J u n e , 1918
I
T H E J O U R N A L O F I N D U S T R I A L LIAVDE N G I N E E R I N G C H E M I S T R Y
SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES ANNUAL MEETING OF THE CHEMISTS’ CLUB
The annual meeting of the Chemists’ Club was held a t the clubhouse on Wednesday evening, May I , 1 9 1 8 . The treasurer reported that out of the surplus funds $15,033 had been invested in the Third Liberty Loan. Announcement was also made of the acceptance of $10,000 given by Mrs. Herman A. Frasch for the erection of a conservatory in memory ol her late husband. The conservatory will adjoin the club dining-room. Dr. Milton C. Whitaker, the retiring president, was presented with a silver tea and coffee service, the presentation being made by Dr. Charles F. McKenna on behalf of the officers and trustees. Election of officers for the ensuing year resulted as follows: President: Ellwood Hendrick. Vzce Presidents: Resident, Charles H . Herty ; non-residenf, Charles I,. Parsons. Secretary: J. R. M. Klotz. Treasurer: H. h!C. Toch. Trustees: T. R. Duggan, 13. G. Mackenzie.
............ ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT-ELECT HENDRICK
We are receiving in this Club, from the retiring administration, a great estate. It now becomes our duty to conserve i t and to administer it to good purpose. The achievement of establishing this unique institution has been in large part of a social nature, and we must not lose sight of the fact that our function as a Club must continue to partake of this quality. Unless we maintain our house as a chemists’ headquarters, as a place where good chemists feel particularly a t home, we shall fail in our purpose. People feel a t home according to their individual tastes, but men of discrimination are disposed to favor that which is admirable. Therefore it behooves us to keep the place attractive and, in so far as it is given to do so, distinguished. We are now custodians of the only Club known to the profession of chemistry, and the development of the war has thrown this profession singularly into focus of the public eye. Whatever we say or do, irrespective of the measure of our modesty, straightway becomes a matter for discussion. Less than five years ago a great part of the public seemed to think that chemistry was something principally made in Germany. Without stultifying ourselves, and in full appreciation of the fact that the German language, which we forbid in conversation in the Club, is still the richest of all in chemical literature, we hold that the science is also native in America. Let us endeavor to prove that it is free from German frightfulness, in word as well as in the deeds of peace. The trustees have seen to it that there shall be no ground for suspicion of any stain of German sympathy in war among us. All members whether American-born or not, who are not in hearty sympathy with the United States and its allies in the great war, have been requested to resign-speedily to resign. The retiring board insisted that the Club be one hundred per cent American, and an intimate acquaintanse with the incoming members warrants me in saying that the temper of the new board will be the same. We are in the heat and passion of war and there is no room, anywhere in this building or on our roll of members, for anyone who is against us or even neutral in the present great fight. On the other hand, we must avoid persecution or unkindness of any sort toward good Americans who are of German origin or descent. We must remember that every man is himself and that there is no greater mistake than to get a man mixed up with his grandfather. A thing that we need, seriously need, is an answer to the question: What is a chemist? I despair of any terse phrase that will tell it, and I am sure that i t is not a quality achieved
489
I
bylan academic degree. I know self-educated men who are ripe scholars in the science as well as in the arts and the humanities; and we all know men, academically certificated, who should not be classed as anything better than laboratory helpers. I do not desire to intimate that the Club should find an official answer to the problem; I only have in mind that we should help to establish the meaning so that the right words may be found. I also venture the opinion that if we set a high standard for our membership requirements, we shall be taking a step in this direction and thus do more for the profession than by any other means a t our disposal. We are fortunate in having most of the leaders in American chemistry as our fellows. Let us keep up the standard and see to it that this house shall continue to be their real headquarters. I can hardly trust myself to discuss the great debt we owe to the retiring president, Dr. Whitaker, and I bespeak his aid during the coming year. We are under sincere obligations to the many members who helped us to take over the adjoining building for additional quarters, and to those who have donated their stock in the building company, Our thanks are due to Dr. Weston for assistance in more ways and a t more times than there is opportunity to enumerate. To Mrs. Herman Frasch, whose late husband contributed largely, by his invention, to halt the march of Prussian madness in 1 9 1 5 , we are not only indebted for the living portrait of him, but for the conservatory which is now about to be constructed back of the dining-room, which will make our Club unique among those of A-ew York in this special point of attractiveness. I t will also provide for our members a place of delectable resort. I ask members of committees to continue in office until the trustees shall have passed upon the nominations for the ensuing year, in which I hope but few changes will be necessary. And I earnestly request all members to work together during the coming year with the same good-will that has characterized our organization in the past. I t is only by the hearty cooperation of the membership as a whole that we can make ofthis Club the great institution that it deserves t o be. 139 EASTFORTIETH STREET NEW
YORKC I T Y
AMERICAN ELECTROCHEMICAL SOCIETY’ O n Sunday, ilpril 28, a t 6 P.M., 1 2 6 members and guests of the American Electrochemical Society left the Union Station a t Washington for a tour of the Appalachian South, having in view a survey of the resources, water power, facilities and opportunities which that section of the country affords to manufacturers and industrial interests. The cities visited were Johnson City, Kingsport, Knoxville, and Chattanooga in Tennessee, Sheffield (Muscle Shoals),Birmingham, and Anniston in Alabama. The first stop was a t Johnson City on the morning of April 29, where the members were guests of the Chamber of Commerce for breakfast a t the Hotel Windsor. Lee F. Miller, president of the Chamber of Commerce, made an address of welcome. The members were then given an opportunity of viewing the town and some of its industries by an automobile tour through the city. An hour later the members reached Kingsport, and were escorted by the reception committee to the Kingsport Inn, where brief addresses were made by V. V. Kelsey, resident manager of the American Wood Reduction Company, and J. Fred Johnson, president of the Kingsport Improvement Corporation. The address of welcome by J. J. Cox, ex-Governor of Tennessee, was responded to by Presi1 I t is expected that a more detailed description or the plants visited will be published in a later issue of THISJOURNAL
490
T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING C H E M I S T R Y
dent C. G. Fink for the Society. A t noon a luncheon complimentary to the Society was served a t Rotherwood Farm, about 4 miles from the city, on the terrace in the shadow of the stately columned portico of the century-old farmhouse now used as an inn. The farm attracted many of the members: it is a model one supplying not only many of the local demands but shipping its products to other parts. The afternoon was spent in visiting plants in the city as follows KINGSPORT PLANTS
A t the Kingsport Extract Corporation, making hemlock and chestnut extract, 24,000,000 lbs. per year capacity, the members saw the entire operation, from the “hogging” to the dried extract, and the pumping of the liquid extract to the Kingsport Tanning Corporation. This tanning company produces 1 2 5 hides per day and here the liming of again the complete process was viewed-from the hides and the de-hairing by machinery to the finished leather leaving the tanning vats and drying rooms, ready to go out for ultimate manufacture elsewhere. The wood chips residue from the extractors of the Extract Corporation are sent to the Kingsport Pulp Corporation, where, in conjunction with other wood treated by the soda I n this plant process, 60 tons of pulp per day are produced the Dorr classifier and thickener are used. The Kingsport Paper Company reduces the pulp to paper, the product now being a soft paper like blotting paper, and also paper board. The Kingsport Hosiery Mills, built within the year, where 2 IOO dozen pairs of hose are being produced daily, were of interest. The plant is so built that it can be easily doubled in capacity in the present building. The Clinchfield Portland Cement Corporation, producing 400 barrels of Portland cement per day, was visited. At this plant the Cottrell system for the precipitation of dust is being installed and it is expected that a recovery of potash amounting to 9 per cent of the dust will be made. The product is to be converted into potassium carbonate and potassium sulfate, and it is expected that 4 tons of these salts will be produced daily. Adjoining this plant is that of the Kingsport Lime Corporation, built by Richard K. Meade, and producing 50 tons per day. Nearby also is the power plant of the Kingsport Utilities Corporation, supplying power to all the industries in the Kingsport Valley. Clinchfield coal is used and 15,000 h. p. are produced. The Kingsport Brick Corporation, where drain tile, sewer pipe, common building brick, face brick, etc., are being produced, and the Federal Dyestuff and Chemical Company were visited. The latter has the largest installation of Allen Moore cells in the country, there being 408 with a capacity of 20 tons of sodium hydroxide and 2 0 tons of chlorine per day. The Hebden process is used for dehydration of the chlorine and for the chlorination of the products in the plant. The Kingsport Wood Reduction Corporation plant, a government subsidized plant being built by the American Wood Reduction Company, was visited, together with the cantonments built for the workmen who are a t present employed there. During the day an exhibit of the minerals of the Clinchfield region was to be seen a t the Kings,port Inn. I n the late afternoon motion pictures of the Clinchfield rcgion, taken over the Clinchfield line from Elkhorn City, Ky., to Spartanburg, 3. c . , were shown in the local motion picture theater to the members of the Society. Dinner complimentary to the members of the Society was served a t the Kingsport Inn, after which a business meeting of the Society was held. The Committee reported bhe election of officers as follows: President, F. J. Tone; First Vice President, Acheson Smith; Second Vice President, H. W. Gilbert; Third Vice President, R. Turnbull; Treasurer, Pedro G. Salorn; Secretary, Jos. W. Rich-
ards; Managers, Chas. F. Burgess, Schluederberg.
V O ~ I. O , NO.6
E. L. Crosby and C. G.
KNOXVILLE A N D VICINITY
Leaving Kingsport a t midnight, Mascot was reached early the morning of April 30. The members of the Society were the guestsfof the American Lead and Zinc Company a t breakfast, after which its plant was visited. Wilfley and Deister-Overstrom tables and the Minerals Separation, Inc., oil flotation process are used in this plant for the concentration of the ores. The ore which, when mined, contains 4 per cent, is concentrated to 60 per cent with the loss of a very minute fraction of zinc sulfide. Arriving a t Knoxville, the party transferred to another train and left for Cheoah, N. C., where the Aluminum Company of America is building a dam 2 0 0 feet high (40 f t . higher than Niagara Falls), and from a 180-foot head plans to operate 4 wheels of 18,000 kw. each (25,000 h. p . ) with an efficiency mf 90.25 per cent. They expect to have the power on the busses a t Alcoa in g months, generating a t the station 13,000 volts, transmitting 150,ooo voltage of 2 5 cycle. The company is planning nine dams along the river, two large and seven small ones, giving them a total fall of 1800 feet. At Alcoa, several miles downstream from Cheoah, i t is intended to build another dam t o be a t least as high as the one a t Cheoah. These water-power developments are carried on through subsidiary companies, the one operating in North Carolina being known as the Tallassee Power Company and the other, operating in Tennessee, as the, Knoxville Power Company. Returning to Knoxville, the party proceeded a t once to the University of Tennessee, where a technical meeting was held, a t which Mayor J. E. MacMillan welcomed the members to the city, and Dr. Brown Ayres, president of the University, welcomed them to the University. The following papers were read : Hydroelectric Power Possibilities i n t h e Provinces of Quebec a n d Ontario, Canada. LOUIS SIMPSON. T h e Calculation of Storage Battery Capacities. C. W. HAZECLETT. The S i g n of t h e Zinc Electrode. W. D. B A N C R O F T . Electrical Resistivity of Porcelain a n d Magnesia a t H i g h T e m p e r a tures. P. H. BRACE. Precision Method for t h e D e t e r m i n a t i o n of Qases i n M e t a l s . H M. XYDER. Nitrogen Fixation F u r n a c e s . E. K. SCOTT.
The Society went from the University to the Agricultural Experiment Farm of the University of Tennessee, where the lysimeter with which Dr. MacIntyre and his staff are carrying on valuable soil studies is located. At a complimentary dinner a t the Cherokee Country Club, in the evening, Hugh M. Tate, as toastmaster, made an address in the course of which he argued that the Electrochemical Society had been brought to Knoxville by the exhibit made by the city a t the Chemical Exposition last Fall and that, therefore, the city should neglect no opportunity to exhibit a t any future National Exposition of Chemical Industries. Dr. Fink made a stimulating response. C. G. Schluederberg spoke on “The Part the Unieed States Industries Must Perform to Enable the Allies to Win the War.” Yogoro Kat0 made a brief address, followed by John A. Switzer, upon “The Industrial Water Powers of Tennessee. ” CHATTANOOGA
Arriving a t Chattanooga the next morning, May I , the party breakfasted a t Hotel Patten, after which the local committee escorted the members to the plant of the Southern Ferro-Alloys Company, where every 24 hours 20,000 pounds of 50 per cent ferrosilicon are being made in Fitzgerald electric furnaces. This is the first ferrosilicon plant in the country ever opened to any society, and this was done through the kindness of Paul J . Kruesi, president of the company and a member of the Society. Members then visited the plants of the Burdette Oxygen Company and Wilson & Company. A t the latter plant
June, 1918
T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G C H E M I S T R Y
coconut, cotton, peanut, and soya bean oils are being refined. The hydrogenation plant was not open to the members. The Chattanooga Chemical Company and the Semet-Solvay ovens of the Chattanooga Gas and Coal Products Company were visited. Here 24 Semet-Solvay ovens using 450 tons of coal per day have replaced 1 2 Roberts ovens. The members then motored to Crystal Springs Bleachery. The return trip to Chattanooga was made by the Crest Road, along Missionary Ridge. An hour was spent a t the Chattanooga Manufacturers’ Association exhibit in the Association Building before the Society left on a river steamer for Anthony N. Brady’s $1 I,OOO,OOO power plant a t Hale’s Bar, operated by the Chattanooga-Tennessee River Power Company, whose power is marketed through the Tennessee Power Company. This is a low-head development, having 14 vertical wheels of 3,000 kw. each (4,000 h. p.), 6600 volts of 60 cycles, and 1 2 0 , 0 3 0 volts of 60 cycles. SHEFFIELD Ai’?? >IIUSCLE SHOALS
On Thursday morning, May 2 , the Society arrived a t Sheffield, Ala., where, after a breakfast a t which Col. J. W. Worthington gave an address of welcome, the members were taken in automobiles to visit the town of Sheffield and thence to Government Nitrate Plant No. I , in charge of Capt. R . W. Hempill. This is the plant using the General Chemical Company’s synthetic process. The plant location was accepted September IO, 1 9 1 7 , the company organized October I , contract signed with the J. G. White Company on October 2 . On October 23 the first load of construction material arrived and work on the buildings began. The buildings were almost complete as the members of the Society saw them and the installation of machinery was going forward rapidly. The plant, costing $ ~ O , O O O , O O O , consists of a gas works, a process building housing the General Chemical Company’s process, and a power house, also the concentration, oxidation and absorption plants, for which the Chemical Construction Company have the contract. There will be a nitrating plant and an experimental laboratory. There is also under consideration the erect.ion of a battery of coke ovens. One-half of this plant is expected to be completed by June 15, 1918.
AtNitratePlantNo.2, work was started on November 1 7 , 1 9 1 7 . The plant construction was contracted for with the Westinghouse, Church, Kerr Co., J. G. White Engineering Company, and the Chemical Construction Company, and consists of a lime plant which will burn 350,000 tons a year (the largest lime plant in the country), a coke drying plant with IOO,OOO tons yearly capacity, a liquid air plant with a capacity greater than all other plants in the United States and Canada combined, a power house which will produce 45,000 kw., and as needed, 35,000 kw. more will be secured from hydroelectric plants in the vicinity. J. W. Young welcomed the Society to the plant and E. J. Pranke of the Cyanamide Company gave a descriptive address. Those in charge of operations are Captain S. L. Coles for the Government; J. W.Young for the Air Nitrate Csrporation; G. W. Burpee, M. T. Thompson, and T. C. Oliver for the contractors. Leaving Plant No. 2 , the party motored to Lock 6 on the Tennessee River a t Muscle Shoals, where the members viewed the Muscle Shoals canal. After a barbecue luncheon, served by the Society’s hosts, an informal ineeting was held, at which C. W. Ashcraft of the local committee was chairman. The speakers were Col. J. W. Worthington, C. G. Fink, C. A. Winder, N. T. Wilcox, J. W. Richards, W.G. Waldo, Stewart J. Lloyd, and Col. A. H . White. Leaving Lock 6, the return to Florence was made on a Government steamer and barge, from which a fine view of the surrounding country and of the site of dam No. 2 , just above Florence, was obtained.
49 1
BIRMINGHAM
Friday, May z., was spent a t Birmingham, where a local reception committee made up of members from the Alabama Technical Association, the Alabama Section of the AMERICANCHEMICAL SOCIETY, and the Chamber of Commerce provided autos, and a visit was made to the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company’s Ensley plant where duplex steel is being made. I n the afternoon a visit was made to the by-product plant of the company, which has four batteries of Koppers ovens. Passing through the mine property a t the Fairfield Works, the party had a view of the new plate mill which is to produce steel plate for the shipbuilding plant located a t Mobile, both of which are now under construction. The American Steel and Wire Works a t Fairfield were also visited. In the evening the hosts entertained with a dinner a t the Hotel Tutwiler, Arthur C. Crowder, president of the Chamber of Commerce, acting as toastmaster. The speakers were ex-Governor Emmet O’Neil, C. G. Fink, J. V. N. Dorr, and“. Morrow. This was followed by a technical meeting held in the ball room of the hotel a t which Eugene A. Smith, State Geologist, spoke on “The Mineral Resources of Alabama,” and the following , papers were read and discussed: The Electrolytic Behavior of Manganese in Sulfate Solutions. G. D. V A N ARSDALE AND C. G. MAIER. The Effect of Iron Sulfate in the Electrolytic Precipitation of Copper from Sulfate Solution with Insoluble Lead Anodes. E. F. KERN. Experiments with the Copper Cyanide Plating Bath. F. C . MATHBRS. Load-Carrying Capacities of Magnesia-Silica Mixtures at High Temperatures. 0 . I,. KOWALRE A N D 0 . A. HOUCEN. Electrolytic Refining of Tin. E. F. KERN. Thermo-Electric Force of Some Alloys. M. A. HUNTERA N D J. W, BACON. Why Busy Rails Do not Rust. 0. P. WATTS, A New Electric Furnace. C. H. V O M BAUR. The Booth-Hall Electric Furnace. W. K. BOOTH. Electric Steel Casting. R . F. FLINTERMAN. ANNISTON
The morning of Saturday, May 4,was given over to Anniston. After breakfast a t Anniston Inn, an impressive address on the development of their ferroma.nganese plants in Anniston was made by Theodore Swann, president of the Southern Manganese Corporation, after which the members visited the ferromanganese furnaces of the Southern Manganese Corporation, the ferromanganese and Heroult furnaces of the Anniston Steel Company. The return from Anniston to Washington was made in 24 hours, in the special train occupied by the members for the entire tour, in the operation of which the Southern Railway took great pride. The geologist of their Industrial Department, J . H. Watkins, was one of the members of the Society on the trip and was always ready to give any desired information. CHARLESF. ‘ROTH Chuirmalz, Committee in Charge
SIXTH NATIONAL TEXTILE EXPOSITION The Sixth National Textile Exposition was held a t the Grand Central Palace, New York City, April 29 to May 1 1 , 1 9 1 8 . The exhibition occupied all four floors of the Palace, a fact indicating its large size, and included exhibits of cloths and yarns, machinery and accessories for their production, aniline and other dyestuffs used in their coloring, and in addition a fashion show was given each afternoon and evening, of gowns and costumes designed and made in America of American-made textiles, and dyed with American dyes. The main and second floors were almost wholly given over to exhibits of textile machinery and such accessories as oils, lubricants, beltings, paints, air conditioners and moisteners, temperature controllers, etc. The exhibits of special chemical interest were those by the dyestuffs manufacturers. The two largest were those of the
492
T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G C H E M I S T R Y
Marden, Orth and Hastings Corporation and the National Aniline and Chemical Company. The exhibit of the latter attracted much attention on account of the practical demonstrations of the merits of American dyes as compared with those of German make. Samples of cotton, silk, and wool dyed with corresponding American and German dyes were exhibited, showing very graphically how these had stood tests for fastness to light, fulling, scouring, and weather, with the results gratifyingly in favor of the American-made dyes. Approximately fifty colors were shown in the comparative samples, including blues, browns, greens, purples, reds, and yellows, and comprising direct, acid, basic, chrome, and sulfur colors as well as some developed ones. An interesting feature of the exhibit of this company was the working unit of a fully equipped color testing laboratory in which the work of making these comparative tests was actually being carried on. The Marden, Orth and Hastings Corporation exhibited jointly with the Calco Chemical Company and showed samples of the dyestuffs, coal-tar intermediates, and chemicals entering into the manufacture of the colors which they displayed, these including their new line of “orthamine” colors. They also displayed suitings, overcoatings, yarns, and raw stocks dyed with their products and especially featured their khaki colors in this connection. Other exhibitors of dyestuffs and chemicals were the du Pont Companies, Frank Hemingway, Inc., John Campbell and Co., Stamford Extract Manufacturing Company, Southern Dyestuffs and Chemical Company, Sterling Color Company, Williamsburg Chemical Company, Oakley Chemical Company, American Alkali and Acid Company, and the American Dyewood Company. The Dicks David Company, of New York City, made a special feature in their exhibit of various fabrics dyed by American dyers using this Company’s products and demonstrating conclusively that American dyes are fully the equal in purity and strength of those imported. An interesting exhibition of starches, gums, and dextrines was that of Stein, Hall and Co. The Takamine Laboratory showed their product, “Polysime,” a de-sizing and de-gumming agent. A very illuminating part of their exhibit was the demonstration they gave of the progress of chemical industry in Japan within the past few years.
NEW YORK SECTION, AMERICAN CHEMICAL SCCIETY The recent investigation by the city administration of the work of the Bureaus of the Department of Health of New York City has resulted in the suspension of the Director of the Bureau of Food and Drugs, Dr. Lucius P. Brown. Following the appointment of Dr. Royal s. Copeland as Commissioner of Health, the Chairman of the Civil Service Commission, Mr. James E. MacBride, filed charges against Dr. Brown, and these charges were simultaneously given to the public press. Accordingly Director Brown answered the charges through the press, and for this action was suspended by the Commissioner of Health, pending a public hearing on charges which are now being prepared. At the regular meeting of the iYew York Section of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY on May I O , 1918, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted by the Section: WHEREASthe importance of chemistry and the work of the chemist has been brought clearly home to the people of this country, particularly since the outbreak of the war, and has resulted in largely increased numbers of industrial laboratories for the careful control of manufacturing processes and especially for the maintenance of standards of purity of products, and WHEREASthe increased demand for chemists through this industrial expansion and throuyh the large number called into the service of the Government for the purpose of the successful
Vol.
IO,
No. 6
conduct of the war has created a serious shortage in the available supply of chemists, and WHEREASit appears that there is a possibility of a serious impairment of the efficiency of the Bureau of Food and Drugs of the Department of Health of New York City through the lessening of its activities or change in its present efficient direction, Therefore be i t Resolved: First: That we urge upon the duly constituted authorities to preserve in every way possible, for the full benefit of the people of this city, the protection of the public health so largely dependent upon the work of this Bureau. Second: That we are convinced that in the present incumbent of the office of Director of the Bureau of Food and Drugs, Dr. Lucius P. Brown, the city has a most valuable administrative, technical, and scientific official, selected on the basis of these qualifications by the impartial method of Civil Service Examination, experienced in his work through long service as Food and Drug Commissioner of Tennessee, a recognized leader among the food and drug officials of the nation, as witnessed by his presidency of their association and constant prominence upon important committees charged with the solution of fundamental food and drug problems, a man whose integrity is beyond question and whose marked faithfulness in administering the work of his present position assures to the people of this city thorough protection against adulteration of its food and drug supplies. Third: That we commend the Commissioner of Health for his stand that any questions which have been raised regarding the administration of this important Bureau in the Department of Health shall be given a full and public hearing, for we are confident that through such a medium the usefulness and high standard of the Bureau will be continued withwt inpairment.
NORTH CAROLINA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE AND NORTH CAROLINA SECTION OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY The Seventeenth Annual Meeting of the North Carolina Academy of Science was held jointly with the Spring Meeting of the North Carolina Section of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY a t the State Normal College, Greensboro, N . C., on April 2 6 and 27, 1918. PAPERS PRESENTED B E F O R f THE ACADEMY The War Work of American Physicists. C. W. EDWARDS. Some Important but Largely Neglected Scientific Facts. GEORGE W. LAY. Symptoms of Disease in Plants. F. A. WOLFS. The Sun’s Eclipse, June 8, 1918: Question. JOHNF. LANNEAU. Entrance Requirements in Science at the State Normal College. E. W. GUDGER. Extension of the Range of Prunus umbellata into North Carolina. J. S. HOLMES.
Eliminations from and Additions to the List of North Carolina Reptiles and Amphibians. C. S. BRIMLEY. A New Species of Azalea. W. C. COKER. Notes on the Magnetic Compass. T. F. HICKERSON. Variations Within the Individual Sponge Towards Types of Structure Characteristic of Other Species and Genera. H. V. WILSON. New or Interesting North Carolina Fungi. H. C. BEARDSLEE. Herpetological Fauna of North Carolina Compared with That of Virginia. C. S. BRIMLEY. Further Consequences of Cross Conjugation in Spirogyra (Lantern). BERT CUNNINGHAM. A Visit to Smith’s Island (Lantern). W. C. COXER. Some Methods and Results of a Plankton Investigation of Chesapeake Bay (Lantern). J. J . WOLFSA N D BERT CUNXINGHAM. Mineral Fertilizers; Their Mode of Occurrence and Distribution i n North Carolina. COLLIERCOBR. Notes on Buds. E. W. GUDGER. Recent Changes in Currituck Sound. COLLIERCOBE. PROGRAM O F THE N. C. SECTION, A. C. S. Report of Investigations on the Cause of Death of Matured Chicks in Shell in Artificial Incubation. H. B. ARBUCKLE. Effects of Fertilizers on Hydrogen-Ion Concentration of Soils. J . K . PLCMMER. Action of Heat on Para-Sulfamido-Ortho-Toluic Acid. J. W. NOWGLL. Toluol from Spruce Turpentine. A S. WHEELER. The Question of the Recovery of Tin from Scrap and Cans in North. Carolina. CARLTON F. MILLER.
June, 1918
T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G C H E M I S T R Y
495
NATIONAL FERTILIZER ASSOCIATlON
AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERS
The Twenty-fifth Annual Convention of the National Fertilizer Association will be held a t Hotel Traymore, Atlantic City, N. J., the week beginning July 15. Meetings will be held as follows:
The Summer Meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers will be held a t Gorham and Berlin, N. H., June 19 to June 2 2 , 1918. Headquarters: Mt. Madison House, Gorham.
of the Soil Improvement Committee JULY ~ S T HAND 1 6 ~ ~Meetings : of the National Fertilizer Association. of the Southern Fertilizer Association. JULY 1 6 ~ ~Meeting : JULY 17TH A N D 18TH: Meetings of the National Fertilizer Association.
The Convention Committee appointed by President Bowker of the A-ational Association to take entire charge of the details of all convention arrangements is as follows: Chairman, John D. Toll, Philadelphia; C. M. Schultz, New York; W. Dewey Cooke, Savannah; Irvin Wuichet, Dayton, Ohio; Horace Bowker, New York, ex-oficio. The committee will announce later the details of the program, names of speakers, and arrangements for entertainment.
ALABAMA TECHNICAL ASSOCIATION AND THE ALABAMA SECTION OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY A joint meeting of the Alabama Technical Association and the was Alabama Section of the AMERICANCHEMICALSOCIETY held in Birmingham, Ala., on May 2 , 1918. PROGRAM
Experimental and Extension Work in Agriculture in Alabama. PRO’ FESSOR DUGGAR. Some of the Relations of Chemistry to Agricultural Progress. DR. B. B. Ross.
PROGRAM OF PAPERS
The Human Element in the Mill. HUGHK. MOORE. Maintenance, Construction and Organization of Sulfite Mill. WALTER H. TAPT. The Seeding Method of Graining Sugar. H. E. ZITKOWSKI. The Manufacturer and Fuel Situation. WM.M. BOOTH. War Pyrotechnics. G. A. RICHTER. Food Conservation. EDWARD GUDEMAN. Chemical Stoneware and Its Properties. A MALINOVSZKY. Symposium on the Coal-Tar Industry Expansion of the Coal-Tar Industry in the United States. F E. DODGE. Expansion of the By-product Industry of Coal and Water-Gas Plants in the United States. W. M. RUSSBLL. Manufacture of Phenol. A G. PETERKIN. Multiple Tangent System for the Manufacture of Sulfuric Acid. .,I A. THIELE.
The following plants of the Brown Company will be visited under the leadership of Mr. Hugh K. Moore: Sulfite Mill, the largest sulfite mill in the world; Saw Mill and Photographic Department; The Cascade Paper Mill; Chemical Plants, including Electrolytic and Caustic Plants; Fiber Tube Mill : Carbon Tetrachloride Plant; Chloroform Plant; and Hydrogenated Oil Plant. A joint meeting with the local section of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY will be held on Wednesday evening a t the M t . Madison House. A unique feature of the program will be an entertainment by the employees of the Brown Company.
The Alabama Technical Association was formed last year, its object being to maintain an organization among the technical men of Alabama to stimulate the development of the natural resources of the State, to foster public interest in all things beneRESEARCH AS AN AID TO 1NDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY ficial to the State, to advance the interests of the technical The first joint meeting of the American Cotton Manufacprofession in the State, and to encourage social intercourse turers’ Association and the National Association of Cotton among its members. Xanufacturers was held in New York, May I to 3 , 1918, in The membership is made up of members of the following naconjunction with the Textile Exposition. tional societies : American Society of Mechanical Engineers, On Friday, May 3 , a session was devoted to the consideraAmerican Institute of Mining Engineers, American Society of tion of “Research a s h Aid t o Industrial Efficiency,” the program Civil Engineers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, CHEMICAL having been arranged by the committee on industrial research. American Institute of Architects, and the AMERICAN SOCIETY.The officers are : President: Karl Landgrebe, Ensley, The principal speakers were Dr. George E. Hale, chairman of the National Research Council; Dr. Charles L. Reese, chemical Ala.; Vice President: H. B. Battle, Montgomery, Ala.; Secredirector of E. I . du Pont de Nemours & Co.; Dr. Edward R. tary-Treasurer: F. G. Cutter, Ensley, Ala. Weidlein, associate director of the Mellon Institute; and Dr. C. E. K. Mees, of Eastman Laboratory. AMERICAN LEATHER CHEMISTS’ ASSOCIATION Dr. Hale’s subject was “Development of Research Work.” The Annual Meeting of the American Leather Chemists’ He traced the growth of industrial research in this and other Association was held a t Hotel Traymore, Atlantic City, countries, illustrating it with interesting specific instances, and offered the assistance of the National Research Council in any N. J., on May 1 6 to 18, 1918, in conjunction with the National movement the cotton manufacturers may undertake looking Association of Tanners. toward the establishing and carrying on of research in connecThe program included reports and addresses as follows: tion with that industry. COMNITTEE REPORTS Dr. Reese, speaking on “The Value of a Chemical OrganizaDetermination of Free Sulfuric Acid in Leather. J. S. ROGERS. Testing of Coal-Tar Dyes for Leather. H. R. DAVIES. tion,” classified the various functions of thechemist in a wellTesting of Dyewood Extracts. C. R. DELANEY. organized industry, distinguishing carefully between those of Effect of Hard Water on Tannins. T. A. FAUST. the routine analytical and the research chemist. Comparative Analysis. R. W GRIFFITH. Small’s Modification of the Hydrochloric Acid-Formaldehyde Method I n his address on “Science and Industry,” Dr. Weidlein outof Separating Tannins, with Special Application to Chestnut Oak Bark lined the method of development of the Industrial Fellowship and Chestnut Wood. T.G. GREAVES. System a t the Mellon Institute and gave an account of the ADDRESSES services which the Institute is rendering to the Government Problems for the Consideration of the American Leather Research a t the present time. Laboratory. F. H. SMALL. Upper Leather for Army Shoes. FREDA. VOGEL. The addresses of Dr. Hale, Dr. Reese and Dr. Weidlein are Sole Leather for Army Shoes. ALLEN ROGERS. given in full in the May 4 issue of the Textile World Journal. The Work of the Bureau of Standards in Leafher. R. I,. WORMLEY. The address of Dr. Mees is printed on page 476 of this number Description of Purifying Plant for Treating Tannery EfBuent. C. L. of THISJOURNAL. PECK.
‘494
T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G C H E M I S T R Y
CALENDAR OF MEETINGS American Society of Mechanical Engineers-Worcester, Mass., June 4 to 7, 1918. American Institute of Chemical Engineers-Annual Summer Meeting, Berlin, N. H., June 19 to 22, 1918. American Society for Testing Materials-Atlantic City, N. J., June 25 to 28, 1918. National Fertilizer Association-Annual Convention, Atlantic City, N. J., week of July 15, 1918. American Pharmaceutical Association-Annual Convention, Chicago, August 12 to 17, 1918.
i
The National Chairman of the League is Mrs. Ellwood B. Spear, 27 Walker Street, Cambridge, Mass. The Council is made up as follows:
CaEZfornia Miss Julia George Colorado Miss Louise J. Eppich Mrs. C. M. Lillie Connecticut Mrs. Charles L.Alvord Mrs. James R. Bolton Mrs. Percy T. Walden Illinois Mrs. Julius Stieglitz Miss Marion Talbot Maine Mrs. Maw Stone Burnham Mrs. George C. Frye Miss Deborah Morton ~~
Maryland Mrs. Frank C. Matthews Miss Mary L. Titcomb Massachusetts Miss Bertha M. Bood Miss Abbie Farwe8 Brown Mrs. Samuel V. Cole Mrs. George‘ W. Coleman Mrs. Arthur F. Coolidge
IO,
No.6
American Chemical Society-Fifty-sixth Annual Meeting, Cleveland, Ohio, September IO to 13, 1918. National Exposition of Chemical Industries (Fourth)-Grand Central Palace, New York City, September 23 to 28, 1918.
ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY The officers of the A. C. S. have decided upon September I O to 13, 1918,as the date of the Fifty-Sixth Annual Meeting, which is to be held this year in Cleveland, Ohio.
NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE
WOMEN’S NATIONAL LEAGUE FOR THE CONSERVATION OF PLATINUM
Arieona Mrs. Henry D. Ross
Vol.
Miss Ada Comstock Mrs. Frank D. Ellison Miss Ethel Hale Freeman Mrs. Walter L. Jennings Mrs. Arthur E. Kennelly Mrs. Kenneth L. Mark Mrs. Harold Murdock Mrs. Robert W. Neff Mrs. James F. Norris Miss Ellen F. Pendleton Miss Helen Leah Reed Mrs. Henry P. Talbot Miss Caroline Ticknor Mrs. William H. Walker Mrs. Austin C. Wellington Mrs. True Worthy White Miss Helen M. Winslow Miss Mary E. Woolley
Minnesota Miss Gertrude Beggs
H.
Missouri Mrs. N. W. Hopkins Miss Eva Johnston Mrs. Philip North Moore
New York Mrs. Henry Altman Mrs. Wilder D. Bancroft
Miss Blanche E. Hazard Mrs. Charles H. Herty Mrs. B. C. Hesse Miss Isabel Ely Lord Miss Annie Louisa Macleod Miss Margaret E. Maltby Mrs. Roy Martin
North Carolina Mrs. Thomas W. Lingle Mrs. F. R. Venable Ohio Mrs. Cornelius Selover
Oregon Mrs. Vincent Cook
Pennsylvania Miss Florence Bascom Mrs. E. W. Clark, Jr. Mrs. Theodore W. Cramp Mrs. L. Webster Fox Miss Margaret B. MacDonald Mrs. J , Willis -Martin Mrs. Howard M. Phillips Mrs. Alfred S. Weill Rhode Island Miss Sarah E. Doyle Mrs. Maud Howe Elliott Mrs. George H. Fowler
The Pennsylvania Chairman has issued 10,000 copies of the following letter: TO THE WOMEN O F PENNSYLVANIA This League is asking you to refuse to purchase, or accept as gifts, jewelry and other articles made in whole or in part. of platinum, for the following reasons: Ninety-five per cent of the world’s supply of platinum comes from the Ural Mountains. Present conditions in Russia make this source of supply extremely uncertain. Moreover, in 1916, Duparc in a French report on the Ural deposits stated that, a t the present rate of working, these would be exhausted in 1 2 years. The United States Geological Survey Report on Platinum and Allied Meta’ls in 1917shows that the total amount mined since its discovery in 1843 is IO,OOO,OOOounces. Of that amount, one-third has been used unproductively in jewelry; one-third has been used in dentistry, much of which has returned t o the earth by burial; one-third has been used in physical and chemical apparatus, in chemical industry, and elect’rical devices. Our Government needs platinum t o make nitric and sulfuric acids, which are necessary in the production of explosives. Platinum is absolutely essential in the manufacture of pyrometers which are necessary in all steel treatments-no gun can be made without the use of pyrometers. Some essential signal instruments are dumb without platinum. Platinum is essential in the composition of certain delicate gun mechanisms.
Our country’s electrical defense is dependent on iridium, a rare metal occurring with platinum and used t o harden platinum used in jewelry and electrical apparatus. Our industries need platinum in their control laboratories for the manufacture of nitric and sulfuric acids, drugs, dyes, and fertilizers. Our educational institutions cannot afford to pay the exorbitant price for the platinum essential to train men for these industries. The control lever of all chemical industries is analytical chemistry, and platinum is indispensable in that line of work. Platinum is used in making nitrates from the air for fertilizers and munitions. Without platinum all experiments in gases would be greatly handicapped. In other words, while our Government, our industries, and our educators all have serious use for this rare metal, one-third of the world’s entire supply has been used unproductively in jewelry. When the price of platinum was less than gold, women ha’d no desire to use it in jewelry except as a setting for gems. Now that its price is five times that of gold, over fifty per cent of the country’s supply is used annually for jewelry. Ask yourselves the reason. Would any woman wear a lead-colored ring or bracelet or adorn herself with lead-colored jewelry except that its artificially produced high price has been made t o give it a false value in her eyes? When women cease to demand platinum jewelry, platinum jewelry will no longer be made. If you want to have jewels set in a white metal, ask your jeweler to make the settings of rhotanium or white gold. These alloys closely resemble platinum and are just as well suited to the setting of stones. Rhotanium cannot be distinguished by sight from platinum, even by chemists. By using these alloys, you can have your jewelry, save money, and a t the same time serve your country by conserving this rare metal for productive uses in the war program. This League asks that you cooperate in this most important branch of conservation. Very truly yours, LOUISES . Y. WEILL Pennsylvanza Chairman WE5T CHESTNUT AVENUE
CHE5TNUT HILL, PA.
SEARLES LAKE OPEN TO LEASE APPLICATION Secretary of the Interior Lane has announced that the public surveys have been extended over the lands known as Searles Lake, in San Bernardino and Inyo Counties, California, and the township plats forwarded to the United States Surveyor General with direction that the requisite copies be promptly furnished to the United States Land Office a t Independence for filing. Aside from lands patented years ago and lands embraced in subsisting mining claims, there are about 8 sq. mi. of the potash brine zone that are now open to applications for leases, pursuant t o the act of October 2, 1917,and the regulations thereunder of March 21, 1918. The United States Land Office a t Independence, Cal., has been instructed to receive applications for leases as soon as the township p!ats are received, and when the plats have been formally filed 30 days later, to forward the applications to the General Land Office for action. I n the meantime publication of notice of application may proceed as required by the regulations.
