies, Salts, and Sundries
343 186 369 753 564 1178 22is 623fi 661 250 499 707 iso 835 3."j
