THE CHEMICAL WORLD THIS WEEK extended by R. W. Dayton and Ε. Μ. Simons, of Battelle Institute. A copy may be obtained by writing the Publications Office, Battelle Memorial Institute, 505 King Ave., Columbus 1, Ohio.
Pegmatite Sought in South Dakota An increased effort to find essential minerals in pegmatite in the Black Hills of South Dakota has been described by the U. S. Bureau of Mines. Pegmatite is a rock formation popularly called "giant granite" and contains beryl, feldspar, quartz, and mica, and often contains tantalum, niobium, cassiterite (tin di oxide), and lithium minerals. About 11 pegmatite exploration con tracts involving a total expenditure of more than $195,000 have been signed thus far by the Government and mine opera tors in the search for new reserves ot these essential minor minerals. In addi tion, the Bureau of Mines and other re search laboratories are working to develop practical processes by which the minerals may be recovered from pegmatite.
API Compiles List O f Standard Samples T h e American Petroleum Institute has published a complete list of the 204 com pounds it has available as standard sam ples of hydrocarbons. Requests for copies should b e addressed to Carnegie Institute of Technology, Department of Chemistry, Pittsburgh 13, Pa., Attn.: F . D. Rossini.
polio has received impetus from n e w laboratory findings. H e has described work with polio virus grown in a test t u b e medium which has resulted in some culti vated strains able to confer immunity t o monkeys even after their capacity t o produce paralysis in laboratory animals has virtually disayppeared. However, cul tured polio viruses cannot be considered safe for human trial, h e states.
New Antibiotic A c t i v e Against Sleeping Sickness A rare antibiotic-producing mold has been isolated at Lederle Laboratories from soil removed from an old Indian mound in Wisconsin. T h e chalk-white mold ( a species of Actinomyces-Streptomyces olboniger) is capable of producing an anti biotic which is active against Trypano soma, a parasite that causes African sleep ing sickness, according to J. H. Williams, director of chemical and antibiotic r e search. He said that Achromycin, as the antibi otic is called, shows curative effects against this infection in laboratory animals, a n d that t h e new antibiotic will b e put on clinical trial in due course. Lederle scientists estimate that thou sands of people and animals suffer from African sleeping sickness.
Chemical Test Promises Early Detection of Cancer A chemical test w h i c h measures t h e amount of nucleic acid in t h e nucleus of cells cast off from body organs h a s been developed as a means of cancer detection b y R. C. Mellors, G. N. P a p a n i
colaou, and J. F. Keane, Jr., of SloanKettering Institute, Memorial Hospital for Cancer and Allied Diseases, and Cornell University Medical College. The method, which utilizes micro-absorption spectros copy, can b e used to detect cells that are changing from normal to cancerous condition. I n examining tissue specimen slides under t h e microscope, the amount of light t h a t passes through the slide is d e termined, and also the amount of light a b sorbed. T h e latter has a direct relation to t h e presence of nucleic acid. Describing their work in a recent issue of Science, t h e authors stated that studies with t h e technique prove that there is a basic chemical difference between t h e nuclei of normal and cancer cells. In addition, the method may aid in discover ing how healthy cells become cancerous.
EDUCATION Monsanto Starts Program O f Undergraduate Scholarships Seventeen undergraduate scholarships to be administered by colleges or univer sities a r e included in the 1952-53 Mon santo Chemical Co. program of aid to scientific education. Also included in the program are 13 graduate fellowships, one g r a d u a t e scholarship, and seven grantsin-aid to various schools. T h e undergraduate scholarships, which a r e said to b e new to industry, as well as to Monsanto's program this year, have been granted for the most part to chemi cal engineering schools. They are to be
TOKffl Scientist Cautions Against W i d e Globulin Use A Yale University scientist has warned against t h e indiscriminate use of gamma globulin which was intensively investigated this summer for its possible effect on polio immunity. Joseph Melnick, asso ciate professor of microbiology at the Yale school of medicine, states that a physi cian using g a m m a globulin today may be doing a disservice to his patients. He feels that it is important that young children develop immunity to polio while growing u p , for infection in older children and adults usually has even more serious consequences. Furthermore, Dr. Melnick says that gamma globulin immunity lasts only a few weeks and is not intended to be a practical preventive for polio. T o be effective in warding off infection at all times, children would require several in oculations a year and when inoculations slopped they might be left fully suscep tible, he says. Dr. Melnick stresses the hopeful status of polio research and believes that the possibility of finding a vaccine against
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UCLA to Open $4.5 Million Chemistry-Geology Building University of California at Los Angeles is readying its n e w chemistry-geology building for classes in September. The 160,000 square foot building is actually six buildings, each separated by about six inches of space to protect against earthquakes. T h e six wings are joined by flexible copper flashing a n d steel cover plates in corridors. The chemistry department can h a n d l e 1500 freshmen students, 375 in quantitative analysis, 500 in organic chemistry, 90 i n biochemistry, a n d 150 in physical chemistry
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