iNTERNATiONAl
WORLD WIDE CHEMISTRY
deposits on the southeastern slopes of the Atlas mountain chain in French Morocco, due north of the current find, are now being actively exploited for t h e American market.
G e r m a n pharmaceutical exhibition reveals n e w drugs for tuberculosis a n d cardiac diseases . . . Prefabricated housing in India reaches actuality
ECA Authorizes Drug Purchase f o r Indo-China
rvuiiiNG the "Week of Therapy" held at A > - ' Karlsruhe, Baden, in September, leaders in the field of medicine throughout Germany gathered for conclave and t o view a pharmaceutical exhibition staged by about 200 firms. Among them were Hoechst, which recently opened the largest penicillin plant in Europe; Bayer, outstanding as producer and originator of sulfa drugs, and Merck. Bayer has brought out a new chemotherapeutic drug, conteben, for use in tuberculosis. Boehringer Son displayed a new heart medicine called strophoral, a strophanthin in tablet form. Trichloren, introduced by Merck, is a new inhalation analgesic. Knoll showed new products based on alkaloids. C. Lorenz of Stuttgart demonstrated an electromedical apparatus which allows o b servation of pulse and blood pressure of a patient during operation by recording light signals.
Acting on reports that aureomycin has been of great benefit in the treatment of trachoma, the Economic Cooperation Administration has authorized the purchase of 60,000 tubes of aureomycin ointment for air shipment to Indo-China. ECA said it has not been established yet that aureomycin is a cure for trachoma but that preliminary tests with the drug in the Hanoi area of Vietnam show the drug gives great relief to trachoma victims. The Eye Institute, a local government agency, is making an investigation and will report soon on results obtained from use of the drug. In the meantime, the E C A Special Technical and Economic Mission to IndoChina is organizing and training trachoma control teams, which will b e under the direction of Andrew W. Para, one of the six U. S. Public Health Service specialists who are helping to combat diseases in the area under the ECA program.
First Indian Prefabs G o Up The first Indian-produced prefabricated house has now been put up by the Government Housing Factory, Delhi, which went into production on Independence Day, Aug. 15, 1950. Twenty-five houses have been produced so far by the factory; each has two small rooms, two verandas, a kitchen, and a bath. At first the houses will have aluminum roofing. At a cost of $1,092,000 work on the factory was begun last September when a giant hangar with four autoclaves, b e lieved to be the biggest in the world, and several other types of heavy machinery were erected.
W o r k on U. S.-Owned Oil Refineries Speeded in England Construction work has now begun o n the big new oil refinery at Coryton, o n the Thames estuary, plans for which were announced b y Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., Inc., last March. Socony-Vacuum is cooperating with Powell Duffryn Ltd., an English company which provides part of the capital required, and financial assistance will also be forthcoming from the Finance Corporation for Industry Ltd., the British government's finance agency for big industrial ventures. The refinery is t o be completed by the end of 1952, and part of the installations, all of which are to be manufactured in Britain, will be in operation before that date. Work on the oil refinery under construction for the Anglo-American Oil Co. Ltd., British subsidiary of Standard Oil Co. ( N . J.) at Fawley, on Southampton Water, is proceeding at full speed to finish construction b y the end of 1951. With a V O L U M E
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capacity of 5.5 million long tons, this refinery, the largest one in Europe, will handle one quarter of the whole British crude oil intake. Much of the plant has already been installed, and one of these units is now producing Paranox 56GB heavy-duty oil additives ( t h e letters "GB" are added to distinguish the British from the U. S. product). Later premium motor oil additives and super-duty additives designed to meet U. S. Army Specification Supplemental List 1 and 2 requirements will also b e made at Fawley.
Alcohol Plant in Dominican Republic Increases O u t p u t The recently completed absolute alcohol plant in Ciudad Tnijillo, Dominican Republic, the Destilera Universal (C&EN, Aug. 28, page 2 9 8 1 ) has been operated 25% above rated capacity, and provisions have been made for doubling its capacity, according to R. S. Aries. The e n gineering for the plant was done by Kohn & Pechenick, Brooklyn, N . Y., with R. S. Aries & Associates as consultants. This was a turn-key job with unit responsibility for the initial surveys, design of equipment and building, purchase and shipment, supervision of erection, and initial operation handled by the above firms. T h e alcohol, which utilizes local blackstrap molasses in its manufacture, is used for blending with gasoline.
Health Program Instituted in Indonesia The first aid to Indonesia under the U. S. Special Economic and Technical Assistance Program is the authorization by ECA for $35,000 worth of D D T . Small dollar-wise, the shipment is no indication of the size of the ECA program for Indonesia but was issued so that the health program worked out in conjunction with the Indonesians could be launched as soon as American officials arrive in the country. Special health teams, working with local authorities, will spray approximately 50 tons D D T in malaria-infested areas to kill the mosquitoes which carry the disease.
Manganese Sources Found in A f r i c a Quantities of manganese ore of still undetermined richness have been reported to be lying on the surface between Ain Ben Tih and Fort Trinquet in one of the most arid regions of North Africa. Since Soviet Russia has been o n e of the main sources of this critically needed steel hardener, this discovery of n e w deposits is of importance to American steel manufacturers. Previously discovered manganese
OCTOBER
2,
1950
Brazil Expands H y d r o e l e c t r i c System Pioneering efforts of American & Foreign Power Co. in developing an active capital market in Brazil so as to finance much needed expansion of electric power are achieving success, according to American investment bankers. More than 500,0 0 0 common shares of Cia. Paulista de Força e Luz have been sold, amounting to over $5 million. Purchases of these shares were made by Brazilians on all economic levels. Cia. Paulista de Força e Luz and the 18 other Foreign Power subsidiaries comprise the largest single investment of American capital in Brazil, with a total of $125.5 million.
Jamaica to H a v e Alumina Plant Aluminium Ltd. of Montreal has announced that its subsidiary, Jamaica Bauxites Ltd., plans to begin construction soon of its long planned $8 million alumina plant in Jamaica, British West Indies. Plans for bauxite mining facilities and construction of a new type of plant for conversion of bauxite into alumina at Jamaica have been under consideration by Aluminium since 1942, just after the discovery of bauxite on the islands. ECA will advance $5,715,000 to the subsidiary. The dollars will be repaid in aluminum to be added to the U. S. stockpile over an eight-year period. C&EN Foreign Correspondents Contributing to This Issue: FELIX KIEFER,
Germany
G. ABRAHAMSON,
Engfond
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