From the Cradle to the Grave1 Marston Taylor Bogert, Columbia University, New York, Ν. Υ. T THE Golden Gate International Exposition, to be opened next year upon man-made Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay, the United States Government will present social welfare in the form of an "American Biography," showing what his Government does for the average American from birth to old age» in such matters of general concern as public health, education, labor con ditions, delinquency, social insurance, and the like. In comparison with these gov ernmental services, I welcome this op portunity of pointing out what the chem ist has done and is doing for ]his fellow Americans, from the cradle to the grave, and am content to leave to my audience any decision as to the relative importance of these two contributors to the progress of civilization and the happiness of the individual. Like Faithful in Bunyan's immortal allegory of "The Pilgrim's Progress," the chemist accompanies you through life, eager to protect and aid you with every means in his power. Christian and Faithful, as pedestrians, traveled slowly and laboriously. We, as up-to-date mod erns, will be flying through space in an airplane, covering vastly more territory and at such a speed that our glimpses of it will be necessarily hasty and super ficial, and the best that your friend the chemist can do for you will be to call at tention to some of those features of the landscape which he hopes will prove new and interesting, at least to those who have not taken the same trip recently.
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Birth and Infancy PRENATAL. Before even con ception or birth, chemistry has placed us under heavy obliga tions by its unsurpassed services in aiding our parents to main tain such physical and mental health as will enable them to bear healthy children. Further, chemistry plays a role which is almost daily increasing in signifi cance and importance in deter mining the character of the off spring or in fact whether there are to be any offspring at all. For the tragedy of sterility, vita min E, the so-called fertility vitamin present in wheat-germ oil, which has such remarkable effects upon lower animals, holds out the hope that perhaps in some of its derivatives or com pounds of related structure, there will be found at last a cure for sterility in the higher animals, in cluding man. This vitamin has been synthesized by Karrer and his colleagues in Zurich, and by Smith and his associates in our own country, from phytol, one of the major components of chlorophyll, the green coloring matter of plants. Suppose that some day the chemist should find out that the cause of sterility in hybrids is due entirely to the lack of an essential chemical » Prieetlev Medal address, presented at the public meeting, 96th Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Mil waukee, Wis.· September 5 to 9,1938. At the request of the Convention Committee, this address was prepared pri marily to give the intelligent layman some idea of recent achievements in the field of chemistry, but it is hoped that the chemist also may find therein something of interest.
believed that man's bodily functions were controlled entirely by the nervous system. Today, however, it is being increasingly recognized that many, perhaps all, of these functions are really determined by chemical reactions. Sir Henry Dale was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery that acetylcholine is the chemical messenger from the nerves to the muscles, and that every time a thought commands a muscle to move, a shot of acetylcholine flies from the nerve endings to that particular muscle. For corporal and intellectual welfare, the exact collaboration of nervous and hormone systems is fundamental. Certain hormones, such as the cortin group of the suprarenal gland, insulin, and parathormone, are absolutely indispensable for the continuation of life. The absence, or serious deficiency, of others is certain Marston Taylor Bogert to cause deep-seated disturbances of the normal healthy functioning of the organism. or chemicals which he could supply. Think what this would mean to animal No method has yet been discovered, and plant geneticists and to the progress however, for the certain predeterminaof the world. Incidentally, a most useful tion of the sex of the chifd. That the animal which, according to the testimony sex-determination problem will be solved of our own "doughboys" really won the by the chemist in the near future seems World War, would be freed finally from likely, for the constitution of most of the that ancient stigma of being "without sex hormones is now known to the chempride of ancestry or hope of posterity." ist and many of them he has prepared The amazing chemistry and effects of synthetically. The startling fact has the sex hormones are just now beginning been discovered that the difference beto be understood. Hormones have been tween the molecular structures of the defined by Professor Ruzicka as chemical most important male and female horcompounds formed in internal glandular mones is only an atom or two of carbon secretions and having a specific physio and a few atoms of hydrogen, and that logical action upon bodily organs at a dis they all possess the same carbon skeleton. tance. Up to the end of the 19th cen It has been suggested, therefore, that only tury, as he reminds us, it was generally very slight changes in the life functions of the parents may be necessary to determine the sex of the child and that with the balance so delicately adjusted, an addition of the proper chemical, perhaps a vitamin or a hormone, might well prove decisive. Dre. Greene, Burrill, and Ivy report that the injection of heavy doses of a female hormone into pregnant rats results in the males born being partly feminized; and that similarly, when a male hormone is used, the females born are distinctly masculinized. Steinach and Kun have found that the administration of male sex hormones to men caused a striking increase in the quantity of estrogenic substances secreted in the urine, as though the male hormone had undergone a transformation in the body into a compound producing the effects of a female sex hormone; and Dr. Riddle reported recently that prolactin, the lactogenic hormone of the female, when injected into the male, would cause lactation and a changed disposition, to such an extent that "a tom-cat might act as a wet nurse to a litter of kittens." Soon thereafter J. B. Collip, of McCill University, discovered that the injection of a male hormone into a · female developed lactation in the latter. Physiological studies to date seem to show that the only one of the human sex hormones which is strictly monosexual is the female hormone progesterone, and CourUêy, Otoens-IUinoû Qlatê Co, that all the others show properties of both sexes, although more Glass Fibers 553
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strongly on the one side or the other as the case may be. Dr. Corner, of the University of Rochester, states that the secretion from even a single corpus luteum is sufficient to maintain pregnancy, and that a daily dose of 1/350,000 ounce of the chemical progesterone will do exactly the same thing. Many years ago, Jacques Loeb proved that the eggs of sea urchins can be fertilized chemically. CHILDBIRTH. Although invisible at the moment, the chemist is truly standing by the side of your physician throughout this ordeal, alert to relieve the agony of labor and to protect both mother and child by providing ether, chloroform, ethylene, and similar general anesthetics to bring a blessed unconsciousness, and potent drugs of all kinds to relieve pain, check hemorrhages, guard against infections, reduce fevers, quiet the nerves, and induce sleep. One of the recently introduced medicaments from the chemical laboratory, sulfanilamide, has proved particularly efficacious in the treatment of childbed or puerperal fever. One of the first and most serious responsibilities of the attending physician to the newborn is the protection and preservation of its eyesight, and for this purpose the chemist hands him silver nitrate, argyrol, or other powerful antiseptics. The most important problems at the beginning of life's journey naturally are those which have to do with health and growth. This means primarily food and nutrition, a field in which the contributions of the chemist are multifarious and preeminent. In the matter of nourishment, it usually comes to us first in our mother's milk, although many mothers today prefer to bring up the little one on the bottle. Although "synthetic milk from contented chemicals" is not yet on the market, if you will go to the San Francisco Exposition next year, you will see there animals that have been fed nothing but a carefully compounded chemical ration since birth, and alongside of them another set of animals reared on an ordinary "natural" diet, and you will observe that the former are sturdier and healthier in every way than the latter. There will be shown also, on a test-tube scale, the way in which
the fats, carbohydrates, and proteins, essential for human food, can be manufactured. The day when, if necessary, our food can consist of a few capsules or pills of concentrated scientifically correct synthetic nutrients is definitely in sight, although at present it would be prohibitively expensive. When that day does arrive, the manufacturing nations may not be so dependent upon the agricultural ones, or require so much land for the support of their people. Fats are now being manufactured synthetically by Bergius in Germany from fatty acids obtained by the oxidation of the paraffins formed in the hydrogénation of coal, and he has also succeeded in producing from wood pulp a low-cost "sugar," suitable for stock feeding, as well as a crystalline glucose for human consumption. In Czechoslovakia, such a plant has been in operation since 1930, using wood waste, cornstalks, and nut shells, and the farmers in the vicinity have been raising their pigs on the "Bergius sugar" it produces. Turning now for a moment to a consideration of the extent to which the chemist is aiding us in the defense of our children against disease, it has been shown by Steenbock and others that irradiation with the rays of the sun or of a mercury arc light will transmute the ergosterol, which is easily extracted from yeast, into the fat-soluble antirachitic vitamin D (calciferol), a chemical compound whose presence in the body is indispensable for the maintenance of a proper calcium-phosphoric acid metabolism, and which thus controls the growth and development of bones and teeth. Its deficiency in children results in rickets (rachitis), in which the bones become soft and flexible from retarded ossification, causing deformities and other serious troubles, as well as affecting the teeth injuriously. Rickets, therefore, can be prevented or cured bv the administration of fish-liver oils which contain this vitamin. For decades it has been known that the best remedy for scurvy is a diet of fresh fruit and vegetables, especially citrus fruits, but it is only within recent years that the chemist has shown that this action is due entirely to the presence in such fruit of the antiscorbutic vitamin C, now known as ascorbic acid, whose chemical
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constitution and synthesis have been worked out by Haworth, Reichstein, Szent-Gyoergyi, Hirst, and others. This chemical is now available to prevent or cure scurvy, and has been found helpful also in forestalling the occurrence of stomach ulcers. For other diseases, the chemist provides prophylactics, palliatives, and special remedies; for whooping cough, inorganic and organic bromides; for disorders of the digestive tract, antiseptics and antipyretics. Childhood In matters of diet, George R. Minot. Nobel laureate, says that man's future will be largely determined by what he decides to eat. In this he is in agreement with the old dictum of "what you eat that you will become." Parents therefore should be on their guard about feeding their small children "all-day suckers," not only because of this prophecy, but also because such candy, if of the lemon or lime variety containing free citric acid, is very bad for the teeth. Epileptic cases are especially pathetic in young children. The chemist has aided here by providing powerful sedatives, antispasmodics, and hypnotics, such as sodium bromide, barbital (veronal), phénobarbital (luminal), chloral, trional, diphenylhydantoin, and the like. In the kindergarten and lower school, the young children find their greatest happiness with toys and games, a happiness shared by their friend the chemist who, unknown to them, has provided most of the materials from which these things are made. Plastics of all kinds, papier-roâché or wax dolls, mechanical toys, boxes of paints, tin soldiers, playing cards, picture books, tea sets, practically everything bears his secret mark. Dolls are on sale now with artificial fingernails which can be coated with chemical nail polish. Even on plain wooden blocks, the figures or pictures are colored by the chemist's inks and pigments. The films for the movies, the records for the phonograph, and the various parts of the radio are all chemical products. Youth HEALTH. By far the most dangerous ills at this time of life are the so-called "social diseases," syphilis and gonorrhea. During the World War, when so many of our young people were gathered in concentration camps and in the army, the Medical Corps conducted a careful survey of the health situation and estimated that at least 10 million of our people were directly or indirectly sufferers from these diseases. Under the able leadership of Surgeon-General Parran, an intensive campaign is now being waged against syphilis, and there never was a better illustration of the fact that, in his fight against disease and death, the doctor has no more potent and resourceful ally than the chemist, for the latter has already contributed in this field the Wassermann test, the organic arsenicals of the arsphenamine (salvarsan), tryparsamide, and mapharsan types, now the generally dependable and universally employed curative agents, and so many other useful remedies. Professor Lorenz, director of the Wisconsin Psychiatric Institute, has expressed the judgment that "What has been accomplished so far in the eradication of syphilis and whatever success will be realized in the future, the greatest part in such success has been contributed by the field of chemistry." According to the recent investigations of Clifford A. Wright, of Los Angeles, the present disturbing increase in sex crimes
OCTOBER 20,1938 may be due to a lack of proper balance in the sex hormones of the criminal. Gonorrhea, although not so widespread as syphilis, has always been regarded as much more difficult to cure. The chemist is now routing this disease with sulfanilamide (Prontylin), a compound whose marvelous therapeutic properties have led to its being described as the most important contribution to our materia medica since Ehrlich's discovery of salvarsan. Not only is it remarkably effective against gonorrhea and gonorrheal arthritis, but also in the treatment of septicemia, septic sore throat, puerperal and undulant (Malta) fevers, erysipelas, peritonitis, meningitis, gas gangrene, pneumonia (of the most dangerous type), scarlet fever, pyelitis, and others. In fact, the range of its usefulness is still to be learned. Further, numerous derivatives are being prepared from it, in the reasonable expectation that some will be found which will be still more useful, even if only in special cases. A disease generally regarded as more dangerous in early than in later life is diabetes. The chemist again to the rescue! This time with saccharin and insulin, whose value as palliatives is too well recognized to need any emphasis here. Outside of the medical profession, however, it may not be so well known that insulin has also been used with considerable success in Sakel's heroic and hazardous treatment for the cure of dementia praecox, or schizophrenia, by shocking the patient back from insanity to sanity. This consists in giving insulin until the sugar in the blood has been reduced almost to the point of fatal collapse, with attendant convulsions and other tragic symptoms, and then bringing him back actually from the brink of the grave by the administration of a little sugar. The justification for such a terrible method lies in the fact that there are 150,000 such patients in the United States, that they fill one-fifth of all our hospital beds, that most of the victims are stricken just as they are attaining maturity, that 20 per cent of our state budgets now goes for the care of the mentally diseased, and that other methods so far have proved futile. PAPER. TO turn now to a different field, these are the years of the upper school, high school, preparatory school, and college, when so many hours of the day, and occasionally of the night as well, are spent in acquiring knowledge from the printed page. Yet I venture to believe that it occurs to few if any that they owe paper, ink, illustrations, pigments, binding, and glue to the chemist. How could our Government or civilization function without them? Can you imagine the situation if we were still dependent upon baked mud cylinders or clay tablets for our written records? A truck would back up to our doorstep and deposit a load of clay tablets, representing the Sunday issue of our newspaper. Or, in Congress, a page would bring in a wheelbarrow load of mud cylinders containing the distinguished representative's speech. If, in the course of a heated debate, these mud cylinders should prove convenient missiles, "mud slinging" would then take on a new significance. How could our correspondence be transacted without paper and ink, or our business without written agreements, contracts, obligations, notes, and other documents? As legal media of exchange, our Government employs either the metals recovered from the earth and refined by the metallurgical chemist, or a paper currency which is likewise a chemical product. In time of war» the Government may also be interested in secret or invisible inks, as I happen to know from my own army experience during the World War.
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The existence and preservation of litera- erations, thus contributing in an important ture depends upon some form of written way to the prosperity of those sections of record, which today means paper and ink. our country. A new mill is being erected Thinkers come and thinkers go, but the at Everett, Wash.» to produce 200 tone of written record remains for the use of pos- pulp daily from hemlock. Paper also can terity. Books have been characterized as be made from straw, cornstalks, and other "the protectors of civilization's stores of farm wastes, but this is not yet commeraccumulated knowledge" and "the torch cially profitable. To give you some apprebearers leading the procession of research ciation of the present-day efficiency of this toward new scientific frontiers." The chemical industry, I would remind you World Congress of Universal Documenta- that a modern paper-making machine, option, held in Paris August 16 to 21, 1037, erating at a speed of one-quarter mile a would have been futile but for paper and minute, will convert a 0.75 per cent wood ink. One of the greatest crimes against pulp suspension into dry paper in 40 civilization in all history was the destruc- seconds. tion by the Arabian Calif, Omar, in the 7th EYESIGHT. The hard student often century, of the wonderful library of the suffers from eye fatigue and eye strain. Is museum of Alexandria, founded by there anything his friend the chemist can Ptolemy, with its unique collection of over do about it? Well, Drs. Wald, Hecht, and half a million manuscripts, covering the others have discovered that the lightliterature, art, and science of the then sensitive substance in the retina, the soknown world. By his orders, these priceless called visual purple upon which sight deand irreplaceable records fed the fires of pends, is decomposed in the process of the public baths for six months. vision, and that its prompt regeneration The chief source of paper is, as you all requires the presence of an adequate supknow, wood pulp, ana our neighbor, ply of vitamin A. By the ingestion of carotene, the provitamin A of the carrot, Canada, exports more than all the rest of the world combined, for it is her largest this regeneration of vitamin A is accelermanufacturing industry. We used to be ated and eye fatigue and eye strain are principally dependent upon spruce and greatly relieved. That this is not a purely poplar for our raw material, but thanks academic assertion can be verified by conlargely to the activities of two past presi- sulting a recent report of the Westinghouse dents of this SOCIETY, Arthur D. Little Electric & Manufacturing Co. to the effect and Charles H. Herty, attention was called that three capsules daily of carotene-in-oil to the large forest reserves of southern pine increased by 75 per cent the efficiency of available for the manufacture of both their color-matching inspectors, saving the kraft and newsprint paper. The slash company thousands of dollars and the empine, for example, whicn is said to grow as ployees their eyesight. large in five years as a northern spruce One of the first and most characteristic does in sixty, has been eulogized as an symptoms of a deficiency of vitamin A is ideal chemical crop, since it thrives on sun- what is known as nyctalopia or nightlight, air, and water, and removes from blindness—that is. the inability to see the soil only traces of nitrogen, potassium, clearly in a poor lignt, or quickly to recover and phosphorus. As the result of the clarity of vision after being temporarily activities of these two past presidents, · blinded by a dazzling glare like that of the with their widespread publicity and vigor- headlights of an automobile. This is asous campaign of education, in which latter serted to be largely responsible for the directions Dr. Herty, himself a southerner, rapidly mounting toll of night motor car was so brilliantly successful, many new accidents. paper mills are now under construction or AUTOMOBILES. It may be argued with nave been completed in the South. They some justice that, after all, the chemist is represent the investment of millions of to blame, since he has been one of the dollars of capital and will give employ- greatest contributors to the development of ment to several thousand hands, in addi- the automobile. In fact, the auto of today tion to providing jobs for many thousands could not have been built in 1014 because of others in lumbering and incidental op- many of the materials which now go into
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it had not yet been created by the chem· ist. Yet how could we get along today without our cars? An automobile long ago ceased to be solely a source of infinite pleasure and is today generally recognized as a necessity. It extends immensely the boundaries of the region within which employees can live and reach the factory or office conveniently. It would be difficult to find a man whose ability to earn a living, or whose enjoyment of life, would not be severely handicapped were this industry forced to cease functioning. In 1895 the total number of automobiles registered in the United States was four. Today two out of every three families own cars. In fact, we have sufficient cars available to take our 130 million inhabitants out for a ride all at the same time. Automobiles, trucks, and tractors have replaced approximately 10 million horses and mules, which used the equivalent of 40 million acres of feed. In 1900 the horse and buggy business gave employment, directly or indirectly, to perhaps a million people. In 1937, more than six million were occupied in making, selling, and servicing automobiles; which means that the industry was furnishing support to at least 12 million of our population. The automobile may have cost many coachmen and carriage employees their jobs, but think of the millions of new jobs it has created, not alone in the production and operation of the cars themselves, but also in the gasoline, oil, rubber (natural and synthetic), glass, plastics, fabrics, paint, varnish, lacquer, metal, and other industries, not forgetting the ubiquitous "hot-dog stands" and overnight camps which line our highways. It is an excellent illustration of the fact that scientific research and technological advances create far more jobs than they destroy, and provide the consumer with a far better product at a much lower price. Ten years ago, a car cost about $17.70 per horsepower. Today you pay around $8.45 per horsepower for a superior car. Or, to put it somewhat differently, excellent cars are now available at 30 cents a pound, which is less than you pay for cheap candy. The first time you take out your new car and stop at afillingstation, you will be supplied with "tailor-made'* fuel and lubricating oil, far superior to any natural product. The gas will be high grade and antiknock, and the oil specially compounded for your needs ana the seasonal temperature. Should you require antifreeze for the radiator, the chemist has provided alcohols and glycols. Perhaps you will understand better the far-flung importance of the automobile industry and the extent of the chemist's participation therein, if we select as examples a few of those chemical industries which find in the automobile business one of their best customers. You will undoubtedly agree that fuel should come first, since without it the car is useless. Recent estimates indicate that, by and large, the aveiage passenger car in the United States consumes over 600 gallons of gas per annum, or 50 gallons per month, and its owner pays for a superior only half what he did in 1921. Çroduct 'he problem of fuel, whether gasoline for automobiles or airplanes, or heavier oils for Diesel motors, goes back in this country to the petroleum industry, where chemistry reigns supreme. Of the world's total production of petroleum and natural gas, 60 per cent comes from the United States, but present methods recover only from 20 to 50 per cent of the oil in most reservoirs. The average crude petroleum yields only about 20 per cent gasoline on direct distillation, but, by cracking the higher boiling fractions and polymerizing the lower boiling ones, this can be raised
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improved silent-action hypoid gear of the differential of a large percentage of the newer cars. Concerning the amount of oil necessary in motoring, it has been determined that an automobile consumes five times as much oil when running 52 miles per hour as it does at 33. It might be appropriate to add also that, in the event of a collision, the force of the impact increases as the square of the increase in velocity. That is, if you happen to be traveling at 60 miles per hour you will hit an obstacle just nine times as hard as you would at 20 miles per hour. Next in importance after the fuel and lubricant, we should place the tires, and here again the contributions of the chemist have been conspicuous. In 1910, the average cost of a tire was $25 for a service of 2500 to 3000 miles, or 1 cent per mile. Today, it is $12 for a service of 25,000 miles, or 0.05 cent per mile. This great increase in the life of the tire has actually decreased the demand for rubber, in spite of the rapid and continued expanse in the number of cars in use. Part of this increase in tire service is due to the use of 'inhibitors/1 or antioxidants, which prevent the aging and deterioration which otherwise take place. The chemist has also provided vulcanization accelerators, like mercaptobenzothiazole (Captax), the phenylated guanidines, and a host of other organic compounds. It has been estimated that scientific research saves the American motorist over three billion dollars a year. Synthetic rubbers and rubber substiPossessing me thou posseseest everything. tutes find their greatest opportunities for Yet I possess thee. So God has willed it. the moment in those countries which have Wish, and thy wishes shall be accomplished. no natural rubber and are striving for But measure thy wishes according to thy life. self-sufficiency, and for certain special Here it is. I shall shrink with each wish, uses for which natural rubber is unsatisand so shall thy life. Wilt thou take me? factory. Among the rubber substitutes, Take me! God will hear thee. Amen. Neoprene, for example, is practically free from natural rubber's inability to resist Unwilling to face the stern realities of the action of sunlight, gasoline, oil, or human existence and not content with its grease, and it has now some forty different simple choice, Balzac's hero wants more uses in automobiles, as well as hundreds than life can give and eagerly accepts the of others where the natural article is unMagic Skin. Every wish is fulfilled, but in suitable. It is a purely synthetic chemiits fulfillment, his own vital powers shrink cal product, the raw materials for which are with the skin, as predicted, and his life coal, limestone, salt, and water. goes out with the final disappearance of In automobile tires, the fabric certainly the latter. cannot be ignored in determining service, In this vast deposit of liquid gold we call and the recently introduced "Cordura" petroleum, have we come into possession of rayon should therefore attract attention. an Aladdin's lamp, or of a magic skin which This is now being used in the fabric of is steadily weakening our industrial life? heavy-duty bus and truck tires, because I trust that my good friends in the oil of its remarkable strength and durability business will not feel that the case is one at the high temperatures developed in for the application of some of their most long nonstop runs. It is claimed to give powerful antiknock when I remind them double or triple the mileage obtained with that certain intelligent and thoughtful in- ordinary tires and to reduce the hazard dividuals, like Roger Babson, for example, of blowouts at high speed. In the 193? have expressed the opinion that the ex- America's Cup races, one of the sails of ploitation of our oil resources is respon- the winning Vanderbilt Ranger was sible for much of our unemployment be- made of this fabric and was praised by cause of the serious losses it has inflicted yachting experts for its smoothness and upon the railroad, farming, and coal- impermeability. mining industries. About 1921, chemical research led to the Another direction in which the automo- introduction of quick-drying low-viscosity bile industry has been dependent almost lacquers, of the Duco type, based on wholly upon petroleum has been in t hat of pyroxylin. This simplified the mass prolubricat ion. The problems in t hisfieldhave duction of cars, by cutting down the time been intensively investigated within recent required for the finishing from weeks to years, with results which have been far- hours and giving a finish of greater beauty reaching and most beneficial for the motor- and durability. Under the former pracist. Among the new and superior lubri- tice, it took at least three weeks to put on cants produced by the chemist and re- the customary 14 coats. Recently, quickcently put upon the market are those drying finishes of a somewhat different known as "extreme pressure lubricant type have been produced from synthetic bases." These latter, added to an ordi- resins, of coal-tar or vegetable oil origin, nary lubricating oil or grease in amounts and have become serious competitors of as low as 1 per cent, give a mixture which the older pyroxylin ones. It is, of course, will enable a bearing or gear to withstand this mass production which has been the much higher pressures without the two chief factor in reducing manufacturing bearing surfaces actually touching, or per- costs and in bringing the automobile haps "seizing," than has been possible within the reach of all. hitherto by the best lubricants available. The motor manufacturers are now callSuch a mixture is used, for example, in the ing, with rapidly increasing frequency to 70 per cent. Egloff states that the cracking of heavy crude oil for greater yields of gas in 1937 saved an amount of crude petroleum equal to the entire world production—that is, had the cracking process not been available, it would nave taken four instead of two billion barrels of oil to supply the world's requirements of gas. One of Midgley's striking discoveries was that the addition of 1 cc. of tetraethyllead to a gallon of gas decreased its tendency to knock. Since 1937, 70 per cent (15 billion gallons) of all the gasoline used in the United States contained this addition of tetraethyllead (65 million pounds in all). From what has been said in connection with cracking, it will be evident that the oil industry is concerned about the life of its raw material, and it is well that it should be, for of what use today would an army, navy, or air force be without an ample supply of superior fuel for its motors? Raphael, Marquis de Valentin, dejected and discouraged oy financial troubles and contemplating suicide, wandered one day into an old curiosity shop in Paris, where the aged shopkeeper urged him to accept a strange wild ass 8 skin of which he stood in fear. This skin was covered with Sanskrit characters and bore the mark called by some of t he Eastern nations the Seal of Solomon. Raphael, who happened to be a Sanskrit scholar, translated the inscription which read as follows:
OCTOBER 20.1938 and insistence, upon the great new industry of synthetic plastics for accessories of all kinds. Aside from electrical equipment and insulation, synthetic plastics are used for steering wheels, horn buttons» transparent screens and windshields, battery boxes, and gadgets of endless variety. The chemist has recently made an important contribution to safe driving at night, by the development of a transparent plastic which has found application in the manufacture of reflectors for use along the edge of the highway. These reflectors flash instantly when picked up by the beams of the headlights. Instead of the dangerous glass formerly used in the windshields and windows, your car is now equipped with a nonsnatterable glass, composed of two sheets of glass with an intervening sheet of transparent plastic. There has oeen announced lately the production of a water-clear plastic, as strong as glass but only half as heavy, nonshattering and flexible, which can be sawed, cut, drilled, polished, or molded, and a square inch of which will support a load of 5.5 tons without cracking. It should have a great future. AIRPLANES. In the case of fuel for your airplane, the tendency in commercial aviation appears to be in the direction of developing a more powerful antiknock gasoline of high octane rating since a highoctane gas means greater power from less fuel and less engine; and the manufacture of motors which can utilize it efficiently. Such a fuel is particularly helpful at the take-off, when great power is called for. When it becomes available in sufficient quantity and at a sufficiently low price for general use, it will enable a plane to carry a 35 per cent greater pay load, with 35 per cent higher speed than at present. Egfoff estimates that if the engines of the China Clippers were capable of using it they would save $2000 on each transPacific flight. Within a decade, he expects speeds of 500 miles per hour from improved fuel and better engines. Government aviation experts, however, do not admit that gasoline-fueled motors are the best for airplanes, but maintain that Diesel engines are more powerful and free from fire hazard, and that each cylinder, being a separate and independent unit, can keep on functioning even though the others may be damaged. They assert also that Diesel-motored German planes are already accomplishing what enthusiastic aviation engineers are predicting for 100octane supergasoline motors five years hence. The reasons for this greater efficiency are the special high pressure and high temperature under which a Diesel engine operates. Two of our leading aircraft manufacturers are believed to be experimenting with such engines. The arrival at New York the other day of the 4-motored German plane after its record nonstop flight from Berlin should direct further attention to the accomplishments of that country in
NEWS EDITION aviation, for it has already cost us another of our few remaining records in that field. Sikorsky has been quoted as saying, "It is possible that an altitude of 75,000 to 90,000 feet and a speed of 500 to 600 mues per hour will not be exceeded until a new source of energy giving greater power per unit of weight, combined with a new method of propulsion, becomes available." Discussing the practicability of producing and handling liquid hydrogen as an airplane fuel, he adds, "Such a development would make possible the circumnavigation of the earth around the equator in a nonstop flight without refueling." In the manufacture of airplanes, synthetics are playing a role which, like that in the automobile industry, is steadily gaining in prominence. Planes are now being tested whose fuselage is made of two molded halves composed of a laminated plywood cemented by a special synthetic resin and which has great strength in proportion to its weight, an all-important consideration for aircraft. PERFUMES. It has been said that some of the chemist's most deadly contributions to chemical warfare have been the perfumes and beauty aids with which he has armed the designing and all too charming female in her attack upon the innocent and unsuspecting male. To the organic chemist, the developments in the production and introduction of new synthetic perfumes are particularly interesting, for again, as in so many other fields, the chemist is slowly but surely defeating nature at her own game. Not onlv has he discovered one of her most closely guarded secrets in the composition of the odors of flowers, but he has also been inconsiderate enough to show how many of the most important of these can be prepared more cheaply and of higher purity in the chemical laboratory from such apparently inappropriate raw materials as coal tar, petroleum, castor oil, and poison gas. Not satisfied with this, he has added insult to injury by synthesizing totally new odorous compounds wholly unknown to Dame Nature and of a fragrance so delicious that she must be green with envy. These new and unusual odor notes, which make such a powerful appeal to the esthetic senses, are more often than not due to new synthetics. The chemist is also endeavoring to remedy some of nature's unjust discrimi-
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nations, by cooperating with the horticulturist in developing dahlias, gladioli, and other popular flowers, so that they shall be fragrant as well as beautiful, for a scentlessflower,like a songless bird, seems as though it were deprived of something to which it had an inalienable right. CLOTHING. Turning next to the subject of clothing, while it may be true that "clothing makes the man," the topic is one which is of more interest to the other sex. Thefibersavailable today for the weaving of fabrics fall into the two groups of natural and artificial. In the former we have cotton, wool, silk, flax, and the like; in the latter, rayon, artificial wool, glass wool, and others. Of the natural fibers, cotton is easily king, it s annual production being three times that of all others combined, and we grow approximately half of the world's total. Competition with modern artificial fibers has spurred the cotton industry to call upon the chemist for more help in its business, in addition to the mercerizing process discovered many years ago. The results are already beginning to appear, for cotton can now be treated to give wool effects, a permanent luster approaching that of rayon, a linen or parchmentlike finish, or even a measure of transparency; in addition to which its dyeing properties can be entirely changed and waterproofing effects simultaneously introduced. Wool can be made nonshrinkable, without injury to the fabric, by dipping it for about an hour into a 1.5 to 2 per cent solution of sulfuryl chloride in so-called "white spirit," a solvent widely used by textile cleaners. Of the other group of fibers—the artificial ones—there are perhaps 100 or more varieties in the United states. These artificial fibers possess qualities not found in any of the natural ones, and should therefore be regarded not as imitations of anything else, but as additions to our previous list. Taking up first the artificial silk or socalled rayon industry, the principal factors in which are viscose and cellulose acetate, made from cotton linters or wood pulp, the manufacture of rayon began in the United States in 1911. In 1937. a single company employed 50,000 workers and produced 332 million pounds of rayon yarn, which gave employment to additional thousands in weaving it into clothing and fabrics of all kinds. According to its vice president, if all this yarn had beenconverted into clothing, it would have supplied every woman in t h e United States over 15 years of age with seven dresses apiece. He adds that, as the result of unremitting chemical research, the quality and beauty of rayon yarn have been steadily improved. Garments made of it have ascended from the basement bargain counters to join the swankier displays on the upper Courtesy, T, J. Moloney, Inc. floors. Yarns are Fuel-Loading Hoe· with Thiokol Lining
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now available from a brilliance surpassing that of silk to a chalky dullness. When made of filaments finer than those of silk, the fabrics are of extreme softness. "Rich, lustrous satins, dull satins, spun yarns that resemble wool, tree-bark crepes, and fabrics rivaling in beauty the finest cash mere are all being made of rayon." Mil lions of girls who work in mills, stores, or offices, and who not so many years ago felt compelled to wear cotton because they could not afford silk, now appear in mod ern fabrics which in beauty and style give them no reason whatever to envy the dresses of their wealthier sisters. A remarkable new synthetic silk, de scribed in a posthumous patent (U. S. 2,130,948) of W. H. Carothers, is produced by the interaction of cadaverine and sebacic acid. The cadaverine is obtainable from coal tar and petroleum, or even from the human cadaver, while the source of the sebacic acid is castor oil. This new fiber is said to be superior to natural silk in strength and elasticity, and can be drawn easily to fibers less than one-tenth the diameter of those of silk. It is likely to prove a very serious competitor to the natural product, especially for the manu facture of hosiery, so that before long our daughters may be wearing silk stockings from coal tar and castor oil. A still more arresting discovery is the Id-plated silk fabric exhibited at the &!Cambridge meeting of the British Associa tion for the Advancement of Science. A silk dress is impregnated with a solution of a cold salt, which is then decomposed chemically, leaving a coating of pure gold upon the fiber, at a cost of about $3 per yard. When the dress is worn out, the gold can be recovered and used again. Water-repellent finishes are available which render the finest fabrics resistant to spotting by rain, coffee, or cocktails. In a recent demonstration of such fabrics, models dressed in them spilled tea and lemonade over each other and then calmly shook their skirts while the drops rolled off. Fabrics or paper may be made flame proof by impregnation with ammonium sulfamate, which does not change their appearance or feel, and is not affected by dry-cleaning treatment. This chemical is obtainable cheaply and in large tonnage, and can be used for draperies, upholstery, and other similar household furnishings. Fireproofing of fabrics can be accom plished also by dipping the articles (cur tains, draperies, etc.) into a warm aqueous solution of borax and boric acid, wringing them out by hand or mechanically, and hanging them up to dry on the family wash line. Heavier fabrics are sprayed with the solution. These methods are mentioned because the annual fire loss in the United States is at least 350 million dollars, half of which is in private homes. Other contributions of the chemist to this industry include moth repellents; mildew inhibitors; chemicals which im part to fabrics a permanent and pleasing softness and pliability; wetting and pene trating agents, which accelerate and thus reduce the cost of dyeing and scouring operations; soapless soap detergents, con sisting generally of sulfates or sulfonates of high molecular alcohols which, because they cleanse just as well in hard water or even in salt water as they do in fresh water, save textile finishers, dyers, and laundrymen the money they would otherwise spend in softening water, in soap waste, and in other ways. An imitation wool is made in Italy from casein (Lanital or cheese wool) and in Japan from soybean protein. Some fiber made from soybeans was exhibited by the research department of the Ford Motor Co. at the fourth annual convention of the Farm Chemurgic Council in Omaha.
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excelsior, sawdust, sand, or the like, on which the plants will grow, while their roots will draw sustenance from the nutri ent solution into which they depend, and their upper parts will gather energy from the sun, and other essentials for their growth and development from the atmos phere. It is a method which has proved most satisfactory for fresh vegetables and fruits of high water content and which are valued chiefly for their vitamins, carbo hydrates, mineral salts, and fine flavor, and has been especially successful, for ex ample, with tomatoes. It is available wherever temperature conditions are suit able, and may be used either in the open or in greenhouses. Our trans-Pacific clipper planes are now supplying their passengers and crew with fresh vegetables from such a "farm" on little Wake Island, a tiny dot of coral, of a total superficial area of only half an acre, in midocean, one of the few available way-stations on their long flight. In ΙΟ days last May, Wake Island har vested 33 pounds of tomatoes, 20 pounds of lettuce, 20 pounds of string beans, 15 pounds of squash, and 44 pounds of corn, as its fourth crop. The interest aroused by this new method of farming is wide spread and can be gaged by the fact that it is now being tried even bv youngsters at the Brooklyn Children's Museum. If developments in scientific agriculture are going to mean that all of our needs can be supplied by a fraction of the land now occupied as farms, what is to happen to the excess land and surplus farmers? In PHOTOGRAPHY. Photography is the basis of another important chemical indus the judgment of Ο. Ε. Baker, agricultural try which is a source of great enjoyment economist of the U. S. Department of to many of us and one in which striking Agriculture, however, because of the 20 developments have been recorded in re per cent decline in our birthrate, there is cent years. Photosensitizing dyes have no immediate occasion for worry about brought within the light-sensitive area of surplus farmers, since "from the stand the film rays hitherto regarded as wholly point of agricultural prosperity, we have nonactinic. Colored movies seem now too much land and too few people." If destined to replace uncolored films, even necessary, the chemist can help the farmer as the talkies have supeiseded the former to grow new crops, and to find new and silent pictures. The use of x-rays has profitable markets for bis wastes, by-prod also been introduced into the movies, in ucts, and surplus, just as his hydrogénaorder that the internal movements of liv tion of coal is putting the idle Welch coal ing creatures can be shown upon the miners back to work. As to new and imscreen. Perspective, or depth, will soon portant crops, tung oil and soybeans are be added. Before long, amateurs will be good illustrations. The former already able to take pictures and obtain prints in has a very widespread use in paints. The colors, with relatively cheap cameras. A 1937 harvest of the latter was 36 to 40 novel color photography process has just million bushels. Some 50 factories use been patented (U. S. Patent 2,115,886), them as initial material for the manufacin which layers of differently dyed blood ture of one or more of the following prodcorpuscles of the sheep are used as the ucts: paint, enamel, varnish (30 variecolor filter, in place of starch grains or ties), glue, printing ink, plastics, linoleum, ruled screens. As a good illustration of insecticides, shortening, margarine, founrecent achievements in high-speed photog dry cores, livestock feeds, flour, soy sauce raphy, pictures of bullets striking armor (chop 8uey), special foods and beverages, plates are now made by a process which fibers, and fabrics. takes 250,000 exposures a second, a rate The millions of tons of cornstalks, straw, which it is believed can be materially in and screenings (especially weed seeds) creased in the future. which accumulate at the elevators have possibilities as raw materials for paper or Early Manhood rayon manufacture, as already mentioned, AGRICULTURE. Arrived at man's estate, and fural is obtained from oat hulls; our pilgrim finds, many other things to while "farm" or "power" alcohol is availinterest him, besides those we have al able for blending in the production of ready considered. Should he reside in motor fuels. These are some of the fields the country, agriculture is likely to be one. in which the Farm Chemurgic Council is The ancient dictum that Mother Earth rendering such a splendid service, and is our most valuable natural resource has through whose encouragement the first received some rather severe jolts lately, farm alcohol plant has been erected at since it has been shown that all that the Atchison, Kansas, with a daily capacity of plant needs, in addition to moisture, air, 10,000 gallons. and sunshine, are certain chemical com Man has nothing to fear from the larger pounds which, if not already in the soil, forms of animal life, for they all recognize can be easily supplied by the chemist. him as their master; but in the incalcuEven as a mechanical support, Mother lable billions of the smaller forms he finds Earth is no longer necessary, since the ad his most dangerous and most implacable vent of soilless farming, tray farming, foe and one which may yet destroy him. hydroponic farming, or hydroculture, as it It has been estimated that the ravages of is variously called. Thus, the "farm" insects, especially of the cotton boll weevil, may consist of a series of shallow tanks the Japanese beetle, the coraborer, and containing solutions of the proper nutri the gypsy moth, inflict an annual loss in ents, growth hormones, etc., covered with the United States of two billion dollars a wire netting or similar support, for the and void the labor of a million men. It Glass has been spun into silklike fila ments, some of which have a strength of about 1000 tons to the square inch. In fact, glass thread can be blown so fine that 300 miles of it can be made from a little glass marble weighing only 0.25 ounce. Woven into a gauzelike tape, which is both moistureproof andfireproof,it is being used ex perimentally by the Westinghouse engi neers for the insulation of the coils of powerful electrical motors. A word or two about dyes before we pass on. So far as the natural coloring matters are concerned, the chemical char acter of most of them is now known and the majority can be prepared syntheti cally in the organic laboratory. Industri ally, with the possible exception of log wood, they are relatively unimportant, al though their production is still carried on in various parts of the world. Thus, the cochineal bugs, for example, one of the very few animal sources of dyes, are still exported in considerable amount from Las PaJmas, Canary Islands. They are the source of "carmine" and are also used oc casionally in medicine. The dye is found only in the females and the local classifica tion there is into "daughters, mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers." As in human affairs, so here, the "daugh ters" are the ones most sought after. Mrs. Cochineal is rather smaller than her daughter and is a mere bag of skin, but, like other maternal flappers, is often more brilliantly dyed than the other generations.
OCTOBER 20,1938 bas been stated that insects destroy at least iO per cent of everything which man grows. JPlant diseases cause the loss of soother $1,500,000,000. AU of these losses would be many times greater, were it not for the potent aid of the chemist in providing the necessary ammunition, in the form of insecticides, fungicides, etc., with which t o fight this never-ending battle. Xhus the arsenicale have been used extensively in various forms, and have proved most effective The devastation wrought by the grasshopper scourge has been materially checked by use of a poisoned food consisting of sodium arsenite, sawdust, and bran, which is spread in the fields in the path of the invading army. Militons are killed in this way and at least 180,000 tons of this poison will be distributed this year. Methyl bromide is said to be a very satisfactory nonpersistent insecticide, with effects comparable with those of hydrogen cyanide, and which can be used for fumigation, for the disinfection of seeds, and in other ways. Corn weevils can be killed cheaply, like humans, by the carbon monoxide from the automobile motor, by runningthe exhaust gases into a sealed crib. In England and Australia· metaldehyde is used for killing slugs and snails. Rose fanciers will be pleased to learn thavt red spiders can now be controlled b y a new derivative of cyclohexylarnine lately introduced. Geraniol has been used successfully to attract and trap Japanese beetles. A special insecticide has been found necessary for airplanes operating between warm countries and the United States, to prevent the importation of tropical pests and diseases. Airplanes are often used for the distribution of insecticides, and the TVA, for example, has an official mosquito-control plane for this purpose. All fishermen are grateful to the chemist also for the fly "dopes" with which w e protect ourselves against the attacks of black flies, mosquitoes, and "no-see-uxns." The losses from weeds in the United States are believed to be greater than those from insects, plant, and animal diseases combined. The disinfection of seed grain and potatoes, the use of insecticides and weed killers, of chemicals which will prevent the spread of plant diseases, plus biological control through the use of parasites» might | well naake a differ| race of 25 percent 1 in the crop. PoiI son ivy, the curse | of our c o u n t r y 1 homes, may be I killed by spraying | with a20 percent -; aqueous solution & of sodium thio% cyanate. To reI move vermin inj festing snimals, | thereare available | sheep dipe and disJ infectants, of many | kinds. Red squill | is one of the few 1 raticides nontoxic 1 to domestic 1 animais. H To the chemist I we axe also inI debted fox* growth I stimulants, like 1 ethylene chloro1 hydrin, which • shortens the dormant period of potatoes, for example, as much as two months; and others, like ethyl-
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ene gas, which not only make roots grow like whiskers even on the stems and leaves of plants, but are also employed on citrus fruits, to change the greenish rind of some ripe fruit to the more desirable yellow or orange, by destruction of the chlorophyll. Astonishing results, resembling those obtained by ethylene, have been obtained as well bv the use of plant growth hormones. Of this group, only a few, like the auxins, have actually been isolated from plants. The rest, of which 20 or more are already known, are products of the organic laboratory, not yet detected in nature, and include indole-3-acetic acid and homologs, as well as the acetic acids of benzene, naphthalene, anthracene, and some other cyclic systems. It is perhaps worth noting that one of these—indole-3-acetic acid— can be used also to cause cancer (crown gall) in plants.
and an expression of the need for a new and nontoxic one. This need has now been met, through another one of the brilliant researches of our fellow member, Thomas Midgley, Jr., which have led to the dichlorodifluoromethane or Freon refrigerants, which meet all the specifications admirably, as well as requiring a much lighter condensing equipment. As to beverages, it should be remembered that it was the chemist Pasteur who saved the wine industry of France and the surrounding country when it was so seriously threatened by the ravages of the phylloxera. And in this city, it is certainly in order, for the benefit of those who feel the need of such an alibi, to call attention to the fact that Drs. McNaught and Pierce, of Stanford University, recommend a glass of beer or wine with your "hot dog" or hamburger, as an effective protection against trichinosis. For, alFOOD PRESERVATION. After the farmer has gathered in his harvest and supplied though alcohol does not kill the germs the immediate needs of the population for (trichinella) of this disease, it does prefood, it is of prime importance that the vent them from burrowing into and getting surplus be so preserved as to be available established in the walls of the digestive for use until the next crops arrive. Nearly tract. half of all our food comes from cans or BUILDING. Assuming that our pilgrim jars. Such preservation is accomplished has now taken unto himself a wife, the by cold storage, freezing, dehydration, next problem likely to confront him will canning, smoking, pickling, preservatives be the construction of an appropriate cage (benzoates, etc.), pasteurization, and the in which to keep the bird he has captured, like. Fresh fruits and vegetables are now or which has captured him, as the case quick-frozen in the fields as gathered. may be, and he will find that the building The older refrigerants have been ice, am- industry, like so many others, has been monia, sulfur dioxide, and to a less extent almost completely revolutionized by the methyl chloride. Solid carbon dioxide or chemist with his new synthetics and other "dry ice" has found widespread applica- improvements. Exterior and interior, tion on account of the space saved, in com- from cellar to roof, have engaged his atparison with ordinary ice, in packing and tention. For the exterior, there are artishipping perishable goods, ice cream, etc., ficial stone and artificial wood, made from the lower temperature it produces, and the wastes; finishes for stone, to retard its disfact that it leaves no slop behind but dis- integration; chemical treatment of wood appears as a cas. An ideal refrigerant, which will render it resistant to fire, decay, particularly if it is to be available also for insects (termites and the like), fungi, and use in air-conditioning, should be low- so forth, as well as to the weather: glass boiling, nontoxic, nonirritating, nonexplo- bricks, columns, and building blocks: sive, nonflammable, and odorless. None window and skylight glass which will of these older refrigerants meets all of transmit the sun's ultraviolet rays and exthese specifications. In fact, in 1921, 10 clude the heat rays. Houses have been deaths occurred in a Chicago apartment constructed recently with walls or roofs of house as a result of leaks in the refrigerat- glass of such strengths and toughness that ing system, and led to severe criticism by a another old proverb has received its death committee of the American Medical Asso- blow, for the occupants can throw stones ciation of all commonly used refrigerants at one another with perfect impunity, at least so far as the lass is concerned. i New York glassmanufacturing company is putting up a glass office building, in the construction of which 25 different varieties of glass will be used. The cornerstone of the Egyptian avilion at t h e fewYork World's Fair is said to be the first one of glass. It contains a copper chest of souvenirs of the occasion, which is clearly visible through the glfu*« walls. Then we have fireproof composition shingles of any desired color and appearance, and synthetic resin tues. So much for the exterior. Now for the interior. Visitors to the Century of Courtesy, au Pont Co. Progress ExposiArticles Made of Neoprene
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Courtesy, du Pont Co.
Lathe-Turning Experimental tion at Chicago may remember the 3room apartment built and furnished with Vinylite plastic, a product developed at the Mellon Institute: floor, tiles, wall panels, baseboards, moldings, sills, ceilings, and door (cast in a single piece), with windows of translucent Vinylite. Synthetic plastics and resinoids now constitute a great industry, and the number of varieties is growing by leaps and bounds. Their applications are so numerous that a complete list would be exceedingly lengthy. Not infrequently they find uses for which natural products have never even been considered. They are met with in every home, in tableware, toilet articles, furniture and furnishings, ornaments, decorations, improved varnishes, exterior and interior finishes, games, umbrella and cane handles, billiard balls, radio accessories, imitation ivory for piano keys, tortoise shell, amber for pipe stems, mother-of-pearl, buttons, buckles, lamp shades, combs, floorings, drawing instruments, fountain pens, ash trays, costume jewelry, snappy hats and feminine wearing apparel of all kinds, containers of transparent plastic with tin tops and bottoms, nonflammable and nonwarping decorative panels, optical lenses of clear plastic— scratch-proof and unbreakable—and a thousand and one other useful articles. Most of these plastics are made from one or more of the following initial materials: wood pulp, camphor, formaldehyde, carbolic acid, urea, petroleum, milk, coal (coal tar), limestone (calcium carbide), soybeans, or glycerol, and every issue of Chemical Abstracts announces a lot of new ones. A news item the other day made the rather startling announcement that, "In a recent movie, Irene Dunne, Hollywood, Calif., screen actress, wore 27 quarts of milk," meaning that the beads composing the gown she wore were made from casein plastic. Impregnation of wood with an appropriate synthetic resin keeps the windows and bureau drawers from sticking in wet weather, thefloorsand doors from shrinking when it is dry and swelling when wet. Compounded wood is available, made of alternate layers cemented together with a synthetic resin. It can be made of any size, and the vapors evolved during the heating process impregnate the wood and render it fungus-proof. Afiberwallboard. manufactured from synthetic resins and the waste bagasse of the sugar industry»
Operation on Lucite Plastic is stronger than wood and has thrice its heat-insulating properties. Orchestra leaders' batons can be bought of transparent plastic, with internal illumination, so that they glow in the dark. In the latest and most up-to-date luxury liners will be found barroomfloors,finishingsand furnishings, brilliant in color and beautiful in appearance, proof against drink stains, cigaret butts, etc. Thermosetting synthetic resins permit the economic manufacture of coated waterproof paper for use as a protective lining for cartons and other containers, of glossy waterproof papers for box wrappers and packages, of paper boards for utility and decorative purposes, of coatings to replace cellulose film as a guard for delicate printing, and for the enhancement of color effects. Synthetic resins are also employed to render fabrics resistant to creasing and wrinkling. Velvets, for example, are on the market which can be trampled upon without leaving any permanent imprint in the pile. Even the entomologist is using transparent synthetic resins to preserve his specimens, as nature has done so often with amber. A synthetic film, of Cellophane type, is now a helpful adjunct in keeping houses warm where the winters are long and bitter, by covering windows, outside cellar doors, and other openings. For greenhouses and conservatories, it has been found especially valuable. Stainless metals, enameled ones, and special alloys in great variety are at your command, as well as aluminum utensils for the kitchen and elsewhere—aluminum which now rivals steel in its manifold uses. By a new process, concrete is given a glazed surface which makes it entirely suitable for walls, table tops, and the like. Not content with all this, the chemist is now ready to fill your orders for "synthetic weather" as well, thanks to his discoveries in the air-conditioning field. Prior to 1914, modern refrigeration and air conditioning would have been impossible because the requisite safe refrigerants were not then known. Today, private homes and apartments, hotels, offices, theatres, stores, trains, etc., are thus equipped, and one of these days we shall have small portable units for use anywhere. In fact, such portable unite are already in use in the Arabian desert, to create "oases" for the field workers of an oil company on duty there. The chemist also has pointed out the interesting fact
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that the human nose, within the small compass of less than 1 cubic inch, contains the most perfect air conditioner known. Middle Age By middle life, the position of the individual in his profession or business should be established and he can and should then turn his attention more frequently and more positively to that broader and more important problem of his duties and responsibilities as an American citizen and as a prominent member of civilized society. Trained scientists are urgently needed to assume active participation in public undertakings of many kinds, to help mankind to distinguish between the good and the bad, the true and the false, the beneficent and the malignant. High-pressure and misleading widespread advertising; opinions and advice from incompetent or ignorant writers, lecturers, and propagandists, leave the man in the street so uncertain and confused as to make him an easy prey for the expert quack or charlatan. Too often the less an individual knows about a subject, the more eager he seems to be to give the public the benefit (?) of his opinion. Those who have devoted their lives to an intensive study of difficult problems are proverbially reticent and most conservative in the conclusions they report. Our legislative bodies would be benefited by the presence in their membership of some able chemists, where I am conndent that they would receive a warm welcome. If I am correctly informed, there are none at present in our United States Congress. The last one I recall was the late Senator Ladd, of Dakota, who was universally respected and admired by his fellow senators irrespective of their party affiliations. I am humiliated in having to acknowledge that the presence of distinguished scientists in public service positions of great national prominence and influence, including heads of governments and cabinet members, has been much more common abroad than here. Another direction in which the chemist can use his education and special skill to the advantage of the community is in assisting the forces of law and order to prevent and detect crime. As an American citizen, I am happy to have this opportunity of expressing my appreciation and admiration for what Joseph H. Mathews, of the University of Wisconsin, has done and is doing in this important extramural activity. The people of his State, in particular, owe him a heavy debt of gratitude. The welfare of the individual and his enjoyment of life depend primarily upon the maintenance of peace in the country of which he is a citizen, and what the chemist can do in defense of his fatherland, in peace as well as in war, has been discussed recently by many writers and need not be reviewed here. Old Age and Death "Last scene of all. That ends this strange eventful history." As man advances in years, he is increasingly threatened by those diseases which are to be expected from the gradual wearing out of the machinery—coronary thrombosis and other heart troubles, arteriosclerosis, kidney and urinary difficulties, pneumonia, cancer, and the like. To avoid these and to cure them, the chemist is working in close cooperation with the medical profession, and progress is being won slowly but steadily. There is encouragement also in the declaration which NeaJ E. Miller, of the Institute of Human Relations, Yale University, made
NEWS EDITION
OCTOBER 20,1938 before the American Psychological Association the other day» to the effect that elderly men can be rejuvenated, both mentally and sexually» by injection of suitable hormones. Trouble with the blood-clotting mechanism is responsible for both hemophilia and thrombosis. Heparin» produced by the "mast cells" of the liver» is the most effective anti-blood clotting chemical known. It has now been prepared» at the University of Toronto» in such purity that it can be given safely to humans, to prevent fatal blood clots following surgical operations. In England, the antianemic principle of the liver has been put on the market under the name of "Anabaemin." Nearly one-fourth of all industry in the United States is chemical. "Broadly speaking," says Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, "chemical industry is a great factory that takes the raw materials of nature and by means of chemical processes converts them into useful products to serve our human needs." On the whole, chemical industry is a good employer and is discharging well its duty to the public. Its basic policy is to reduce cost and improve quality, to bring the luxuries of yesterday within the reach of the man of modest income, to provide more jobs at better wages and greater security, and to operate at "a low profit per unit on a large volume of sales rather than a high margin on a small volume." "Better things for better living" is the familiar slogan of one of our greatest chemical corporations. No other country in the world has been able to make more new things available to more people. According to a recent publication, there have emerged from our United States chemical laboratories since the World War "more than 200,000 products entirely new to man, of which the utilization of only a few has revolutionized the methods and products of more than a score of vast industries, effected changes in perhaps 40 million jobs, put us in new-type clothing and homes, transformed our daily habits, changed prices, reordered vocations, and established America in the forefront of scientific advance, fortified it against war, and saved billions in money." Research creates, chemical engineering develops, and industry brings to full fruition these scientific advances which mean so much to human welfare and happiness. POSTMORTEM. The
chemist has
not
only a prenatal but also a postmortem interest in us, since he it is who is called upon for the requisite embalming fluids, or "dry ice," as the case may be, with which to preserve the body pending interment. And now, having reached the end of our pilgrimage, the services of our friend the chemist can be the better evaluated, but we shall have to leave to our fellow travelers and to that great Judge at the finish how excellently we have conducted ourselves on the journey, and whether our Cresence was generally regarded as a liaility or as an asset. Motion Picture Films on Aluminum HE production and uses of aluminum and aluminum products are depicted in two educational motion picture films recently produced by the Bureau of Mines, U. S. Department of the Interior, in cooperation with an industrial concern. The films» of the silent type and containing two reels each» are entitled "Aluminum, from Mine to Metal" and "Aluminum: Fabrication Processes." The first picture illustrates the uses of aluminum, shows the sources of bauxite»
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and illustrates the methods of mining bauxite, and of crushing, washing» screening, and drying the ore. Other scenes picture the processes used in converting the prepared ore into alumina, and the details of the electrolytic process in making aluminum metal in the form of ingots. The second picture shows how the metal aluminum is worked and shaped into various forms, such as plates, sheets, foil, bars, rods, wire, and cable. Copies of these films in 16-mm. and 35-mm. size are available for exhibition by schools, churches, colleges, civic and business organizations, and others interested. Applications should be addressed to the Bureau of Mines Experiment Station, 4800 Forbes St., Pittsburgh, Pa. No charge is made for the use of the film, although the exhibitor is expected to pay the transportation charges.
PATENTS P a t e n t Office P r o c e d u r e C h a n g e s Proposed Paul D. Boone, National Press Bldg., Washington, D. C. HE Advisory Committee to the Secretary of Commerce has under consideration a proposal involving the publication of applications for patents prior to the grant of patents thereon. The supposition is that this will supplant the present interference practice. Any opposition to the granting of the patent will be presented and determined. Inasmuch as the chemical industry spends much money in research and the various companies maintain large patent departments, any changes should be carefully weighed to incorporate the best; consequently their attitude might well be pooled or brought to the attention of the advisory committee. Some of the suggestions which stand out as significant o f t h e changes from the present procedure follow; there are 37 m all. At present the subject matter of a patent application is secret until notice of the issuance along with one typical claim of the patent is published in the Gazette. Under the proposal, on the publication date the application will be published and copies thereof become available; these printed copies are the same as a printed patent copy minus the patent number and patent date. This printed application will be a printed publication available at once to the public and to the examiner. The file remains secret until the date of the patent. During three months after the date of publication anyone may file one or more oppositions to the grant of part or all of the proposed patent. The fee of opposition is $5; the opposer may also file his own application for patent if he avers it to be his invention. Allegations of prior invention, prior knowledge and use, and public use or sale must be shown by affidavit filed with the opposition notice. If any oppositions have been filed, the examiner will study them all promptly and render
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561 his decision thereon without notifying the applicant of the ground of opposition, without a hearing, and without the filing of briefs. If the examiner dismisses an opposition, he will write no opinion, but a notice of the dismissal will be sent to applicant and opposer. If the examiner sustains an opposition in whole or in part, he will write a brief office action, sending a copy to the applicant. The applicant will have two months in which to appeal to the board, or to reach an agreement with the examiner for amending the claims to harmonize with the decision. In the event one or more inter partes opposition allegations are filed, the examiner will decide if a prima facie case is made and if so call on the published applicant to make a prima facie case on priority. Because of the great departure from the present system and some points of similarity to the German and Netherlands practice, yet much of difference therein, these proposals merit the attention of the industry. The advisory committee has the broad objective of simplifying procedure in the Patent Office. When it is realized that seven hundred patents are issued every week in the year, such efforts are worthy, yet various approaches might assist the committee in its problem.
Suppressed Patents (?) To the Members of the American Chemical Society: T THE recent hearings on the L McFarlane Bill for the Compulsory Licensing of Patents, I, as your representative, was asked more than once as to the rumor that is so extant throughout the country that patents worthy of development are being unethically held to prevent business development by others, or pigeonholed by the owners to protect investments under obsolete procedure. Although, of course, I had heard these rumors, since they frequently appear in the public press, I stated that I knew of no such cases. This matter of the suppression of patents is one of great importance to the American people, and if the rumors are true, they should be informed thereof. By suggestion of the Chairman of the Board of Directors and with the approval of the President of the SOCIETY, I am publishing this notice with a request to every member of the SOCIETY, among whom there are hundreds of inventors and thousands of employees engaged in research leading to invention, to inform our Committee on Patents through me, or direct to the Chairman thereof, of any such suppression of patented invention or discovery of which they have actual knowledge· Such information, to be effective, must of course be accompanied by definite statement in sufficient detail for presentation to any congressional committee on patents before whom a representative of this organization may appear. It is suggested that, if possible, the number of the patent should be given, and that the reason for the alleged suppression be stated in detail. We regard this notice of such importance that we plan to reprint it in our issue of December 10.
A
CHARLES L. PARSONS, Secretary
