November 10, 1932
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"And, ultimately, D o c t o r W h i t n e y possesses a sense of humor and £i quality cxf wit which v e t o t h e notion t h a t a useful m a n should or eanre-fcire."
728 Mills Bldg., Washington, D. C.
Necrology
JOHN S. BATES, director of research of Price Bros. & Co., Ltd., Quebec, is about to sail for England to act in the capacity of technical adviser to Price & Pierce, Ltd., 27 Clements Lane, London, E . C. 4, in connection with their large import of pulp. SIDNEY BORN, director of petroleum research at the University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Okla., delivered an address before t h e American Road Oil Congress on October 14, entitled "Modern Trends in the Manufacture of Road Oils." PROSPER E. CHOLET, 273 Sandford St., New Brunswick, N . J., has been appointed consulting chemist and licensor on a contingency basis for the Teatini process in the United States. GLENN H . DAMON, formerly instructor in chemistry at t h e Michigan College of Mining and Technology, Houghton, Mich., has returned t o the college as assistant professor after a two-year leave of absence to complete work on his Ph.D. degree a t the University of Wisconsin. During the coming year Doctor Damon expects to pursue a series of researches in t h e field of kinetics. T. H . MTJRPBCY has returned to Yonkers, Ν. Υ., after nearly a year a t Hacienda El Angel in El Salvador, where he was engaged i n teaching American methods and processes to the operating staffs of t h e sugar factory, alcohol distillery, and agricultural department. He also assisted in planning a new alcohol plant for industrial and motor fuel alcohol which the govern ment there desires in order to reduce gasoline imports. HAROLD S. OLCOTT, last year National Research Fellow in Medi cine a t t h e Department of Physiological Chemistry, Yale University, has been appointed research associate in biochem istry a t the State University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa. A. N . PABRETT has left the A. O. Smith Corp., Milwaukee, Wis., t o join the Olympic Forest Products Co., Port Angeles, Wash. W. N. PKITCHARD, J R . , for five years research chemist with the Swann Corp., has received his M.S. degree in chemical en gineering a t the University of Alabama and is continuing gradu a t e work a t Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind. TYRRELL H. WERNER, for the past two years research assistant in chemistry a t Harvard University, has accepted a position as re search associate in chemistry a t the Roscoe B. Jackson Me morial Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine.
W H I T N E Y R E S I G N S D I R E C T O R S H I P OF G. E . RESEARCH W I L L I S R O D N E Y W H I T N E Y , organizer a n d for thirty-two years
director of t h e research laboratories of t h e G e n e r a l Electric Co., retired from t h a t p o s t N o v e m b e r 1 because of ill health. Gerard Swope, president of t h e c o m p a n y , has announced the selection of William D a v i d Coolidge t o succeed D o c t o r Whitney. The latter, however, will continue a s v i c e president in general charge of research. W h e n Doctor W h i t n e y left Massachusetts Insti t u t e of Technology t o go w i t h t h e General Electric Co., the laboratory work w a s performed i n a n old barn, t h e n used b y the late Charles P . Steinmetz. D o c t o r Coolidge, also a g r a d u a t e of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was appointed a s s i s t a n t director of t h e laboratory in 1908 a n d associate director in 1928. The N'en) York Sun o n N o v e m b e r 1, 1932, c o m m e n t e d editori ally as follows: DOCTOR W H I T N E Y R E T I R E S ?
POOHÎ
" T h e General Electric C o . announces t h a t Willis R. Whitney has 'retired.' I t m e a n s t h a t he h a s been relieved of t h e obligations t h a t devolve on t h e head of i t s research l a b o r a t o r y . I n one of h i s numerous enlightening asides Doctor W h i t n e y , speaking for h u m a n i t y at large, has said t h a t 'we a r e l a m e n t a b l y b o u n d by words.' T h e corporation b u l l e t i n illustrates t h e t r u t h of his incidental declaration. " D o c t o r W h i t n e y in seclusion, Doctor W h i t n e y i n retreat, Doctor W h i t n e y withdrawn from circulation—these are unthinkable. T h e W h i t n e y intellect h a s served knowledge t o o long to be suspended in i t s operations b y a mere r e a r r a n g e m e n t of opportunities. T h e W h i t n e y curiosity h a s so persistently projected i n t o t h e abyss of m a n ' s ignorance t h a t n o shifting of titles can restrain i t from future excursions into t h a t fascinating, unplumbed gulf. T h e W h i t n e y utilitarianism is t o o robust t o be manacled by assignment t o n o n - r o u t i n e d u t i e s . T h e Whitney spiiituu'Ity is too pervading t o b e definitely engrossed o n a scroll and-filed a w a y in a cabinet, n o m a t t e r h o w artistically t h e engrossing b e done o r how elegantly t h e c a b i n e t b e fashioned.
MARCUS BENJAMIN MARCUS BENJAMIN, who before his r e t i r e m e n t i n 1931 was for thirty-five years editor of t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s M u s e u m a n d long a familiar figure in t h e cultural life of t h e N a t i o n ' s Capital, died at h i s home in Washington, D . C., on O c t o b e r 2 2 , 1932. H e was seventy-five years old a n d h a d been in failing health for several months. T h e first decade of his life w a s spent i n t h e neighborhood of San Francisco, but i n 1867 the family settled i n N e w York. H e graduated from the School of M i n e s , Columbia University, in 1878. H e was a founder and t h e first secretary of t h e School of Mines Chemical Society. I n 1928 he was a w a r d e d t h e gold emblem of King's Crown in appreciation of h i s u n d e r g r a d u a t e services. During t h e years 1878-82 D o c t o r Benjamin w a s associated with his father, a dealer i n chemicals. A v a r i e t y of occupations filled his long career. Half a c e n t u r y a g o he w a s the editor of the American Pharmacist, a n d later of its successor, the Weekly Drug News. A t i n t e r v a l s h e lived a n d worked in New York City, in t h e eighties a s a chemist in t h e U n i t e d States Appraiser's Stores, a s a s a n i t a r y engineer w i t h t h e B o a r d of HeaLth, a n d as a lecturer o n chemistry a t t h e N e w York W o m a n ' s Medical College. H e contribute*! articles t o half a dozen encyclopedias. H e was on tfcie staff of A p p l e t o n ' s Encyclopedia of American Biography and «dited sevexai Appleton h a n d b o o k s a n d g u i d e books. H e received numerous gold a n d silver medals a n d diplomas i n appreciation of his services on juries of awards a t v a r i o u s expositions. Recognition of h i s scholarship came in t h e form of academic degrees a n d citations, including A . M . , Lafayette College, 1888, and P h . D . , University of Nashville, 1889. D u r i n g t h e World W a r h e received the t h a n k s of t h e N a v y D e p a r t m e n t for services rendered. He a l s o received decorations from b o t h t h e French and I t a l i a n Governments. He is survived by his w i d o w . H E N R Y SUMMERS CHATFIELD HENRY
SUMMEERS C H A T F I E L D , m a n u f a c t u r e r a n d i n d u s t r i a l
chemist, died of pneumonia a t h i s home i n Elizabeth, N . J., on Octofcer 2 7 , !9
