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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
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EDITORIALS
THE FORTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY T o t h e members who have learned from experience t h e value of our general meetinzs no appeal need be made t o continue i n their attendance. To those who go intermittently or who have not as yet attended, we would emphasize t h e importance of these meetings a n d of t h e Rochester meeting (September 9-12) in particular. Our general meetings afford benefits of several kinds. Most important is t h e opportunity t o meet t h e foremost men i n t h e chemical profession a n d t o talk over matters of mutual interest. Then there is t h e discussion of papers which is frequently of more value t o us t h a n t h e papers themselves, a n d t h e discussions are not published. Again, t h e Society visits manufacturing institutions of interest t o them, a n d each city offers something unique. Further, t h e social features, t h e get-together sessions, t h e renewal of friendships, all a d d their quota of attraction. T h e chemist going t o t h e general meeting for t h e first time is liable t o feel himself among strangers. H e makes a few friends, meets some men from t h e old school a n d gets enjoyment from t h e meetings, b u t is a p t t o think t h a t t h e trip was hardly worth t h e cost a n d is doubtful about going t o t h e next meeting. A mistake is made if this is followed out, for t h e men deriving t h e greatest benefits from t h e American Chemical Society meetings are those who go regularly. We are about t o hold our first annual meeting as a separate society on t h e plan now in force which p u t s us on our own feet as a n independent organization, standing out as t h e largest chemical society in t h e world. Every effort is being made b y t h e Rochester Section t o offer attractions which will guarantee a n attendance in proportion t o t h e importance of t h e meeting. Rochester is within easy distance of a large majority of our members and has excellent transportation facilities. Both academic and industrial men will be well cared for, t h e general meeting being scheduled a t t h e great works of t h e Eastman Kodak Co. a n d t h e sectional meetings a t t h e University of Rochester. Factory excursions will be a special feature covering a field from t h e production of t h e instruments used b y t h e chemical profession t o works making t h e most modern application of chemistry t o industrial problems. Factories, t h e duplicates of which do not exist in this country or .abroad, will be visited. Social features will be prominent and a good program has been arranged for t h e ladies. We urge members t o be in attendance t h e first day, for such a unique program has never been planned for this Society. T h e general meeting a t Kodak Park will be followed by a complimentary luncheon a t t h e Kodak Works a n d a n inspection of t h e plant, this being t h e only opportunity of making t h e inspection. I n t h e evening comes t h e smoker, full of novelty, amusement a n d good fellowship. A live committee has been working on this event for months for your benefit.
Vol. 5 , No. 9
Let t h e members of t h e American Chemical Society descend upon Rochester i n unprecedented numbers for t h e first day, Sept. gth, a n d make t h e forty-eighth meeting t h e best ever! All will be amply repaid, -
WOOD ALCOHOL Since man began handling fire he has been utilizing dangerous substances t o his own good purposes. Also t h e chemist has discovered many substances a n d shown how t h e y might be used for the benefit of mankind; he has demonstrated t h e value of cyanides for extracting gold; how strychnine may serve as a heart stimulant; he has proved the value of phenol as a disinfectant; a n d how sulfuric acid may be used in multitudinous ways. All these substances are dangerous t o handle, in fact many of t h e commoner reagents used in t h e hundreds of laboratories a n d factories are poisons. Were partial facts only presented, i t is conceivable t h a t they might assemble themselves in astounding array, which, if not properly interpreted, would serve for a cause of impeachment of t h e entire chemical profession, whose daily routine is one of handling poisons of all kinds, except for t h e fact t h a t t h e chemist is supposed t o know his business as well as t h e substances he handles, and t o t a k e some precautions for safeguarding himself and t h e people working with him. It is a matter of business, even if i t presented no humanitarian features. Our attention has recently been directed t o attacks made upon methyl alcohoI, t h e production and sale of which constitutes a legitimate chemical business involving t h e annual manufacture and use of about IO,OOO,OOO gallons of t h a t substance with a capital investment in this country of about $12,000,000, a n industry which employs over 3,000 working people. W e , find in current literature, read b y t h e many, assertions made b y undoubtedly honest, b u t overzealous a n d presumably misinformed persons, or persons not sufficiently informed of t h e facts t o be competent t o judge according t o proportionality, such as t h e following: “It is unsafe t o burn wood alcohol or use i t in any way in a room where the air is close. T h e bottle should never be uncorked uialess the w i n d o w s are wide open.” (Italics ours.) Where would all t h e nearly 7,000 members of t h e American Chemical Society be if t h e latter were really t r u e ? There is no doubt about wood alcohol being a poison if taken internally (although we know of cases, perhaps accounted for by idiosyncrasy, where n o evil effects have resulted from drinking it) a n d if breathed as a vapor in a concentrated form for unusually long periods of time. I n f a c t , nearly a thousand cases of poisoning attributed t o wood alcohol (mostly due t o drinking it) have been reported in t h e literature since 1899, t h e time which marked t h e advent of such preparations as I ( Columbian Spirits,” “Colonial Spirits,” etc.-that is t o say, methyl alcohol of a high gradeof purity. I n 1906, due t o a general agitation for a tax-free, denatured ethyl alcohol, hearings were held before t h e Ways and Means
