THE CHARLES JAMES HALL OF CHEMISTRY OF UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
THE
Historical The teaching of chemistry in the University of New Hampshire began in 1868, soon after the establishment of the College a t Hanover, although a t that time it was confined more especially to the field of agricultural chemistry. In 1892 the College moved to its present location in Durham. By this time the work in chemistry had expanded so that a separate building, Conant Hall, was erected a t a cost of $40,000 to house the activities of the department. Under the Professorships of Charles I,. Parsons and more recently of the late Charles James, the department expanded and developed so that entirely new and larger quarters became necessary. It was to fulfil this need for modern teaching facilities and adequate research space that the present building was planned and erected. Charles James Probably no one is better able to furnish us information concerning the man under whose capable guidance this chemistry department was for the past twenty years and in whose honor this new structure was dedicated than Dr. Charles L. Parsons.' Charles James was born April 27, 1880, a t Earls Barton near Northampton, England. He studied with Ramsay a t University College, and graduated from the Institute of Chemistry in 1904, hemming a Fellow tin 1907. He came to the United States in 1906 and was first employed as achemist for the National Refining Co., going the same year as instructor to New Hampshire College, being promoted t o full professor in charge of the department in 1912, and receiving from the University of New Hampshire the honorary degree of doctor of science in 1928. Doctor Tame.; was a member of the American Chemical Societv. .. The Chemical Society (London), and Alpha Chi Sigma. He was awarded the Ramsay silver medal in Daoers 1901 and received the Nichols medal in 1911. He was the author of over bixtv .. . published in the Journa2 of the American Chemical Society, chietly in the field of the rare earths. He also contributed to many other scientific chemical journals and wrote the
positions of honor and would have received far more recognition than was his lot. His work and his friendly helpful nature deserved it. He preferred t o stay in his laboratory, often until late a t night, or work among his flowers rather than attend meetings or make new acquaintances. A few in the Northeastern Section, whose meetings he did attend, and those of us who were fortunate enough t o come in close contact with him personally, have lost a sincere friend who was always a pleasant companion as well as an inspiration. He was devoted to flowers and preferred a vacation among the orchids of Honduras, or the like, t o any other relaxation. His home was surrounded with delphiniums, in which he specialized. His income was divided between building green-
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houses and flower beds and the purchase of rare minerals, almost from the ends of the earth, t o furnish the rare earths to which his professional life was devoted. With the rare earths he worked with kilograms, where others have dealt in grams. He left a large, important. and valuable collection in Durham, besides furnishina- auantities to . others for their researches. It is doubtful if there is anywhere in the world a more camplete collection of the rare earths than he left in Durham. It is to he hoped that some one 01 his pupils, and some one who is thoroughly competent, willmakeit a labor of love to see that they are carefully preserved and labeled. Many of them have been separated to a degree of purity not before accomplished. The writer remembers distinctly that a t the time the discovery of lutecium was announced from France, Professor James was about to publish his own discovery of the element on which he had been working for months, and of which he had accumulated a large amount. He would have published the results of his discovery sooner save for his determination t o print no statements that had not been verified. The announcement of the discovery by anothcr was a natural disappointment to him, but only one or two of his associates ever knew of the fact. The publication havihg been made and being correct, he accepted it without question and made no claim whatever for his own work. So far as the writer is aware, his publications have never been questioned by those in the same field. When the discovery of illinium was announced, he had spectrographs showing the lines but did not consider himself justified in publishing the discovenr. The situation was much the same with him as it was in the case of lutecium, except that with lutecium he had in hand a much larger quantity of the highly purified material. Doctor James possessed an unusual technic in preparing large quantities of rare metals. He prepared rubidium, cesium, lithium, uranium, and beryllium compounds in sansiderable quantities for other research laboratories in this country. His aid will be missed by many who had the good fortune t o know him. Doctor James was always referred to as "King" James by his students and associates. I n fact, he was more frequently addressed by this nickname than by his own. Those who had the privilege t o study under lkm and those who were associated with him, as was the writer for some years, will all acknowledge the inspiration they received from his companionship and his knowledge, and will long remember a friend who cannot he replaced.
Dedication On November 9, 1929, nearly four hundred members of the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society and other guests of the University attended the dedication of the Charles James Hall of Chemistry. The morning program was held in Murkland Auditorium with President Edward M. Lewis of the University presiding, and included the following addresses. "Charles James-Teacher," DR. LESTERA. PRATT,Director of Research, Merrimac Chemical Co. "Charles James-Chemist," DR. IRVINGLANGMUIR, General Electric Co. "The Relation of Chemistry to Agriculture and Biology," DR. HENRY G. KNIGHT,Chief of Bureau of Chemistry, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. "The Laboratory-The Key to Progress," DR. CHARLESL. PAR SONS,^ Secretary of the American Chemical Society. This address will be found on page 821 of this issue.
CHARLES JAMES
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In the afternoon, the regular monthly meeting of the Northeastern Section was held in the chemistry lecture room. Dr. Irving Langmuir spoke on "The Chemical Reactions Produced by Heating Tungsten Filaments in Gases" and Professor Worth H. Rodebush of the University of Illinois spoke on "The Magnetic Properties of the Rare Earths and Other Transition Metals." The following is a brief abstract of this address written by W. H. Rodebush: At one time the man who did research upon the rare earths was regarded with goodhumored indulgence by his colleagues. The rare earth group was commonly supposed t o he a group of elements without practical importance and of monotonous chemical behavior. The investigation of the magnetic susceptibility of the rare earth ions showed t h a t this monotony does not extend to the physical properties and with the development of our knowledge of atomic structure the rare earth group has become the most striking example of the brilliant achievements of the new physics. The peculiar properties of the rare earth ions are due to the fact that the external shell or group of electrons for each ion is tbc same, a group of eight electrons such as characterizes the outer group of the inert gases such as argon. The difference in the rare earth ions is to he found in the uncom~letedfourth shell of electrons lying beneath this outer fifth shell. The number of electrons in the uncompleted shell is different for each element. ' The outer inert shell insulates the inner shell so completely from external influences that the situation is comparable to atoms in the gaseous state and a remarkably simple hchaviorresults. L a t + + has 18 electrons in the fourth shell, C e + + + 19 and so on, L u i t + completing the groups of 32. Each electron added after L a C + +contributes to the magnetic moment of the ion in two ways, through its orbital motion and through its spin on its own axis. By combining the'spin and orbital motions according to the wellestablished mles of the quantum theory, Hun$ has succeeded in predicting with astonishing success the values for the magnetic susceptibility of the ions. La+++has no electron to contribute t o the moment and in the case of Eu++' and L u i + + the electron magnetic moments neutralize each other so that the curve for magnetic susceptibility shows two maxima and is very irregular. The ions of neighboring elements difler markedly in susceptibility from each other so t h a t the possibility exists of a separation either directly in an inhomogeneous magnetic field or by some other property which in turn depends upon magnetic susceptibility. At low temperatures some of the rare earth salts as gadolinium sulfate octahydrate would show a very hizh mmagnetic susceptibility and a large temperature coefficient for this susceptibility. The temperature coefficient indicates that there is a reversible heat effect accompanying the processes of magnetization and demagnetization. It occumd to Debye and Giauque independently that this effect might be used as a means for getting temperatures below the boiling paint of helium. The processes of magnetization and demagnetization of the salt would take the place of the compression and expansion of the fluid in the ordinary refrigeration cycle and the nearer to absolute zero the higher the efficiency of the proccss. It may be predicted that many interesting uses will be made of the high magnetic susceptibility of some of the rare earth salts. ~
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A display, illustrating the work which had been carried on by Professor James and his students, was of especial interest to the visiting chemists. It was arranged to illustrate the various minerals which had been used as the source of supply of the rare earths and many beautifully colored and
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highly purified salts of the rare earths together with a typical series of crystallizations which illustrated the successive steps in a crystallization process. Description of Building The building consists of a main portion containing four floors, in which the work of the department of chemistry is given, and a wing having three floors in which the work of the Experiment Station and agricultural and biological chemistry is camed on. The architecture is Georgian and is in harmony with other recent buildings which have been constructed on the University campus. The main lecture room has a seating capacity for 170 and contains a well-equipped demonstration table, a hood located just back of the table and a ventilating system in which the warmed air is drawn through openings beneath each seat and removed through ducts in the ceiling. There is a projection room in the rear and a preparation room connecting. In addition, there are four classrooms in other portions of the building which accommodate smaller groups. As a unit of the department, a well-lighted room has been designed for the library. This room contains the texts in chemistry and a generous supply of bound journals and is in charge of a librarian. On the ground floor are two laboratories of organic chemistry, accommodating 60 and 36 students, combustion rooms and balance room, several research rooms and special rooms forth: work in rare earths, such as grinding and crushing rooms, an evaporation room, furnace room, crystallizing room and spectrograph room together with space for the general stores. The first floor contains the departmental offices, laboratories of physical chemistry, of agricultural chemistry (96 students), of biological chemistry (32 students), and several research rooms. On the second floor are the general analytical laboratories in qualitative (118 students) and quantitative analysis (60 and 48 students), a balance room, and the rooms devoted to the work of the experiment station which include six private laboratories opening from a general utility laboratory, a dark room, a Kjeldahl room and an animal room. The laboratory for general inorganic chemistry on the third floor has lockers for 560 students. I t is lighted on three sides and has a store room opening directly into the laboratory. Scattered throughout the building but located near their respective teaching laboratories are offices and private research laboratories for each member of the staff. On the top floor is a large club room which has been fitted for a lounging and smoking room for the students majoring in chemistry. In the following a few special details have been chosen for especial mention. The building is supplied with both high- and low-pressure steam, the former for hot plates in many of the laboratories and for the distilled water
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still which is located on the top floor and supplies distilled water through block tin pipe to all of the laboratories; the latter for hot water mixers and steam-baths principally in the organic laboratories. The electric service consists of lines for a. c. and d. c. current. There are three d. c. generators supplying 200, 110, 25 volts and twelve storage batteries all of which are controlled from a main switchboard in the machinery room. An automatic telephone system connects the various parts of the building. The laboratory equipment consists of oak desks with chemically treated, heavy birch tops. The woodwork is also a light oak and the walls a very light buff making the whole effect a light and pleasant one. The floors are covered with rubber stone tile in the laboratories and with terrazzo in the corridors. To aid in the acoustical properties of the lecture rooms and corridors, the ceilings have been covered with "Celotex." Memorial Tablet The efforts of the men associated with Professor James in the planning and erection of the building, Professor E. T. Huddleston from the Architecture Department of the University, and Professor T. G. Phillips of the Agricultural Chemistry Department have been well rewarded in the completed building. To the memory of Professor James who died in December, 1928, just as the structure was beginning to rise, his former students have erected in the main corridor a memorial tablet which bears the following inscription. CHARLESJAMES Sc.D. F.I.C. PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY INTHISUNIVERSITY 1912-1928 IN WHOSEMEMORY THIS BUILDINGIS DEDICATED TEACHER AND EMINENT AN INSPIRING CHEMIST,WHOACHIEVED BRILLIANTAND MASTERFUL RESEARCHES OR SCIENCE THATTHE HIDDENTRUTHS MIGHT THE BETTER SERVE HUMANITY. This Tablet Is the Gift of His Students November 9, 1929.
"The test of true education is not what schooling does far the student, but what the student does for himself. Teachers provide his mental tools, but only he can decide how well he may use them."-Collier's
