Mar., 1 9 1 8
T H E J O L ’ R N A L O F I N D U S T R I A L A Y D E ATGIN E E RI N G C H E M I S T R Y
regarded as representing the usage approved by the Society. The material has been prepared with a great deal of care, and after consultation with those who are interested in the cause of good chemical nomenclature in this country. The rules agree very closely with what is considered the best usage in Great Britain. Copies of the Directions can be ‘obtained by addressing Chemical Abstracts, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
ESTIMATION O F PHENOL IN THE PRESENCE OF THE THREE CRESOLS-CORRECTION In the article printed under the above title [THIS JOURNAL, I O (1918), 91 the following corrections should be made: Page I I , right-hand column, 4th line from the bottom should read: ‘‘2.73’ C.,” in place of ‘‘2.75O C.” Page 12, left-hand column, 6th to 10th lines from the top read: I .oo I .oo “Per cent phenol = -(To - Tso)- 0.0003367 (Go --so) 2.73 or, Per cent phenol = 0.366 (To- Tso)- zg70(G0 - Gso) (I) in the case of o-cresol @-cresol phenol mixtures; and, Per cent phenol = 0.585 (To- Tso)-2780 (Go-Gso) (11) in the case of o-cresol m-cresol phenol mixtures” in place of
+
+
+
+
23 9
I .oo I .oo “Per cent pheno, = - (To- Tso)(Go - G s o ) (1) 2.73 0.0003367 or, Per cent phenoi = 0.366 (To- Ts0) Per cent phenol = 0.585 (To- Tso)- 2780 (Go - Gso) (II).” Page 17, right-hand column, 5th line from the bottom should read: “3 to 4’ C.,” in place of “3 to 40’ C.” Page 18, right-hand column, 25th line from the top should read: “201 ’ C. (corr.)” in place of “197 O C.” G. W. KNIGHT,C. T. LINCOLN,et al.
ELECTRIC FURNACE SMELTING OF PHOSPHATE ROCK, ETC.-CORRECTION The following corrections should be made in the article printed under the above head in THISJOURNAL,I O (1g18), 35. Page 37, 2nd col., 11th line from bottom should read: “7800 tons phosphate rock @ $44.50 per t o n . . . . $ ~ ~ , I o o . o o . ” Page 37, 2nd col., 7th line from bottom should read: “8 laborers @ $2.00 per day (330 day year). . , .$5,280.00.” Page 37, 2nd col., 3rd line from bottom should read: “Power @ $25.00 per H. P. Y . . . . .$IOO,OOO.OO.” J. M. CAROTHERS
WASHINGTON LETTER By PAULWOOTON,Metropolitan Bank Building, Washington
Embargoes, idle Mondays and transportation delays have added materially to the burden of those in Washington who are trying to be helpful in speeding up the production of chemicals and in assisting the government to secure its ever-increasing requirements of the so-called war chemical supplies. There has been no retardation, however, of the activities of the many prominent chemists and of those importantly connected with chemical industries, who are busily engaged in Washington. Research is being conducted and various projects carried into effect which, if they could be made public, would give ample basis for spectacular display in newspapers and doubtless would surprise the great majority of the country’s chemists. For military reasons, however, the more important things which are being done by chemists in Washington must not be discussed. The care that is being taken to maintain secrecy in connection with some activities is indicated by the fact that the correspondent of THISJOURNAL has been requested by a high official not to mention in this correspondence the names of certain prominent chemists who are being called into consultation here or who have been assigned to war work in Washington. Following its first annual meeting in New York, February 6, The Chemical Alliance, Inc , has been able to get down to result-getting work, which was not possible to the same degree prior to a definition of all its policies and a systematic outline of its woik. Chemicals imported during the year just closed were valued at $144,2jj,400. This compares with $125,813,205 for the year 1916. During December 1917, the value of all imports of chemicals was $14,036,740. This is a decided increase over December- of 1916, when the total value of all chemicals imported was $8,487,809. All chemicals exported during 1917were valued a t $193,255,160. This is a substantial increase over 1916, when the aggregate value of all chemicals exported was $165,286,008. Exports of dyes and dyestuffs more than doubled. In 1917 the value was $16,107,361 as compared with $7,953,986 in 1916 and $2,510,650 in 1915. Sulfuric acid exports in 1917 fell slightly below those of the year preceding. The 1917 exports were 63,j42,930 lbs. as compared with 66,463,501 lbs. in 1916. The total value of all acid exports in 1917 was $52,695,640 as compared with $45,015,464 in 1916. The principal increase in the chemicals exported to any single country was to the United Kingdom. President Wilson has appointed, on recommendation of Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo, the following members of the Assay Commission : Representative Wm. A. Ashbrook, Johnstown, Ohio; Dr. W. P. Hillebrand, Bureau of Standards, Washinton; Dr. Marcus Benjamin, Washington; Will H. Rounds, Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Kenneth M. Simpson, San Francisco;
D. C.
Louis A. Fischer, Washington; Dr. Geo. F. Kunz, New York; John L. McNeill, Durango, Col.; W. P. Morris, New Hampshire; L. V. Bassett, Rock Mount, Salem, Ill.; Samuel Newhouse, Salt Lake City; Calvin Page, Portsmouth, N. C.; A. C. Weiss, Duluth; J. H. O’Neil, Boston; L. W. Nieman, Milwaukee; Martin H. Glynn, Albany; Roy W. Keehn, Chicago; S. B. Amidon, Wichita, Kan. ; Robert P. Oldham, Seattle. Arrangements have been made by the United States Geological Survey to secure weekly reports as to output from all by-product coke manufacturers in the country. From these reports, the Survey is compiling weekly a statement showing to what per cent of capacity plants are being operated. The reports also show the factors limiting production. The last report shows that the plants of the country were operated a t 70.6 per cent of capacity. Failure to secure coal caused a loss of 23.8 per cent; repairs to plants, a loss of 2.8 per cent; cax shortage and other causes, 2.8 per cent. Published reports that ample ammonia will be available for ice making next summer forced from the Food Administration an admission that the ammonia shortage is acute and that it is likely to become necessary to commandeer it. Volunteer chemists are addressing millers and bakers throughout the country on the technical phases of milling requirements and how best to utilize wheat substitutes in “Victory” bread and other war-time doughs. The work is under the direction of the United States Food Administration. Cancellation of the car-load rate on hydrofluoric and hydrofluosilicic acids from Newell, Pa., to Columbus, Ohio, has been asked by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in an application to the Interstate Commerce Commission. The same carrier also has asked permission to increase car-load rates on sulfuric and muriatic acids from Moundsville, W.Va., to points in iMaryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Carriers handling imported nitrate of soda, iron pyrites, chrome and manganese ores have requested increased rates from the seaboard to various of the consuming centers. Exceeding in importance any other circumstance affecting the fertilizer industry is the inability to secure transportation of phosphate rock. Shortage has become so acute that several sulfuric acid plants will be forced to close, owing to their inability to store acid which ordinarily is mixed immediately on manufacture with the phosphate. Even a more serious side to the phosphate rock situation is the fact that fertilizer shipments are being delayed. Since 5,000,oootons, out of a total movement of 7,000,000 tons of fertilizers,must move before the end of March in order to be available for this year’s use, the consequences of any delay a t this time are certain to be far-reaching. After one
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day’s idleness on the part of fertilizer factories, the Fertilizer Committee of The Chemical Alliance was able to secure their exemption from the fuel order. Difficulty is being experienced in the administration OF the federal explosives act, due to a very general lack of knowledge as to just what the bill provides. Trade in ingredients is giving the most trouble. The government has under consideration the erection of a n acetic acid plant. While some sites in the United States are being considered in this connection, it is regarded as probable that arrangement will be made to secure the erection of a large addition to an existing plant in Canada. Shreveport, La., has been considered as a possible site for the plant. An unlimited amount of natural gas is available near that Louisiana city. If an entirely new plant is erected, it is estimated that its cost will be $6,000,000. Garabed T. K. Giragossian is greatly in fear that infringers upon his plan to produce energy without expense are going to rob him of the fruits of his work. Mr. Giragossian wrote a lengthy letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives preparing Congress, apparently, for a delay in placing his work before the Commission. An extract from the letter is as follows: “I wish that the Government and the public as well should be the judicial tribunal to conclude as to the originality of my work prior to the verification of my claim as designed. Thus I expect that the scientific commission’s finding will include the originality of the work under the instructions of the Government given beforehand. Then nobody can, a t least morally, challenge and charge the commission with partiality, favoritism etc., in rendering their certificate and thus obscure my achievement. “I cannot believe t h a t the spirit of our Congress will tolerate or for-
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give t h a t I should divulge the secret of my work t o any person or commission so long as there exists a legal opportunity by which infringers can drag me into court in order t o contest the originality of my work, or so long as there may be the faintest possibility t h a t my work may be the prey of patent sharks, or that infringers may have a legal loophole t o pounce upon me and to snatch the fruit of my lifelong struggle. “I a m a t the disposal of our Government a t any time. If I may be commanded to select the authorized commission I a m willing t o do so when I a m notified and given legal, unequivocal, and tangible assurance that I will be recognized as the original discoverer of my work as prescribed above. I t is inconceivable that our Congress will tolerate t h e delay of the advent of this work on account of the fantastic claims o r palmistic phraseology of willful obstructors and impostors.”
The bill concerning the Garabed discovery was agreed to in conference without difficulty and has been signed by the President. Representatives of the Bureau of Chemistry are holding meetings with mill, grain and elevator men throughout the country to demonstrate methods of preventing explosions of grain dust. One of the hitches in the effort to reach a n agreement with Norway regarding the commodities which were to be exported to meet the Norwegian requirements arose over calcium carbide, calcium nitrate, ferrosilicon and molybdenite. While Norway needs calcium carbide as an illuminant and calcium nitrate as a fertilizer, each of these chemicals would be of important use to Germany in the making of munitions. I n the same way, Norway is in great need of ferrosilicon and molybdenum for its domestic use, but as these materials are of first importance in the manufacture of implements of war, the United States War Trade Board drew stringent conditions under which these and other products were to be furnished to Norway. The provisions were more drastic than Norway was prepared to accept.
OBITUARIU CHARLES CASPARI, JR.
Charles Caspari, Jr., whose death took place last October, was born in Baltimore in 1850. His father, a former pupil of Wohler, had for political reasons fled from Germany in 1848, but inspired in his son an intense longing for a German university career. This longing was never satisfied: when still quite young the boy wais thrown upon his own resources, yet lived to prove once more that a distinguished career may result far less from the advantages, financial and educational, by which one may be surrounded in youth, than from such gifts, natural and acquired, as ambition, perseverance and a trained reason. In his effort to prepare himself for a scientific career, he wed every available minute that could be spared from the monotonous work upon which his livelihood as a drug clerk depended: he studied in omnivorous fashion; he perfected himself in methods of analysis; he prepared everything that he was likely t o be called upon to dispense; he got into communication with all who could assist him and answer his questions; and, in order to clarify and coordinate his knowledge, he wrote articles and even textbooks and treatises of formidable scope. He thus became a writer of clear, fluid English, accurate and concise. cAARtss cASPAR,, JR, With intense pride in his profession, he would not tolerate for a moment anything that savored of slovenliness in technique. At nineteen he was graduated from the Maryland College of Pharmacy; ten years later he became Professor of Pharmacy in that institution and held this post until his death. When appointed Food and Drug Commissioner for Maryland, he began a t once a course of con-
structive administration, the aim of which was not prosecution, but instruction and inspiration. Outside his own State, also, he soon attracted notice, and one by one responsibilities were placed upon him. For twenty-eight years he was a powerful influence in the American Pharmaceutical Association. His work upon the successive editions of the Pharmacopoeia, of the National Formulary of the National Dispensatory, was of great value. Dr. Caspari was extraordinarily modest and unselfish; he was straightforward, truthful and unafraid. For anything that suggested display or insincerity, he had nothing but contempt. He feared no one, for he demanded of himself a higher standard of craftsmanship than he could expect from others. For honest failure he felt sympathy, and-a true friend-forgave many failings and enjoyed apparently above all else the pleasure of adding, as he had opportunity, t o the happiness of those about him. He was one whom it was a privilege to have known, and a blessing to have known well. WYATTW. RANDALL
JOSEPH PRICE REMINGTON Dr. Joseph Price Remington, Dean of the Faculty in the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and a member of the American Chemical Society of many years’ standing, died a t Philadelphia, January Ist, in his seventy-first year. Prof. Remington was best known to the scientific world by the fact that since 1901he has been the chairman and the vitalizing force of the Committee of Revision of the United States Pharmacopoeia. Under his energetic yet judicious control, this work, which sets the standards and gives the method of preparation of crude drugs and compounded medicines for the druggists and the physicians of the country, has achieved a position as the most accurate and complete of the Pharmacopoeias of the world. A comparison of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia with those of the most advanced European countries is
