^ettefU t& t6e ScUto* L'arnin9
Lacking
DEAR S I R :
It has now twice been suggested, in letters to C&EN, that inferior quality in the coming generation of technical personnel may be traceable to a deficiency in elementary and secondary school education. Miller N. Hudson originally raised the question in the issue of Sept. 20, and in the Oct. 11 issue, Gerard M. Wolten recorded his agreement. The only fault to be found with either of these communications is that both are masterpieces of understatement. As Mr. Wolten remarked, some 75% of all students in first-year chemistry make poor t o miserable showings. In addition to the> sans-gêne attitude and utter disregard of the rules of English grammar already mentioned, this group is characterized by one or more of the following: 1. Inability to spell even simple words 2. A mental indolence or confusion that leads t o misinterpretation of even the most elementary questions 3. Ignorance of such mathematical concepts as logarithms, powers, and roots 4. Inability t o distinguish among the various units, as of mass, length, and volume 5. Unfamiliarity with basic geometry, e. g., formulas for areas and volumes 6. Lack of mastery of fundamental arithmetic, multiplication, long division, fractions, and ratios These are not isolated examples, but deficiencies exhibited by about half of any given class, on the average. If individual cases were to be cited, the list would be many times multiplied. Presumably the phenomenon of a college student with an imperfect grammar school education is a result of the practice of "admission by high school certificate/' since it is incredible that such a case could survrve a college-administered entrance examination. If this be true, the indictment is justified, and the high schools are betraying their certification. B. T.
NwYork,N.
SCHENCK
Y.
Hard Facts! DEAR S I B :
Farther to your "News-Script" in CAEN Sept. 6 on Berzelius it may be of interest to recall how Berzelius' strict belief i n "hard facts" succeeded in smothering one of the most fertile but unproved intuitions of the English physician, W. Prout, after a controversey which lasted almost until Berzelius' death. Prout (Ann. Phil, 6, 321 [1815] and 7, 111 [1816]) suggested that all combining weights were very likely full multiples of one indicating that the hydrogen atom VOLUME
2 6,
NO.
(or what we now know as the proton) was the sole building stone of all atoms. Berzelius attacked this idea in 1819 on the basis of his admirably accurate atomic weight determinations. In 1842 when Liebig and Redtenbacher proved that Berzelius' atomic weight of 12.2 for carbon was in error and should be 12.0,Prout's theory had a brief revival but died again in the face of the irrefutable atomic weight of chlorine of 35.46. The appeal of Prout's suggestion was so great that an unknown element of 0.5 atomic weight named "prothyl" (Marignac) was assumed (see M. Rudolphi, Chemiker Zeitung, 1901, p. 1133). R. J. Strutt in 1905 still calculated on the basis of nine known atomic weights, based on 0 — 16, that Prout's theory had a mathematical chance of 99.9% of being correct but even as late as 1918 F. M. Jaeger in his Dutch work "Elementen en Atomen: Eens en thans" (1918) refers to the controversy and concludes: "Be this as it may—it is generally agreed that the atomic weights as we know them now have no common denominator which could be considered as the basic building stone of all matter." One year later Aston developed the mass spectrometer, and we now realize that chlorine consists of 76% CI85 and 24% CI87 giving an average combining weight of 35.452. Leaving neutrons out of this discussion this is a striking demonstration of the value of intelligent intuition over that of our ever limited "certain" knowledge. PlETER H . KOLLEWUN
Berkeley, Calif.
backward section of the industry has always held that research i s wasteful at its best and constitutes a threat to established enterprise at its worse. Well, the whole industry is now established on a foundation of high prices, so that research (which is equivalent to technological competition) is regarded as a luxury by companies gorged with profits. The stability achieved at present is not a permanent one, however; prices are bound to fall in the measure in which wartime savings of consumers are used up. Something must be done to prevent lowering the prices now t o cushion the shock, or accelerated expenditure of undistributed profits before they depreciate further may help; both policies will stimulate production. On the other hand, efforts to safeguard the status quo by curtailing research and, if possible, b y keeping process high enough to have the effect of siphoning off any remaining surplus of buying power, must inevitably lead t o dismal failure. Far from being a prudent course of action which will protect past gains, this procedure, if carried far enough, can only result in a pile of worthless currency and a general social and economic debacle. Must not the reticence of some potentially available risk capital be regarded as a conscious or unconscious criticism of the hesitancy of industry to move ahead? It seems to me that making lack of capital responsible for the only too real reluctance of management to engage in more vigorous competition confuses cause and effect. L. M. BLUMENTHAL
New York, Ν. Υ. Warning— liquid Chlorine
Explosion!
D E A R SIR:
Otf Capital and
Competition
DEAR SIR:
I have read with great interest the editorial entitled "A Problem for the Multitude," dealing with economic matters. The absence of venture capital seeking opportunities for investment is indeed a matter of great concern to every American, especially every member of the chemical profession. The assertion that reduction of expenditures for research has been brought about by an actual or anticipated refusal of available capital to come out of hiding does not ring true, however. A vigorous and normally expanding research program will stimulate investments from outside sources and expedite accumulation of capital derived from undistributed profits. Putting brakes on research will have the opposite effect on acceleration of capital from either source. In view of the fact that prices have been high, reduction of the ratio of expenditure for research to total sales must be regarded as a symposion of decreased competition in the postwar period. The management of a technologically
45» .NOVEMBER
8,
1948
It is well known that rubber can be chlorinated by liquid chlorine either at the boiling point of the latter or under pres sure at higher temperatures. Observa tions have also been made that rubber and synthetic rubbers will burn in liquid chlo rine. In this case, great pressure would build up if not suitably released, owing to the heat generated and to the vaporiza tion of any excess liquid chlorine. Nor mally a safety valve or a pressure-release diaphragm takes care of such occurrences which have been observed several times in laboratory equipment i n which the pres sure was observed t o rise rather gradually, perhaps over a period of 20 seconds, when the diaphragm gave way at 1,100 lb. p.s.i. This letter is written, however, as a warning that in research work on chlorination of certain synthetic rubbers by such a procedure, a detonation occurred with seri ous consequences. The reactor was frag mented and the enclosure housing it de stroyed. This explosion occurred after many similar experiments on a small scale had showed no untoward results. R. L. MURRAY
Niagara Fails, Ν. Υ. 3369
