In the early morning hours of Ja n u a ry 7, 1922, W illiam F rear died from an apoplectic stroke, suddenly, a t his home in S tate College, Pa. C hem istry lost an indefatigable worker, one of the pioneers of the science as applied to agriculture, in general, and to food production and legal regulation, in particular. His associates lost a zealous and inspiring co-worker, a p a tie n t thinker, a p rudent counselor, and a tru e friend.
H e was born M arch 24, 1860, a t Reading, P a„ the son of th e Rev. George F rear and M alvina (Rowland) Frear. A fter preparation in the public schools, he studied a t Bucknell U ni
versity (B.A. 1881), H arvard University, and Illinois W esleyan University (Ph.D . 1883).
On completion of these studies, D r. F rear im mediately entered the governm ent service un
der the newly appointed Chief Chemist, Dr. II.
W. Wiley. In 1885, he received the appoint
m ent of A ssistant Pro
fessor of A gricultural C hem istry a t th e Penn
sylvania S tate College where he was soon rec
ognized as a leader in his subject, both in the College and in th e S tate Experim ent Station. He m aintained, however, official and active associ
ation w ith the Federal service, doing notable pioneer work in th e
form ative period of the enactm ent of Food and D rug laws, both S tate and Federal. As fundam ental to an d preparatory' for this legislation, th e C om m ittee on Food S tan d ard s was appointed. As chairm an of th is C om m ittee, it was D r. F re a r’s d u ty to conduct a volum inous correspondence, m ake extensive literature searches, hold hearings a t which antagonistic interests were in action, sift th e evidence judicially, an d draw a con
clusion. T he industry, care, thought, an d ta c t which he dis
played in this work is probably known only to the very few who
Wi l l i a m Fk h a k
TH E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G IN E E R IN G C H E M I S T R Y Vol. 14, No. 3 were closely associated w ith him . T he po in t of view and method
of the scientific investigator is also too generally overlooked in this work. H is services were again called for when in 1914 there was established th e Jo in t C om m ittee on D efinitions and S tandards, of w hich he was chairm an a t th e tim e of his death.
As a tru e pioneer in agricultural college teaching a n d experi
m en t statio n work, th e scope of his in terest and of his scientific production w as wide, including meteorology, lime production an d use, tobacco culture, soiling crops, com position of foods an d feeds, including forage plants, laws to control th e production
Personals
C harles A. Roos, president of the firm of Charles A. Roos, Inc., 429 E a s t 91st Street, N ew Y ork, N . Y., m anufacturers of copper chemical equipm ent, died suddenly of h eart disease on the afternoon of W ednesday, Ja n u a ry 11, 1922, in th e N ew Y ork A thletic Club, of which he had been a m em ber for more th an tw enty years. M r. R oos collapsed ju s t as he was about .to enter th e w ater of th e swimming pool.
M r. Roos, who was sixty-three years old, was b o m in New Y ork and was widely know n through his various business in ter
ests. H is firm n o t only m anufactured m uch of th e copper chemical equipm ent used in synthetic organic chemical m anu
facturing plants around N ew Y ork C ity, b u t also produced a large am o u n t of th e copper equipm ent used b y th e large brew er
ies in this vicinity. I t is understood th a t the business will be carried on under th e direction of his son, M r. C harles A. Roos, Jr., who has been general m anager of th e concern for some years.
F ran k R. E ldred, for m any years chief chem ist and director of th e scientific division of Eli Lilly & Co., and F rederick C.
A tkinson, chemical director of th e A m erican H om iny Co., m anufacturers of cereal products, vegetable oils, sugars, and sirups, have organized th e firm of E ldred and Atkinson, con
sulting chem ists and engineers, w ith offices a t 48 E a s t 41st St., New Y ork C ity, and 1857 G ent Ave., Indianapolis. M r.
Eldred wilt have charge of th e New Y ork office while M r. A t
kinson will rem ain in Indianapolis.
M r. W . S. F risbie recently resigned his position as Chief of th e B ureau of Food, D rugs and Oil, S ta te D ep artm en t of A griculture of N ebraska, to accept an appointm ent as Chem ist in Charge of th e Office of Cooperation, B ureau of C hem istry, W ashington, D. C.
M r. Jerom e A lexander has recovered from his lengthy ill
ness and has become president of th e Uniform Adhesive Co., Inc., Brooklyn, N . Y., m anufacturers of glues, gums, pastes, a n d adhesives.
M r. E rn est W. D ean of th e B ureau of M ines Experim ent S tation, P ittsb u rg h , Pa., has resigned from th e B ureau, and is now w ith T he S tandard Oil Com pany of N ew Jersey.
D r. P au l E. Klopsteg, formerly w ith th e Leeds & N o rth ru p Co., Philadelphia, P a., is now w ith the C entral Scientific Co., Chicago, 111.
M r. Jo h n P . H arris, chemical engineer for th e A llbright- N elt Co., form erly of New York, is now located a t 829 New York Life Building, K ansas C ity, w here he will represent th e AU- bright-N ell C om pany in th e southwest.
D r. W . W . Skinner, A ssistant Chief of the Bureau of C hem istry, has been elected chairm an of the Jo in t C om m ittee on Defi
nitions and Standards to succeed D r. W illiam F rear, deceased.
Mr. E. M. Bailey, A gricultural E xperim ent S tation, New Haven, Conn., has been appointed as th e representative of the Association of Official A gricultural Chemists on this com m ittee to fill th e vacancy caused b y th e death of Dr. F rear.
Mr. J o h n H elfrich, who for the p a st four years served as m an ager of th e Inform ation B ureau of the Chemical C atalog Co., Inc., and who was in charge of the Service D ep artm en t of T in s J o u r n a l , has resigned to establish an office a t th e C hem ists’
Club Building, New Y ork C ity, as a consulting chem ist specializ
ing in the developm ent of products th a t find an application in the leath er industry. P rio r to his association w ith th e Chemical C atalog Co., M r. H elfrich was engaged in th e leather industry as chem ist an d assistant p lan t superintendent.
and sale of fertilizers, foods and drugs, and kindred subjects.
T he list of scientific societies of which he was a mem ber and th e positions of honor and responsibility, which he held in these societies an d in his official life, testify to a life of rem ark
able b read th and high endeavor.
H is social and civic activities were equally broad, keeping him engaged continually for his family, his neighbor, his church, his town, his state, and his country. H e well fulfilled th e specifi
cation of Phillips Brooks for a "four-square m an .”
Is a a c Ki n g Ph e l p s
Industrials
T he B ethlehem L aboratories, Inc., a $5,000,000 co rp o ratio n , has been organized in P ittsb u rg h to m anufacture a new a n ti
septic, known as hyclorite, which is said to possess 175 time®
th e germicidal stren g th of hydrogen peroxide. Among th e in
corporators are H om er D. W illiams, president, Carnegie Steel Co.; T ay lo r Allerdice, vice president, N ational T u b e Co.; and D r. J . J . Reilly, U S. Shipping B oard. T he plans of th e corporation include the construction of a m odem chemical p lan t in P ittsburgh.
_ A t th e annual m eeting of th e stockholders of M onsanto- Chemical W orks, the following directors were elected: Jo h n F.
Queeny, G aston DuBois, E dgar M . Queeny, Theodore Rassieur, H. O. M cD onough, J . D. Lum aghi, and J. R . Goodall. T he following officers have been elected for th e year 1922: Jo h n F.
Queeny, chairm an of the board; G aston DuBois, president;
H. O. M cDonough, vice president; W . R . Phem ister, treasurer;
E dgar M . Queeny, secretary ; C. A. Zacher, assistan t secretary.
The Com m onwealth Edison Com pany of Chicago has opened a new $10,000,000 pow er plant, w hich w hen com pleted will generate 250,000 li. p. I t is planned la te r to build a n o th er 250,000 h.-p . statio n on the shores of L ake M ichigan a t W auke
gan, which will fit into a scheme of electric superpow er develop
m ent of W isconsin, Illinois, an d Indiana. T he Chicago system has become th e hub of a netw ork of interconnected electric tra n s
mission lines in the u pper M ississippi Valley which spreads nearly to M inneapolis on th e north, southw est to th e Mississippi River, and south to th e coal fields of K entucky.
T he Drug^ and Chemical Section of th e N ew Y ork B oard of T rade and T ran sp o rtatio n has elected F ra n k C. S tarr, Sharp &
Dohmc, chairm an; A ugust W asserschied, M allinckrodt Chem i
cal W orks, vice chairm an; W illiam A. H am ann, Roessler &
H asslacher Chemical Co., treasurer; W illiam F. M cConnell, secretary; Clem ent C. Speiden, Innis Speiden & Co., representa
tive of th e Section in th e B oard of T rade an d T ransportation.
E. L. Pierce, president of th e Solvay Process Co., Syracuse,.
N . Y ., has resigned, and will be succeeded by E. D . W inkw orth, president and executive vice president of th e Sem et-Solvay C om p an y ._ M r. Pierce has also resigned his position as vice president an d director of th e Allied Chemical and D ye C orporation.
T he D vestuff D ep artm en t of E. I. du P o n t de N em ours &
Co., Inc., has recently been reorganized w ith a view to th e b etter handling of the technical and commercial problems of th e industry. F. W. Pickard, vice president, has been relieved of his duties on th e executive com m ittee to become general m anager, w ith W. F. H arrington as assistant. C. A. Meade*
vice president and former general m anager, and M . R. Poucher, former director of sales, have been m ade executive sta ll officials.
B oth are directors of th e com pany. Cesare P ro tto , form erly assistan t to M r. Poucher, has been m ade director of sales.
T h e Com bustion Engineering C orporation has opened a branch office a t 806 F irst N ational Bank Building, Pittsburgh, P a., in charge of M r. W. C. Stripe, form erly m anager of the Philadelphia office.
T he N atio n al Aniline & Chemical Co., Inc., has announced th e production of two new dyes, N ational wool green S and N atio n al quinoline yellow.
T he A rgentine Arm y has ju st placed its first order for A m erican am m unition w ith E . I. du P o n t de Nem ours & Co. Previously a large p a rt of the arm y ’s am m unition was purchased through G erm an concerns.
Mar., 1922 T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING C H E M IS T R Y 2-19
B O O K R E V I E W S
T he V itam ins. B y H . C. Sh e r m a n, Professor of Food Chem istry, Colum bia U niversity, a n d S. L. Sm i t h, Specialist in Biological aiid Food Chem istry, U. S. D ep artm en t of A gri
culture. A m erican Chemical Society M onograph Series.
260 pp. Book D epartm ent, T he Chemical Catalog Com pany, Inc., N ew York, 1922. Price, $4.25.
Barely a decade has elapsed since th e word "v ita m in ” was originated; y e t to-day i t is found n o t only in contributions to scientific journals b u t also in th e pages of th e popular m aga
zines an d new spapers and on th e billboards by the highways.
A fter all, it is n o t u tte rly surprising th a t th e vitam ins have b e come som ething to conjure w ith. Anyone who has actually followed th e dem onstrations of th e unique physiologic potencies of these h ith erto unidentified factors in nu tritio n —substances w hich prom ote well-being n o t by furnishing energy in m ea
surable calories or foodstuffs in gram s b u t rath er by contributing some "little item ” in food th a t spells n u tritiv e success—can b e tte r appreciate th e unanticipated significance of their dis
covery.
Q uite n a tu ra lly th ere has been an d still is much confusion and m isunderstanding a b o u t vitam ins, w hat th ey are, where th ey occur, an d how th ey function. M o st contributions to science th a t lend themselves readily to popular exposition ex
perience a sim ilar history. T here is a t present an insistent de
m and for inform ation th a t shall n o t be merely guesswork or superficial compilation. T he intelligent interpretation of a scientific subject still in th e m aking, y e t already comprising re
sults recorded in a thousand or more contributions to technical journals, requires a n expert who is more th a n a m ere abstractor.
I t is, indeed, fo rtu n ate th a t Professor Sherm an and his colleague, experienced in th e investigation of vitam ins and related aspects of n u tritio n , have undertaken th e tim ely task of preparing this m onograph for th e A m erican Chemical Society’s series. T he contribution is comprehensive w ithout being too diffuse. I t reviews th e h istory of th e subject, th e properties and d istri
b u tio n of th e three now recognized specific vitam ins, their re
lation to certain “ deficiency diseases," and the place of vitam ins in the problem of the food supply. T he review of th e successive discoveries which led to th e developm ent of th e vitam in hy
pothesis is singularly accurate and intelligently discrim inating.
In th is respect i t quite surpasses in quality m ost of the stuff which has been purveyed as h istory of a n interesting phase of scientific progress. In fact, th e book gives th e impression of first-hand inform ation on every page. H ere is a volum e from which th e nontechnical reader can derive instruction in read
able form regarding the occurrence of vitam ins in foods and th eir significance in nutrition, an d "m ake possible a n intelli
g en t use of food so as to provide adequately for our vitam in needs along w ith our other nutritional requirem ent, and w ithout going beyond th e range of our ordinary staple articles of food.’
T he train ed investigator, on the other hand, will find the limi
tatio n s of knowledge undisguised and th e unsolved problems for research b rought to his atten tio n b y th e critical form of the review.
T he elaborate bibliography itself guarantees th a t the new monograph will become the vade meciim of th e rapidly grow
ing num bers of persons who are curious, scientifically or other
wise, a b o u t vitam ins.
La f a y e t t e B . Me n d e l
The Physics and C hem istry of Colloids and T heir B earing on Industrial Q uestions. 190 pp. Published by H is M ajesty ’s Stationery Office, London, 1921. Price," 2s. 6d. net.
A prefatory note by the D ep artm en t of Scientific and Indus
trial Research upon whose advice this pam phlet w as published, says:
In view of the growing industrial im portance of colloidal physics and chem istry and w ith the intention of surveying criti
cally the present state of knowledge as an aid to future develop
ment, th e Councils of the F arad ay Society and th e Physical Society arranged a jo in t Conference on the subject which was held on the 25th of Oct. 1920... I t m ust be understood th a t in these circumstances th e D epartm ent of Scientific and Industrial Research accepts no responsibility for the statem ents of opinion or fact contained in th is report.
T he rem ark and th e discussion following each section a re indicative of th e fact th a t there is n o t y e t complete unanim ity of opinion on m any points of colloid chemistry. T he science is in a state of flux, of constant criticism, experim ent, aud search for furth er light; it has th e v itality of youth and growth.
M any well-known names are included among those w ho pre
sented papers or took p a rt in th e discussion. Following a n introductory survey by Svedberg is a paper on th e general structure of colloids by W. Pauli. T hen follow papers on E m u l
sions and Emulsification b y Donnan, C layton an d B hatnagar;
on The Physical Properties o f Elastic Gels b y H atschek, H. R . Proctor, Bradford, B a rra tt and Zsigmondy; on Glass and Pyrosols by Sir H . Jackson and M . W . T ravers; on Nonaqueous Colloidal Systems by Sir R o b ert R obertson (nitrocellulose), B arr and Bircumshaw (cellulose acetate), F. Sproxton, B. D . P o rritt (rubber), and Wolfgang O stwald; on Precipitation o f the Disperse Systems, by Willows, J. N . M ukherjee, W . H arrison, W m. C lay
ton, C hatterji and D har, A. G. Lowndes (lead azide), and W.
E . Hughes (electrodeposition of m etals); on Electric Endos- mosis and Cataphoresis b y A. W . Porter, W . R . O rm andy, and H. Freundlich.
Appendix I is Jacques Loeb’s paper on "T h e Proteins and Colloid Chem istry” (familiar to readers of Science an d th e Journal of General Physiology), w here th e au th o r concludes th a t th e behavior of the proteins contradicts the idea th a t the chem istry of colloids differs from th e chem istry of crystalloids—though long before G raham ’s tim e, and surely ever since, it has been recognized th a t certain wide differences exist between the two.
Appendix I I is a very valuable an d interesting Inaugural D issertation by H . Kneebonev Tom pkins, which since 1896 h ad lain unpublished a t th e U niversity of London. M uch im p o rta n t and time-saving work is undoubtedly th u s buried in oubliettes. W hile Tom pkins’ w ork dealt m ostly w ith rubber, he drew some very interesting analogies betw een vulcanized caoutchouc and other substances, notably m etals, ■which he re
garded as colloids.
Although m any of th e papers, presented had already been published in the journals of the societies, and also in th e Kolloid Zeitschrift, th e Comm ittee is to be th an k ed for rendering them all accessible in one volume, w ith discussion. T his pam phlet will be in th e library of chem ists interested in colloids, an d will arouse th e interest of those who are not. Chem ists cannot be like th e Bourbons, who "learn nothing and forget nothing.”
R esearch demolishes old ideas so rapidly th a t often our te x t
books are teaching theories and even " fa c ts” which are recog
nized as erroneous.
Je r o m e Al e x a n d e r
T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G IN EERIN G C H E M IS T R Y Vol. 14, No. 3 The Fire and Explosion H azard s of Comm ercial O ils. 1 By
Wi l l i a m Vl a c h o sa n d C. A. Vl a c i i o s. xvii + 292 pp. Copy
rig h t by Vlachos & Co., 1921. Price, $5.00.
T his book relates prim arily to th e fire hazard of the animal, vegetable, and mineral oils of commerce, together w ith the commercial processes of their m anufacture and refining. T he common solvents used for extracting oils are included. Essential oils are n o t referred to. There- are chapters relating to hydro
genation, sulfonation, vulcanization, n itration, fuel oil burning systems, casinghead gasoline plants, ethyl and wood alcohol, and fire causes in th e petroleum industry. In addition a n oil schedule is presented which includes flashing points, iodine values, volatility, and w h a t is referred to as th e "ferm entation value.” N um erical values representing th e com parative fire hazard are assigned to the oils and solvents of which there are fifty-five. T his ratin g is referred to as th e “ Vlachos G rading.”
T he subject m atter presented is based largely on th e expe
rience of Vlachos & Co., Philadelphia Inspectors, and on available technical literature. T h e field covered in th e lim ited space of th e book is too large to include much detail, and the inform ation given is general in character, b u t the more im p o rtan t hazards are n o t neglected. The subjects are treated in a nontechnical m anner and in a free conversational style from th e stan d p o in t of the underw riters’ practical inspector. T he book is of value to the inspector, th e busy underw riter, and th e chem ist o r chem ical engineer requiring inform ation on th e above phase of th e subject ra th e r th a n on th e chemical phases or th e chemical and physical fundam entals involved.
T he first eight chapters on anim al and vegetable oils appear to represent th e best p a rt of th e book. T he chapters on sulfo
nation, vulcanization, an d n itratio n appear to be too brief.
T he Vlachos G rading is similar in form to U nderw riters' L abor
atories classification of th e hazardous properties of liquids, (better known as th e N ational Fire Protection Association m ethod), except th a t in the Vlachos G rading th e iodine value is employed. In th e opinion of th e reviewer it would have been of assistance to the reader to include a brief reference to and comparison of th e Vlachos G rading w ith other methods of classification of hazards. I t is also th ought th a t a bibliog
atories classification of th e hazardous properties of liquids, (better known as th e N ational Fire Protection Association m ethod), except th a t in the Vlachos G rading th e iodine value is employed. In th e opinion of th e reviewer it would have been of assistance to the reader to include a brief reference to and comparison of th e Vlachos G rading w ith other methods of classification of hazards. I t is also th ought th a t a bibliog