T H E JOL-RIVAL O F I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGIArEERING C H E M I S T R Y . .
lands, India up to the end of June, 1910. The investments up to 1909 had been $14,608,400, while the rubber investments in 1909 were $15,926,000.
PREVENTION OF WASTE AND RIVER POLLUTION. In a concentrated wool-manufacturing district such as the West Riding of Yorkshire, devoted to an industry requiring the use of immense quantities of water every day, the task of keeping the small streams near the inland English cities in a healthy condition is not an easy one. The Colne and Holme Rivers a t Huddersfield are black with the refuse contained in the waste waters from the milling, scouring, and dyeing processes. As a result of the official activities of the West Riding Rivers Board, and also from a desire for more economical production, manufacturers are using various methods to cope with this problem, bne of which is believed to be highly successful. This method deals with the main cause of stream pollution-namely, wool and piece scouring-and seeks to prevent the loss of large quantities of the oil, grease, fiber, soap, and scouring materials heretofore usually carried off by the water as waste products.
NOTES. “Atherium” is a new aluminum alloy being offered by Pritt, Bowley and Company, 46 Fenchurch Street, London, E. C., which is expected to be of considerable value in the arts. It has the following properties: Specific gravity: 2.4-2.57, according to the mixture. Tensile: 18.66 tons to the square inch. Yield point: 33,712 pounds to the square inch. This alloy is said to form sound castings and work well in the rolling and turning; it can also be soldered, forged and welded, and does not tarnish or corrode. I t stands the action of sea water.
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The increased demand for tungsten lamps has made it necessary for the Westinghouse Lamp Company to reoccupy the plant on West zgrd Street, New York, which they abandoned in 1908 for their new works in Bloomfield, N. J. The old factory has been equipped with newly developed machinery of American design, for the manufacture of 25, 40, and 60 watt tungsten lamps. The capacity will be 10,000 lamps per day. A neon tube light, similar to the Moore light, has been briefly described before the French Physical Society, by M. Georges Claude. The substitution of the neon for carbon dioxide or nitrogen in the Moore tube is said to give a light very rich in red rays of a remarkably warm, golden yellow hue. __
Mar., 1911
is to be given on June 14th by ProfeSsor Theodore W. Richards, of Harvard University, in Faraday’s lecture room a t the Royal Institution.
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Additional grants have been made to Professor T. W. Richards and to Professor G. P. Baxter, of Harvard University, of $2,500 and $1,000, respectively, as research associates of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.
On January zoth, Professor Arthur Michael lectured before the members and research students a t the department of chemistry a t Clark University on his recent observations in connection with reversible organic chemistry. A result of the greatest importance is Professor Michael’s discovery of an apparently new factor influencing the velocity of organic reactions. The United States Civil Service Commission announces an examination on March 29, 1911, to secure eligibles from which to fill the position of editorial assistant in the Bureau of Mines, Department of the Interior, a t a salary of from $ I , ~ o o - - I , ~ o o per annum, according to qualifications. The examination will consist of the subjects given below, weighted as indicated: 1 . Editing ................................. 30 2. Proof reading.. ......................... 20 3 . Thesis ................................... 30 4. Education and experience.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
100
Applicants should apply to the United States Civil Service Commission, Washington, D. C., for full information and registration blanks.
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Slate quarry waste has been employed as a filler for fertilizer, for making paint for flagging and for mending roads, but none of these uses are a source of income. In Norway slate waste has been mixed with casein and hardened, the resulting product being very much like freshly quarried slate in appearance and properties.
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Mr. Carnegie’s latest gift of $3,800,000 to the Technical Institute in Pittsburgh is to be used approximately as follows: $2,300,000 for new buildings, $10o,ooo for additional equipment and $25,000 on grounds. The Bureau of Mines has just issued “Miners’ Circular No. 2 ” by Clarence Hall, on “Permissible Explosives.” This circular states the conditions under which explosives are accepted for testing, the tests the explosives now have to pass, the names of the explosives that have passed the tests, and some of the dangers that should be avoided in storing and using explosives. The United States Geological Survey, which formerly had charge of the station a t Pittsburgh, Pa., has published in three circulars the names of the explosives that passed similar tests prior to May 16, 1910. All of those explosives, and all permissible explosives subsequent to May 16, 1910, and prior to January I , 1911, except such as have been withdrawn by the makers or have not satisfied later tests, are named in this circular.
The vertical retorts installed at Providence by the Providence Gas Company are attracting considerable attention among gas engineers, and the New England Association of Gas Engineers visited Providence to inspect this installation during their annual convention in Boston in February. Mr. Andrew Carnegie had added $IO,OOO,OOO to the endowTwelve street cars have been put into service in Zurich in ment fund of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The institution was established in 1902 with a gift of $IO,OOO,OOO,which all of the metallic portions of the body are made of afid Mr. Carnegie recently added $~,ooo,ooo. These gifts aluminum. Ia addition to the advantage of lightness, it is consist of preferred bonds of the U. S. Steel Corporation bearing found that when the metal is cleaned with the sand blast it is effectively protected by paint without the use of varnishes. 5 per cent. interest and their market value is considerably above their par value. Mr. Carnegie’s gifts to public purposes now An explosion near the station of the Central Railroad of ,New amount to about $ a o o , o o o , m . Jersey in Jersey City occurred on Wednesday, February Ist, in The next Faraday lecture of the Chemical Society of London which twenty-five or more people were killed, and the property
