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day’s idleness on the part of fertilizer factories, the Fertilizer Committee of The Chemical Alliance was able to secure their exemption from the fuel order. Difficulty is being experienced in the administration OF the federal explosives act, due to a very general lack of knowledge as to just what the bill provides. Trade in ingredients is giving the most trouble. The government has under consideration the erection of a n acetic acid plant. While some sites in the United States are being considered in this connection, it is regarded as probable that arrangement will be made to secure the erection of a large addition to an existing plant in Canada. Shreveport, La., has been considered as a possible site for the plant. An unlimited amount of natural gas is available near that Louisiana city. If an entirely new plant is erected, it is estimated that its cost will be $6,000,000. Garabed T. K. Giragossian is greatly in fear that infringers upon his plan to produce energy without expense are going to rob him of the fruits of his work. Mr. Giragossian wrote a lengthy letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives preparing Congress, apparently, for a delay in placing his work before the Commission. An extract from the letter is as follows: “I wish that the Government and the public as well should be the judicial tribunal to conclude as to the originality of my work prior to the verification of my claim as designed. Thus I expect that the scientific commission’s finding will include the originality of the work under the instructions of the Government given beforehand. Then nobody can, a t least morally, challenge and charge the commission with partiality, favoritism etc., in rendering their certificate and thus obscure my achievement. “I cannot believe t h a t the spirit of our Congress will tolerate or for-
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give t h a t I should divulge the secret of my work t o any person or commission so long as there exists a legal opportunity by which infringers can drag me into court in order t o contest the originality of my work, or so long as there may be the faintest possibility t h a t my work may be the prey of patent sharks, or that infringers may have a legal loophole t o pounce upon me and to snatch the fruit of my lifelong struggle. “I a m a t the disposal of our Government a t any time. If I may be commanded to select the authorized commission I a m willing t o do so when I a m notified and given legal, unequivocal, and tangible assurance that I will be recognized as the original discoverer of my work as prescribed above. I t is inconceivable that our Congress will tolerate t h e delay of the advent of this work on account of the fantastic claims o r palmistic phraseology of willful obstructors and impostors.”
The bill concerning the Garabed discovery was agreed to in conference without difficulty and has been signed by the President. Representatives of the Bureau of Chemistry are holding meetings with mill, grain and elevator men throughout the country to demonstrate methods of preventing explosions of grain dust. One of the hitches in the effort to reach a n agreement with Norway regarding the commodities which were to be exported to meet the Norwegian requirements arose over calcium carbide, calcium nitrate, ferrosilicon and molybdenite. While Norway needs calcium carbide as an illuminant and calcium nitrate as a fertilizer, each of these chemicals would be of important use to Germany in the making of munitions. In the same way, Norway is in great need of ferrosilicon and molybdenum for its domestic use, but as these materials are of first importance in the manufacture of implements of war, the United States War Trade Board drew stringent conditions under which these and other products were to be furnished to Norway. The provisions were more drastic than Norway was prepared to accept.
OBITUARIU CHARLES CASPARI, JR.
Charles Caspari, Jr., whose death took place last October, was born in Baltimore in 1850. His father, a former pupil of Wohler, had for political reasons fled from Germany in 1848, but inspired in his son an intense longing for a German university career. This longing was never satisfied: when still quite young the boy wais thrown upon his own resources, yet lived to prove once more that a distinguished career may result far less from the advantages, financial and educational, by which one may be surrounded in youth, than from such gifts, natural and acquired, as ambition, perseverance and a trained reason. In his effort to prepare himself for a scientific career, he wed every available minute that could be spared from the monotonous work upon which his livelihood as a drug clerk depended: he studied in omnivorous fashion; he perfected himself in methods of analysis; he prepared everything that he was likely to be called upon to dispense; he got into communication with all who could assist him and answer his questions; and, in order to clarify and coordinate his knowledge, he wrote articles and even textbooks and treatises of formidable scope. He thus became a writer of clear, fluid English, accurate and concise. cAARtss cASPAR,, JR, With intense pride in his profession, he would not tolerate for a moment anything that savored of slovenliness in technique. At nineteen he was graduated from the Maryland College of Pharmacy; ten years later he became Professor of Pharmacy in that institution and held this post until his death. When appointed Food and Drug Commissioner for Maryland, he began a t once a course of con-
structive administration, the aim of which was not prosecution, but instruction and inspiration. Outside his own State, also, he soon attracted notice, and one by one responsibilities were placed upon him. For twenty-eight years he was a powerful influence in the American Pharmaceutical Association. His work upon the successive editions of the Pharmacopoeia, of the National Formulary of the National Dispensatory, was of great value. Dr. Caspari was extraordinarily modest and unselfish; he was straightforward, truthful and unafraid. For anything that suggested display or insincerity, he had nothing but contempt. He feared no one, for he demanded of himself a higher standard of craftsmanship than he could expect from others. For honest failure he felt sympathy, and-a true friend-forgave many failings and enjoyed apparently above all else the pleasure of adding, as he had opportunity, to the happiness of those about him. He was one whom it was a privilege to have known, and a blessing to have known well. WYATTW. RANDALL
JOSEPH PRICE REMINGTON Dr. Joseph Price Remington, Dean of the Faculty in the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and a member of the American Chemical Society of many years’ standing, died a t Philadelphia, January Ist, in his seventy-first year. Prof. Remington was best known to the scientific world by the fact that since 1901he has been the chairman and the vitalizing force of the Committee of Revision of the United States Pharmacopoeia. Under his energetic yet judicious control, this work, which sets the standards and gives the method of preparation of crude drugs and compounded medicines for the druggists and the physicians of the country, has achieved a position as the most accurate and complete of the Pharmacopoeias of the world. A comparison of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia with those of the most advanced European countries is
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entirely in favor of our national work, and the pharmaceutical and medical journals of Europe have conceded this with practical unanimity. The passage of the National Food and Drugs Act in 1906 gave additional force to this publication by making i t the legal standard in all questions of purity and strength of such articles entering into the preparation of foods and medicines as came within its scope. The whole administration of the food and drug adulteration regulqtions of the Bureau of Chemistry a t Washington and of the various state food commissions was therefore based upon the purity and strength standards of the U. S. Pharmacopoeaa. The added responsibility thrown upon the Committee of Revision during the last decade in view of this important connection imposed new labors in conducting extensive correspondence and investigations, all of which Prof. Remington undertook with unflagging zeal. At a memorial meeting held in Philadelphia on January 4th, Dr. Wiley testified in strong terms to the constant support Prof. Remington had given at all times to the Government officials in their work of the enforcement of the Food and Drugs Act and the raising of the standards of these products so essential to the Nation’s health. Hardly less important to the profession of pharmacy and medicine was his connection with the U. S. Dispensatory, which is an encyclopedic commentary upon the drugs and medicines which arc in current use or known to science, and is a recognized authority in the courts and in the U. S . Patent Office. Of this work he had been since 1880 the pharmaceutical editor and the responsible supervising head. He also published in 1885 his “Practice of Pharmacy,” a very complete textbook which has had a very large circulation and which has gone through a number of editions. Prof. Kemington was born March 26, 1847, in Philadelphia, the son of a well-known physician. After completing a high school educatiou he entered a wholesale drug house where he spent four years, during which time he attended the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, graduating in 1866. He then spent three years under Dr. E. R. Squibb, of Brooklyn, N. Y., the founder of the present firm of E. R. Squibb & Sons, where
he had exceptional opportunities for becoming a skilful chemical analyst and also learned manufacturing methods. Following this he spent three years in the chemical works of Powers & Weightman in Philadelphia. This was certainly laying a sound foundation for his subsequent career and explains the broad grasp he had in after-life of both chemical and pharmaceutical subjects. In 1874 he succeeded Prof. Procter, whose assistant he had been for several years, as Professor of Theory and Practice of Pharmacy in the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, a connection only to be severed by death after forty-four years of continuous service. He was a pleasing and popular lecturer and made many warm friends among the thousands who were his pupils during this long period of years. Besides his active membership in the American Chemical Society and the English Chemical Society, the American Philosophical Society and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and the Chemists’ Club of New York, he had been josgpR P R ~ C E REMINGTON elected to honorary membership in many pharmaceutical and medical societies in this country and abroad and had taken part as delegate in international pharmaceutical and medical congresses. To those who had the privilege of intimate personal contact with Prof. Remington, the loss now experienced is a great one because of his cheerful disposition, his unfailing courtesy and kindly consideration for all who were brought into contact with him. To the writer it means the breaking of a close friendship extending through forty years. He is glad t o be privileged to extend this inadequate tribute to his memory. SAMUEL P. SADTLER
PERSONAL NOTES
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Dr. Glenn V. Brown, professor of chemistry a t Bucknell University, has been granted leave of absence and is now connected with the Jackson Laboratory of the du Pont Company.
search chemist of the Whalen Pulp and Paper Mills, Ltd., has been ordered to report to the First Depot Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.
Dr. W. L. Evans, a captain in the Ordnance Department, is organizing a large staff for research work and routine tests in the War Department. Mr. Burton G. Wood, formerly of the Monsanto Chemical Works of St. Louis, is now chief chemist of the Intravenous Products Company of St. Louis, manufacturer of organic arsenic products. Chancellor Samuel Avery, of the University of Nebraska, has been given leave of absence in order that he may go to Washington to accept the position of chemist with the National Council of Defense. The United States Civil Service Commission announces open competitive examinations for metallurgical chemists, salaries $1600 to $2400 a year, and assistant metallurgical chemists a t $1000to $1600 a year, for men only. Applicants should apply at once for Form 1312,stating the title of the examination desired, to the Civil Service Commission, Washington, D. C. On account of the urgent needs of the service, applications will be received until further notice. Mr. Russell Hayworth, formerly with the Citizens Gas Company, of Indianapolis, is now with the Ordnance Department as engineer of tests, Curtiss Manufacturing Company, St. Louis, Mo. Mr. E. Colonna de Giovellina, former instructor in chemistry at the Vancouver Academy, and who had been appointed re-
Dr. J. I. D. Hinds, of Lebanon, Tennessee, has been appointed chemist of the geological survey of Tennessee. Dr. Hinds succeeded Dr:Paul C. Bowers, who has been called to Washington for government service. Mr. A. G. Stillwell has accepted a commission as Captain in the Ordnance Reserve Corps and is now stationed in Washington, assigned to research work in the Toxic Gas Division. Before leaving New York Mr. Stillwell incorporated his business under the title, The Stillwell Laboratories, Inc. His former assistant, Mr. E. C. Moffett, is now manager and will carry on the work. Prof. Chas. H. LaWall, of the Philadelphia Section, of the A. C. S., has been appointed Dean of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, succeeding the late Dr. Joseph P. Remington. He has also been nominated for the Chair of Theory and Practice of Pharmacy in the College. Mr. G. W. Roark, assistant chemist in the Chemical Section of the Agricultural Experiment Station a t Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa, has been appointed chief chemist of the Federal Chemical Company’s plants and will have his offices a t Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. J. A. Wilkinson, formerly associate professor of chemistry a t Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa, has been appointed Captain in the Design Section, Gun Division, and is now located at Washington, D. C.
