VOL. 8. NO.2
HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED1
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Why, count me out, Perfesser ! I'm not interested. Not interested? Then why visit me a t all? Oh, yes! Why, here's the way it is, Perfesser: (Leans forward, lowering voice to confidential tone) I've got a chance to get a barrel of "hootch;" The fellow says it's real old pre-war stuffMRS.OYLE: He means each drink is followed b y a fight ! OYLE: I'd like to have you analyze this stuff (Pulls out flask) And see how it tests u p . . . . .That's what I came for. DEAN: Is that all? (Sinks back against table dejectedly) MRS. OYLE: (Brizhtly) No; I have a problem too: I'd like to ask, Professor, if you know Of any chemical that I could use To take off cigarette stains from the fingers? (DEANrolls u p his eyes i n despair) YUMM: (Spitefully) Try concentrated H2S04! MRS. OYLE: Oh, will that do it? Thank you very much! (Makes note) OYLE: (Rising) Well, how about it? Want the job, Perfesser? (DEAN,head bowed on his hand, shakes head and waves him away) No? Well, I'm sorry to have troubled you. (Replaces flask and crosses stage; turns at door) It's funny how you chemists waste your time On truck like that (points) when you might make good money By tackling something useful. Well, Good-night ! (Exeunt MR. and MRS. OYLE) DEANAND YUMM: ( i n unison) GOOD-NIGHT ! (DEANsinks into chair and buries face i n hands, while YUMM looks toward erit with fists clenched as C U R T A I N fulls.)
DEAN: OYLE:
Study Preservation of Lemon Juice. Lemon juice is such a n important source of vitamin C that many efforts have been made t o find conditions under which i t can be stored without losing its anti-scorbutic power. John Williams and J. W. Corran, working a t the Carrow Works in Norwich, England, have found that vitamin C in lemon juice is particularly unstable in the presence of preservatives. Potassium metnhisulfite, which is the best preservative far lemon juice against fermentation, was found to have a definitely destructive action a n vitamin C. The same was true of other preservatives such as sodium benzoate, formic acid, and oil of cloves. The best way of storing lemon juice without destroying the vitamin was t o adjust the acidity with hydrochloric acid t o a certain definite point. When this was done, the anti-scorbutic action of the lemon juice was preserved even after keeping at ordinary temperatures for fourteen months.-Science Service
