Rust in Water Pipes Removed by New Method. Rust-choked iron water pipes in a 35-story New York office building have been cleared by anew acid solvent, and the vast expense of repiping the whole structure avoided. The process, worked out by F. N. Speller, E. I,. Chappell, and R. P. Russell of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is expected by engineers to become a very important factor in building management. It has long been known that a solution of hydrochloricacid in hot water will dissolve rust, but the drawback has been that it will also dissolve iron and steel. so that it has never been considered practicable for use on a large scale. The three Massachusetts engineers, however, added an organic "inhibitor" which has the effect of preventing the acid from corroding the metalwhile still permitting it to attack the mst. In order to carry out their operations with the least possible inconvenience to the tenants, they divided the plumbing of the building into se&ons, attacking these one by one on Saturday afternoons so that the solution could get in its work and be flushed out of the pipes before the resumption of business on Monday morning.-Scimcs S&CC Snwy-Preventing Vitamin Shown to Be Present inMilk. Vitamin C, the substance that wards off scurvy, is present in milk, as well as in the fresh vegetables usually relied upon to supply it, and induded for this reason in all standard diets for children. Prof. I,. F. Meyer, of the University of Berlin, states this as his conclusion after an extended series of experiments. Prof. Meyer was led t o undertake his researches by the high occurrence of scurvy among the children in German cities during the period of hard times just after the war. Not only the fully recognizable disease but alsosuch partial forms & arrested growth and sub-normal development among children were distressingly manifest. While the supply of fresh vegetables was not up t o standard, the German scientist suspected that the milk shortage also had something to do with it. Tests on guinea pigs kept on a deficient diet have shown that milk can prevent scurvy, he says. Human milk stands at the top of the list as a source of vitamin C, thus explaining the fact that breast-fed babies rarely or never contract this disease. On the other hand, Dr. Meyer found that goats' milk, much used in Europe for infant feeding, is quite defident in this necessary substance. I n this respect cows' milk is much superior t o that of goats.-Science S&e Smoke and Pneumonia relations hi^ Needs P r o b k-. Smoke in its relationship to pneumonia, the most prevalent and fatal of all acute infectious diseases, was brought under the spotlight in a recent report by Dr. W. C. White and the U. S. Public Health Service t o the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The fact that Pittsburgh, one of the smokiest cities, has the highest constant death rate of any community in the world, and that the pneumonia death rate of the city by wards is higher where the smoke content of the air is densest, indicates that smoke has a tremendous influence on this disease, Dr. White said. Definite proof of this correlation is still lacking, out. Further research - he pointed in the field is necessary, he said, with doctors and engineers roiiperating, to determine the effect of smoke upon health. Dusts associated with carbon in smoke are probably much more important than the carbon, he stated. They should be carefully studied t o enable us "to speak with authority not only about the pollution of the air with carbon, but also about all the dusts that may now or in the future pollute the air we breathe." It is probable, said Dr. White, that smoke has an evil iduence on pneumonia, but that i t bears no relation t o the tuberculosis death rate or to the death rate f-om cancer. Pittsburgh, he pointed out, has a low tuberculosis death rate and a compmtively low death rate from cancer.-Scimce Senrice
