INDCSTRIAL L Y D ESGI.VEERISG CHEMISTRY
July, 1927 of the subject. ducing portion that for cupric come entirely
If the rate of reaction of alkali on the reof the cellulose be infinitely greater than ion on the same group the effect would beone of relative rate of absorption. This
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seems unlikely and it is believed that the ultimate explanation of the phenomenon must involve both rates of absorption and rates of reaction of alkali and copper complex on the portion of cellulose containing reducing groups.
Surface Waters of Western North Carolina’ By Margaret D. Foster U X I T E D STATES
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY,
I
SDUSTRIAL development in any locality is related to the available supply of water to an extent that varies for different industries. Soft, clear water is advantageous for any industrial plant and is a primary requisite for textile and paper mills. Analyses made during the last three years in the Water Resources Laboratory of the United States Geological Survey, under a cooperative agreement with the North Carolina Department of Conservation and Development, indicate that the surface waters of western North Carolina are unusually low in dissolved mineral matter and are generally clear. The analyses are of single samples and represent, therefore, the chemical composition of the river waters only a t the point and on the date of collection. They do not show the probable variations in quantity of mineral matter dissolved in the water or carried in suspension. This information can be obtained only by making analyses of composites of daily samples (7 to 10 days each) taken over a period of a t least a year.. The samples for analysis were collected by E. D. Burchard, district engineer of the United States Geological Surrey, or by members of the Water Resources Division of the Department of Conservation and Development of S o r t h Carolina. Methods of Analysis
The analyses were made by the methods regularly used for the analysis of water in the United States Geological Survey, which are essentially the same as those recommended by the American Public Health Association and published in “Standard Methods of Water Analysis.” Alkalinity and chloride were determined by titration 1 Received M a y 10, 1927 Pubhshed b y permmion of the Director, Cnited States Geological Survey.
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according to the usual analytical procedures. Xo carbonate was found in any sample. Sitrate was determined by the phenoldidionic acid method. Suspended matter mas determined by filtering a measured volume of the sample through asbestos in a Gooch crucible and n-eighing the residue after drying to constant weight a t 180” C. Turbidity was determined in a Jackson turbidimeter or, on the clearer waters, by comparison with standard silica turbidities in bottles. Color was determined on a filtered sample of the water by comparison with standard color disks. One or two liters of the filtered water were evaporated to dryness in a platinum dish, and the residue upon evaporation, after drying an hour a t 180” C., was weighed as the “total dissolved solids.” Silica was separated by evaporation with hydrochloric acid. Iron was determined colorimetrically as the thiocyanate. and calcium by titration as the oxalate with potassium permanganate. hlagiiesium was precipitated and weighed as pyrophosphate. Sulfate was determined as barium sulfate on another portion of 1 or 2 liters of the filtered water which had been evaporated down to a suitable volume. The sulfate filtrate, after the removal of calcium. magnesium, and barium, was evaporated to dryness, and the residue was weighed as the mixed chlorides of sodium and potassium. Potassium was determined by weighing the platinum resulting from the reduction of potassium platinic chloride. The sodium in the mixed chlorides was found by difference. The percentage error of each analysis was calculated by dividing the difference between the equivalents of the bases and the acids by the sum of the equivalents. The calculations showed all the analyses to be well within the limits that are allowed for careful analytical work.
Analyses of Surface Waters i n North Carolina and of Lake Michigan (Numbers refer t o analyses in table)
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INDUSTRIAL A N D ENGIAYEERIaVGCHEMISTRY Chemical Composition
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The table shows analyses of the principal rivers of western S o r t h Carolina and some of their tributaries, with analyses of rivers in the eastern part of the state2 and of Lake Michigan3 included for comparison. Several of the analyses in the table are shown graphically in the figure. All the analyses of surface waters in Korth Carolina made in the Water Resources Laboratory of the United States Geological Survey will be included in a report of the State Department of Conservation and Development now in preparation. The analyses indicate that the surface waters of western S o r t h Carolina are low in mineral content. Those in the extreme western part contain less dissolved mineral matter than those farther east. This difference is brought out in the diagram, which also shoRs the relation between these maters and that of Lake Michigan. They are predominantly carbonate waters, with only nominal quantities of sulfate and chloride. There is in most of them no predominating base; calcium, magnesium, and sodium are about equally important. The waters are very soft. Sone of the analyses show more than 25 p. p. m. of hardness as calcium carbonate. Those to the east are, for the most part, slightly harder than those in the extreme western part of the state. The chemical coniposition of a surface water usually changes with the discharge. I n most streams the water shows greatest concentration of dissolved material a t low stages and least a t high stages, although the total dissolved material carried by a stream may be greater a t high stages. Most of the samples were collected a t periods of low water and probably represent about the maximum mineral content. The turbidity and suspended matter in a surface water are usually least a t periods of low discharge and greatest a t times of high discharge, although local conditions may alter this relation. Analyses 19 to 23 show the minimum and maximum quantities of dissolved mineral matter in Peedee and Cape Fear rivers in 1906-7. The head waters of a stream are usually lower in dissolved mineral matter than the water a t points farther downstream or a t the mouth. Analyses of French Broad River a t Rosman and above Asheville and of Broad River a t Chimney Rock and Boiling Springs illustrate this point. The analysea must, of course, represent the river a t the same period, otherwise they are not comparable. The difference is greater if the drainage area is diverse geologically. If the entire area drained is underlain by rocks of the same kinds, there may be little difference in the mineral content of the rii-er throughout its course. These analyses represent the rivers of western Xort h Carolina in their natural condition. The discharge of industrial wastes into streams changes the composition of the waters, and rivers that originally furnished water of excellent quality may thereby be rendered unsatisfactory for many purposes. This condition exists in Rhode Island and other areas of intense industrial development. 2
3
Dole G S Geoi Survey, W a l e r - S u p p i ? P a p e r 236, pp 52 a n d 90, 1909 Collins, Ibzd 496, p 34, 1923
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National Viewpoint
A review of the series of able Department of Commerce bulletins on crude rubber production gives food for thought on the general question of our Nation's dependence on overseas foreign sources of several important crude materials. Of these rubber is perhaps the most important and most difficult to find a satisfactory substitute. Other materials in this category which occiir t o us a t the moment, but of less importance t o our eco-
July, 1927
I S D CS T RI A / , A S D ESGI-%E RI X G C H E M I S TR Y
nomic life, are sisal and manila fibers, tin, and the several vegetable oils such as coconut and palm oil. As the world’s supply of animal fats decreases the edible vegetable oils become of corresponding importance. The a r t of war has so developed that i t is improbable that in the future any nation, no matter how powerful, can hold command of the seas and thus control the avenues of ocean commerce. The airplane and submarine have been perfected to a point where the lines of communication across the high seas are too precarious t o be depended upon for a supply of essential raw materials. In reading over the government bulletins one is impressed with the fact that in tropical America are vast areas of land with suitable soil and climatic conditions for the growth of all tropical products required by the United States. Much of this land is north of Panama and but a comparatively short haul from our centers of industrial activity. All these areas are capable of being connected with the existing railroad systems without prohibitive cost. The principal objection against development of these areas seems to be the high price and scarcity of labor. But is this such an overwhelming handicap as to jeopardize our supply of essential raw materials in time of national stress? Obviously,
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one cannot expect to find in any part of the world vast areas of available land and also a n abundant population. If the population is there, then the land is occupied by it. In Malaya the labor for the rubber plantations is imported from British India, a t least five days’ sea journey distant. In Sumatra the labor for the plantations is imported from the thickly populated island of Java. In neither place has much success attended the efforts to colonize a resident labor force. Is not this difficulty of labor unduly stressed? Cannot much, if not all, of it be overcome by organization and intelligent direction? Today, rice, the food of Oriental coolies, is being shipped from California to the Orient with the cost of a thirtyday sea haul added to it. For good or ill, the destiny of our neighbors to the south of us is bound up with the United States. Instead of sending millions of dollars across the seas for the development of foreign countries, why not direct this creative force to our American neighbors and help bring to them prosperity by assisting them to develop their wealth of natural resources while a t the same time insuring ourselves against any interruption of supplies of raw materials. SAMUEL W~ERMAX 303 CASADEI. REY APARTMENTS SAXTA C R C Z CAI,IF.
AMERICAN CONTEMPORARIES Samuel Anthony Goldschmidt H E measure of a man’s ability in the industrial field is often his ability to foresee i m p e n d i n g changes and his willingness to drop a paying business while it can be done with little loss and to devote his energies and those of his organiz a t i o n t o n e w fields. The life of Dr. GoldSchmidt has been characterized by just such experience. Born 1848; A.R., College of City of New York, 1868; Engineer of Mines, Columbia, 1871; Ph D. ( H o n o r a r y ) , E m o r y College, Ga., 1875; member of a S.IA.LGoldschmid t dozen chemical societies and of nearly two dozen other scientific societies and clubs-such are some of the numerical items connected with the name of Samuel Anthony Goldschmidt. He was an original member of the XMERICAK CHEMICAL SOCIETY, the Society of Chemical Industry, the Chemists’ Club, and several other organizations of prominence of less interest t o the chemical profession; in other words, Goldschmidt has often shown his ability to pick winners with which t o be identified. The influence most potent in his life was probably his intimate friendship with C. F. Chandler, beginning in 1868 when both were but young men, and unbroken and unimpaired until Dr. Chandler’s death in 1925.
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What opportunities offered themselves for chemical training in this country fifty years ago? Goldschmidt sought the best answer and found it by taking a mining course, though he was not interested in mining and indeed has never been down a mine. His first job was to find a method of cleaning the outsides of tea chests damaged by sea water in the long voyage from the Orient. His second job was to work out a method of bleaching straw hats, and his solution by using oxalic acid and sodium thiosulfate is probably still that most commonly used. For this work he received the munificent sum of fifty dollars and felt he was handsomely paid. Later he went abroad and studied to be a sugar chemist, but he has never been in a sugar refinery since. The phosphate fertilizer industry largely occupied Goldschmidt’s time from 1871 to 1876 and included a trip t o the equatorial guano islands of the Pacific, to report how much more, if any, calcium phosphate (at that day known as “guano”) might be expected from them. Goldschmidt was married on October 2 3 , 1879, to Ellen C. Chesebrough. The day was a doubly happy one, for the previous day he had been offered and had accepted a position changing his expected income from “hopes” to the substantial sum of one hundred dollars a month. The position was that of inspector in charge of offensive trades for the Board of Health, City of S e w York. Dr. Goldschmidt has many stories to tell of that work-of attempted gifts of 50 cents and of a set of 610,000 diamond cuff buttons. The best idea of the constructive help he gave L-ew York’s industries during his nine years of service is that obtained from the following story. X group of business men called him in Rhen he was no longer officially connected with the Board of Health and told him they wished to thank him for the changes he had forced them to make, as these changes had transformed their business from one which paid a profit only occasionally to one which each year paid a most handsome profit, and in token of their appreciation if he wished to go into any business they were ready and would be
