T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G C H E M I S T R Y Everyone was charmed by the delightful rendering of popular songs by Madam Sharlow who was repeatedly enchored. Mr. Arthur Lowenstein introduced Mr. Wilbur D. Nesbit as the toastmaster of the evening. The audience was kept in a roar by Mr. Nesbit’s sparkling wit and humor. He introduced in his own inimitable manner the following toasts: “Why Is a Chemical Engineer?” by I,. V. Redman, chairman SOCIETY. of the Chicago Section of the AMERICANCHEMICAL “The Problems of the Chemist as Seen by a Layman,” by Vincent Rockey, of the Literary Digest. “The Tariff Commission,” by Grinnell Jones.
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“Chemical Horse Sense,” by G. W. Thompson. “The Future of the Institute,” by J. C. Olsen. “Some Chemical Fakes I Have Met, by David Wesson. Saturday morning the plant of the Standard Oil Co., a t Whiting, Ind., was visited. The visiting ladies were entertained a t the opera, a theatre party and by auto trips. CHEMICAL SOCIETY particiThe local section of the AMERICAN pated in the meeting and was well represented at all sessions. NEWYORKCITY
J. C. OLSEN
NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE A. C. S. NEWS SERVICE
newspaper shops and has had some experience in the laboratory. Under the direction of Dr. Herty he will look after some OF the details of issuing matter to the press. One cannot make bricks without straw, nor issue news without facts, and therefore more than ever the Society is depending upon its members to send in bulletins of five or six hundred words about events in the chemical world or brief accounts of new phases of that science of sciences-chemistry. For such as are accepted the sum of $5 will be paid. What is news? Falling back on the late Mr. Webster, we are told that “news is a report of recent occurrences-informaLABORATORY AND NEWSPAPER SHOP tion of something that has lately taken place or something betidings-recent intelligence.” Except Mark Twain once showed to a Major the manuscript of a war fore unknown-fresh story which he had just written: “Your unfamiliarity with that i t conveys the idea of timeliness in news, the dictionary has military matters,” observed that officer, “has betrayed you left us much in the dark. News must be new, but little that is new is news. News is that characteristic of a happening into some little mistakes. Still, they are picturesque ones-let them go; military men will smile at them; the rest won’t de- which has an appeal to persons beyond the circle immediately concerned. It may reach out to curiosity, to awe, to self-intect them.” The gifted author had himself been a journalist, and if we may terest, and what that appeal may be is rather to be felt than believe his own account, what he lacked in accuracy he made described. It is often a subtle quality defying cold analysis, up in imagination. As an agricultural editor, he shook the and being a quality, news judgments may differ. For example, confidence of his readers when he wrote that turnips should Charles A. Dana once said that if a dog bit a man, it was not never be pulled from the tree but should be permitted to drop news, but if a man bit a dog-such was news. The next day when frost-bitten. Since his days as a reporter the public has the New York Sun had on its first page a column account of a come to demand more exactitude,and it even has breakfast prominent man having been bitten by a dog, and for several quarrels with its favorite newspapers if it detects them in error. days thereafter the details concerning this occurrence were It is no longer enough that the journals of our day should be duly reported. The unusual is only one of the elements of news. Thus even such a past master as the late Charles A. filled with entertaining n e w s a n d some of it true. When we read about politics we expect to have the report Dana could not construct an infallible news formula. News, as of an adept who knows more about it than we do; we take our does electricity, defies absolute definition; and yet it is a definite Wall Street news from writers who are precise to a dot; and even commodity. The trained newspaper man knows news; he senses it; he the accounts of amusements must come from-critics of keen observation and mature judgment. And yet to have every feels it. He has that gift “the nose for news” sharpened by department of a newspaper covered by an expert would require experience, and developed by enthusiasm and constant contact not a mere staff, but a regiment. Some newspapers in the with all classes of his fellowmen. Every man has a nose for large cities have technical men to write on scientific matters; news, for that matter, but sometimes the organ is rudimentary. but departments are likely to multiply unduly, just as they did Probably there is no one reading this article but knows some in the days of George W. Childs on the Public Ledger of Philadel- skilled newsgatherer of the daily press. Stop and consider his phia, when there was a pigeon editor and a bee editor and a method! The man who garners exclusive news (the “beats” and the “scoops” of the newspaper shop) makes a business of score or so more of such specialists-all on the same floor. In order to have the facts concerning them reported clearly building up among acquaintances the ability to detect the news when the occasion requires, corporations, associations, and element. That is how he makes himself invaluable to his newspaper. He is teaching men to consider their own activities from societies often retain men of newspaper training to be reporters for them, and to prepare information of their activities for the the point of view of the outsider. The average man, however, press. The Publicity Committee of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL is too close to his work to sense fully its public relation. In the words of Julian Ralph, one of the best all-round newsSOCIETYwas appointed when some New York newspaper men made the suggestion that the Society would be very useful to paper men this country has ever produced, the journalist sees them if it offered facilities for gaining information on chemical everything with the eyes of the infant. Did you ever see an matters. Hence the issuing of the bulletins, which have been so old reporter? The newspaper man keeps young by making even his own task a perpetual re-discovery of its relations to the well received by the press of the United States. The work of the Committee has now so expanded that it is general public. impossible for its members to spare the time from their proHence one who is meditating a bulletin should not write i t in fessional labors to develop it, and therefore I have been asked his laboratory, but rather in his home or his club, where he may to sit in and help. The writer has spent many years in the feel the lay influences. Let him try it first on a newspaper The work of the Publicity Committee has been transformed into the A. C. S. News Service. The Committee’is continued and Mr. John Walker Harrington has been appointed by the Directors to assist by giving technical aid in the preparation of the matter issued to the press. Upon request he has prepared the following article on “Laboratory and Newspaper Shop” which explains the purposes of the News Service. It will be of direct interest to members who contemplate submitting articles.
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friend, or if none is available, waylay some other innocent by- tween members of the same profession, there is a great gulf stander, rind see if he can get in his eye the kindling gleam of fixed, known as nomenclature. interest. Avojd involved technical terms. The language of Science in its literary expression has been dominated for many the laboratory is often as unintelligible to the public as is the years by the niggling and meticulous style of Teuton textbook quaint lingo of the newspaper shop which reporters talk but makers. Many articles on technical subjects contain few never write. In general, the broader and wider the application direct statements and those ‘are overlaid with qualifications. of the “story,” to use the newspaper parlance, the better news The reporter is forced by his training to tell the gist of the it is. One element of news, however, is action or the suggestion “biggest story” in an introduction occupying an inch of type. of action. A scholarly paper on vitamines, as the night wears Then the vital fact must be proclaimed in a “step ladder” on in the newspaper shop, is likely to be crowded out by an headline of thirty-two letters or spaces, or, better still, of sixteen. elopement. There is more interest in a Gretna Green clergyman, He attempts to get as near as possible to the method of the first than in a “chemical parson.” Potash is fully dealt with in war correspondent, the late J. Caesar, who reported the conquest books of reference, but give a scientist the Perkin Medal for of Gaul in three words. devising ways to extract that element and beat Germany, and It is a common impression among technical men that science potash looms in the news and we are reporting an important cannot be explained to the layman. As long as one’s mind is news event. made up that a thing cannot be done, there is little likelihood If chemistry would see its activities adequately reported, of its being done. Modern chemistry, however, has discarded let it do as most other interests do in this world-meet the the caul of mystery bequeathed by its mother, alchemy, and newspaper half way. Emerson said that if a man but make year by year its face is more clearly seen by the people. The mousetraps good enough, the world will beat a track to his great facts of science can be told in the simplest speech. door. Perhaps so, but it is just as well when a section of the As timeliness is the primal element of news, let the item which Society is holding an important meeting to send the city editors presents itself as news be sent a t once. When a revision of of the newspapers a timely notice, and to furnish a clear abstract matter is requested or more facts are desired a prompt reply of the speeches or lectures hours in advance. If some special will enable the SERVICE to put out material which is oE interest apparatus is being shobn, a press view in the afternoon, long tr, the public as .of even date. Let the New York office have before the evening meeting, will greatly aid the reporters in information and abstracts concerning papers which may have a getting a clear idea of the matter. Just as the opera house national news interest as far in advance of the meetings of provides facilities for the critics at the last dress rehearsal, and Sections as possible, so that it may be distributed subject to so gives them the chance of writing their accounts a t leisure, release in the newspapers of the country the morning following. and then of going around on the evening of the performance to Certain Sections of our Society have already established confirm their suspicions, so the minds of the newspaper men close relations with the daily press which have proved to be of should be well prepared, mutual advantage. The chemist may be able to give quickly If the chemist is writing matter for the lay press, he may well just what the newspaper may need in an emergency. It is bear in mind that his account or story should be an invert suggested that all members assist newspapers in expanding our product. In the days of straphangers, the average news article regular bulletins, should editors find them available as a basis is like a pyramid built in the air, base up. The man of science, for more extended or special articles. inclined to begin with the creation of the world, and carefully Chemistry from year to year will have its outlook and its laying a solid foundation, builds his article in the form of the public relations better understood, for the journalist is always tapering pyramid of Cheops. These are days of headline and the idealist, ready and willing to help any worthy endeavor in rapid-lire writing. The reporter often writes under stress. the interest of his fellowmen. That news is always good news Having a hair-trigger mind, it is not surprising that at times it which makes for enlightenment and progress. goes off at half cock. His conclusions are always picturesque, JOHN WALKERHARRINGTON albeit they may bring a twinkle to the eye of the savant. Get acquainted and help him get his facts straight. Numerous requests have been received for copies of bulletins The chemist and the reporter get along famously when they which would indicate in a general way the character and makecome to know each other. Both are of the analytical turn of up of articles which are desired. In answer to such inquiries mind, both natural-born seekers after causes and truth, The there is reproduced below a bulletin on gas warfare which has journalist knows that the chemist is not a pallid crank with been printed by a very large number of newspapers. steel-bowed spectacles and scraggly whiskers; let the chemist REVEALS SECRETS OF GAS DEFENSE eliminate the idea that the average newspaper man is like the LIFTING OF V E I L O F CENSORSHIP PERMITS CHEMICAL W A R F A R E stage reporter, a creature of loud-pedal garments and cheek of SERVICE TO TELL HITHBRTO UNKNOWN DETAILSOF ITS PROtriple brass, and the rapprochement is already accomplished. GRAM FOR THE DEFEAT OF THE HUN Every profession or calling is wrongly judged by its extreme Details of the enormous preparations which had been made types. From the reporter, the chemist may learn to keep in in this country to overwhelm the German armies with poison gas were made public yesterday by the New York Section of the closer touch with humanity a t large; from the chemist, the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY under the auspices of which a connewspaper man may derive not only workable accuracy but a ference of chemical organizations was recently held a t the precision which will meet every requirement in these days when Chemists’ Club, New York City. It is the belief of military the public: is looking to the daily press for information on which authorities, and engineering chemists as well, that the knowlit can rely to guide it in its business affairs, and when mere edge that there existed such facilities for the manufacture of deadly vapors and protective devices against them was an imdiversion is becoming more and more incidental. portant factor in the petition of Germany for an armistice. Such are the general principles on which the Society, in reColonel Bradley Dewey, commanding officer of the Gas sponse t o the cooperation and interest of leading newspapers Defense, stated that in May 1917the production of gas masks was started by a group of five volunteers. I n eight weeks of the United States, inaugurated on January lirst the A. C. S. they had shipped zo,ooo masks far inferior to the present type. NEWSSERVICE, with the sole object of issuing live and de- . There had been produced up to the time the Huns laid down pendable news of the progress of chemistry, worded in non- their arms five million masks, three million extra canisters, onetechnical language as far as this can be done in harmony with half million horse masks, and a large quantity of mustard gas gloves, ointments, and antidotes. The production of scientific accuracy. The SERVICE will not be shy in using the suits, gas masks when hostilities ceased had reached 40,000 a day. language of chemistry, but it will bear in mind that often be- The 1919 model, which the Colonel exhibited, represents a tween the man of science and the public, and sometimes be- revolution in design and overcomes all the discomforts of the
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earlier patterns, while efficiency is ten-fold increased. The officer expressed regret that all the men a t the front could not have had the latest type before the signing of the armistice. Colonel William H. Walker, the commanding officer of the Edgewood Arsenal, and a prominent member of the Society, summarized the achievements of the gas offensive program of the Government. “We had,?’ he stated, “on November 11 of this year all the facilities for producing mustard gas a t the rate of IOO tons a day, to say nothing of our resources for deluging our enemies with chlorine, phosgene, chlorpicrin, and toxic vapors previously unknown .to them.” Colonel Walker showed that the errors of extended investigations seeking new and improved processes which caused so much delay in quantity output in some other lines of war activities could not be charged against the chemists. From the outset, he declared, well-known and efficient toxic gases were selected for manufacture in effective quantities, while simultaneously a corps of expert research workers sought for improved methods and products. As a result, there was never a day when the production of materials did not exceed the ability to utilize it. I n fact, large quantities were shipped overseas in bulk, because other departments were failing in their delivery of containers. Following the discovery of improved processes of manufacture, more factory units were built, but meanwhile production by the old methods continued until the new plants were ready for operation. I n appreciative words, Colonel Walker paid tribute to the patriotic spirit in which the chemists of the country, for the most part enlisted men, had braved the dangers of the poisonous gas plants, far from the glamour of the real battlefields, and in many cases had made the supreme sacrifice. He also told of the cooperation which he had received from the private chemical companies throughout the country, and as a part return for their helpfulness, offered to supply their research laboratories with any quantities of his poisonous materials for experimental purposes. If gas warfare is to hold a permanent place in war programs, the American chemist is prepared. THE TRAINING OF THE CHEMIST Editor of the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry: Every one who is engaged in the work of training chemists welcomes Mr. Church’s frank article in the December number of THISJOURNAL on “A Manufacturer’s Experience with Graduate Chemical Engineers,” and wishes that such helpful suggestions might be more frequently made. That kind of criticism from employers, definite, clearly stated, and friendly, has a positive educational value to young men in the process of training, and is accepted as wise counsel by those who are responsible for that training and who want to know what the manufacturer desires in the chemist he employs. It would not be a t all out of place for the JOURNAL to add to its long list of helpful features an “Educational Column,” inviting frequent contributions not only from employers but from teachers as well, in which the former would state their criticisms and desires regardless of how radical they may be or how subversive of existing methods and courses, and the latter would suggest ways in which the training processes could be altered to make possible the attainment of the end sought. Better still, the Society at large, which has a vital interest in everything that concerns the state of the chemist and Chemistry in America, could well have a small, permanent committee on education, whose function should be not only to discuss and criticize curricula and methods, but also to act as a clearing house for suggestions regarding the training of the chemist both from the point of view of the manufacturer and employer, and of the teacher and university. Such a committee, on which a large industry, a leading university, and a small college might be represented, could collect criticisms and suggestions from both sides, and from time to time publish a digest of all of them in the JOURNAL, with recommendations. Some such scheme was undertaken a few years ago1 by a Committee of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers on Chemical Engineering Education. The enlightening report of that committee brought about some desirable changes in the 1
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curricula of a good many institutions where chemists were in training. The new and unplanned-for conditions brought about by the war call for another like intensive study of the present situation in chemical education. Is not such a study well worth CHEMICAL Sothe attention of a committee of the AMERICAN CIETY?
While Mr. Church is stating his ideas on the subject in such a helpful way, and other employers are doubtless echoing the criticisms, it is worth while for a teacher to call attention to. difficulties of which every teacher is aware who is trying to meet the ideals he has in the training of the chemist; for it must be remembered that the manufacturer and the teacher are not very far apart in their ideas of what such training should produce. Every teacher of chemists knows for instance that there is a serious loss of time, both for the employing company and the young chemist, when the latter begins his work. Every teacher knows that for a period varying from three months to. a year after the school experience, the employing company is itself a teacher, in some cases supplementing, in some cases correcting, what the young man has learned in his college or university. Every teacher feels responsible for this loss of time and overlapping of effort, while a t the same time he knows that in part at least the causes are beyond his control. One of those causes is worth emphatic and repeated statement until it i s definitely removed. Most of the criticisms of the training a chemist receives in the college or technical school or university come to this: the graduate lacks judgment and imagination. That is no news to, the men who have trained him They have struggled to get better results, but granting that the young man has these qualities latent within him when he comes into the institution, the mechanical character of his preparation, and the accepted method of laboratory instruction in chemistry in the early years of t h e course, as exemplified in most textbooks on the subject, constitute a severe handicap. It is difficult for anyone who has never taught to realize how much the college student uses his. memory and how little he uses his reasoning power-how mechanical his work is. If he has had chemistry, or physics, or science work of any kind in his preparatory school, the directions for such work are given him in minutest detail by his laboratory manual or his instructor. His judgment has not been called into action. Perhaps that is the method that must be used with students of preparatory school age. When that student, so trained, comes to college, the struggle begins between him and his new set of teachers to break this mental habit of expecting and following detailed directions. For a couple of years, in some cases for the entire four years of the course, the teacher does most of the struggling. The teacher is not greatly aided in the struggle to develop judgment and imagination by most of the modern, and in other respects excellent, laboratory manuals in chemistry. ,4ny good book of that character, either in general chemistry, or analytical chemistry, or, organic chemistry, affords abundant illustration of what is here complained of. Directions are given in such detail that the young man does not dare to be independent, i s almost afraid to take his finger off the particular line of printing in his manual of directions which he is following lest he do something in a different way-a way that might give just as good a chemical result and a much more valuable mental result. Many a student is lost in the chemical laboratory when he gets a few feet away from his textbook. The question always in his mind is, “What shall I do next?” and if his instructor or textbook is not conveniently near, he feels chemically utterly forsaken. The freshman who wanted to know whether gunpowder would deflagrate on charcoal before a blowpipe, and tried it, is more promising as an embryo chemist than the other freshman who was given a 250 cc. glass balloon with the simple direction to get the weight of 22.4 liters of carbon dioxide a t standard conditions of temperature and pressure, who got the weight of
