INDUSTRIAL andENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
NEWS EDITION Vol· 1 5 , No. 5
MARCH 10, 1937
Vol. 2 9 , C o n s e c u t i v e N o . 10
Published by t h e American Chemical Society Harrison E . Howe, Editor Publication Offices Easton, Pa. Cable Jicohem (Washington)
Telephone· Telephones
Editorial Office: Room 786 Mills Building, Washington, D.C. Advertising Department: 333 West 42nd Street, New York, N. Y.
National 0848 Bryant 9-4430
North Carolina's Educational Institutions Have Strong Chemistry Departments
M ning t o attend t h e 93rd annual meeting of
ANY m e m b e r s of t h e AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY who are plan-
t h e SOCIETY a t the University of North Carolina April 12 t o 15 have expressed a desire to visit some of t h e State's educational institutions. Ample opportunity will be provided for side trips for such visits before, during, or after t h e convention. Most of North Carolina's foremost educational institutions are located within a radius of from 10 t o 50 miles of t h e convention site a t Chapel Hill. North Carolina h a s 32 denominational and privately endowed colleges for white students and 7 for Negroes. A historical sketch of t h e central unit of t h e University of North Carolina, oldest of state universities, was carried in t h e January 20 issue of t h e N E W S E D I T I O N , p a g e 24, so we are
confining this account of that university to t h e Chemistry Department.
University o f N o r t h C a r o l i n a Chemistry has bc>sn a part of t h e curriculum a t t h e University of North Carolina since 1795 when the first s t a t e university in t h e country to begin operation opened its doors t o students. I n those humble beginnings t h e university offered courses in chemistry, geometry, astronomy, and natural and moral philosophy. Tuition in the chemistry department was $15 a year, while in t h e classical course i t was $12.50. Since t h a t time t h e university's Chemistry Department h a s undergone a steady expansion until t o d a y it enjoys the distinction of having one of t h e best equipped plants a n d ablest faculties in the country. T o chemists acquainted only from a distance with the university, t h e names of Baskerville, Herty, Venable, and Cameron are perhaps most familiar. Charles Baskerville was head of the department a t the turn of t h e centurv. In 1904 he went to
New York, where his reputation continued t o advance. Charles Holmes H e r t y , another former head of the department, has also acquired a national reputation. H e was president of t h e AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY in
1915-16. His recent development of a process for making newsprint from slash pine apparently presages a revolution in t h e manufacture of newsprint. At different intervals—1880-1900 and 1916-21—Francis Preston Venable served as head of the department. He was president of t h e university from 1900 to 1913 a n d President of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL
SOCIETY in 1905. During his early years as a university teacher Dr. Venable devised a new form of Bunsen burner, t h e same in principle as in general use today. Regarding his invention, h e said in a magazine article of t h a t time: ' T h e main feature is that the supply of gas is regulated a t the base»( of the burner by a milled
VENABLE HALL, HOME OP CHEMISTRY DEPARTMENT, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
97
INDUSTRIAL A N D E N G I N E E R I N G C H E M I S T R Y
Q8
FRANK
K.
CuARLce H O L M E S
CAMERON
wheel and that this supply is diminished only at the issuing jet inside the chimney." Dr.' Venable evidently did not then recognize the great money value of this modification of the burner, since for six burners he sold the right of their manufacture and sale. Frank K. Cameron, a meml>er of the university's chemistry faculty of today, who has been asked to serve as honorary chairman of the convention at Chapel Hill in April, is well known throughout the country for his plan for converting cotton into oil and alpha-cellulose. He and a group of associates have had considerable success with experiments whereby cotton is planted broadcast and mown and baled like hay. If it can be perfected the pre*e>s should revolutionize cotton production and bring greater profits to farmers. Now we shall go back and trace the development of chemistry in the University of North Carolina. In 1817 Denison Olmstead, a Yale man, came to the university as professor of chemistry. He was retained by the state at $250 a year to make a geological survey of North Carolina, which appears to be the first of its kind published in thus country. On Olmstead's return to Yale in 1825, Klisha Mitchell, a native of Connecticut, was made professor of chemistry. Dr. Mitchell wrote a manual of chemistry and many papers for the geological survey. Hi> interest and activity in measuring the
CHEMISTRY
K O « A K D M A C K . .IK.
HERTT
heights of mountains in western North Carolina ultimately led to his death, following a fall on the side of the mountain which now bears his name and on the summit of which is his grave. During the next 10 years chemistry, mineralogy, and geology were taught by William James Martin of Virginia who made a sizable collection of minerals and fossils and obtained appropriations for increased laboratory work. When the war disrupted the .university, Professor Martin went to Davidson College. Shortly after the reopening of the university, a Fertilizer Control Station was established in Chapel Hill under the direction of Albert R. Ledoux and Charles W. Dahney, Jr. (later president of the University of Tennessee), both of whom obtained their degrees at Gottingen. The station occupied laboratories in old Law Building, now the Playmakers Theatre, the basement of which was shared with the lavatory for all surrounding dormitories. In 1881 this work was moved to Raleigh and Francis Preston Venable, who had just received his doctorate at Cïôttingen, moved in as professor of chemistry. With the coming of Dr. Venable the history of the department really begins. He soon established an "Industrial Museum" in Person Hall, which a visiting committee of the trustees characterized as an "elegant and valuable museum of
B C I L D I N U . D U K E U N I V E R S I T Y , D U R H A M . N.
VOL. 15, NO.
chemical, industrial, and agricultural products." In 1883 the Elisha Mitchell Society was established, with Dr. Venable as its first president. Person Hall was enlarged and the department remained there until 1904. In 1900, Dr. Venable became president of the university. Charles Baskerville, one of his assistants, was head of the department until he went to New York in 1904. B y this time the department had grown to" 3 professors, 1 instructor, and some 400 students, and Dr. Venable was able to obtain an appropriation from the legislature for the construction of Chemistry Hall, now the Pharmacy Building. This was the first appropriation to the university for permanent improvements ever made by the State of North Carolina. Dr. Venable* was head of the department for a year, when he was succeeded by Charles Holmes Herty, whom Dr. Venable in turn succeeded in 1916. In 1921 Dr. Venable was succeeded by James Munsie Bell who was head until his death in 1934, at which time he was also dean of the School of Applied Science. In the fall of 1925 the department moved into its present home, Venable Hall, fittingly named after the man under whose influence the department had enjoyed 45 vears of continuous growth. The new building was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies, at which Dr. Bolt wood, of Yale, was the principal s|K»aker.
C.
NF^VS E D I T I O N
M A R C H 10, 1937
Left.
CorRTYARD OUTSIDE SALEM COLLEGE DINING HALL SHOWING 1802 DOORWAY. Center. STEPS TO 1 2 5 - Y E A R - O L D ADMINISTRATION BUILDING OP SALEM ACADEMY AND COLLEGE. Right. HOME MORAVIAN CHURCH AT WINSTON-SALEM, AND M A I N HALL OP SALEM COLLEGE
In 1934 the head of the department was Alvin Sawyer Wheeler, who had been professor of organic chemistry since 1900 and who had over that period come to be recognized for his publications on para-cymene and its derivatives and on t h e use of the hydroxynaphthalenes and their derivatives as dye intermediates. Dr. Wheeler was succeeded in 1935 by Edward Mack, Jr., under whose vigorous direction the department is making many advances. The staff now consists of 9 men of professorial rank, 18 fellows or assistants, a mechanician, a glassblower, and a permanent store-room staff of 3. The publications from the department during the past academic year numbered more than 25. D u k e University Duke University, which will be host to the
99
AMERICAN
CHEMICAL
SOCIETY
on
Tuesday of convention week, owes its existence to a charitable trust s e t up by James B. Duke by an indenture dated D e cember 11, 1924, and known as the Duke Endowment; t o gifts made by him t o the university in the succeeding year; and to bequests that came through his will at his death, October 10,1925. It is built around Trinity College, which was brought to Durham and maintained there largely through the generosity of the Duke family. Trinity College in its origin goes back to 1838. First as Union Institute, it became Normal College, and in 1859 Trinity College. T h e college was moved to Durham in 1392, grew steadily through 1924, and has had most of its development during the past decade. T h e university now comprises two undergraduate colleges, Trinity College for undergraduate men and the Woman's C o l l e g e ; the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Medicine, the School of Law, the School of Religion, the School of Nursing and Dietetics, the graduate Department of Forestry, and the S c h o o l of Engineering (mechanical, civil, electrical engineering departments). T h e Woman's College is EUMBNYAN
operated on its owii campus, the one until 1930 occupied bv Trinity College and Duke University from 1924 to 1930. Individual l>uiltiings are maintained by the Departments of Chemistry, Physics, Biology, IVIedicine (in connection with the 460-bed Duke Hospital), Engineering ( 3 buildings), and there is a science building at the Woman's College. The Duke Forest o f nearly 5000 acres adjoins the campus, providing ample outdoor laboratories for the Forestry Department. Gothic arcliitect ure is followed on the university campus, and Georgian on the Woman's College campus. The central building on t h e university campus is the chapel, featured by its rarely beautiful stained glass windows depicting scores of biblical episodes, the 7700-pipe pipe organ, a n d the carillon of 50 bells. The university library has more than 450,000 volumes in its 5 units (general library, religion, law, medicine, and Woman's College). T h e Woman's College has galleries of art objects.
The university has approximately 3300 students enrolled, coming from more than 40 states; and there are 11,000 living alumni residing in every state in the Union, and in 29 foreign countries. T h e faculty numbers 350 members. N o r t h Carolina S t a t e C o l l e g e North Carolina State College is a division of the consolidated University of North Carolina. I t is located in Raleigh, just 28 miles from Chapel Hill. An act of the North Carolina Legislature in 1887 provided for the establishment of the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. With two buildings constructed and 7 2 students enrolled, the college opened o n October 3 , 1889, a t its present site in Raleigh. T h e original teaching staff was composed of 8 persons. Provisions were made for supporting the college through State appropriations and income from land grants of the Federal Government. In 1917 the General Assembly changed the name of the college t o t h e North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering. I t is usually called "State C o l l e g e . " The General Assembly of 1931 enacted a law consolidating State College with the University of North Carolina a t Chapel Hill and t h e North Carolina College for Women in Greensboro. T h e combined institution is known as the Greater University of North Carolina. T h e consolidation became officially effective in July, 1932, although t h e work of consolidating t h e functions of the three unite is still in progress. North Carolina State College is now composed of three schools—agriculture and forestry, engineering, education, science, and textiles. Subsidiaries of t h e college are t h e Engineering Experiment Station, t h e Agricultural ' Experiment Station, and t h e Agricultural Extension Service, which carries t h e work of the college t o farm people in all counties of the State. T h e faculty proper con-
LITBBABT S o c i t r r HALL, DAVIDSON COIXBOB, DAVIDSON, N . C .
siste of 1 5 0 persons, e x c l u d -
100
I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G CHEMISTRY
MARTIN CHEMICAL LABORATORY, DAVIDSON COLLEGE, DAVIDSON, N . C.
ing graduate* student instructors, coaches, or members of the experiment station and extension service staffs. The student en rollment is approximately 2000, and the alumni roster includes 16,000 names. The auditorium has a seating capacity of 1000, and the football stadium seats 15,000. The physical plant now consists of 30 modern, steam-heated buildings. Approximately 875 students are enrolled this year in classes in the Department of Chemistry. The chemistry faculty in cludes 9 professors, headed b y A. J. Wil son, and 6 laboratory instructors. Ε . Ε. Randolph heads the Depart ment of Chemi cal Engineering, which has a faculty of 4 and a student enrollment of 190. Stu-
rollment stands at 1829 and there are ap proximately 200 members of the faculty. The college property comprises more than 100 acres of improved and wooded land and 45 buildings. Science labora tories are located in Mclver Building— named for the founder and first president of the college—and are well equipped. The Chemistry Department has three laboratories. Florence L. Schaeffer is head of the Chemistry Department of the Woman's College, which is located in Greensboro, 45 miles from Chapel Hill. W a k e Forest College The Chemistry Department is one of the strongest departments at Wake For est College, which since its founding in 1834 has trained over 15,000 stu dents in scientific, aca demic, and legal sub jects. Last year 294 out of the 1000 Wake Forest undergraduates took one or more of the 18 c o u r s e s offered i n chemistry, ranging from an elementary survey up to advanced organic and physical chemistry. Among the teaching staff are three mem
VOL.
15, N O . 5
honor of producing the first x-ray picture made in the United States. On the night of January 12, 1896, three boys slipped into the physics classroom in old Cham* bers Building, borrowed a Crookes tube, went back into their own room and made otograph of a dead man's finger, a bullet inside a box, and a microscope in side a case. Fearing to make their discovery known, Osmond Barringer, Eben Hardie, and Pen der Porter, now a New York physician, kept the picture to themselves a long time before showing it t o Henry Louis Smith, their professor. This picture was re cently given wide publicity through a feature article written about the escapade. Heading Davidson's Chemistry D e partment now is Howard Bell Arbuckle, Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins. Dr. Ar buckle has been at Davidson since 1913, having gone there from Agnes Scott Col lege. He discovered pyrolene and has done research work in corn proteins and cellulose products. In the Chemistry Department also are Oscar J. Thies and Avery Patton, both Davidson graduates. Davidson was founded in 1837 and was named after General William Lee David son, Revolutionary leader. Robert Hall Morrison was its first president. Most prominent alumnus was Woodrow Wilson, who started his college career there. He made his first public speech in Eumenean Hall, which still stands on the campus. Davidson now has 665 students from 28 states and 5 foreign countries. Davidson College is 135 miles from Chapel HiU. Greensboro College Greensboro College, located at Greens boro, 45 miles from Chapel Hill, has a history reaching far back into the period of antebellum life. I t was chartered in 1838 as Greensboro Female College, and is the second oldest chartered college for women in the South. It is the first college for women chartered b y the Metho dist Church. The cornerstone of the first building was not laid until 1843, and it was not until 1846 that the school opened its doors for the students. The first president was the Reverend Solomon Lea. rle was followed in the presidency by A. M. Shipp, Charles F. Deems, and T. M. Jones. While Dr. Jones was in office the main building of the college was destroyed by fire. This calamity, joined by mis fortunes brought b y the war, necessitated the closing of the school for 10 years. The cornerstone of a new building was laid in 1871, and in August, 1873, the
bers of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL CHEMISTRY BUILDING AT WAKE F O R E S T
dent-built laboratory equipment in the De partment of Chemical Engineering has re ceived wide recognition through recent Associated Press dispatches. W o m a n ' s College o f t h e University o f North Carolina The Woman's College of the University of North Carolina, another division οι the consolidated university, was formerly the North Carolina College for Women and was the first institution established b y the State of North Carolina for the higher education of women. T h e legislation establishing the college w a s enacted in 1891, and the college opened its doors on October 5, 1892. The student body the first year numbered 223, and there were 15 members of the faculty. Today en·
SOCIETY—
Charles S. Black, for COLLEGE merly of the University of Wisconsin; Nevill Isbell, who worked at Yale University; and Walter J. Wyatt, who last year received his P h . D . at the University of Chicago. The president emeritus of Wake Forest College, William Louis Poteat, is one of the most eminent scientists North Caro lina has produced. The construction of a new $100,000 dormitory which was opened t o 100 men on February 1 brings the total number of buildings used for classrooms or* living quarters up t o 13. The property of the college, including 234 acres of land, is valued a t $3,000,000. Wake Forest is 38 miles from Chapel Hill. D a v i d s o n College Davidson College, which this year is celebrating its 100th birthday, holds the
WINSTON HALL AT NOTCH 8TATR COLLEGE, WHICH HOUSES TBB CAROLINA DEPARTMENTS OF CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
MARCH 10,1937
NEWS EDITION
101 the Moravian Church, they are now nonsectarian, both in faculty and student body. In 1909 Howard E. Rondthaler became president of their joint administration and it is under his guidance, with the help of many of the present members of the faculty, board of trustees, and alumnae that Salem Academy and College have become known among the most forwardlooking preparatory schools and colleges of the nation. Salem College confers the degrees of bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, and bachelor of music. No advance degrees are conferred. The academy prepares its graduates for entrance into the standard American colleges. The Chemistry Department of Salem College occupies the first floor of the Science Building, a 3-story brick and frame building. The space occupied is approximately 4000 square feet, including a new wing which was completed during the past summer. There are four laboratories, a large lecture room, two offices, a private laboratory, a weighing room, and two stockrooms. The science library on the second floor is readily available to students in chemistry. A section of the museum on the third floor is devoted to chemical display. The work in chemistry is under the direction of Charles H. Higgins, who is assisted by two instructors.
M A I N BCILDLWO, GREENSBORO COLLEGE, WHICH HOUSES THE CHEMISTRY D E PARTMENT ON THE GROUND FLOOR
school opened its doors for the reception of students. Between 1902 and 1904 untoward conditions came upon the college. First, its Board of Trustees was greatly discouraged on account of stringent financial conditions, and decided to put the property in process of liquidation. Later the main building was destroyed by fire. Through the almost superhuman efforts of the
Salem College Salem College, which is 70 miles from Chapel Hill, had its foundation in the original institution, Salem Female Academy, in the year 1772. When it was established by a group of Moravian settlers who had moved not many years before from Bethlehem, Pa., it was the first school of its kind in the South and one of only three in the entire group of colonies. Out of the original parent institution two educational establishments have been developed—namely, Salem Academy, a school, and Salem College, Çreparatory hey now maintain entirely separate living quarters and faculties on adjoining campuses with 70 students in the academy and 325 in the college. Both schools are classified as A-Class through their membership in the Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools of the Southern States. The college is a member of the American Association of University Women and its School of Music is a member of the National Association of Schools of Music. The ideal of these schools has always been the Christian education of young women. Although they were founded by
Meredith College Meredith College, an accredited college for women, sponsored by the State Baptist convention, is located in Raleigh, 3 miles from the heart of the city on a 30acre campus and has 10 buildings of modern construction. The Chemistry. Department, which is housed in the science building, has excellent equipment, maintaining in the department standards in keeping with the high scholastic standing of the college. Lula Gaines Winston is t e id of the Chemistry Department and Mary Yarborough, assistant professor. Both are members of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY.
MCIVIR BCILDINO, WOMAN'S COLL COB. UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. S T A T U E OF C. D M d V E R IN FOREORODND
alumnae and the cooperation of the annual conferences, a new and splendid building was erected in 1904, and the school opened with the largest registration in its history. Since that time two new dormitories and a music building have been added. Greensboro College now has an enrollment of over 350. Greensboro College has a strong Department of Chemistry.
The
president of the college, Charles E. Brewer, was formerly professor of chemistry at Wake Forest College, and has always shown a keen interest in the Meredith Chemistry Department. Chartered in February, 1891, as Baptist Female University, it was not until September, 1899, that the college was first opened to students on a site 2 blocks from the Capitol. The name of the college was in 1905 changed to Baptist University for Women, and in 1909 to Meredith College, in honor of Thomas Meredith, who introduced in the State Baptist convention of 1838 the first resolutions calling for a college for women supported by the denomination. R. T. Vann became president the second year after the college opened, resigning in 1915, and since then Dr. Brewer has held the office continuously. The college was moved to its present site and an entire new plant built in 1925. The present enrollment is 544 students.
MEREDITH COLLEOE
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
102
W h i t m o r e Receives Nichols Medal
repeated—more knowledge removed the abnormalities. A consistent abnormality in the mercury compounds focused attention on alkyl halides—a group of supposedly normally behaving substances. It was found that the literature contained many carefully concealed abnormalities, even for those simple substances. Thus the field of rearrangements was entered. Here was apparently the realm of magic and uncertainty. The work of the last nine years has removed this magic and shown rather fully the laws which control rearrangements. Such changes are no longer unpredictable surprises. In the study of rearrangements much time had to he devoted to dehydration investigations. These led to the case of depolymerization. Dr. Wendt commented a* follows:
FRANK C. WHITMOBE
D
EAN
FRANK
C.
WHITMORE
of
the
School of Chemistry and Physics of Pennsylvania State College, President elect of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY,
received the William H. Nichols Gold Medal, highest distinction i n the gift of the New York Section of t h e AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY,
at a dinner given
jointly by the section and the Society of Chemical Industry a t the Hotel Pennsyl vania, New York, N . Y., on March δ. Dean Whitmore was awarded the medal for studies in "metallo-organic com pounds, especially those of mercury, and in the field of aliphatic chemistry, par ticularly in molecular rearrangements and in the polymerization of olefins." Walter S. Landis, chairman of the Nichols Medal Jury of Award, presented the medal, which was established in 1902 by the late William H. Nichols, a charter member
of
the
AMERICAN
CHEMICAL
SOCIETY, to ''stimulate original research in chemistry." Dean Whitmore, in his address of acceptance, discussed recent research on polymerization a n d the gene sis and interrelation of his chemical in vestigations. Marston T. Bogert spoke o n the medal ist's scientific achievements, and (Jerald L. Wendt outlined the medalist's personal career. Dean Wliitmore reported that, with the aid of a dozen assistants, he has succeeded, after many years of work, in removing most of the "magic and uncertainty" a t tached to reactions involved in poly merization, and i n reducing these complex changes to a n orderly basis. He pointed out that: This has been a most active field in recent years largely because of the development of "polymer gasoline." Here the reactions have appeared t o be magically complex. The key to the study of polymerization was found in an experiment in which the dehydra tion of a large alcohol did not give the corre sponding olefin, a n open-chain hydrocarbon containing one or more double bonds, but, instead, gave two smaller olefins. This was recognized as a case of "depolymerization." A study of abnormal reactions of sodium malonic ester w a s the starting point of Dean Whitmore's early researches. The conclusion was reached after several years* work that these followed as definite and regular laws as the more normal reac tions of this much-used substance. Next came an interest in organic com pounds of mercury, especially in the very peculiar reactions of this séries. Then followed several years of bringing order out of apparent chaos. The old experience was
Two characteristics stand out in Dean Whitmore's life: an innate fascination by puzzling problems and a complete simplicity of character and purpose. His simplicity, his vigor, and his intellectual stature combine to make him the man who has l>een elected President of the
VOL. 15, NO. S Gainesville Conference
M
ORE than 500 prominent representatives of agriculture, industry, science, and finance attended a joint conference held on the campus of the University of Florida a t Gainesville on Saturday, February 20. The conférence was sponsored by the Florida Section of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, the Farm Chem-
urgic Council, the Chemical Foundation, Inc., the Florida State Chamber of C o m merce, and the University of Florida. The objectives of the conference were t o survey the natural resources of the State, to endeavor t o formulate plans for their development, and specifically, to pave the way for the establishment, in cooperation with the University of Florida, of a research foundation to carry on t h e fundamental research work necessary. These ideas were enthusiastically received by the group and a committee w a s appointed to make definite plans and recommendations looking toward t h e establishment of such a foundation.
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY for the year
193ft and who is now being awarded the Nichols Medal. Dr. Landis, presenting the medal "for outstanding accomplishments in the field of original research in chemistry," called Dean Whitmore "eminently qualified from every standard of measure to receive the honor." To quote Dr. Landis further: In the words of the founder, William H. Nichols, this medal is to be given not solely because of advanced work of a constructive character, but particularly l>ecuuse such work has lieen made available to all chemists through publication. The donor was particularly impressed with the idea that his chosen profession benefits most if the knowledge gained by research be made available to all in the chemical industry. Dr. Nichols used a most effective means for accomplishing his desired results through the establishment of the medal, whereby we can recognize workers in the research field in a fitting and permanent manner. To insure perpetuation of the Nichols Medal, a gift of securities has been made to the New York Section of the AMERICAN
B. F. WILLIAMSON, WHOSE U N TIRING WOBK MADE POSSIBLE THE
Success or THE CONFERENCE
A splendid exhibit of Florida products was o n display in the chemistry building of the university. All who attended were presented with a booklet, "Florida Resources," prepared b y the Florida Section of t h e AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
and containing basic data and charts dealing with the natural resources of t h e State. I t was t h e feeling of those w h o CHEMICAL SOCIETT by C. W. Nichols, were there that the conference marked chairman of the board of the Nichols an important forward step in the developEngineering and Research Corp., and son ment of the State. An interesting proof William H. Nichols. Dr. Landis ex- gram of papers was presented at morning, plained that afternoon, and evening sessions, each of which concluded with a round-table disThese eecurit ice are of the Allied Chemical cussion. Sunday morning a visit w a s and Dye Corp., successor of the great indus- made to the tung oil groves and pressing try of which William H. Nichols was so plant. integral a part. It seems appropriate that the medal should receive renewed support from this industry. Silverman Lectures The terms of the original deed of trust made the Nichols Medal essentially a local LEXANDER SILVERMAN, head of t h e honor, but with the broader amended deed Department of Chemistry, Uniit has become a national affair. Today, the versity Pittsburgh, will deliver a lecMedal Committee includes in its considera- ture onof "Glass and the Modern World"" tion of candidates not only those presenting at Wellesley College o n Friday evening* papers before the New York Section but March 19. During the following week he preferably those who have published the will speak on LeChatelier: H i s results of original research within the pre- Life and Work'1"Henry the Glass Division ceding three years in any of the publications of the Americanbefore Ceramic Society in t h e of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York.
A
JOE E . WALKER has joined the staff of t h e American Potash Institute, Inc., as field agronomist in t h e southwestern states. Mr. Walker assumes his new duties well equipped with experience based upon several years of work as a countyagent in Arkansas and Mississippi.
