October, 1923
INDUSTRIAL AiVD ENGISEERING CHEMISTRY
et des Animaux” be requested for the researches to be undertaken. XIV. The Committee on Scientific and Industrial Ownership presented the following resolutions: 1-The committee, considering that in the Latin group, which is composed of countries granting patents without examinat ion, the unification of legislation appears t o be more capable of realization than in the others, invites these countries to get together as soon as possible with the idea of forming the first group with uniform legislation. 2-Clonsidering that the original purpose toward which one must work should be to permit research workers t o protect their discoveries, and considering that on the other hand research workers cannot carry out their researches in secret, but must on the contrary, be able to publish the results of their work as they are obtained, the committee resolved: T h a t it is inadmissible t h a t one should oppose t o the holder or the applicarrt of a patent the results of his own work for a. certain period of time after it has been published.
3-The committee declares that a purely scientific discovery should be legally protected. 4-A proper definition of this new legal right will be studied by the committee. 5-In order t o secure the coordination of all efforts the president of the committee is appointed as a delegate to the Committee on Intellectual Cooperation of the League of Nations and to the International Chamber of Commerce to present and uphold the views of the committee. XV. The Committee on Industrial Hygiene passed the following resolutions: I-All the rep,orts submitted on the question of dusts should be printed and distributed, as they contain matters of great interest which it would be most important to disseminate. 2-The committee requests the Council of the International Union to give a prize for the best published essay on smokes, gases, fogs, and noxious vapors to be met with in manufacturing, their elimination, and the protection against their effects. The essays submitted should be general and descriptive in character, should include the latest progress in their particular subject, and should be within the reach of the general reading public. The council of the Union should undertake their distribution. The committee requests that the council of the Union establish a prize to be given to the inventor of an apparatus of recent construction for the suppression of smoke. In case no recent inventor could be found the prize should be given to that person who had done the greatest amount of work and obtained the best results on the problem of the suppression of smoke. The committee requests that the council communicate with all chemists specializing in this particular branch in order to obtain from them their scientific results on this matter, and that they also furnish exact data on (a) the noxious effects produced .on the workmen and the neighboring communities by certain $emanations, and ( b ) the means employed to suppress them. 3-The committee requests that each nation send to the next congress a complete report on the legislation concerning industrial hygiene in its own territory. This report should include the legal matters covering differences of work and those covering the suppression of nuisances to neighboring communities. Each country should communicate to the general secretary a list of the administrative organizations charged with the drafting and enforcement of laws and regulations concerning industrial hygient:. 4-The coimmittee requests that its president collect information on the following subjects: (a) Methods of analysis employed in the determination of the quantity of hydrofluoric acid present in the smokes and vapors where it is likely to be found, especially in superphosphate manufacture. ( b ) Determination of the minimum value of acidity in smokes when these have been discharged. This figure is fixed in Germany a t 5 grams per cubic meter, in England at 8 grams per cubic nieter, and in Italy a t 6 grams per cubic meter, expressed in SO*. The committee recommends that it would be wise to agree on a figure acceptable to all, and that it would be well to obtain agreement on the method of determination and on the method of expressing this figure. (c) The pcissibility of suppressing offensive odors in industry when these are due to more or less unknown products which cannot be condensed, as, for example, in sewage disposal, slaughtar houses, etc.
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&-The committee requests that a t the next congress a report he made on all methods and apparatus intended to combat incipient intoxication from poisonous gases in factories. &The bibliography and the resolutions of the committee should be communicated to the Bureau of Hygiene of the League of Nations and to the International Labor Bureau. XVI. The Committee on Finance passed the following resolutions : 1-The committee, after having examined all the requests for appropriations made by the various committees, records that owing to the present state of the finances of the Union it cannot grant all the requests that have been made. 2-As a supplementary appropriation, after having studied the difficult financial situation faced by the Bureau of PhysicoChemical Standards, it decided to grant to this committee for the period extending from April, 1922, to November, 1924, the sum of 7500 frames, instead of 15,000 francs as requested. The Committee on Finance finds itself restrained by the principle that the contributions from the countries belonging to the Union are essentially intended for the administrative expenses of the Union. The committee requests that the various committees should address themselves to the general secretary for all matters concerning correspondence and printing. All these conclusions and resolutions were unanimously adopted by the council of the International Union a t its meeting of June 20. In order to expedite the work of the Union and to insure the continuity of it during the space intervening between the two meetings, the council requested the executive committee to ask the member of each permanent committee to appoint by correspondence a president to serve until 1925-that is, for the same period as the members of the present committees. Following the decision to increase the number of vice presidents of the Gnion t o six, t h council nominated by acclamation two new vice presidents, E. Cohen (Netherlands) and Dr. Sakurai (Japan), The council adjourned after having chosen Copenhagen as the place of meeting for the Fifth Congress of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. All these decisions were placed before the delegations a t the closing meeting of the general assembly. The congress decided in closing to create a committee to cooperate with those organizations which undertake to exchange students and professors between the universities of the various countries with the idea of bringing about such exchanges among professors of chemistry
Meeting of Missouri Section The Missouri Section of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY started its year’s work on the evening of September 20. Dr. Philip A. Shaffer, professor of biological chemistry from the Medical School, Washington University, St. Louis, was the speaker of the evening. His topic was “Insulin, Its Properties and Methods of Preparation.” Dr. Shaffer has done much toward the improvement of the methods of separation of this remarkable substance, and his talk on the disease diabetes and its relief by this substance was very enlightening to the many who were present. The meeting was the largest that has been held for some time; the fact that the audience was made up of people of widely scattered interests seemed an indication that there is a need that the local section can fill in bringing speakers here.
New Chemistry Building a t Missouri Following its plans for the expansion of the Chemistry Department, the University of Missouri is just completing a new building for the chemical work. This building is the third building on the campus to be devoted entirely to chemistry. There will be an auditorium seating 175 students, and laboratory locker space for 600 students. There are five small research laboratories for instructors, besides administration offices and storerooms. The attic has been finished off into four rooms and will probably be used as research laboratories for graduate students.
