VOL.8, No. 7
CONTEMPORARY NEWS
were to be seen a t the Exposition and of thc particular prominence to which plastics and allays have risen a t this exhibit. He issued a warning t o chemists when he said that research was advancing more rapidly than industrial progress and that some manufacturers were beginning to consider the expense of research as a necessary evil. DR. LAWRENCE V. REDMAN,Kappa. spoke regarding the ideals of and the and eastern differences between westcivilizations. To the eastern civilizations we are indebted for five of our great religions and but little development of the sciences. On the other hand our western civilizations have produced the great advances in science and have produced no great religion. The civilizations have conquered and dominated each other a t various periods in history. Our mental habits are a result of this combat between eastern and western civilizations. Dr. Redman closed with a plea that we who have our western science should not neglect the spiritual and fraternal side of our lives as well as some of the benefits of the finer eastern philosophies. MR. RUSSELL S. MCBRIDE, Beta. mentioned the differences t o be observed
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in the attitude of the exhibitors a t this Chemical Show from some previous exhibitions. The fairness with which the greater number of exhibitors discussed their products and the absence of great sales talks and greater sales arguments distinctly characterized this above all other Expositions in the past. DR. HARRY A. C u n ~ r sEta, , summarized the impressions of the exhibit which the speakers before him had received and then spoke of the great work and service being accomplished by the Student Courses a t the Expositions. DR. STROUDJORDAN.Rho, repeated and emphasized some of the great advances that have been made in industrial apparatus and thc new materials available for their construction. I n a time of industrial depression such as this, he said in concluding, we should take stock t o see what we as chemists are doing t o add to the enjoyment of life as a whole and to alleviate human saering. DR. WILLIAMT . READ, Chi, concluded the talks of the evening with an original humorous negro monolog, "Unde Billy Looks a t Chemists." This was the first appearance of Uncle Billy in some time and he was thoroughly enjoyed by the chemists whom he razzed so uuresuvedly.
Ice from Mexico. Dry ice, solidified carbon dioxide which does not melt but evaporates, is well known and widely used as a clean, improved substitute for ice. Its production (about 350 tons a day) has been limited, however: its price high (about $100 a ton). Reason, the necessity of manufacturing the carbon dioxide gas synthetically. Cheaper carbon dioxide solidified may be in the offing. According t o news from the Quebracho oil fields in Mexico, the Globe Petroleum Company, while drilling for oil, has discovered an apparently inexhaustible supply of carbon dioxide gas and has installed a ~ l a n to t solidify it (by reducina its temperature to minus 7S°C.) into cubes weighing 45 lb. each. Three of the Ward Line's steamers in the Tampico-New York service have been equipped t o carry 200 tons of these cubes in separate compartments entirely enclosed and insulated with 12-inch walls of cork-the heaviest insulation on record. This development will be an impetus t o the marketing of quick frozen foods. Students of the history of chemistry will recall that the early nineteenth century was the age of the liquefaction of gases and that Thilorier, after developing a method for the manufacturing of soda water, proceeded further and condensed carbon dioxide (1834). Once when he was experimenting with the gas in the liquefied form, he found that when the liquid was allowed to escape through a jet into a heat-insulated box, a snow-like jet was formed.-Tech. Rm.m
