May, ‘[ 9 I9
T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING C H E M I S T R Y
CALENDAR O F MEETINGS American Zinc Institute-Annual Meeting, St. Louis, Mo., May 12, 1919. American Association of Engineers-Meeting, Chicago, Ill., May 13 and 14, 1919. American Institute of Chemical Engineers-Summer Meeting, Boston, Mass., June 18 to 21, 1919.
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American Society for Testing Materials-Twenty-second Annual Meeting, Atlantic City, N. J., June 2q to 27, 1919.
Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education-Twentyseventh Annual Meeting, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., June 2 5 to 28, 1919.
NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE THE SOLDIER, THE SAILOR, AND THE CHEMIST Editor gf the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry : Your editorial in the March issue entitled “The Soldier, the Sailor, and the Chemist” proved to be of considerable interest t o me, as well as to the directors of the Engineer School a t Camp A. A. Humphreys, Va. Having entered the service in the early weeks of the war as a civilian member of the Gas Warfare Investigations in the Bureau of Mines, I remained with it from the first days of a few rooms in the New Interior Building, through the months of rapid growth, until it was merged into the Chemical Warfare Service. Too much credit cannot be given the men whose vision, energy, and pi actical consideration initiated the development of chemical investigation in this country. The service and association with them will always be regarded as the best of fortune. After a careful reading of the editorial, it is admitted that the basic logic cannot be refuted. Yet the statements regarding chemical pedagogy a t West Point and Annapolis could be aimed more justly and more severely a t a number of our universities. Any justification, however, of former procedure a t the Military or Naval Academy is beyond the point. The past is done, and its lessons are but recently leit with us. The facts which should have been learned are vivid and demand action. The teacher of chemistry or chemical engineering subjects zbould realize distinctly that the future welfare and prosperity of the country will be in direct ratio to the caliber of the scientific and technical forces which are developed. A number ofcapable instructors, following an orderly routine, have allowed themselves to become cloistered. While it is vitally necessary to continue and carry on, in the universities, all research of any scientific value, the teacher is apt to become so imbued with his own tasks and viewpoints, that in training men who are going into industrial organizations, he loses sight of actualities and existing commercial conditions. Perhaps he has been unable to ge: into any contact with such conditions. By no means should he cut down the detailed investigation incident to his profession, yet he should always attempt to broaden his outlook. The university should pay him a commensurate salary. It is a most natural failing to drift into the belief that one’s own problems are of extreme importance; that almost everything else is secondary. Such an attitude may be conveyed, unwittingly, t o the student. With an abundant wealth of natural resources, there is no real reasoil why this nation should depend upon any other nation for a gram of necessary chemical products. Even granting the absence of raw products, substitutes or artificial substances can, in times of stress, be used or manufactured. The fundamental need is correct training. The universities, at some point in their chemical courses, should bring out industrial and business relations between the subjects which they are teaching and the application which the man himself must make. Granting that fact as a truism for a chemist, it is of even greater importance to the engineer. If the application and utilization of chemical facts are not clarified, the next subject which he considers will obliterate from his mind a great portion of data which, with a few simple relations, he could retain. In view of the procedure suggested in your article,
the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY should be gratified to note that the Chief of Engineers, with the assistance of Gen. Winslow, Col. Peterson, Col. Lyman, and others, had started a t Camp A. A. Humphreys, Va., in December 1918, courses in engineering subjects for graduate engineers from West Point. It was a sincere pleasure to receive, in that month, a request from the Chief of Engineers to install and direct a t Camp A. A. Humphreys such courses in chemical engineering for the West Point graduates stationed at that camp, as time would permit. On this occasion, it will be impossible to give to the JOURNAL a complete statement of everything accomplished, or planned. A short rCsum6, however, will be permitted. There are now in the school go men, ranking from second lieutenant to captain. They are extremely interested, energetic, and of the highest type ’of American students. In working with them, my impressions have been that the methods uscd in selecting men for West Point, and later for the Engineer Corps, may be considered extremely satisfactory. The aim of the Chief of Engineers is to make chemistry and chemical engineering real and live subjects, t o remove from the minds of the students that element of mystery usually associated with things chemical. New outlines and methods of teaching are being developed. Text books, pamphlets, and problems have been prepared and are now being revised. It is proposed to keep all of them continually modern. Too many texts are permitted to become antiquated before discarding begins. Instead of spending excessive time on development and proof of theories of chemistry, etc., every effort is being made to bring out actual relations and applications of the science. The engineer does not need the detailed and exact facts which the chemist and chemical engineer must have. He need not be an expert laboratory workman. He should, however, know how, where, and why certain products are manufactured, the general outlines of qualitative and quantitative analysis, some organic chemistry, materials to be employed for the manufacture of chemical apparatus, etc., and such fundamental principles of manufacture as the handling of labor and the shipping, storage, cost, etc., of the raw products or finished materials. He should know that, in commercial operations, yield figures are of importance only when connected with data on production and cost. He must realize that textbook equations are very incomplete expressions of reactions, indicating results under ideal conditions. It may be of value to point out a few concrete illustrations of what is being done. Inorganic chemistry has been considered from an engineering viewpoint. The elements are studied as the construction materials for chemical compounds, just as the engineer considers steel, brass, copper, and the like. The preparation of the elements, with special emphasis on commercial methods, actual uses of the elements, their application to purposes of warfare, such as manufacture of munitions, etc., are first discussed. The methods of shipping and storing of the elements are explained, for instance, the facts that hydrogen and oxygen are purchased in steel cylinders fitted with valves, usually brass, with safety plugs, manufactured according to the Interstate Commerce Commission Regulations, that the gas pressure in the cylinders is about 1800 lbs. per sq. in., that the cylinders used by hydrogen or oxygen manufacturers are tested,
