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“From the severity of the attack, coupled with the short time we were exposed to the fumes, and that in a building which was well ventilated, I am of the opinion that very serious results might obtain under less favorable conditions. “I also attach more importance t o the above from the fact that in five years of continuous research work on a large scale with furnace processes which involved, among others, tellurium, tellurides, arsenic, arsenides, zinc and sulfide ores, the only physical inconvenience suffered has been an occasional carbon monoxidi headache.” The hypothesis that zinc is the cause of “Brass Founders’ Ague” is t o a large extent based upon the fact that the boiling point of zinc is 915 ’ C., while that of copper is 2200 O , and consequently that zinc, and zinc alone, forms the vapor that arises from the brass pot. That this is incorrect is shown by analyses of brass furnace flue dust, which shows as much as I O parts of copper t o IOO of zinc. The microscope also shows that copper is present as a true fume and not as splashes of metal. The volatility of metals at temperatures well below their boiling points is well established. For example, in the case of common spelter: while lead has a boiling point of 1500’ C. spelter made a t a temperature of IZOO’ will contain about I per cent of lead. Hoffman, in his “Metallurgy of Copper” (McGraw Hill Book Co., 1g14),states that in the case of copper, volatilization is noticeable in vacuo a t 7m0, and decided near the melting point. ( I ) The symptoms of this disease are very characteristic and pronounced, and the fact that it is known as “Brass Founders’ Ague” shows its close connection with brass. On the other hand, there is no name for this trouble among zinc smelters, and many of them have never heard of its existence. (2) Hansen’s communication is of peculiar interest in that symptoms of a very serious type developed where copper alone was being melted with the same equipment that had been used for zinc without any trouble whatever. (3) Evidence collected by investigators of world-wide repute is negative as far as the toxicity of the zinc fume met with in spelter works is concerned. (4) Our own experience in connection both with the manufacture of spelter and the manufacture of zinc oxide, has failed t o show any symptoms whatever resembling those of the “spelter shakes.” Under these circumstances it seems t o me that the connection between zinc oxide or zinc fume and “Brass Founders’ Ague” is not proven, and that the balance of evidence is in favor of the trouble being due to the vapor of copper. T H E PALMERTON HOSPITAL J. W. LUTHER PALMERTON, PA., April 15. 1915
NOTE ON ANALYSIS OF CHROME-YELLOWS AND GREENS Editor of the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry: The April number of THISJOURNAL,page 324, contains methods of analysis of chrome yellows and chrome greens which, it is believed, do not satisfy the requirements of commercial accuracy, especially in the case of chrome greens.
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The method for greens in its essential features was employed for a time in our laboratory, but i t was abandoned upon finding that the determination of blue in chrome greens, precipitated in whole or in part on china clay, gave results entirely too high when estimated by difference. The objection to the method of analysis named appears t o lie in the presence of combined water in china clay. W. G. Scott, in “White Paints and Painting Materials,” page 168, records the observation that when china clay is treated with hot, dilute hydrochloric acid, there is a decided loss in weight of the substance with no appreciable gain in the filtrate, which the observer attributes to combined water. The loss of weight by ignition of china clay has been noted by several chemists, the latest analyses that have come to the writer’s notice being those of the Bureau of Standards and Bureau of Chemistry (Proceedings of the A m e r i c a n Society f o r Testing Materials, 13, 409) which show a loss on ignition of from 12 t o 13 per cent. It is obvious that no little error in the determination of blue would be involved with material of this character, if estimated by difference. Furthermore, in our experience, the determination of lead as chromate in nitric acid solution is found unreliable in comparison with precipitation in acetic acid. The quantitative estimation of Prussian blue from the percentage of iron, in all ordinary kinds of chrome greens, has proved fairly satisfactory, in all events more accurate than by the method of difference. THE LOWEBROTHERS COMPANY DAYTON, OHIO April 16, 1915 Per L. H. MCFADDEN
ARREST OF PLATINUM THIEF Upon a description furnished by the Bridgeport Testing Laboratory, a suspected platinum thief was arrested March 6th a t the laboratory of Arthur D. Little, Inc., Boston, and was later identified by Mr. I?. C. Barrows, of Bridgeport, Conn., as the man who had visited the Bridgeport Hydraulic Laboratory and the Bridgeport Testing Laboratory immediately prior to their discovery of the loss of a considerable amount of platinum. When the man was searched, a flattened platinum crucible, from which the number had been cut, was found tucked between the slide and cover of a box of safety matches. The man was found t o have a criminal record and t o have served a State Prison term. He was held for the Grand Jury which, however, for lack of evidence failed to bring a bill against him. The man was about 35 years old, with prominent nose, peculiar eyes, reddish hair, and freckles. He speaks with a downEast accent. His height is about 5 ft. 9 in., and his weight about 175 pounds. He gave the name of Rubin. A few days ago an assay balance was stolen from the laboratory of Henry Carmichael a t 15 Exchange Street, Boston. The description published in THISJOURNAL,7 ( ~ g r g ) ,358, in a note from the Hahnemann Medical College, leaves little doubt that the man is the same who was reported as operating in Philadelphia.
PERSONAL NOTES Dr. Ira Remsen, president emeritus of Johns Hopkins University, will deliver the principal address at the formal opening of the new chemistry building of the University of Minnesota, on May 24th. The address to the graduating class of the Michigan College of Mines was given this year by Prof. James F. Kemp, of Columbia University, on April 16th. A pamphlet, prepared under the direction of the Chemists’ Committee of the United States Steel Corporation, on the
Sampling and Analysis of Alloy Steels is now being distributed to its various chemical laboratories. This makes the fifth pamphlet so distributed, the purpose of which is to unify and simplify methods of analyses. The first four pamphlets covered the Sampling and Analysis of Iron Ores, Pig Iron, Plain Steel and Gases. To curtail the requests for copies of these pamphlets a charge of one dollar each is now being made, to persons and firms outside the Corporation. Mr. J. M. Camp, Carnegie Building, Pittsburgh, Pa., is chairman of the committee.
May,
1915
T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D EWGIh’EEBING C H E M I S T R Y
Mr. Watson Smith, retiring Editor of the Journal of the Society of Chemical I n d u s t r y , was entertained a t dinner, on February 23rd, by members of the Council and Publication Committee. Opportunity was taken t o present t o him, as a souvenir of his 33 years’ service as Editor of the Journal, a n album containing a short address signed by the President and all available Past Presidents, the Members of the Council and Publication Committee, and the Abstractors. At the request of the President, the presentation was made by the Dean of the Chemical Press, Sir William Crookes, O.M., F.R.S. The Southern California Section of the American Chemical Society through its President, Edgar Baruch, 804 Wright and Calendar Bldg., and its Secretary, H. L. Payne, 2 2 3 W . 1st St., Los Angeles, extends its welcome and hospitality to all members of the Society visiting the Expositions and Los Angeles this year. At the annual meeting of the London Chemical Society, held on March 25th, the new officers elected were: President, Dr. Alexander Scott; Vice-president, Prof. F. R . Japp and Prof. R. Threlfall; Treasurer, Dr. M. 0. Forster; Ordinary Members of Council, Mr. D. L. Chapman, Prof. F. G. Donnan, Mr. W. S1acnab.and Dr. J. F. Thorpe. At the regular meeting of the Cincinnati Section of the A. C. S. on April zIst, the following papers were presented: “General and Historical Discussion of the Soap Industry,” by Howard Dock; “The Manufacture of Laundry Soaps and Soap Powders,” by A. Campbell; “The Manufacture of Glycerine,” by C. P. Long. Prof. Richard S. McCaffery presented a paper on “Some Defects in Steel Ingots,” before the Wisconsin Section of the A. C. S.on April zIst. Emil E. Lungwitz, chemical and industrial engineer located in New York City, announces a change of address from 80 Maiden Lane to 30 Church Street, to take effect May I , 1915. The second delivery of radium from the plant of the National Institute, being operated by the Bureau of Mines in Denver, has been made t o the officers of the Institute. It consisted of 300 mg. of radium bromide having a market value of approximately S19,ooo. This delivery of radium bromide is a small fraction of the radium extracted from the first 240 tons of ore treated in the experimental plant first erected. The crystallization of the radium itself has not kept pace with the extraction from the ore, owing to the impossibility to obtain from abroad certain special apparatus not manufactured in this country. Deliveries will gradually increase until they are equal t o the capacity of the combined plants which is approximately three tons of ore per day. Notice has been given by the Society of Chemical Industry
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t h a t the Annual General Meeting will be held in Manchester, England, on Wednesday, July 14th. President Butler, of Columbia Cniversity, has announced an anonymous gift o $30,000 to be used in the reconstruction and new equipment of the laboratories of quantitative, organic and engineering chemistry in Havemeyer Hall Dr. Julius Stieglitz, professor of chemistry and director of analytical chemistry in the University of Chicago, has accepted a n invitation to give courses in chemistry at the University of California during the summer term that begins June ~ 1 s t and closes on August 1st. Prof. Stieglitz will give a seminar on special topics in organic chemistry and also a college course in organic chemistry. Dr. Frederick Winslow Taylor, of Philadelphia, past president of the Society of Mechanical Engineers, known for his inauguration of methods of “scientific management,” died on March 2 1st a t the age of sixty-nine years. Franklin C. Gurley, a graduate assistant in chemistry a t the Massachusetts Agricultural College, has accepted a position as chemist with the Benzol Products Company of Philadelphia. Dr. Augustus H. Gill, professor of technical analysis a t the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, addressed the Detroit Engineering Society on March 19th, on “Lubricating Oils: Essentials and Characteristics.” Mr. George A. Rankin, of the Geophysical Laboratory, Washington, D. C., spent the week of April 12th in the 1,ehigh Cement District, making measurements of the actual working temperatures in the clinkering zones of Portland cement kilns The following members were present a t the meeting of the Council at the S e w Orleans Meeting of the A . C. S., March 31st t o April 3rd: Charles Baskerville, B. C. Hesse, E. J. Crane, Charles E. Coates, H. E . Howe, J. H. Long, Frank N . Smalley, Edward Bartow, D . K. French, W. A. Noyes, William Brady, W. D. Richardson, W. D. Bigelow, B. B. Ross, Floyd W. Robison, Charles A. Catlin, J. S. Goldbaum, F. E. Tuttle (substitute), C. G. Derick (substitute), L. F. Nickel[, E . H S. Bailey, Frank R. Eldred, Harry McCormack, L H . Baekeland, George N . Prentiss (substitute), A. D. Little and Frank R. Cameron. Prof. H . P. Talbot,’of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, lectured on “The h’oble Gases,” on March 25th before the Phi Lambda Upsilon of Columbia University. The Pittsburgh Section of the A. C. S.is planning Saturday afternoon excursions t o some of the manufacturing plants around Pittsburgh. The Dorr Cyanide Machinery Co. announce that after iMay Ist, 1 9 1 5 , the address of their New York office will be Room 2843, Whitehall Bldg., New York City.
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GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS By R. S. MCBRIDE, Bureau of Standards, Washington
NOTICE-Publications for which price is indicated can be purchased from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D . C. Other publications can usually be supplied from the Bureau or Department from which they originate. Consular Reports are received by all large libraries and may be consulted there, or single numbers can be secured by application t o the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Department of Commerce, Washington. The regular yubscription rate for these Consular Reports mailed daily is $2.50 per year, payable in advance, t o the Superintendent of Documents. BUREAU OF FISHERIES
Report on Alaskan Investigations in 1914. E. LESTERJONES. 155 pp. Paper, 50 cents. The investigations reported o n
relate principally t o the fisheries but some attention is given to fur-bearing animals.sThe salmon industry is covered a t length with discussion of modes of catching, canning and shipping. BUREAU OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC COMMERCE Canned-Tomato Industry in Italy. J. ALEXIS SHRIVER. Special Agents Series 93. 23 pp. Paper, 5 cents. This report gives interesting comparisons with the business as i t is carried on in the United States, including a description of the varieties cultivated, modes of culture and methods of canning with suggestions of considerable interest t o American packers. Canned-Goods Trade in the Far East. J. ALEXIS SHRIVER. Special Agents Series 92. 78 pp. Paper, I O cents. This report gives a detailed description of the markets for canned goods and
