Chemists

In Baltimore, last week, the American Chemical Society improved the Easter vacation with its 69th semi-annual convention.

Governor Ritchie of Maryland welcomed the chemists. So did Mayor Jackson of Baltimore. So did Dr. James F. Norris, the Society's President. Then there were meetings by divisions--Biological Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, etc. Papers were read, discoveries reported, theories expounded, prophecies made.

Two years ago, the outstanding subject of the Society's discussions was fundamental research in the chemical compositions of crude oils. Last spring, interest focused upon the structure of the atom. Last week, the following were among the leading items and individuals on the program:

Corrosion. Rust and corrosion annually destroy some $300,000,000 worth of metals. Only lately has their cause been agreed upon. Not direct oxidation by water or air nor colloidal reaction is now blamed, but electricity set up in metals by the chemical action of contiguous water, air or (especially) the two mixed. The currents disintegrate the metals, producing oxides and carbonates--iron rust, verdigris, tarnish, "bronze disease." Dr. Willis R. Whitney, Director of the Research Laboratory of the General Electric Co., is accredited the founder of the electro-chemical theory of corrosion.

Great plumbing economies were effected by passing water through scrap iron before letting it enter the pipes. The scrap iron exhausted the water's corrosive powers, latent in dissolved air. --Robert J. McKay, International Nickel Co.

Corrosion is an anode action, i.e., caused by a positive charge of elecricity. It was reversed by charging corroded metal negatively. A cathode or negative electric action set up in corroded objects liberated oxygen from the incrustations and brought them back to their original metallic condition. An ugly gray-green cup of Egyptian bronze rust returned to its shape of a bronze cat and kitten. Old coins revealed names and dates. A statue of Isis shed the rust of 30 centuries from necklace, hair, headdress, garments, finger-and toenails. -- Dr. Colin G. Fink, Columbia University.

Wood Alcohol. German manufacturers of synthetic methanol (wood alcohol), from water gas, threaten the $100,000,000 hardwood distillation industry of the U. S. with extinction. Germans have also manufactured liquid motor fuels by a similar process, which consists in passing a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen over a catalytic agent at fairly high temperature and very high pressure.--Dr. Franz Fischer, Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, Mulheim, Ruhr, Germany.

Drinking Alcohol. It takes only a little more perfectly pure whiskey than is necessary to induce deep intoxication to produce death. How you take it makes a difference, too. Many deaths result from drinking wagers, on time and quantity. In illicit U. S. liquors, the chief dangerous ingredient is acetaldehyde.--Dr. Reid Hunt, Harvard Medical School.

Mercurochrome, happy combination of powerful antiseptic and penetrating dye, was injected in the veins of typhoid-carrying rabbits. It freed them of the disease.--J. H. Hill and W. W. Scott, Johns Hopkins University.

Coal Tar Compounds reported:

"Bromsulphalein," a dye, to test the liver's action.--Dr. E. C. White, Johns Hopkins University.

"Phenolsulphonepthalein," a medicine, to rehabilitate kidneys which are so ailing as to prevent an operation that the patient may need.--Drs. John T. Geraghty and Leonard Rowntree, Johns Hopkins University.

"Hexyl resorcinol," an internal antiseptic "50 times as powerful as carbolic acid," less injurious to the organs than any hitherto known.--Dr. Veader Leonard, Johns Hopkins University.

"Metaphen," a germicide, ten drops of which, in the nostrils, checked some thousands of cases of "cold in the head."--Prof. George W. Raiziss, University of Pennsylvania.

Radio Cinema. A "primastic ring" made a tiny point of light travel across a photographic plate in a succession of parallel adjacent lines, the strength of the light varying with the strength of incoming radio signals--a process much like that used by grandmothers in producing the image of a penny by blacking with their pencils a paper pressed over a coin. Result: wireless photography. Prophecies: the auditor of a radio account of a baseball game, or of an inaugural address, or of a scouting aviator's running report, would some day see the players, the President, the battle by radio cinema.--C. Francis Jenkins, Washington, D.C.

Pituitary Principle. Seeking the pure principle of the pituitary glands, the researcher isolated a pituitary tartrate which was still perceptibly active when diluted with 18,000,000,000 parts of water. The drug was the most potent of obstetrical agents, was used with success in treating a certain form of diabetes.--Dr. John J. Abel, Johns Hopkins, University.

Rubber-plating. The colloidal particles in the sap of the rubber tree and in artificial rubber solutions are electrically charged. It was found possible to immerse pieces of metal in a bath containing these particles, charge the metal with a current of opposite sign to the charge in the rubber, and "rubber plate" objects just as silverware is electroplated. Deposits of rubber a fifth of an inch thick were obtained. Vulcanized, the deposits were found to adhere more tightly than ever. It was predicted that fabrics could be similarly treated and the rubber-garment business revolutionized.--Dr. S. E. Sheppard, Rochester, N.Y.

Invisible Light. Certain dyes and pigments possess the property of becoming more visible when exposed to the invisible infra-red rays of the spectrum. This fact was utilized for experiments in flash-signal communication that was invisible to any one but the receiver of a message. The receiver was equipped with a tinted shade for his field glasses similar to the shade used in the signal lamp. Application of this phenomenon to airplane camouflage, theatrical scenery and detection of forgeries was elaborated.--Dr. Robert W. Wood, Johns Hopkins University.

Radon, the gas-like emanation of radium, costs five million dollars an ounce to produce; loses half its potency in four days; but is 160,000 times as active as radium; is put up in tiny glass "seeds" the thickness of a human hair; and $25 to $50 worth of it does the same work as $2,000 to $4,000 worth of radium. Since radium gives off radon constantly, yet loses only half of its activity in 1,700 years, the supply of radon, however expensive, is virtually inexhaustible.--Dr. Charles H. Viol, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Undertakers. Modern embalmers are far in advance of the mummy-makers of Egypt. The latter salted, then swaddled their subjects from view; took three months to do it. Today, bodies are prepared lifelike, exposed to the view of mourners, in three hours' work. --Dr. Jerome Alexander, Manhattan.

Tires. Chemical research had found organic "accelerators" for the manufacture of automobile tires, permitting the rubber to be vulcanized three to four times as fast as before; had saved U. S. motorists 50 millions a year in tire bills, rubber merchants 40 millions a year in equipment.--William G. Geer, Akron, Ohio.

German Dyes. Secret formulae for German aniline dyes, seized at the U. S. Patent Office by the Alien Property Custodian in 1917, were found to be shams when U.S. chemists tried to use them.--Robert W. Neff, member of the Society.

Diabetes. An alleged specific for diabetes, "intarvin," was again brought forward. Unlike insulin, which stimulates the pancreas into assimilating fats as it should, intarvin is described by its inventors as itself a fat, a new kind of fat, with its carbon atoms arranged in such a fashion that even an ailing pancreas can assimilate them without assistance.--Drs. Max Kahn, Manhattan, and R. H. McKee, Columbia University.

Fish Pearls. At least four New England firms manufactured "pearls," indestructible, undetectable save by shrewd experts, by dipping glass beads in a solution of "guanadine," a compound worth $125 an ounce, made from the stomach scales of alewives*.--Gustavus J. Esselin Jr., Boston, Mass.

Prosperity and Research. Organic chemists have outlined a "vast program" of research in petroleum. A great increase in national wealth will result if financial leaders of the oil industry show interest. An oil shortage will soon follow if they do not. . . .The infant U. S. dye industry is threatened by "a monster dye monopoly" in Germany. . . . Research work in Organic Chemistry has, however, freed the U. S. from the danger of a sugar famine. From corn, a sugar free of dextrines and 99.85% pure has been obtained. Pure food laws should soon be modified to admit this new food.--Dr. C. H. Herty, President of the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association.

Shark Leather. A fit of temper had caused the throwing of a piece of sharkskin into hydrochloric acid. When the skin was lifted out, the shagreen or rough epidermis could be removed. Result: sharkskin shoes and other new leather goods.--Dr. Allen Rogers, Pratt Institute.

New Anesthetic. A family of white rats thrived, multiplied, during a period when they were repeatedly rendered unconscious, sometimes for seven hours on end, with "propylene," a gas similar to ethylene and acetylene.--Dr. Lloyd K. Riggs and Harold D. Goulder, New Brunswick.

Vacuum Tubes. Thorium, oxygen and caesium fused upon tungsten elements, produced an indestructible vacuum tube for radio sets.--Dr. Irving Laugmuir, General Electric Co.

Cell Compounds. "Cholesterol," a substance abundant in the skins, brains and certain glands of animals, was designated as the agent that carries the healing effect of the ultraviolet ray in sunshine to the interior of the body, whither the ray's short wavelength cannot penetrate through the skin. A similar substance, "phytosterol," native to vegetable oils, was found to retain the activity imparted to it by ultraviolet rays. The latter discovery shed light on the elusive vitamins by showing that a simple chemical compound may be endowed with radiant energy.--Dr. Alfred F. Hess, Columbia University.

*The alewife, a fish common to New England waters, is caught, rotted, used in large quantities for fertilizer.