source material for a more exhaustive study. But it lacks that personal touch which t o the writer means so much in all chemical instruction.
To the present writer i t seems that it is j u s t t h i s lack of a personal touch which gives the volume its greatest value. In a book designed as a source book it is necessary f o r an author to maintain a judicial impartiality in controversial matters and w i t h the interjectionof a personal touchit is o f t e n difficult to eliminate personal prejudice. The t e x t is replete with carefully selected q u o t a t i o n s f r o m early and inaccessible works. It is a d i s t i n c t contribution to chemical l i t e r a t u r e and stands as a fitting memorial to its author, that delightful and well-beloved gentleman and scholar, John M a x s o n Stillman.
Lining Hydrochloric Acid Tanks. One of the most urgent needs of the chemical industry is a constructional or reenforcing material that will withstand the adion of hydrochloric acid when concentrated and hot. After much experiment it has been found that it is possible to produce a soft compound which neither contracts nor expands over quite a wide range of temperature, which has a high resistance t o corrosion, and which can be applied in an unvulcanized condition, being molded into shape with the application of heat. This new material, made by the St. Helens Cable and Rubber Ca., I,td., of Slough, under the name of "Cabtyrit," is derived from "Cabtyre," the well-known electrical insulator which is zreatly in use in acid-laden atmospheres. "Cahtvrit" is n d m r contponnd ~ of specific graviry 1.0. I t aofrrnr and heromezl~lasicatabout23"C.. and can bc worked and molded into chape. "Cabrsrir" resists the action of hydrochloric a d d and its solutions a t all strengths and temperatures up to llOmC.,for which purpose indeed it was specially evolved. It has also been found t o withstand the adion of most organic acids, such as tartaric, citric, lactic, malie, and formic acids, and also of phosphoric a d d and of cold sulfuric acid up t o 80 per cent, and of hot vitriol a t strengths not exceeding 60 per cent. It is not recommended for nitric acid, though weak solutions of nitric acid do not affect the new material. Solutions of "Cabtyrit" can be applied as paints and sprays to iron surfaces, and thus form a convenient paint for the internal surfaces of large water and weak-acid liquor tanks. Being a heavy compound, "Cabtyrit" can be vulcanized in a crude manner, which enables intelligent labor t o fashion d.o.e s and fittings with the plant usually found in an ordinary works.-Chem. Age, 19, 394 (Oct. 27. 1928). Salt in Canada. An increase of 60 oer cent in the oroduction of Nova Scotia salt mines is recorded for the past year, the output being 20,000 tons, as against 12,500 tons for the previous twelve months. Last summer Malagash Salt Products, Ltd., placed in operation an up-to-date evaporating plant consisting of three pans with a daily capacity of 15 tons. This enabled the company t o place upon the market an evaporated salt of very fine quality which immediately met with the favor of consumers. The Premier of Alberta reports that two substantial groups of industrialists are making inquiries relative t o the salt deposits recently discovered in Northern Alberta a t Waterways, the present northern terminal of the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway. At this point drillers recently tapped a 200-ft. bed of salt, declared by the Pro:incid Analyd t o be 99 per cent sodium chloride. Three samples brought down from the well were found to have a strength of slightly over one and a half pounds per gallon.-Chem. Age, 20,27 (Jan. 12, 1929).
