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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 CHEMISTRY
When once in the army keep me informed by post-card of your military address and a n y change i n that address, even should you be sent to France. Although you may not be chosen early among those needed for chemical service, the demand for chemists is constantly increasing, and your country may call you a t any time where you are best trained to serve.
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It is my duty to help place you where you can serve our country best as the need arises. It is your duty to keep me informed of your address and to accept any service to which the War Department may assign you, even though you may prefer to fight in the ranks in France. CHARLESI,. PARSONS, Secretary FEBRUARY 15, 1918
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NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE SPRING MEETING OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY After consultation with the Advisory Committee and other members of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, the Directors have voted to omit the Spring Meeting of the Society, which was to have been held in St. Louis this coming April. It is felt that the transportation conditions are such that unnecessary travel should be avoided, and also that the chemists of the country are so busily engaged in meeting war needs that their work should not be interrupted for the purpose of conference a t this time. The Annual Meeting of the Society will be held in Cleveland, Ohio, in September. CHARLESL. PARSONS,Secretary WASHINGTON, D. C. January 29, 1918
WAR RISK INSURANCE FOR CHEMISTS IN MILITARY SERVICE All chemists in the military service are urged to take out war risk insurance, even if they are assigned to chemical service or are later released from the army for service in the war industries. This is a form of insurance arranged by the War Department a t a very nominal rate, which gives adequate protection against death or injury.
RAMSAY MEMORIAL FUND After the death of Sir William Ramsay in July 1916,a memorial meeting was held in London to commemorate his thirty-five years of service in physical and chemical sciences, education, and public welfare. The gathering of distinguished men, under the chairmanship of Lord Rayleigh, decided 1-To
raise a substantial fund as a memorial to Sir William; and use such fund for the establishment of (a) Ramsay Research Fellowships, tenable wherever necessary facilities might be available, and ( b ) Ramsay Memorial Laboratory of Engineering Chemistry at the University of London, where Sir William served twenty-six of his most fruitful years of activity.
2-To
A committee of prominent men in the physical and chemical sciences in Great Britain, including the leaders of the Coalition Government and Ambassadors then accredited to the Court of St. James, was later organized. Through this general organization, committees were organized in Australia, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Holland, India, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States. Correspondence with men of science indicates the formation of national committees also in China, France,’ and Sweden, and perhaps Russia. The sum set out to be raised was &IOO,OOO. To date something over S300 have already been contributed by residents of the United States. The merits of the objects of this fund are obvious. The recognition of a man who made so many valuable contributions to our knowledge and who won so many friends through his wonderful friendly sympathy and erudition appeals especially to American men and women.
The Committee expects some generous contributions and will welcome the receipt of other large gifts, but it hopes eepecially to have a great number of small subscribers. The receipt of checks, postal orders, or cash, for one dollar or over, sent to the Ramsay Memorial Fund Association, 50 East 41st St., New York City, will be promptly acknowledged. U N I T E D STATES ClOMMITTEE F O R T H E RAMISAY MEMORIAL FUND
Walter Hines Page, Vice President Charles Baskerville Chairmdn Wm. J. Matheson, Treasurer Leo H. Baekeland Wilder D. Bancroft Marston T.Bogert Chas. F.Chandler Francis W. Clarke
Charles James George F. Kunz F. Austin Lidbury Arthur D. Little C . E. K. Mees R. A. Millikan
,.,.......
Richard B. Moore Wm. H. Nichols William A. Noyes Henr F Osborne Charcs L. Parsons Ira Remsen Theodore W. Richards Edgar F. Smith E. G. Spilsbury Julius Stieglitz Milton C. Whitaker
Editor of the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry: I am deeply interested in the appeal made by the Committee on the Ramsay Memorial which is to appear in this issue of your journal. Knowing Sir William as well as I did, I cannot imagine a more graceful compliment than that every member of the chemical fraternity should have some part in this work. It would afford me great pleasure if every member of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY should promptly remit something to the fund, realizing that the matter ’of taking part in it is of more consequence than the amount of the subscription. N s w YORKCITY WILLIAMH. NICHOLS February 1 5 9 1 9 1 8 P r e s i d e d , American Chemical Society
CHEMICAL RESEARCH IN THE VARIOUS COUNTRIES BEFORE THE WAR AND IN I917 Dr. Bernhard C. Hesse recently suggested to me that he and probably others would be interested in information regarding the effect of the war on the relative chemical activities of the various nations. I a’m able to supply information on this subject only in so far as this activity is reflected in the publication of papers and is measured by the number of abstracts published in Chemical Abstracts. In peace times such figures would be a fair gauge of chemical research throughout the world; a t the present time they are, of course, affected by the fact that much chemical work in the warring nations is kept secret and also by the fact that Chemical Abstracts is having great difficulty in getting abstracts of the papers published in Germany and Austria. Nevertheless the figures in the accompanying table are not without considerable meaning. With the exception of the Japanese, German and Austrian literature the field of chemistry was covered thoroughly by Chemical Abstracts both in 1913 and in 1917; the Japanese journals were only partly abstracted in 1913 and the German and Austrian literature was covered with onlya fair degree of thoroughness in 1917. Inability to get the German and Austrian journals is the reason for the incompleteness in 1917. I believe that the figures in the table give a fair representation to Germany and Austria, however, because the 1917volume of Chemical Abstracts contains in addition to abstracts of most of the current papers (obtained from British, Dutch, Spanish and Swiss journals with abstract sections), a considerable number of abstracts of papers published in 1916,due to the fact that a
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T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEZRING C H E M I S T R Y
large shipment of 1916 German and Austrian journals was received early in 1917. The table speaks for itself.' Number of Abstracts in 1913 United States.. . . . . . . 3940 $Great Britain.. ...... 2741 248 1 France. 6539 Germany.. 539 Austria. Italy.. .............. 905 474 Russia. 328 Holland. 15 Norway.. 226 Switzerland 185 Belgium.. 110 Sweden.. 71 Japan.. 34 Spain.. Denmark.. 41 Qther coiintries.. 52
COUNTRIES
............. .......... ............ .............. ............ ........... ..........
........... ........... ............. ............. .......... ....TOTAL. ...... 18,681
is
Number of Abstracts in 1917 4602 1560 794 2065 112 305 264 276 19 114 7 64 166 26
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Per cent of Total in 1913 21.1 14.7 13.3 34.9 2.9 4.9 2.5 1.8 0.08 1.21 0.99 0.58 0.38 0.18 0.21 0.27
Per cent of Total in 1917 43.9 14.9 7.6 19.7 1.1 2.9 2.5 2.6 0.18 1.08 0.06 ' 0.62 1.58 0.24 0.19 0.84(a)
10,483
( a ) The increase here is due chiefly t o the fact t h a t Chemical Abstracts now covering certain South Amencan journals not abstracted in 1913.
Three points of special interest are: (I) The United States and Germany have exchanged places, Germany having been first by a big lead in 1913 and the United States second, and vice yersa in 1917; it is to be noted that the lead of the United States in 1917 was greater than the lead of Germany in 1913. ( 2 ) Great Britain has maintained her relative position with almost no variation. (3) The number of papers published in the neutral European countries has fallen off considerably. It will be interesting to see to what extent the various countries will return to their ante bellum positions when the war is over. The effect which the entrance of our country into the war will have on publication here will also be of interest. N o marked change was to be noted in 1917; in 1918 I look for further expansion of industrial journals and for contraction of journals devoted to pure science. COLUMBUS, OHIO E. J. CRANE January 31, 1918
LICENSES REQUIRED FOR EXPLOSIVES A N D THEIR INGREDIENTS
Editor of the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry: An Act of Congress (Public Document No. 68, Sixty-fifth Congress) to prohibit the manufacture, distribution, storage, use and possession in time of war of explosives, and the ingredients thereof, provides that a license from the Bureau of Mines is necessary for every person, firm and corporation, to purchase, possess, sell or use any explosive or the ingredients thereof. Any violation of this Act is punishable by a fine of not more than $5000, or by imprisonment of not more than one year, or both fine and imprisonment. Selling to a person who has not a license is punishable by a fine of Srooo. The Bureau of Mines has published the following list of articles requiring licenses under this Act. As the readers of your journal are undoubtedly interested in this subject, I am taking the liberty of calling it to your attention for such publicity as you are able to give it. In most places the county clerk has been designated as the licensing agent. In Greater New York licenses may be obtained from John R. Healy, Room 1100,Municipal Building, Manhattan, or John I?. Dixon, 365 Jay Street, Brooklyn. Application must be made in person. Duly authorized officers of corporations or companies must make application for the company or corporation. The following commodities are those for which licenses are required : 1 Abstracts of papers that could not he certainly associated with a particular country, as, for example, some of the Communications of the Eighth International Congvess cf Apglzcd Chemistry, were not counted.
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EXPLOSIVES Ammonium nitrate Blasting powder Caps-blasting, detonating, percussion-all classes Detonating fuse, or cordeau detonant Detonators Dynamites Electric blasting caps and electric detonators Fireworks and flashlight powders Fulminates Fuse of all varieties Guncotton Gunpowder and gunpowder mixtures (except small arm or shot gun cartridges) Nitrocellulose and nitroglucose Nitroglycerine (except in official U. S. Pharmacopoeia solution or in form of pills or granules containing not more than l/60 grain each) Nitro-glycol -mannite, -starch, and -sugar Permissible bxplosives Ammonium picrate Picrates Picric acid Smokeless powder (except small arms and shot gun cartridges) Trinitrotoluol Trinitrocresol Trinitronaphthaline Tetranitroaniline Tetranitromethylaniline
INGREDIENTS
(List approved January 5, 1918)
The purchase, possession, sale or use of any one of the ingredients herewith listed below in amounts of one ounce or over requires a Federal Explosives License. Bichromatesammonium potassium sodium Chlorates-barium, potashum sodiuk strontium Chromates-ammontum, barihm, calc)ium, chrome green, chrome yellow, lead, potassium, sodium Nitrates-ammonium, barium, copper, ferric, lead, magnesium, nickel, potassium, silver, strontium Nitric acid-aqua fortis, fuming, nitric acids of all grades and strengths, mixed acids Perchlorates-perchloric acid, potassium Perborates-magnesium, sodium, zinc Permanganates-calcium, potassium, sodium Peroxides-barium, calcium, magnesium, oxon (cubes and cartridges), sodium, strontium, zinc Phosphorus J. R. HEALY NEW YORKCITY January 15, 1918 Federal Licensing Agent
THE INDEXES TO CHEMICAL ABSTRACTS The comparative lateness of the appearance of the 1917 Index to Chemical Abstracts is such a keen disappointment to the Editor that he would like the privilege of stating to the members of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY that this is not due to a change of policy. The subject index is considered to be the most important part of the journal and more work is being put on i t than ever before, but the work is still planned so that normally the index will appear a t least as soon as the early part of January. I n the case of the 1917 index a combination of unfortunate circumstances, among which are the fuel famine (it struck us in December during the most crucial week) and the traffic congestion (one package of copy was over two weeks in traveling between the printer's office and ours), caused most of the delay. Getting the annual index into the hands of the members by the first of the year, as has been done during the past few years, is a very strenuous task, but one in which we have come to take special pride. A word regarding the Decennial Index is due the members also. Inquiries which are received show that many are anxious for the completion of this index. The task, with all the precautions that are necessary for accuracy, completeness, consistency, and convenience in use, has proved to be a much more time-consuming one than was ever anticipated. We just want to say that the work is being pushed as rapidly as circumstances involved in the nature of indexing, especially subject indexing, our regular work of issuing the journal and the annual indexes, and the policy of not sacrificing quality for speed will permit. One of the things in a subject index most important to be avoided is the scattering of like entries; the proper codrdination can be accomplished only in case a limited number of experienced workers handle parts of the task. As a matter of fact, it proved to be desirable for the associate editor and editor, working together, to examine every one of the hundreds of thousands of
