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I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERihTG CHELWISTRY
Vol. 15, No. 7
AMERICAN CONTEMPORARIES William Francis Hillebrand
“traces” are not small determinable quantities, but real traces Many of his determinations of small fractions of a per cent of If heredity and environment make US what we are, their inthe less abundant constituents of rocks have been of illuminating fluence can be seen in Dr. Hillebrand. His grandmother was value t o the geologist by bringing t o light unexpected differences an observant and lively old lady, if one can judge from certain or similarities. passages in her diary, and his father was not only a physician, Honesty in analytical work cannot but have its influence but a botanist whose garden is still one of upon t h e daily life and contacts of him who t h e show places i n Honolulu. Dr. Hillepractices it. Dr. Ilillebrand once said t h a t brand was born in Honolulu, December 12, he was selected as chief chemist of the Bu1853. His boyhood was spent in the Sandreau of Standards because of his reputation as wich Islands and California, he visited Japan, a n analyst. Perhaps it has never occurred t o and t h e last two years of his teens were him t h a t unwavering integrity in all his passed in Ithaca as a student a t Cornell. It dealings may have had more to do with his is not surprising t h a t he is not only a scienselection t h a n he suspects. tist, b u t also a nature lover, interested in “For great examples justify command.” plants and birds, and fond of gardening. It Dr. Hillebrand’s attention to apparently is harder t o say why he was for many years trifling details is well illustrated by his acmuch interested in philately. count of the discovery of the gas which years H e is fond of music and his favorite game later he called t o the attention of Ramsay, of cards is skat. He rises t o the spirit of a who showed it to be helium. In 1890 he social gathering with good grace. He has observed the sIow and long-continued evolution of tiny bubbles from a sample of graduated from the ranks of baseball fans, b u t so recently t h a t those who sit at lunch uraninite t h a t had been treated with hydrowith him every d a y still indulge in mild chloric acid in a test tube. H e found t h a t banter a t his expense. Though an enthuthe gas was neither carbon dioxide nor hydrosiastic angler for small-mouthed bass, Dr. gen sulfide, and he is not t o be blamed for Hillebrand will not be enticed by the saltH a w i s E. Ewzng thinking t h a t it was nitrogen. water fishing of t h e Chesapeake a n d the W. F. HII&EBRAND Nothing better shows Dr. Hillebrand’s selflower Potomac. Who shall say whether his effacement than this placing of a possibly patience at fishing makes him more careful and particular about great discovery in Ramsay’s hands. the details of laboratory work or the reverse? When his work came to be known by other chemists, Dr. A t t h e end of his sophomore year a t Cornell, Dr. Hillebrand Hillebrand was constrained t o write the first of a series of five began his studies in Germany, at first under Bunsen. In 1875, bulletins of the Geological Survey, in which his analytical methods with T. H.Norton, he was the first t o prepare metallic cerium, are described. The first two, Nos. 148 and 176, take into account lanthanum, and what was then called “didymium.” His deonly the silicates. T h e others, Nos. 305, 422, and 700, deal termination of t h e specific heats of these. metals showed for the also with the carbonate rocks, Each is a revision and enlargefirst time t h a t they are trivalent, a n d therefore not members of ment of its predecessor. German translations of three of them have been published. t h e calcium family as had been supposed. H e discovered t h a t cerium gives off sparks when filed, Decades later this behavior Dr. Hillebrand has not the teacher’s temperament, but is came to be of commercial value for gas lighters. essentially a laboratory man. His preeminence rests upon that. Another discovery of far greater economic importance is reBecause of it he was president OF the AMERICANCHEMICAL called here. I n 190$, Dr. Hillebrand called attention to the SOCIETY in 1906, and became a member of t h e NationaI Academy possibility of recovering and utilizing the enormous quantities of Sciences in 1908. For a long time he was on the editorial of potash t h a t are volatilized during the clinkering of portland boards of our two journals, and for many years he has been cement. H e is too seldom given credit for suggesting what is chairman of the Supervisory Committee on Standard Methods of Analysis. now a n accomplished fact.’ After leaving Heidelberg, Dr. Hillebrand studied for a time Few members of the SOCIETY know t h a t most of the credit under Fittig a t Strassburg. This was his only digression into for the establishment of THISJOURNAL belongs t o Dr. Hillebrand. organic chemistry, b u t even then one of the two papers he Early in 1906, when he was president, he was told of the danger wrote a t t h a t time was a crystallographic study. H e returned of a split in the SOCIETY because many of the members felt t h a t to his proper field when he went to the Mining Academy a t industrial chemistry was being slighted in what was then our Freiberg, and has never since left it. For a while he worked as only journal. To make a long story short, prompt action was a n assayer a t Leadville in its roaring days. Then followed a taken, there was much correspondence, and many consultations period of five years, 1880 t o 1885,at Denver with the Geological were held to decide whether it was advisable t o s t a r t a new Survey, after which he was transferred t o Washington, where he journal, how it could be financed, what its policies should be, still lives. and whom t o select as editor. All these matters were finally The outstanding feature of Dr. Hillebrand’s work has always settled and the first number of THISJOURNAL was issued in been his placing of mineral and rock analysis upon the high January, 1909. plane of the utmost attainable accuracy. Not for him the easy Dr. Hillebrand’s passion for exactness and precision is not expedient of making analyses sum up exactly 100 per cent by confined t o laboratory work. H e is equally insistent upon the use of precise, clear, a n d grammatical English. It would be putting in just t h e right amount of “undetermined.” His impossible to estimate t h e value of his editorial criticisms of 1Proc. A m . SOG.Testing Materials, 4 (19041,465.
July, 1923
I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
papers submitted for publication in our journals or written by members of the staff of the Bureau of Standards. He will not tolerate an official letter carelessly written by one of his subordinates. In this he is not arbitrarily annoying, but is willing to debate with the culprit aboyt the choice of a word or phrase, or about the tone of a whole letter. He has not forgotten his own early papers that were returned for revision after a liberal blue-penciling by Dr. Remsen, whose suggestions, he admits, always improved the papers. Dr. Hillebrand’s contributions to Clzemical Abstracts were always among the most carefully prepared.
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This is the man who has led the Chemistry Division of the Bureau of Standards since lQOS, and under whom its work has become important in many fields; who has under him a body of chemists who respect and admire and are loyal to him. To these he is “The Doctor,” a title less austere and distant than “The Supreme Court,’,’ as he used t o be called by the chemists of another bureau, who did not have daily contact with him. C.
E. WATERS
SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES A.merican Leather Chemists Association The twentieth annual convention of the American Leather Chemists Association, held at the Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., June 7 to 9, was enjoyed by a large and enthusiastic number of members and friends. Research was the keynote of the meeting; Fraser M. Moffat, president of the Tanners’ Council, which recently appropriated $110,000 for the establishment of a Tanning Research Institute a t the University of Cincinnati, gave an inspiring address on the problems and needs of the tanning industry, and pointed out the necessity of proving to the public the truth of the tanners’ slogan, “Nothing takes the place of leather.” He was followed by Harrison E. Howe, editor of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, who spoke on “Research an Industrial Investment.” Addresses were made by well-known colloid chemists. Martin H . Fischer, of the University of Cincinnati, spoke on “Some Scientific and Technical Aspects of Emulsion Chemistry;” Jerome Alexander spoke on “Degree of Dispersion as an Influence in Tanning.” G. D. McLaughlin, director of the Research Laboratory of t h e Tanners’ Council, and his assistants, E. R . Theis and E. Rockwell, presented papers giving the results of some of their research work on the “Science of Soaking and the Bacteriology of Curing Animal Skin.” An interesting contribution was a paper from t h e Proctor Research Laboratory, Leeds, England, by J. R. Browne, F. C. Thompson, and W. R. Atkin, on “The Ultrafiltration of Tannin Solutions with Special Reference to Tannin Analysis;” Allen Rogers, of Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, gave a n interesting talk on leathers of marine origin, and exhibited a reel of films showing the capture of various kinds of sharks, porpoises, andrays, which, considering the fact t h a t tanners use also the skins of cattle, horse, alligator, snake, lizard, etc., shows t h a t the tanner “has all nature skinned” in his effort to serve t h e public. Committee reports on a wide variety of topics were presented b y G. W. Schultz, R. W. Frey, Lloyd Balderston, Thomas Blackaddcr, and H . C. Reed. The reports were the basis of a lively discussion by the members, as were also the following papers : “Determination of Free Sulfuric Acid in Vegetable Tanned Leather,” by R. W. Frey, S. Kohn, and T. J. Mosser; “Elucidation of Details of Method for Determination of Free Sulfuric Acid in Vegetable Tanned Leather,” by J. S.Rogers; “Extraction of Oils, Fats, and Waxes from Leather,” by Lloyd Balderston; “Effects of Sodium Chloride, Sodium Sulfate, and Sodium Acetate on Precipitation Figure and Tanning Properties of a Chrome Liquor,” by Donald Burton; “Further Observations on the Histology of Bated Skin,” by C. S. Hollander; “Study of Some of the Processes Involved in Tannin Analysis,” by G. W. Schultz; and “Direct Measurement of Plumping Power of Tan Liquor,” by R. U’.Hart.
The following officers were elected for the next year: Presrdent. C. C SMOOT, 111, North Wilkesboro, N. C. Vzce Preszdent: J S. ROGERS,Morgantown, N. C. Secretary-Treasurer. H C . REED,22 East 16th St., brew York City Councrlovs: J. E . BREITHAUPT, Kltchener, Ont.; R. W. GRIFBITH, Canton, N C ; G. D. MCLAUGHLIN, Clncinnati, Ohio, C. R. OBERFELL, Lynchburg, Va.
I Chemical Exposition Plans Buying Fair At a meeting of the Advisory Committee of the Ninth National Exposition of Chemical Industries, held June 6 a t the Chemists’ Club, New York, the plan t o make the exposition which will be held this year at the Grand Central Palace, New York, during the week of September 17 to 22, a huge chemical “buying fair,” was placed before the committee. The plan as outlined suggested t h a t each exhibitor make every effort t o display his goods in a novel method and in a manner which, to some degree a t least, will demonstrate their particular characteristics, special uses, and selling points. It was also suggested that all exhibitors arrange to have as nearly as possible their full sales forces at the exposition, so that they might not only attend company sales conferences in conjunction with the exposition, but also attend joint sales conferences composed of the sales staffs of all the exhibitors. With the large number of chemical and chemical equipment consumers who attend the exposition each year, this sales contact on a large scale, away from the offices of the buyers, was pointed out as very desirable. A tentative report from H. S. Kimberly, of Washington, who has been selected by the committee t o arrange the educational exhibits at this year’s exposition, was heard. The chief object of the exhibits will be to demonstrate t o the business man just what chemicals can do and are doing, and the place of chemistry in business. The Chemical Warfare Service and the Bureau of Chemistry of the Department of Agriculture will have two large displays among the educational exhibits. Chemicals of the kitchen and the chemistry of food are also included. The results of research on a scientifically correct antiknock and carbon compound for internal-combustion engines will be demonstrated.
Calendar of Meetings American Chemical Society-66th Meeting, Milwaukee, Wis., September 10 to 15, 1923. 9th National Exposition of Chemical Industries-Grand Central Palace, New York City, September 17 to 22, 1923. American Electrochemical Society-Fall Meeting, Dayton, Ohio, September 27 to 29, 1923.
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