"Chemistry and Bacteriology"-Mr. Vincent A. Gookin. S. J. "New Ideas on Laboratory Work8'Mr. Henry C. McLeod, S. J. On September 15th, Georgetown University acted as host a t a luncheon held a t the College for the delegates to the Seventh Annual Conference of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. There were fifty-three foreign delegates listed, representing Belgium. Canada, Chile, Denmark, Esthania, France. Great Britain. Italy, Japan. Netherlands, Poland, Roumania, Spain. and Switzerland. The United States was represented by fifty-seven delegates. Dr. Vincent A. Gookin, S. J., professor
of inmganic chemistry and moderator of the Chemistry Club has departed from Georgetown and has entered Woodstock College, where he will continue his studies. His place has been filled by Mr. L. C. Gorman,S. J., who comes to Georgetown from Woodstock College. The staff has been augmented by the addition of another instructor in the person of Mr. John Sheahan, who comes to us from Holy Cross College, Worcester, Mass. Messrs. P. Francis Wilson, Arthur A. Espenscheid, and John Sheahan of the department are working for their Master's degrees. Their problems are in the field of qualitative analysis.
Industries Coliperate in Government Research. Sixty-one research scientists, representing 36 organizations most of which are national in scope, are a t work a t the U. S. Bureau of Standards, helping to solve industrial problems. The purpose of this co6peration. according to Dr. George K. Burgess, director of that bureau, is to make well-equipped laboratories available for the mutual benefit of government and governed, to bind the bureau and industry more closely together, to encourage the application of science to industry, and to add government prestige to research results. This is a further development of the purpose for which the Bureau of Standards was created by Congress, Dr. Burgess said. CoBperation between industry and govemment research is also fostered by st& meetings, conventions, and national and international society meetings. As the direct result of this closer union of science and industry, more than $150.000,WO have been saved in the automotive industry alone, in brake linings, tires, and motor fuels. The steel industry is studying methods of treating and working iron and steel with gratifying results. The hosiery industry is one of those which maintains an associate research worker a t the Bureau of Standards, with a saving already of 28 millions.-Science Service Tissue Destruction Increases Blood's G e m Destroying Power. Destroying the tissues of the body apparently gives the blood additional power to destroy germs. Experiments undertaken by Dr. G. R. McCawen, surgeon commander of the Royal Navy, show that the inhalation of mustard war gas increases this quality in the blood. Other tissue-destroying substances such as hydrochloric acid and formic acid produce the same eflect, he declares in a report to the medical periodical Lancet. No change in the d e c t of the blood on bacteria is noticed when substances are injected which do not moduce a destmction of the body tissues. -1t is suggested that this gem-kikng capacity is due to an antibactericidal element from the white blood cells, whose traditional function is the defense of the body against disease, being turned loose in the blood wbm they are destroyed during the general disintegration of tissues.-Science Servicq
