October 20,1926
INDUSTRIAL
AND ENGINEERING
Who's Who among Local Section Officers F. L. Koethen, chairman of the Western N e w York Section, was born in Wilkinsburg, Pa., 1888. H i s boyhood was spent in the Pittsburgh district. His preparatory work was done at Swarthmore Prep. He graduated from Carnegie Institute of Technology, 1908, in chemical engineering. The desire to work in one branch or another of science was undoubtedly created by his father's frequently expressed admiration of his friends,
F . L. Koethen
L. F. Hoyt
Langley and John A. Brashear. The choice of chemistry rather than astronomy came shortly after he took u p photography as a hobby at the age of 14, the spectacular results of developing, fixing, bleaching, and intensifying naturally being very attractive t o the youthful mind. The course at Carnegie was characterized by a very close and informal association with t h e faculty, his being the first class a t this institution, and b y t h e large number of visits t o industrial plants where processes, apparatus, and methods were studied. About 100 different industries, located from Newell, W. Va., to Brooklyn, Ν . Y . , were visited during the 4 college years and vacations. After leaving college, Mr. Koethen was engaged in chemical and chemical engineering work for short periods in the heavy acids, storage battery, and incandescent lamp industries and then joined the staff of the Acheson Graphite Co., Niagara Falls, for electrochemical research. When, in 1915, this company built a plant for the manufacture of lubricating greases, "Gredag," he was put in charge of it and has directed the technical develop ments of these products ever since. His hobbies are outdoor life and B o y Scout leadership. L. F. Hoyt, secretary of the Western New York Section, was born February 2, 1891, in Springfield, Mass. Early in life he exhibited an interest in science, imbibing practically all courses offered i n that branch in high school, including two years of chemistry. H e graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology i n 1913 receiving the S. B . degree in chemistry. He continued his studies there and completed the work for the M. S. degree in the summer of 1914, t h e degree being awarded in 1915. While at M. I. T. he specialized in the chemistry of sugars. Since September, 1914, he has been with the Larkin Co. Inc., of Buffalo. Ν . Υ . , first as food chemist and later as chemist in charge of their research department, where analytical, control, and re search work of a varied character is carried on. He is a member of the American Oil Chemists' Society. His publications include papers o n a special method of estimating sucrose by double polarization, determination of glycerin in the presence of sugars, preparation and properties of true nicotine soaps, notes on some color reactions of rancid sesame oil, and three papers, with J. A. Handy, on the properties and methods of detection of diethylphthalate. He resides in East Aurora, N. Y., the "home of the Roycrofters" and lists as his hobbies gardening, especially the cultivation of irises, and winter sports.
The Mystery Thickens In a recent issue of this publication we printed the following: Oh, chemist, please investigate And drop m e just a line. I'd like to know what carbonate? And where did iodine? In the morning mail comes this poem from an anonymous contributor which we acknowledge with gratitude and publish with promptitude: Said silicon and silicate Who viewed the suicide
CHEMISTRY
7
We do not know what carbonate And heard that iodide. They send this message cheap nitrate While on a joy nitride 'Mid bottled goods (some columbate) While others say bromide There's lots of things we'd rather know Than "where did iodine;" For instance, where did indigo And what does calamine? Does Gene Foss e'er reflect phosgene? And when does bisulfite? What marcasite has anthracene By sun or cryolite? What race was it that furfuran? What horse did glyceride? What kind of skin does mercaptan? Was it an aldehyde? What diet please made ethylene? Who is her cinnamate? Did someone treat me thy lamine And make with vanadate? What team can beat the santonine ? And who's on glucoside? Will umpire soap the paraffine If batt'ry's signs arsenide? Now what delay made tantalate ? Didymium niobite? He bitumen so some tungstate. Can chemists tellurite? How many tons can alcohol? Would alkali on weight? With bob tail flush would guaiacoi? Please this aluminate. —Business Chemistry,
Obituary Auguste J. Rossi Auguste J. Rossi, consulting chemist of the Titanium Alloy Manufacturing Company and the Titanium Pigment Company, Inc., died on September 19 following a three-day illness. Mr. Rossi was the inventor of the process for the manufacture of titanium alloy and pigment and was an internationally known chemist. He received the Perkin medal in 1918. Born in Paris, October 22, 1838, Dr. Rossi received his educa tion there and at the age of twenty came to New York. For several years he was connected with blast furnace works in Fulton, N. J., and New York. Dr. Rossi is survived by his sister, Miss Marie C. Rossi, and three daughters, Mrs. J. B. Nau, Mrs. J. R. Focht, and Miss Louise Rossi, all of N e w York. He was buried in New York. George K. Elliott George K. Elliott, chief metallurgist and chemist of the Lunkenheimer Company for a number of years, died o n the morn ing of September 22. He was stricken suddenly on September 16, was operated upon for appendicitis, but succumbed to an attack of peritonitis notwithstanding a brave fight. Funeral services were held in Cincinnati September 24, and he was buried the following day at Columbus, Ohio. His widow survives him. Mr. Elliott was responsible for the development of the duplex process for cast iron which involves the use in tandem of the cupola and the electric furnace. H e has described for the American Foundrymen's Association in a number of papers the metallurgy of cast iron in the electric furnace. He was past chairman of the Institute of Metals Division of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, past vice president of the American Electrochemical Society and past chairman of its electro thermic division. For a number of years he served on the nonferrous metals advisory committee of the Bureau of Standards and also belonged to the Sigma Xi honorary scientific society. According to the New York Times, the anonymous donor of the $250,000 given last year t o Cornell University for nonresident lectureships in chemistry has been revealed as George F. Baker, New York financier and philanthropist. This was made known by Professor Lewis M. Dennis, head of the Department of Chem istry, when he introduced to a Cornell audience Professor Fritz Spaneth, of the University of Berlin, who opened the course this term with a public address on "Ancient and Modern Alchemy."
