912
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
A m n , 1930
seem to me to justify the retention of the latter plan and the rejection of the former. The writer realizes that the advocates of the two-hour plan may have some data that have not been brought to his attention. He is always willing, nay, anxious to be informed. HARVEY C. BRILL MIAMI UNIVERSITY OXFORD, OHIO Scientific Investigations of Spontaneous Combustion Proposed. The strange phenomenon of hay racks catching fire through no human agency was recognized as a natural process by wise men of old Rome, and yet two thousand years later the process is still as baffling and inexplicable to modern science as i t was to Columella and Pliny. Citine the kuowledee combustion, Dr. - of ancient observers reaardina. spontaneous . Henry G. Knight, chief of the U.S. Bureau of Chemistry and Soils, speaking before the recent conference on Sooutaueous Heatina and Ignition of Agricultural and Industrial Products, outlined a program of scientific research which would solve the mystery and enable mankind to forestall the destructive process. "There is evident need of careful investigation of the exact conditions that produce the soontaneous igniticm of agricultural materials as the basis far our future course of action. I t will require a coiiperative investigation hy chemists, bacteriologists, and engineers upon quantities of materials sufficiently large to duplicate actual farm conditions." Outlining the points requiring special attention, he said: "Chemical analyses should be made of the fresh material and the chemical changes which take place throughout the heating period should be noted carefully. The rate of heating in different parts of the mass should he determined. The avidity for oxygen of the fresh and fermented material should he studied. The migration of moisture throughout different parts of the experimental material should he carefully observed. The production of gases and their character should receive study. The effects of aeration a t various stages of storage should be recorded. Studies of conditions existing in the areas of high heats should he carried on, and the various methods of curing in the case of hay and the effectsof adding other substances such as salt to hay and to cattle feed should receive special study. Along with this work and based upon it should be studies of methods directed a t the reduction of spontaneous heating and actual firing of agricultural materials." S~ontaneousignition costs American farmers millions of dollars a year, and the chief products which go up in smoke or are spoiled for use by this cause are hay, grain, and horse manure.-Science Service ~
Five Hundred Tons of Aspirin a Year. Deaths from poisoning by aspitin (says the Pharmaceutical Journal) are on the increase in England and Wales according t o the Statistical Review of the Registrar-General. This is not surprising in view of the quantities of the drug (500 tons a year, aceording t o Dr. Dishington) consumed in this country. The significant fact is that there has been a big jump in aspirin fatalities. I n 1927, fiw people met their deaths, by intent or accident, through taking aspirin, while in the year before there was no recorded case. I n 1928 the number was seventeen -ten accidents and seven suicides. That there is a moral t o draw from these figures is obvious.-Chen. N m s
