J u l y , 1917
T H E J O U R N A L OF I,VDC’STRIdL A N D ENGINEERING C H E M I S T R Y
THE MANUFACTURE OF IODINE Reports from Quimper (France), says the Oil and Color Trade Journal, 51 (1917), 1469, speak of a new process for the manufacture of iodine and its derivatives. Iodine, of which the Department of Finistere is a great producer, was hitherto extracted from the soda produced by the incineration of certain kinds of marine algae. This method of operation, which necessitated the algae being first of all transformed, rendered the yield very poor and lacking in uniformity, as the incineration employed was very rudimentary. Mons. Vincent, Director of the Laboratory of Finistere, who has been studying the question for some time, has now discovered a process enabling iodine to be extracted by a direct treatment of such algae or seaweed. This process has been patented and is in use in the works a t St. Pierre-Penmark and has given excellent results. A joint stock company has been formed for working the patent and utilizing the byproducts.-M. WOOD IN GAS-MAKING I n reference t o the use of resinous wood for the production of gas, which has been adopted on a more or less extensive scale in several continental countries, a correspondent of the Journal des Lisines d Gaz records his experience in the distillation of fir and oak in the Romorantin Gasworks. The wood, he writes, was distilled, unmixed with coal, in retorts of dimensions approximately I O f t . X 2 5 in. X 14 in. in quantity to yield from I O t o 20 per cent of the make of gas from coal. Each charge was about IOO kilos of fir or 1 2 0 kilos of oak and it yielded about 2 5 cu. m. (900 cu. ft.) of gas. In working a bench of retorts, it was found necessary t o adopt alternate days for the distillation of the wood. Continuous use of the same retorts for wood gave rise t o stoppages in the ascension-pipes in the shape of a viscous grayish deposit, very troublesome t o remove. The following figures were obtained for the cost of using the two woods: Fir,
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price per ton, 40 frcs.; labor, 4 frcs.; furnace coke (zoo kilos), 1 7 . 5 0 frcs.; total, 61 .so frcs.; deducting 50 frcs. for sale of charcoal, the net cost is 11.50 frcs. Oak, price per ton, 5 8 . 5 0 frcs.; labor, 4 frcs.; coke, 17 .50 frcs.; allowing for sale of charcoal a t 70 frcs., the net cost is I O frcs. The charcoal sells readily, the weight per hectolitre being 15 kg. in case of fir and 18 kg. for oak.-M. TREATMENT OF TIMBER Excellent results have been obtained with saponified creosote by simply soaking estate timber in an open tank, and the method seems t o deserve a trial if the greater expense of creosoting pit timber under pressure cannot be faced, says the Iron and Coal Trade Review. The idea was first suggested by Mr. S. H. Collins, of Newcastle, England, in July 1914. According t o him, the addition of a small percentage, say 0.25 per cent or less, of caustic soda to pure creosote improves penetration, even in the case of timbers like spruce, which take the oil with difficulty even when comparatively well seasoned. Moreover, saponification makes i t possible t o dilute the creosote with water and thus cheapens the impregnating process.-M. SCARCITY OF SYNTHETIC PERFUMES A number of synthetic perfumes are scarcely obtainable a t the present moment. Among these is phenyl-ethyl alcohol, which is an absolutely necessary ingredient for artificial Otto of roses. It is true, says the Oil and Color Trade Journal, that a certain amount is being offered, but a good deal of this is of indifferent quality, really fine grades being very difficult t o obtain and then only a t much enhanced prices. Amberpene is hardly t o be found, the few makers complaining of lack of raw material. Benzaldehyde, free from chlorine, is exceedingly difficult t o find, but the ordinary quality containing chlorine is offered fairly freely, although the price is very firm.-M.
OBITUARIES
JULIUS 0. SCHLOTTERBECK Once again the roll is called, and as the name of Julius Otto Schlotterbeck is reached, there comes the mournful yet triumphant response: “Gone forward.” Professor Schlotterbeck was born in ilnn Arbor, Michigan, in 1865, the son of Hermann and Rosina Schlotterbeck. After attending the primary and high schools of Ann Arbor, he entered the pharmacy course a t the University of Michigan in the fall of 1885, graduating from that institution as pharmaceutical chemist in June 1887. He continued his studies a t the University, a t the same time performing the duties of assistant in pharmacy and pharmacognosy, and in June, 1891, he was granted the baccalaureate degree in science. His brilliant career in college won for him, as soon as he graduated, a position on the faculty of the University. I n 1891 he was made instructor in pharmacognosy and botany, which position he retained until 1895, when he became a student of Tschirch a t the University of Berne, where two years later he was awarded the degree of doctor of philosophy (summa cum laude). Returning t o America, he was made assistant professor of pharmacognosy and botany; in 1904 he was junior professor and in 1907 he was promoted to the full professorial position. On the death of Professor Prescott, in 1905, he was chosen Dean of the School of Pharmacy, and he retained that position until his death. Professor Schlotterbeck was a tireless worker. In the publications of the American Pharmaceutical Association we find 18 papers from his pen; while he contributed three papers to the Journal of our own association. Of these, the most brilliant are his reports on his researches on the unusual alkaloids of the
Poppy family, particularly noteworthy being his painstaking investigation of protopine and his discovery in Stylophorum diphyllum of a new papaveraceous alkaloid, stylopine, CIQHIclNOa. It is needless to say that such a man was in demand in association work. I n 1905 he was president of the State Pharmaceutical Association; in 1902 he was chairman of the Scientific Section of the American Pharmaceutical Association, while for two terms, 1910 to 1912, he was president of the American Conference of Pharmaceutical Faculties, after serving that organization for several terms as its secretary. In our own association, he was an active supporter of the division on pharmaceutical chemistry. He was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the Committee on Revision of the United States Pharmacopoeia. In his home life, Dr. Schlotterbeck was singularly happy. -4s one of his friends said recently about him: “He was a home man-the passion of science never built a barrier between him and his fireside.” Deep, therefore, is the loss that has come to his widow and his three children, Prescott, a freshman a t the University of Michigan, Miriam, a high school student, and Carl, a boy of eleven years. To these, our deepest sympathies go forth. The writer will never forget his first meeting with Schlotterbeck. It was a delightful August evening in 189j, in the SchlossGarten a t Heidelberg, where we two, who had frequently heard of each other in America, met as comparatively old friends on foreign soil. He was then on his way to Berne, full of quiet enthusiasm for the work he was about to begin and which he so brilliantly completed two years later. Since that time, our
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meetings have been frequent, as our work has been along similar lines, and each meeting has brought a deeper appreciation of the many fine traits that Schlotterbeck possessed. Quiet and unassuming, yet conscious of his own powers and of the responsibility they brought to him, a deep student and yet a good comrade, Schlotterbeck was a man that American Pharmacy and American Chemistry can ill afford t o lose. COLLEGE OF PHARMACY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY H. V. ARNY
together what was the beginning of the Sy&eur Scientific Laboratories and their lives were united in thought, purpose and ambition-the one was an inspiration t o the other. Von Isakovics was a genius in the particular field of chemistry t o which he devoted his talents. He combined a high character, a lovable nature, with thorough scientific knowledge and exceptional commercial and executive abilities. It will be readily understood that it was uphill work to build up such a business NEWY O R K C I T Y monument as he left, in the face of severe competition which was backed by unlimited capital, but he always said it could be done and he would succeed. ALOIS VON ISAKOVICS The secret of his success has been his never failing business It was a terrible shock to all when we learned that our dear friend and colleague, Alois Von Isakovics, had passed away in the policy, t o give his customers exactly what he said he would. prime of his life on June 5 a t his residence in Monticello, N. Y . , There was never in his mind anything “good enough;” only the “best” that science could produce would he offer his clients, after a comparatively short illness. He has thrown away many a pound of valuable materials beAlois Von Isakovics was born in Prag, Bohemia, July 20, 1870, the son of a distinguished military family. His father, cause they did not comply with his idea of quality. He had an officer of high rank in the Austrian army, had mapped out often said he did not care how much the loss might be in dollars and cents so long as his conscience was clear and he gave his for his only son a military career, and was greatly disappointed when the young son showed by his independent character that clients the very best possible value. It was his cherished wish that should he ever be taken away he did not believe army life would appeal t o him. When a very small boy he started a little business of his own, collecting his wife should go ahead in the same way as they had done stamps and selling them, working a t this after school and often together for the past 28 years and finally he hoped that his only late into the night, and before he left Europe this business, son, Alois Von Isakovics, Jr., would take up the work. Mrs. built up entirely by himself, had grown to such a s h e that he Von Isakovics has been connected with the business from the found it necessary t o employ several of his school friends to help day it was started by her late husband and it is her intention him with his correspondence and filling of orders. His aim t o take up the work where he has left off and t o carry out his already in early life was t o have an international business and ideas in every detail. Von Isakovics was endowed with those qualifications which this he enjoyed even when a boy, as he received orders for his go t o make up a n ideal man. His intelligence, honesty and fairstamps from all over the world. After finishing his general education, which comprised the ness combined with his superior ability placed him in a position regular curriculum of a young man of good European family, to be known all over the country and in many foreign lands. he came in the Spring of 1886 t o America, the land of freedom At the time of his death he was a member in the following Scienand unhampered development. At first the battle was hard tific and Social Societies : American Chemical Society, American and the little money he brought with him soon gave out, but Electrochemical Society (charter member), American Pharmapossessed with a grim determination t o win and a never ceasing ceutical Association, Manufacturing Perfumers’ Association, Chemists’ Club, Franklin Institute, New York Academy of ambition, he accepted some very menial positions until he had mastered the English language and thus was started a t the foot Science (Fellow), American Association for the Advancement of the ladder, the top of which he so gloriously had reached a t of Science (Fellow), Society of Chemical Industry, and Verein Deutscher Chemiker. the time of his death. His great professional triumphs are recorded on the pages of I n October 1888, he met Miss Marie Upshur, the daughter of a historic Southern family, which seemed t o have been a real case scientific and practical literature such as : “Synfleur Heralds,” of “love a t first sight.” They became engaged in July 1889, Synopsis of Columbia University Lectures on “Perfumes and and after he was naturalized in 1892, in New York City, they Flavoring Materials,” and “Essential Oils, Synthetic Perfumes were married in July 1895, a t the Church of the Transfiguration, and Flavoring Materials,” Chapter XXIX, in Rogers and just twenty-five years after her parents were married there by Aubert’s “Industrial Chemistry.” Von Isakovics was a devoted husband, a kind father and a the same minister, the Rev. Dr. Houghton. Their love remained ever young and devoted after twenty-two years of an sincere friend. WILLIAMDREYFUS unbroken union of happiness and bliss. They worked up NEWY O R K CITY
I N O T E SANDCORRESPONDENCE, CALENDAR OF MEETINGS American Pharmaceutical Association: Indianapolis, Indiana, August 27 t o September 13, 1917. American Chemical Society: Annual Meeting, Boston, Mass., September IO to 16, 1917. National Exposition of Chemical Industries (Third): Grand Central Palace, New York City, September 24 to 29, 1917. American Electrochemical Society: Autumn Meeting, Pittsburgh, October 3 to 6, 1917. National Paint, Oil and Varnish Association: Annual Convention, Chicago; October 8 to IO, 1917. American Institute of Mining Engineers: Annual Meeting, St. Louis, Mo., October 8 t o 13, 1917.
THE TEACHING OF ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
Editor of the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry:
To no one engaged in analytical chemistry, whether as practitioner, teacher, or original investigator, can the recent address by Dr. Hillebrand on “Our Analytical Chemistry and Its Future,”’ fail t o be stimulating and full of suggestion. It is not to be expected that the universities can turn out experienced analysts, but the chemical world has a right t o expect our institutions t o turn out men who have a capacity for becoming reliable analysts after reasonable experience. Dr. Hillebrand suggests that in this the universities have, in a large number of instances, failed; and those who have had opportunity of in1
THISJOURNAL, 9 (1917), 170.
