—
A C S
O F F I C I A L
a n d Wright on A C S public relations be received and s u b m i t t e d to t h e Hancock C o m m i t tee. I t was moved, seconded, a n d carried t h a t t h e Council recommend t o t h e Committee o n Professional a n d Economic Status t h a t it: (1) Determine whether or not t h e mem bers of t h e SOCIETY
(a) Believe t h a t a national certi fication plan would aid them in com petition with t h e inadequately trained individual calling himself a chemist, a n d (o) Believe t h a t t h e SOCIETY should take action in t h e direction of put ting such a plan into operation. (2) Make informal inquiries of t h e of ficers of other scientific societies dealing with professional chemists t o get their re action t o such a plan. (3) Report t h e results of (1) a n d (2) t o this Council a t its 1946 fall meeting. It w a s moved, seconded, a n d carried t h a t t h e following resolution be adopted: Whereas, in 1936 t h e Council of t h e AMERICAN C H E M I C A L S O C I E T Y a u t h o r i z e d
t h e a p p o i n t m e n t of a C o m m i t t e e on Ac crediting Educational Institutions, t h e name of which committee subsequently was changed t o t h e C o m m i t t e e on t h e Professional T r a i n i n g of Chemists ; and Whereas, this committee as originally authorized consisted of four members, one t o be appointed each year for a term of four y e a r s ; a n d Whereas, in order t o obtain wider rep resentation of various academic interests and t o facilitate t h e transaction of t h e committee's business, BE I T RESOLVED, That 1. T h e n a m e of t h e C o m m i t t e e b e changed t o read Committee on Profes sional Training. 2. T h e membership of t h e C o m m i t t e e on Professional Training be increased from four to seven, t h e seventh m e m b e r being t h e committee's Executive Secre tary, ex-officio. 3. T h e t e r m s of t h e members thereof shall be three years; provided, however, t h a t t h e three members of t h e committee— namely, W. G. Young, H . B . Weiser, a n d W. A. Noyes, J r . , whose terms have n o t expired, shall serve t h e remainder of their terms a n d t h a t t h e President of t h e S O CIETY in making his initial appointments of t h e three members t o b e appointed in accordance with this resolution shall des ignate one to serve for a term of one year, another for a t e r m of two years, a n d t h e third for a t e r m of three years. T h e t e r m of t h e Executive Secretary shall be until his successor is chosen. 4. T h e committee shall choose one of its members t o serve a s chairman thereof. 5. T h e committee shall also appoint an Executive Secretary w h o shall be a n ex-officio member of t h e committee. I t w a s moved, seconded, a n d carried t h a t t h e Council request t h e Board of Directors to concern itself'with legislation which affects chemists or scientists as a whole and t h a t , i n so far as possible, i t take a s t a n d for t h e A M E R I C A N C H E M I C A L S O
CIETY only with t h e advice of t h e Council, b u t when it is n o t feasible t o obtain such guidance, t h a t t h e Board of Directors be authorized t o speak for t h e SOCIETY. 1228
R E P O R T S
I t was moved, seconded, a n d carried t h a t t h e policy of t h e SOCIETY i n respect of legislation dealing with government s u p port of science, as exemplified inS. 1850 a n d S. 1777, be placed a t t h e discretion of t h e Board of Directors a n d a n y subcommittee which the Hoard m a y a p p o i n t .
There was a discussion of a t o m i c energy legislation, b u t no action thereon wa* taken. T h e meeting: adjourned at G- 30 iwi. A L D E N H . K.MERY
Srcreta ry
State of t h e Society Ad Interim Report of the Secretary J.Ν SOME respects t h e A C S today is like an adolescent boy, w h o grows s o rapidly t h a t his clothes never fit, h i s viewpoints change, a n d more i s expected of him a s h e assumes an adult's s t a t u r e . Y e t , so rapid are the changes t h a t often demands from outside outstrip i n t e r n a l readjustments. Occasionally t h e p a r e n t s g e t worried a n d consult t h e doctor, w h o usually does little more t h a n prescribe vitamin pills. One does n o t need t o sketch t h e corre sponding A C S s i t u a t i o n — m o s t of you know it, a n d some of w h a t follows is supporting evidence. W e even have consulted t h e " p h y s i c i a n " — t h e Hancock Committee—and i t is hoped t h a t i t will find t h a t " v i t a m i n pills" of some kind will cure t h e " p a t i e n t " . U p t o April 1, 3,997 new members have been added t o t h e rolls—470 more t h a n on April 1, 1945. T h i s rapid growth is reflected in t h e request of three groups for formation of local sections. These peti tions will b e considered tit t h e Council meeting. Total membership o n April 1 is 45,799 (41,586 a year ago) and only 2,699 (5.89%) have n o t paid 1946 dues. Almost 9 3 % of t h e 1945 members h a v e m e t their 1946 obligations, t h e s a m e percentage a s on April 1 of last year. I t i s gratifying t o observe a n increase i n s t u d e n t members and s t u d e n t affiliates—a reflection of t h e return t o m o r e nearly normal college e n rollments. Members continue t o move a b o u t . In t h e first three m o n t h s of 1945, 3,804 addresses were changed; / o r the same period in 1946, 4,775 alterations were made. Between J a n . 1 a n d March 15, 50,186 copies of old A C S publications were dis tributed—34,235 m o r e t h a n i n the same period last year, a n increase of about 2 1 5 % . At t h e same t i m e , t h e subscription d e p a r t m e n t s (member a n d nonmember) ordered 91,002 copies of 1946 issues al ready printed, m a i l e d t o those whose names were being added to t h e mailing list t o receive f u t u r e issues. T h i s is 33,325 more t h a n in 1945, an increase of 5 8 % . T h e over-all increase i n journals sent o u t on special order i n this period was 9 0 % , which explains o n e cause of t h e delays a b o u t which s o m e members have complained. CH EM I C A L
Paid subscriptions to t h e Journal of the American Che~aical Socidy a r e 15,724, an increase of 1,732 ( 1 2 . 4 % ) ; comparable figures for Chemical Ah&tracts a r e 17,165 and 1,757 ( 1 1 . 4 % ) ; for Industrial and Engineering Chemistry 31,304 a n d 2,924 (10.3%) ;
and
for C H E M I C A L A N D E N G I
N E E R I N G N E W S 48,828 a n d 4,742 (10.7%). T h e p r i n t o r d e r for C H E M I C A L AND E N G I
N E E R I N G N E W S passed 50,000 with t h e March 10 issue. T h e m o s t striking change in o u r publi cations h a s been removal of advertising from t h e front covers of C H E M I C A L AND ENGINEERING
NEWS
and
Industrial
and
Engineering Chemistry. This h a s elicited much favorable comment. N e w typog raphy, new d e p a r t m e n t headings, changes in content, a n d other alterations m a d e gradually are likely t o escape t h e attention of t h e regular reader. Therefore, i t is gratifying t o receive compliments from returning veterans, w h o h a v e n ' t seen A C S publications for several y e a r s , on t h e great i m p r o v e m e n t s which h a v e occurred during t h e i r absence. I t might b e healthy for ail of u s t o compare a current issue with o n e of a few y e a r s r„go, thereby drawing attention forcibly t o t h e cumu lative progress t h a t h a s been made u n obtrusively. T h e paper situation continues t o be critical. Although restrictions on con s u m p t i o n were removed in late 1945, March deliveries w e r e t h e first which reached t h e 1942 level. D u r i n g t h e war, economies in use were effected, b u t , at the e n d of 1945, t h e r e were 25,315 more journal subscriptions o n our books t h a n in 1942. T h e r e h a s been a tremendous increase in m a t e r i a l available for publica tion, a n d m u c h of it is of great impor tance. E v e n with c o n t i n u a t i o n of all w a r t i m e conservation measures except restrictions o n pages published a n d n u m ber of subscribers, p a p e r available through our n o r m a l channels of s u p p l y is inade q u a t e . O d d lots h a v e been p u r c h a s e d in the o p e n m a r k e t ; all employees serve as scouts. W e h a v e appealed t o o u r corpora tion m e m b e r s in t h e p a p e r industry. W i t h a n expectation of early improvement in supply, w e h a v e borrowed. Never theless, before a n issue of o u r larger journals can b e laid o u t , i t is necessary t o AND
ENGINEERING
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ascertain how much paper is on hand. All signs point to availability of more paper in the next few months. The question is, will it be adequate for our expanding needs? For the 1945—46 season, 59 tours by speakers were announced; four of these were canceled. Of those which material ized, 11 were without charge to cooperat ing sections. Approximately 250 appear ances by 46 speakers are involved; 8 men will give from 10 to 19 talks each. Our "best seller'' appears to be Walter Murphy, who has given more than 30 scheduled talks. Of the 109 local sections, 79 were served with one or rnbre speakers. Assistance to the western sections was in adequate because of our inability to ob tain men who could spare the time re quired for this large circuit. It is hoped that the ending of the war and the rapid progress in reconversion will relieve the pressure on chemists and chemical engi neers, so that an adequate number of good speakers will be available for more ex tended trips in 1946-47. Since so much information about local section meetings is available in the Secretary's office, the editor of C&EN has asked the touring service personnel to prepare copy for the "Meetings Fore shadowed" column. The best coverage was the announcement of 74 March meet ings. The manuscript for these announce ments, together with such biographies and summaries as are available in this office, is sent regularly to the ACS News Service as grist for its mill. Between Jan. 1 and April 1, 198 records were filed in t h e Regional Employment Clearing House, and 97 were withdrawn. Twenty employers used the facilities in Boston, and 42 in Washington. Shortages of all materials required delayed prepara tion of the duplicate files for the five new centers authorized on Sept. 24 and Dec. 10. When deliveries were made late in Febru ary, all the time of the staff was being used in preparation of material for the meeting ECH. It is hoped and expected that the new offices will be in operation early in May. Applications for predoctoral fellow ships, authorized by the Board on Dec. 10, are being received at a rapid rate. On the basis of requests for forms, rate of return, and National Research Council ex perience, it is estimated that as many as 700 applications will be on hand before the announced deadline. The Committee met in Chicago on March 15 in order to evaluate the material then on hand. No complete applications for postdoctoral fellowships had been received on March 15, although 50 persons had asked for forms and a few had returned incomplete data. At the Chemical Exposition in New York City the week of Feb. 25, a most V O L U M E
2 4,
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ACS
OFFICIA
successful ACS exhibit on atomic energy was seen by a never-ending stream of people. Walter J. Murphy and his assistants planned it and staffed the booth. It was put on display at the Department of Commerce in Washington on March 11 and next will be shown at the Atlantic City meeting. Many requests have been received for its loan to stores, museums, associations, etc. In the past six months, we have dis tributed from the Washington office 207 copies of our pamphlet on vocational guidance, and 213 copies of the list of accredited institutions. It would appear that there is an increasing tendency on the part of the public to look to the SOCIETY as the fountainhead
of all in
formation on chemistry and chemical engineering. Although this means addi tional work, it is a desirable situation. We want to be the agency to which all branches of government turn for advice on chemical matters, and progress toward that goal is encouraging. It can be hastened by building up a similar idea with the lay public. Much of the credit for what has been accomplished must be given to the News Service, which has kept the name of the SOCIETY before the American people and presented its story in an accurate and dignified manner. The ACS Photocopying Service, estab lished by vote of the Board of Directors on Dec. 10, 1945, went into operation late in January. Since then, approximately 2,500 coupons have been sold. As was anticipated, there is little demand for single certificates. For the first time in its history, the head quarters staff is wholly responsible for the organization and operation of a national meeting. Heretofore it has provided only an advisory service to a local section com mittee. The Secretary is the only staff member with experience in this work, and he has been too busy to give to planning for the Atlantic City meeting the time heretofore demanded for assistance to local committees. The load has been carried almost entirely by his assistants, among whom the work of various committees has been divided. They have followed closely the compendium, "Suggestions for the Organization and Operation of a National Meeting of the ACS", so that once again this major work of an earlier year has "paid off". For some time the Secretary has felt that it was desirable to give to each new member a description of the organization of the ACS and of those activities with which he was most likely to come in con tact. To meet this need, " I t ' s Your SOCIETY" has been published. Because the membership as a whole has more interest in such matters than formerly, general distribution will be made this month. M A Y
10,
1946
L
R Ε Ρ Ο R T S ===—===—s=
The campaign in support of proper legis lation for a National Science Foundation, started in 1945, continued into this year. Although somewhat quiescent now, there is evidence of a need for renewed activity. Persons interested in other important legislation feel that the SOCIETY must lend support to additional bills. The Secretary has visited eleven local sections, an average of about one each week. He wishes that the rate could be increased, but other business trips are necessary and there is an immense amount of work to be done in Washington. There is much interest among ACS members in the field of the Committee on Professional and Economic Status. The group has devoted a great deal of time to discussion and to the planning of activities which it believes will be helpful. However, the program is too extensive for execution by busy volunteer workers. Therefore, on Jan. 1, Κ. Β. Fleer of the Secretary's staff was assigned to the com mittee for part-time service. I n the foregoing, initiation of several new activities has been mentioned. Growth in volume of all routine i·* evident. We are not giving as good service 'in some fields as we believe desirable. For several years the staff has been overloaded. All of this means more personnel and greater expend itures. There has been growth in the size of the stp,ff during the past year, but it has not kept pace with increase in demands, and individual loads are greater. This is being rectified as rapidly as suitable manpower can be found. Unfortunately, Civil Service employment in Washington is increasing, thus continuing our wartime personnel problems. The growth in staff which has occurred during the past fewr years has overcrowded our quarters. In several rooms there have been more employees than desks. Three persons have been working in the conference room. The tenants on the fifth floor vacated half of their space late in January and are expected to release the rest this month. The editorial staff will move to the fifth floor, the space already available having been occupied. The fourth floor will be devoted to routine operations—members' records, subscrip tions, bookkeeping, etc. All of the execu tive staff will be on the third floor, which also will accommodate the Employment Clearing House, conference room, library, etc. The move is proceeding gradually in a stepwise manner with little interruption to work. On Jan. 1, there was an unusually large turnover in Council membership; of the 505 Councilors, 230 are new this year. Of these, 28 represent an increase in local sec tion representation caused by growth. T h e Council now consists of 444 repre sentatives of local sections, 12 at large, and 49 ex-ofneio. 1229
ACS
OFFICIAL
T h e meeting of the Council about to he held m a y well be one of the most important in the history of the SOCIETY. In order to provide ample opportunity for debate, the body will convene on the S a t u r d a y before t h e meeting, when there will be no com peting attractions and t h e r e will be op portunity for several adjourned sessions under similar conditions.
REPORTS The event of most significance to t h e SOCIETY t h a t h a s occurred since an a d interim report was last rendered is t h e retirement as Secretary and Business Manager of our beloved Charlie Parsons. No one has contributed so much to t h e growth and present position of t h e ACS_ No one can fill his shoes. A:LDEN- H. E M E R Y ,
Secrdary
Stability of Thiosulfate
Reports of Committees Analysis of Commercial Fat Stability Test The committee has not done any col laborative work on the fat stability test during the past year. However, some work has been going on in one of the labo ratories, investigating some of the variables involved in the test. T h e r e is nothing definite to report a t this time. Unsaponifiable
Matter
A group of samples was prepared by adding known quantities of various types of unsaponifiable matter to coconut oil. C o c o n u t oil was selected because of its n a t u r a l low content of unsaponifiable m a t t e r . T h e s e samples were submitted t o a subcommittee who determined t h e unsaponifiable m a t t e r by several selected m e t h o d s . T h e results are shown in Table I. In t h e case of the original oil, all methTable I Laboratory
Method
Sample
Plue 2% lanolin
Soap Brown grease Light grease Brown grease Yellow gTease Yellow grease
Air Oven at 101° C. for 15-2Θ Minutes 0.66 2.00 0.86 1.88 O.70 0.96
Unsaponifiable Matter in Refined Coconut O i l Plus 2% Plus 2% Plus 2% Refined Lanolin Lecithin Cholesterol Coconut Oil
%
%
0.68 0.60 1.98 27 2.10 27 Continuous 2.20 32 2.17 25 SPA 2.19 28 2.49 55 2.07 19 FAC 1.92 20 a Attempts to use ethyl ether with the continuous and FAC owing to tne formation of emulsions. 0
o d s gave results within reasonable agree m e n t . W h e n unsaponifiable m a t t e r was abided there was a tendency for the SPA m e t h o d to yield t h e highest results al t h o u g h there was little t o choose between , i t and t h e continuous method. D e n a t u r i n g oil is not completely recovered by any method. A comparison was made between vac u u m a n d air-oven drying. T h e results a p p e a r in T a b l e I I . F u r t h e r work will be done on drying m e t h o d s with special reference to the re covery of denaturing oils because it is p r o b a b l y a t this point t h a t this material is lost. F u r t h e r work will also be done on the comparison of methods.
Congeal
%
Matter Drying in. Vacuum Oven at 70° C. for 30 Min. and Absolute Pres sure of About: 112 Mm. of Hg
%
0.19 0.25 1.95 2.17 0.25 O.30 1.01 1.28
Refined coconut oil Plus 2% choles terol Plus 2% lecithin
Kerr-Sorber°
1530
Unsaponifiable
Drying in Air Oven aat 101-103° C. for 15 Minutes
%
Vacuum Oven at 56° C... and an Abso lute Pressure of 4 Mm. of Hg to Con stant Weigfcit 0.72 2.40 0.91 1.90 O.70 0.93
Plus 1% Denaturing Oil
2.46 1.85 1.19 0.33 0.83 0.35 1.21 0.23 1.28 0.34 1.35 0.28 1.50 0.62 1.06 0.2Θ 0.26 1.03 methods were generally
Sodium Solution
The s·· ability of sodium thiosulfate solu tion as influenced by the various suggested stabilizing agents is under investigation. T n e storage tests are not yet complete, s o that no conclusion can be made now.
Fats awtd Oils Tab'e II.
generally speaking there was no improve ment over results previously reported \Ind. Enrj. Chem., Anal. Ed., 17, 336-40 (1945)1. Further study of this method will bo necessar}' before any recommenda tion can be made. T h e committee mem bers agreed that none of these methods is satisfactory and do not recommend their u s e for the evaluation of solid fats in com mercial trading.
%
unsatisfactory,
Point
Continuing t h e work started last y e a j on t h e congeal point, another group o f samples was submitted t o a subcommittee for trial with some modification of t h e methods used last year. T h e results a r e shown in T a b l e I I I .
Standard
Potassium
Spectroscopic
19° C . 29.6 31 . 2 31 . 4 35.7" 2S.S
Although in a few instances there w a s agreement between different members, CHEMICAL
Methods
A subcommittee undertook to analyze a group of soap and tallow samples by the spectroscopic method of t h e R u b b e r Re serve Co. The results obtained are shown i n Table IV. A committee has recently been appointed by the American Oil Chemists' Society on spectroscopic meth o d s with R . C. Stillman as chairman, and a n y further work of this kind will be re ferred to t h a t committee. Tallo-uj Refining,
Bleaching
Test
Work was started this year in an effort t o find some better means of evaluating fats from t h e standpoint of color for soap production. This began with a collabora tive s t u d y using a method proposed by L . B. Parsons [Oil & Soap, 20, 256-7 (1943)]. This method is not concerned with refining loss, b u t only with the bleached color. T h e d a t a obtained on a series of samples appear in T a b l e V. These samples were bleached with an activated bleaching earth. I t is evident from these data t h a t there is no correla tion between the FAC color of the original fat a n d the color after refining a n d bleach ing. Further work will be done this com ing year on this method. Rewriting
Table III. Congee! Point Laboratory 16° C. 17° C. 18° C. 30.2 31.0 32.3 30.6 31.8 33.0 31.3 31.8 34.0 31.9 36.3 37.4 3O.0 30.4 30.5
Dichromate
A few years ago this committee strongly urged the National Bureau of Standards t o prepare and maintain a standard sam p l e of potassium dichromate to serve as a s t a n d a r d for oxidimetry and iodometry. Such a sample is now available and may b e purchased from the National Bureau of S t a n d a r d s a t Washington, D . C.
Methods
During the past year a subcommittee h a s worked extensively with t h e editor of t h e analytical methods (American Oil Chemists' Society) in reviewing t h e methods of the entire section on Sampling a n d Analysis of Commercial Fats a n d Oils for t h e new book of m e t h o d s which is i n preparation. AND
ENGINEERING
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