74
I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G CHEMISTRY
VOL. 14, NO. 4
Changes in Staff at Penn State
American Contemporaries
Philip Embury Browning EW hardier souls walk the streets of New Haven than the genial poet laureate of the Vale Department of Chemistry, Philip K. Browning. The colder the weather the more comfortable he feels. Retired from active teaching since 1932, subzero temperatures are needed to drive him to a reluctant search for his topcoat. His many interests have kept the spirit of youth alive since his release from active duty. His keen wit still sets itself t o rhyme t o the delight of his many friends and relatives. At Christmas, New Year's, and other holidays his friends receive appropriate greetings in verse. This year at Thanksgiving he issued the following:
F
Seasonal Warning We certainly should watch our step In what we do and say. The turkey, "Gobble gobble!" said; And now he rues the day. Then let us heed this good advice; And when our say is said. We'll not be like the turkey cork, A body minus head. One of the loveliest bits of verse from his pen was sent as a valentine to his beloved nieces : An Uncle's V a l e n t i n e Eyes of jet. and brown, and blue; Raven, chestnut. KOMCII tresses: Cheeks that have the fairest hue. Arms that give such fond caresses. Mouths that frame the sweetest tmiiies. Lips that give the choicest kisses, Darlings all, these nieces mine. So says uncle's valentine. Keep in mind the derivation Of the well-known prefix "phil," Philadelphia, philanthropic. Philharmonie,— if you will. You may then, my charming nieces, Sometimes have a lovitm thrill. When, in thought or word or letter, You address me "Uiiele Phil." This is one of my ambitions: In your heart to have a place Which, in all of life's conditions. I may hope to hold and urace. You who prize the love I offer. Maids or matrons, ever will Have in mind the name's true meaning When you call me "Uncle Phil." As curator of the chemistry exhibits, the university remains grateful for his
HB following six younger members of T the teaching ana research staff left State College in January to accept posi
continued services. Future generations of Yale chemists may not have the privilege of attending his lectures but the educational value of his carefully selected exhibits will always be great t o them. As an active Rotarian and as treasurer of the First Ecclesiastical Society of New Haven's fine old Center Church, his services to the community continue. Finally, between the many* duties of his active retirement he finds time to write of Silliman and Ezra Stiles and of the history of chemistry at his Alma Mater. Philip Embury Browning was born in the town of Rhinebeck, Ν. Υ., on September 9. 1866. He graduated from Yale College with the famous class of '89. Gifford Pinchot, the former governor of Pennsylvania, and James Gamble Rogers, the architect of most of Yale's new buildings, were his classmates. As an undergraduate he sat in the classes of some of the greatest Yale teachers— "Eddie" Dana the mineralogist, and "Billy" Sumner, the sociologist. Three years after graduation he was awarded the Ph.D. degree. There followed a pleasant year (1893-94) in Germany working under Gerhardt Kruess in Munich. There he developed a method for the determination of vanadium and was inspired by the lectures of Kruess on the rare earths. There, also, he found time to prepare organic compounds in the laboratory of Baeyer and Thiele. Uροη his return to this country in 1S94 he started his teaching career in Yale College under the bite, great Professor F. A. Gooch. F« »r over t went ν years t hesi · two men worked together teaching analyti cal chemistry. They published jointly "Notes on Qualitative Analysis" in 189S. and in 1906 the "Outline** of Qualitative Analysis" which for many years remained one of the outstanding books in its field. Of his early years of teaching at Yale he likes best to* tell of his experiences as a resident proctor in White Hall. Student riots of the Spanish War days were quelled with tact and dispatch. Many an ine briated cab driver and his cab were re united by the voung proctor after hilari ous students had staged chariot races around Berkeley Oval. Professor Browning will always be re membered for his pioneer work in this country on the rarer elements, started shortly after the stimulating research of Count Auer von Welsbach on the rare earths which led t o the invention of the Welsbach mantle. Many papers ap pear under Professor Browning s name on the» separation and analytical chemistry of the rarer elements. IIis was the first, and for many years the only, text in this field in this country. Published in 1903, new editions of "An Introduction t o the Rarer Elements" appeared in 1908 and 1912. In 1913 he again journcved to Europe to work with Trbain at the Sorbonne in the field of their common inter est. Hundreds of Yah* graduates will always remember him for his course in qualitative analysis. Fewer students have had the greater privilege of his supervision of their work in the laboratory with the rarer elements. No sketch of his career would be com plete without a tribute t o his gracious wife, Elizabeth Bradley of New Haven, whom he married in 1899. A leader in social welfare work in her community, she has been an inspiration to her husband and to her many friends. JOHN A.
TIMM
tions as follows: J. M. BLATTERMAN, with the WarnerJenkinson C o . of St. Louis, makers of certified food dyes. F. W. BRBUER, to conduct work on hormones in the Physiology Department of < )hio State University. M. K. C O N N , with the Standard Oil Co. of Ixniisiana. M. A. DEWKY, with the Gulf Research Laboratories, Harmarsville, Pa. C . J. STEHMAN, with the Thomas and Hochwalt Laboratories of Davton. CL II. Y o r s o , with the Mellon Insti tute.
Personalia L. M . GRAHAM has l>een appointed sales director of the Cooley Electric Furnace Co., Indiann|H>]js, Intl. GEOROE P. H A L U WELL, formerly assist
ant professor of metallurgy at Carnegie Institute of Technology, has been ai>pointed director of research at H . Kramer & Co., Chicago, refiners of nonferrous metal scrap and producers of brass ingots and non-ferrous alloys. CLARENCE T . KASLINE, who will receive
his Ph.D. degree in chemistry at Purdue University in June, has accepted a posi tion with the Sales Department of The Torsion Balance Co. H e will be located at Chicago. JOHN A. LEIGHTY, who will receive his
Ph.D. degree in chemistry at Purdue University in June, has accepted a position in the research laboratories of Eli Lilly and Company at Indianapolis. EUGENE R. MANNING, formerly head of
the Department of Textile Chemistry and Engineering at Clemson College, S. C , has joined the Research and Development Department of E. F. Houghton & Co., Philadelphia. Pa., where he will work along the line of laboratory and sales development of new products for the textile industry. RALPH L. MILLKK, entomologist, formerly
associated with the Freeport Sulphur Co., New Orleans, and Bureau of Entomology, Citrus Expriment Sta tion, Orlando, Fla., has returned to Or lando, to be associated with the Florida Agricultural Supply Co. as entomolo gist. This position involves the de velopment of insecticides and fungicides, and investigation of technical questions regarding their use. J.
W. RAYNOLDK has lw»en appointed manager of Ohio-Apex, Inc., Nitro, W. Va., succeeding the late C. Olin North.
President Bartow has appointed FREDERIC ROSENGARTEN, W. T . TAGGART, and J. (i. VAIL as delegates of the AMERICANCHEMICAL SOCIETY at the fortieth an
nual meeting of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, to lie held at the Bellevue-St rat ford Hotel. Philadelphia, Pa., April 24 and 25, 1936. JOHN R. SWEETMAN is now working for
the Fiat a s consulting engineer in T o rino, Italy, where he has l>een employed for the past six months. He is the only American at present employed there.
NEWS EDITION
FEBRUARY 20, 1936
Chemical Engineering a t Brooklyn Polytechnic HE Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, T situated as it is in tho midst of an area perhaps unequaled in the world with respect to industries employing chemists, has performed a splendid service in arranging lecture courses for the evening hours or holidays when men engaged in industrial work can take advantage of them and pursue work leading to advanced degrees. More than this, this happy combination has made it possible for candidates to work on problems connected with their normal employment. This research on operating plant equipment or development work for plant processes offers a great advantage for the best kind of work leading to a degree for the candidate and substantial results for the industries concerned. The institute has now decided t o offer courses leading to the doctorate in chemical engineering. This was preceded b y authorization in 1933 to confer t h e doctorate in chemistry, and last year the first candidate was awarded this degree. In addition to the doctorate in chemical engineering, authorization has now boon given for the same advanced degree in electrical engineering. The facilities of the institute, the faeultv, and its accessibility to a great many of those determined to better their training should lead t o early and substantial enrollment for this higher degree in chemical engineering. Then and Now W ' E A R E indebted to A. \V. Bitting • ? for an opportunity to examine a very small book entitled' ' Ά Grammar of Chemistry. Wherein t he Principles of the Science are Familiarized by a Variety of Kasy and Entertaining * Experiments; with Questions for Exercise and a Glossary of Terms in Common Use." This little book is by the Reverend D . Blair and originally appeared in Great Britain, but was brought out in Philadelphia in 1810 after having been "corrected and revised" by Benjamin Tucker, the author of "Sacred and Profane History Epitomized, &c." The book is interesting from many points of view, including the extent t o which Mr. Tucker felt called u|>on to g o in correcting what he believed to be errors of the author before bringing out this reprint. There is a single page of illus trât ion> which faces the title page, but one must wait for an explanation of the plate until he reaches the last half of the very last page in the book. The first sentence in the preface to the American edition naturally impressed us. •'The science of chemistry has become so |H>pular and fashionable a >tudy that to be wholly unacquainted with it rather betrays a mortifying ignorance." And that in 1810! How well it still applies a century and a quarter later, notwithstanding the effort that has culminated in this generation to make |ieople generally, and some groups in particular, familiar with the place of chemistry in the scheme of things! No doubt an equal number of years in the future may find many of our books of today equally interesting to those who examine them. While there is much in this book which s*ates what is still accepted as true, there are discussions, as for example **0 Calorie,'* which strikes one as amusing, not to mention the references t o such of the elements and compounds as the author and Mr. Tucker thought well to describe. But to quote a paragraph or two. Speaking of water, we find:
That water in general ought to be preferred which sits lightest on the stomach, is fresh, lively and agreeable to the taste; that which boils peae and pulse quickest and mixes readily with soap without curdling. We learn this about mineral water and suspect that present bottlers will not agree with the definition: When water contains such an excess of any foreign substance that it cannot be used for domestic purposes, it is called mineral water. A single type page, 2.75 X 3.25 inches, contains all tlmt is t o l>e found on fermentation, which is described as "a change which takes place in vegetable matters containing sugar and mucilage mixed with luke warm water." Surely a n examination of such a little book is not only interesting but valuable, ami we regret that we have not the space to reprint more of it. Not only does it give a l>etter understanding of the state of chemistry in those days, but a little insight into the thoughts and actions of those contempirary with the book, and by cont rast helps to measure the progress that has been arliieved during the intervening years.
Fifty Years o f Aluminum
I
T WAS fit ting that the February meeting of t h e Pittsburgh Section should be dc » voted t o a program marking the first fifty years of aluminum. T h e Crucible for' February announced details of that meeting and an addition printed on facing pages illustrations with captions showing sonic early aluminum produets and modern ones. Many of the chemists of the Pittsburgh Section* remember Charles Martin Hal J, whose laboratory' experiment was d«»vclopcd into a practical commercial process in Pittsburgh. They recall the details of the struggle which he made before his process was recognized ami started on its \my t o fame and fortune. .Vmong others C . C». Fisher remembers well his contacts with Mr. Hall, i»rticularly when he was in need of laboratory équipaient.
Necrology Irving W. Fay
73 He had been a member of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY since 1897.
Richard Edwin Lee
R chemistry at Allegheny College since 1907, died at his home in Mead ville, ICHARD
EDWIN
L E E , professor
of
Pa., January 28 after an illness of seven months. He was in his sixtieth year. Dr. Lee received his undergraduate training at Mount Γ η ion College. Later he did graduate work at Cornell, Har vard, and New York Universities, from which latter institution he was awarded the degree of doctor of science in 1910. In 1931 Professor I^e pursued special studios at California Institute of Tech nology. A member of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL
SOCIETY, he was a charter member of the Erie Section, before which group he spoke on a number of occasions. He was also a member of the American Public Health Association, Phi Beta Kappa, and an honorary member of the Alpha Chapter, Alpha Chi Sigma. For many years he served the City of Meadville as bacteriologist and several metal lurgical companies and the Hookless Fastener Co. as consultant. Dr. I,ce in recent years devoted his energy almost entirely to the develop ment of a highly original science survey course for college freshmen. In 1932 he published "Man, the Universe Builder," which was thoroughly revised and pub lished as a student text, under the tith» "The Background and Foundation of Modern Science" in 1935.
Morris R. Poucher
M
ORRIS R. POUCHER, president of the
National Fuels Corp., died suddenly on February 11 in the office of the Ameri can Cyanamid Co. in New York. For many years he was connected with the Chemical Foundation, Inc. He had been a member of
the AMERICAN
CHEMICAL
SOCIETY since 1930.
P. P . von Weimarn
P
P. VON WEIMARN, formerly of Km-
• press Catharina Mining Institute of St. Petersburg, more recently head of the Dispersoidological Department of the Imperial Industrial Research Institute, Osaka, Japan, died in Shanghai on June 2, 1935, after a long illness. He was well known for his contributions to colloid chemistry.
r
KViN
