JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTRY PART I11 I950 EDITORIAL STANDARDS OF LIVING The jesting complaint that “if all the economists in the world were placed end to end they would reach-no agreed conclusion whatever,” is not to be taken as a serious criticism of a body of worthy men who are trying conscientiously to grapple with matters of vital concern to us all. It would probably be admitted however that in their field it is particularly difficult to find generally acceptable concepts which can be clearly defined and in terms of which practical problems can be quantitatively enunciated and thus made amenable to truly scientific discussion. Moreover as many of the possible conclusions about such matters have important social and political implications it is not easy to ensure that the course of any argument has not been deflected by a desire to find support for some strongly-held but not wholly rational conviction.Indeed we can hardly expect the dispassionate outlook of the physical sciences to be fully applicable to the social sciences where human values are necessarily of major significance and allowance must be made for emotional forces. “He who gazes dispassionately on the universe regards it with both eyes shut!” is the humanist’s criticism of the scientist-and on this ground the economist may well be prepared to waive any claim he might otherwise make to be a scientist. In international affairs the economists’ difficulties are probably at their greatest. We are reminded that in the early thirties experts of the highest eminence made very diverse predictions about what would happen if Britain went off the gold standard-but that only certain foreign pundits were notably disappointed at the results that followed the event.More recently when we were being urged to limit expenditure in dollars by securing essential imports from soft-currency countries wherever possible no clear answer was obtained to the question of how much more it was worth paying in sterling in order to save a dollar. The extent to which the pound was subsequently devalued may perhaps have given the answer but from the ensuing arguments about the merits of this degree of devaluation it is evident that the decision was partly determined by factors outside those of simple accountancy. Between the wars attempts were made to express in quantitative 1209 terms the relative standards of living in different countries.Taking Great Britain as 100 we seem to remember figures such as 150 for the U.S.A. 75 for Germany 50 for France and 25 for Italy. These were meant to be only very rough assessments but some allowance was said to have been made for the different needs and tastes of the populations concerned. It is naturally difficult to equate the strength of the French-man’s desire for bread soup and wine with that of the Englishman for bread cheese and beer and still more to determine in what directions their tastes would lead them if they had just a little more money. It may well be that in relation to the traditions and customs of different countries the standards of living are not in fact so diverse.The marsh Arab in his tent on the riverbank subsisting on eggs buffalo milk dates flat cakes of unleavened bread and a very occasional picking from a superannuated fowl or sheep may conclude according to his lights that he “does himself very well.” We tend therefore to discount the stories of our friends who after a week in hotels in Paris Lucerne or New York claim to have discovered how much better or worse off the average Frenchman, Swiss and American is than ourselves. We are equally unmoved by reports that the wages of coal-miners or bus drivers are so much greater or less in certain other countries without information on conditions of work and of living prices of goods they want most to buy scales of taxation-and the efficiency with which taxes are collected.And if we had all that information we doubt if we could reach,a definite conclusion on whether a particular type of worker in one country was “better off,’’ in relation to his own wants and aspirations than his opposite number in another. One cannot put oneself wholly in the other fellow’s place. On the other hand any appreciable change in standards of living in a particular country is readily detected and the magnitude of the change can generally be closely assessed by the persons concerned. We are, in fact as sensitive to such variations as to alterations in temperature-especially to decreases-though in both instances we may be misled about the amount of the change if we rely only on our feelings. Indeed, any substantial fall in the standard of living of a community-or the belief that such a fall is about to occur or is gradually taking place-is more liable to produce dismay and unrest than almost anything else except impending invasion.We suspect that popular support for war itself is often based on a real or imagined threat to an established standard of living. Except where such support is to be rallied it is one of the primary concerns of every government to foster the maintenance or elevation of the standard of living of the population-or at least of that section on which its continuance in office mainly depends. In circumstances where this cannot be fully achieved-as after a prolonged war involving heavy destruction of real wealth-the best that can be done may be to persuade the people that they are much better off than they might be and that by accepting some measure of austerity and by working harder they will soon arrive at more prosperous times In his presidential address to the Institute in March Professor Cook referred to the serious decline in the economic position of the middle classes-epecially of professional men and women on fixed salaries.The figures he gave for equivalent purchasing powers of incomes before and since the war together with those for average increases in salaries in that period give some indication of the overall magnitude of the decline. Those affected are fully conscious of the fall in the economic temperature but may not find it easy to measure the number of degrees by which it has dropped in the last few years-for we now have to work on more than one temperature scale.What we pay to the butcher the baker and the grocer is dependent not only on what has been extracted from us by direct taxation but also in no small measure on what some of us in the free exercise of our vices pay to the tobacconist the publican the cinema proprietor and the organiser of football pools! How much these not uncommon avenues of expenditure are taken into account in determining the current cost of living index we do not know but we doubt if our more abstemious colleagues realise their indebtedness to those others whose wants are paid for on a di,fferent scale of prices. A more serious matter is the lack of understanding by the average wage earner of the range of interests and desires of the professional man.He finds it difficult to realise-and the cinema does not help him-that anyone with double his own pay should not want to spend twice as much on essentially the same things as he himself likes. That people are pre-pared to spend an appreciable part of their income on the purchase of books and pictures on going to concerts the ballet or the theatre in supporting charities and above all in sending their children to increasingly expensive schools is seldom understood by those with different tastes and aspirations-and when it is may be put down to mere snobbery. We cannot but feel that any permanent separation of classes on such a basis would be the worst thing that could befall the nation and it is fortunate that there are many forces working to counteract it among which we may hope that the better provisions now being made for the education training health and welfare of young people will play a major part.In so far as we are emerging from war-time conditions a new outlook on economic matters seems to be needed. For years we have been accustomed to having our purchases of food sweets soap and clothing limited by rationing (and felt we had lost something if we omitted to draw any ration to the full) and were unable to satisfy our needs for many other commodities through shortage of supply. Already however, we are coming to realise that no such restrictions now prevent us from buying new suits having meals of more than three courses or purchasing gallons of petrol-except lack of money! It is no doubt salutary that we should thus be brought back at least partially to conditions where we can and must be selective about how we spend for an undue prolonga-tion of the war-time system would inevitably lead to atrophy of taste and 211 aspirations and what would be worse to young people not having the opportunity to develop selectiveness.Until recently the size of the Institute’s Journal and the output of Lectures Monographs and Reports were effectively limited by the paper allocation and we had grown accustomed to using all the paper available to us. With the ending of paper rationing however the Publications and Library Committee has become aware-through the representations of the Treasurer-that restraint must now be exercised if expenditure on publications is to be kept within reasonable bounds.Indeed the Financial Statements for 1949 showed that with rising costs of paper and printing, expenditure on publications had already approached the proportion of the income of the Institute that might reasonably be allocated to this service-and this in spite of the increased subscription rates introduced in 1949. It is not intended to go back on the improvements in the form and content of the Journal that have been introduced in the past few years and came into full effect in 1950 but it is believed that notable economies can be effected without adversely affecting the publication. Thus by seeing to it that individual parts do not exceed a critical size of about a hundred pages substantial extra binding costs will be avoided.By exercising some selectiveness in the matter to be included this should be easy to achieve and further economies can be effected. In the present issue the first steps in this direction have been taken by omitting “Pro-ceedings of the Council” as a separate feature and by not publishing the Report of the recent Conference of Honorary Secretaries of Local Sections. The “Proceedings of the Council” had been expanded in order to meet requests for more information on “what the Council did,” but has since been criticised-very properly-as having become largely a catalogue of acceptances of reports of committees among which were embedded a few matters of special importance and concern to members. It is pro-posed in future to report such matters in appropriate places under “Announcements” or “Notes” according to whether they may call for action by members or may merely be of interest to them.Reports of recent Conferences of Honorary Secretaries have also included some matter of little interest to the general body of members while recom-mendations on important issues have necessarily had to be referred to again following decisions on them by the Council. In future Honorary Secretaries of Local Sections will receive Minutes of Conferences but only discussions on questions leading to decisions of general significance will be reported in the Journal. These and other directions in which economy can be practised without detriment to the real value of publica-tions will be reviewed by the Committee from time to time NOTES ON TERMS OF ENGAGEMENT OF CHEMISTS These notes have been prepared by a Joint Committee of representatives of the Royal Institute of Chemistry representatives of member-firms of the Association of British Chemical Manufacturers and representatives of the Standing Committee of Directors of Research Associations.The notes supersede the document entitled “A Suggested Contract of Service for Chemists” prepared in 193 1 and made available for reference by members of the Institute on request ; they also supersede the document entitled “Suggested Clauses for Incorporation in Contracts of Service for Chemists” published in 1945 (Journal and Proceedings 1945 11 82). The Committee hopes that these notes will afford guidance to those concerned particularly the smaller employer and the younger chemist, but members of the bodies whose representatives have constituted the Joint Committee are not necessarily bound to adopt any of the suggestions made herein.Many employers of chemists have well-tried and established methods of engaging the chemists employed by them and many chemists have experience of differing terms of engagement available in different branches of industry. For this reason the Committee does not seek to formulate a formal contract or even to suggest set forms of words but instead to offer general guidance in the form of notes. The fundamental rights and obligations of employer and employee derive from the relationship itself and many matters often expressly provided for by written terms of engagement are already implied by the common law.Evidence of engagement may take many different forms-a formal comprehensive contract of service ; a formal contract covering only matters not already implied by law; or ,a comprehensive or brief letter of engagement with formal or tacit acceptance. Sometimes also certain terms of engagement are to be found in a special leaflet or handbook issued to employees or available on reference. The Committee does not regard any one method as necessarily the ideal. The relationship of employer and employee is in essence an indi-vidual matter however large the employing organisation. A mode of engagement which may be suitable for a particular employer and the chemists employed by him may be inappropriate to other employment.The Committee thinks that rigid standardisation of the mode of engage-ment of chemists would be no advantage. There are advantages however in placing upon written record the general terms and conditions of employment. Even though everyone is presumed to know the law many are glad of a reminder of it in con-venient form and a written record also serves to minimise the risk of a document containing only those terms not already implied by law being erroneously regarded as a complete and comprehensive statement of the rights and obligations of the parties. l213 The principal matters normally involved in the relationship of employer and employee are the following:-(1) Parties.-When the employer is other than a single individual, the engagement should be signed on behalf of the employer by someone with authority to commit the employer.A contract of service is personal and in the absence of any contrary provision can be assigned even to a subsidiary or parent company only by consent. Thus an employee of a limited company which is liquidated and struck off the Register is not without his consent obliged to serve any other company, nor is that other concern legally obliged to employ him. His rights and obligations would not however be affected by a mere transfer of shares on however large a scale so long as the employ-ing company retained its original identity. (2) Description of Duties or Title.-It is not necessary that the terms of engagement should themselves include a detailed list of the employee's duties; if and when it is desirable that these should be in writing they may indeed be more fittingly included in some other document.It is however desirable that the terms of engagement should very briefly indicate the principal function to be performed by the employee or the title of the post occupied by him. Too broad or too narrow a reference is to be avoided. The importance of reasonable precision in the reference in terms of engagement to the function or title increases in proportion to the seniority of the post involved. (3) Period-The engagement may be for a fixed period or an indefinite term. If in the case of a fixed period the employment continues beyond the end of the period without any further terms of engage-ment being agreed then the employment becomes terminable on either side by reasonable notice.To determine what is reasonable the law has regard to all relevant circumstances such as the seniority of the post involved and the frequency of pay-ments. To obviate the difficulties so arising it is useful even in the case of a fixed period engagement for the terms of the engagement to include express provision for the period of notice required to terminate it in case it should endure beyond the end of the fixed period. In the case of an indefinite term it is useful for the same reason to provide expressly for the period of notice required for termination. [ 214 The Committee considers it desirable that both parties should possess equal rights of termination and that the period of notice required from one party should be of the same length as that required from the other.(4) Salary.-The initial salary payable and the frequency of payment should be clearly stated. Some employers indicate in the terms of engagement that the salary and/or any increment mentioned is minimum but in that event a proviso that any such increment shall be subject to the employee having given continued satisfaction in the carrying out of his duties cannot be objected to. (5) Attention to Duties.-"hat the employee shall faithfully attend to his duties is of course implied by the mere relationship of employer and employee but wording which affords the employer a clear right to require an employee to devote some part of his attention to the business of associated or subsidiary companies is unexceptionable .Subject to the above wording purporting to exercise control over the employee's use of his own time is considered objection-. able. (6) Observance of Working Instructions.-No objection can reason-ably be taken to wording requiring the employee to observe the regulations and instructions in force from time to time par-ticularly in the case of the larger employer where responsibility is necessarily much delegated. (7) Trade Secrets.-It is useful if only as a reminder to provide in express and clear terms what is already a common law obligation-namely that the employee shall preserve at all times the trade secrets of his employer. Many employers are ready to add that consent to publication of scientific work will be given where the employer's business will not thereby be prejudiced.(8) Return of Property.-A requirement calling for the handing over of property of the employer (including records of the employee's work) that may be in the custody of the employee at the termina-tion of his engagement is reasonable. (9) Inventions and Discoveries.-Terms of engagement often provide (what is in any case implied by law) that rights in inventions and discoveries made by the employee during the period of his employ-ment and relating to matters which are the subject of his duties or investigations belong to the employer. The latter's rights to patent or otherwise protect such inventions and discoveries and to require the employee to sign documents to implement such rights are accordingly reserved.[ 215 In the absence of express provision to the contrary the remuneration provided by terms of engagement is normally regarded as covering the reward of the chemist for discoveries and inventions made by him in the ordinary course of his duties to his employer. SaZary during Illness.-It is desirable to make express provision on this topic. Arrangements differ but it is equitable that the normal salary less State sickness benefit shall continue payable for a reasonable period (which may be related to length of service) before either party has a right to terminate the engagement. Holidays.-It is desirable that the length of the annual holiday to which the employee is to be entitled be clearly stated. Termination of Engagement . -An engagement becomes terminable by one of the parties upon the failure of the other to perform any of his obligations.The injured party is entitled to treat the agreement as at an end and to claim from the other damages for breach of contract. An engagement is automatically terminated by mutual consent on new terms of engagement being agreed and sub-stituted on the expiration of a fixed term on death of one of the parties or on the happening of any event stipulated in the terms of engagement to bring them to an end such as the expira-tion of due notice. Mutual Procedure for giving Notice of Termination.-When the engagement takes the form of a formal contract it is not unusual to specify the address to which notice must be sent and the mode of delivering or posting.Stamp Duty.-It is advisable for formal contracts of service to be stamped with the appropriate revenue duty (10s. if under seal, 6d. if not) as this facilitates their use inevidence. Restriction of Activities after Termination of Engagement.-There is an obligation under the common law upon an employee to preserve the trade secrets of his employer and not to entice away the employer’s old customers. Some employers however, seek to impose in the terms of engagement additional restrictions on the activities of the employee after the termination of his engagement. Nothing can deprive the employee of his right to use to his own advantage his own skill and ability but subject to that, an employer is entitled to impose such degree of additional restriction as may be essential to protect his legitimate interests.It is admittedly difficult to define the degree of additional restraint that may be regarded as reasonable in given circumstances and I216 the validity of such restraint clauses can be tested only by recourse to a court of law. It is believed to be in the interest of both parties that employers should insist only upon such restrictive clauses as are considered essential for their protection and that where a clause imposing additional restraint is included in a contract the scope and period of the restraint should be clearly stated. Adequate financial consideration for such additional restraint should be provided in the terms of engagement. Transfer between Establishments; Expenses.-Service overseas or at another establishment of the employer distant from that where the employee was engaged to work and not in contempla-tion at the time of making the engagement may constitute so great a change in practice as to suggest the desirability of revised terms of engagement.If however the engagement makes provision for service at different and widely separated establish-ments of the same employer it is reasonable that it should also provide for meeting the expenses of various kinds which the employee may thereby incur. Arbitration.-Unless terms of engagement contain provision for a dispute to be referred to arbitration litigation is the legal method of settling it. Most aspects of the law of employer and employee have received the attention of the courts of this country for many centuries and a very sound and sure legal code has thus been established.On the other hand arbitration is generally speedier and less costly than litigation. Terms of Engagement of Chemists.-The document printed above sets forth the measure of agreement on this subject reached by representatives of the Institute of member firms of the Association of British Chemical Manufacturers, and of the Standing Committee of Directors of Research Associations. As stated in the preamble it supersedes the document entitled “Suggested Clauses for Incorporation in Contracts of Service for Chemists” published in Journal and Proceedings 1945 11 82 which had been criticised as having created the impression of attempting to provide something in the nature of a model form of contract.The Joint Committee which has prepared the present document hopes that the notes will afford guidance to both employers and employees on many matters affecting their relationships. It is not possible however to deal in a formal document of this kind with the many questions that arise in connection with the terms of engagement of chemists and the Council has learned with satisfaction that Mr. R. L. Collett the Registrar who has had long and varied experience in advising employers and employees on such questions has accepted an invitation from the London and South-Eastern Counties Section to address a meeting on the subject on 15 November 1950. An article based on Mr. Collett’s address will appear in due course in this Journal THE GROWTH OF APPLIED CHEMISTRY IN GLASGOW By WILLIAM.CUMMING O.B.E. D.Sc. F.R.I.C. M.I.Chem.E. F.R.S.E. Second Henderson Memorial Lecture delivered before the Institute in the Chemistry Lecture Theatre of the University of Glasgow on 31 March 1950-Professor J. W. Cook Ph.D. D.Sc. Sc.D. F.R.S. President in the Chair. It was to be expected that one of the early Henderson Memorial Lectures would be delivered in the University in which George Gerald Henderson was student lecturer and Regius Professor. It is equally appropriate that the occasion should coincide with the Annual Meeting of the Royal Institute of Chemistry which he had served so long ulti-mately as President. His academic researches have been reviewed by Sir John Simonsen in the Royal Society Memoirs and Sir Ian Heilbron gave us an intimate sketch of the man in the First Memorial Lecture delivered in 1947.The special issue of The Alchemist in October 1937 gives a remarkable tribute from colleagues and students and from the Presidents of all three Chartered chemical organisations. I greatly appreciate the honour which has been thrust upon me by the Council of the Institute and I cannot hide the pleasure it gives me to pay my tribute to one whose personality is imprinted in the minds of all who had even brief contact with him. Unlike many who have sung his eulogy I had not the good fortune to be a student of his. But I can recollect very vividly my first meeting with t h s charming personality. I had returned from industrial life to fill the senior lectureship in organic chemistry under Professor Heilbron at the Royal Technical College.Although now at the University, Henderson sought me out at the first chemical meeting I attended and gave me a spontaneous welcome to what he called the “Glasgow School of Chemistry,” which I shall never forget. I was at once convinced that I had commenced my new duties under bright auspices and with his benediction. From that day our friendship ripened to something very lasting. He had always respect for the other man however humble. Having taken my training in pure chemistry and having fortified it with a varied industrial experience I felt the urge to enter the academic field of applied chemistry whenever opportunity offered. For sixteen years I had the privilege of building upon an already well-laid foundation, the pattern of which as was early borne upon me reflected the hand of the master Henderson.For this reason I feel it my duty to pay tribute to this aspect of his influence with which I perhaps more than any other, am competent to deal. While it is not possible nor even desirable to adhere to the historical aspect in each successive memorial lecture it is not inappropriate that in the second acknowledgment should be made of a [ 218 service which in sum total may well be no less important than that which he rendered in his other spheres of interest. Henderson’s elevation to the Regius Chair at the University in 1919 occurred at a time of considerable academic activity in Scotland. The First World War had no more than finished and in its train came a lively interchange in academic circles.His former student Ian Heilbron, had just been transferred to Liverpool. F. J. Wilson at his own request, changed over from the chair of inorganic to the chair of organic chemistry at the Royal Technical College to be succeeded in the former by R. M. Caven Thomas Gray becoming Director of the School of Chemistry. Alexander Findlay was soon to arrive at Aberdeen from Aberystswyth in place of Frederick Soddy. John Read had appeared at St. Andrews from Sydney and James Kendal had crossed the Atlantic to Edinburgh. T. S. Patterson had been elevated to the chair of organic chemistry in Glasgow and J. C . Irvine (an early student of Henderson) was about to assume the responsibilities of Vice-Chancellorship at St.Andrews. With the exception of Alexander McKenzie at Dundee who was seven years his junior the only Professor to hold a chair in Scotland prior to the First World War and to retain that status in his own country after it was George Gerald Henderson. He was of course a Scot of the Scots, and his life work was given to his native land. No wonder therefore, that he was held in such high esteem and looked upon as the “granite pillar” among his newer and younger colleagues. Henderson in a sense was therefore the focal point of the academic profession in Scotland for a long time after the close of the war. His influence extended far beyond the bounds of Gilmorehill. Few men can have put more students through their hands. His popularity in the city was not eclipsed even by that of the venerable and distinguished Vice-Chancellor of the University.Henderson served this city for 45 years a period almost equally divided between this University and the Royal Technical College. It may be claimed that his 27 years in the Royal Technical College sand-wiched as it was between his two University posts was good for both institutions from the points of view of active research and of contact with industry. This period was probably the most fruitful of his whole career. His well-known researches on the terpenes were largely com-pleted and records have shown that he built up a substantial consulting practice. His advice was sought by a wide section of the chemical industry . It was during this period that he evinced a lasting interest in the applications of chemistry.He became President of the Society of Chemical Industry in 1914 and took a leading part in the establishment of a degree in applied chemistry in the University. One service to which I would particularly refer was the survey of the chemical industry in Scotland which he made for the visit of the British Association to this city in 1901. This is the most complete record w0 have of the industry a that time and since then it has formed the basis of many annual meeting hand books for other societies . In the earlier minutes of the Glasgow and West of Scotland Section of the Society of Chemical Industry his so-characteristic and familiar hand-writing appears as secretary as early as 1884 within only a few months of the inaugural meeting.Some eight years later he was in the office of chairman. During his tenure of office many historic papers were presented and processes disclosed for the first time; e.g. the manufacture of cyanides, the MacArthur-Forrest process for the extraction of gold and the pioneering developments of the Scottish shale oil industry. Henderson took a leading part in the movement to have the flash point of lamp oil raised from 73” F. to 100” F. and led a deputation to give evidence in Edinburgh. The public was becoming increasingly alarmed at the number of accidents due to the use of insufficiently refined oil. Accordingly the Local Section took the matter up with vigour. Although six years passed before the Government accepted the proposal, and the Act of Parliament remained unchanged the oil industry on its own behalf adopted and has never departed from the minimum of 100“ F.for illuminating oil. One interesting discussion took place in 1887 in which the “necessity for the practical chemist of instruction in chemical engineering as well as in the theory of the science and in laboratory practice” was stressed. I believe firmly that this and many similar discussions which are recorded had a powerful influence on the development of the work of the “Young” Chair which at that time had not even reached its majority. It was not until 1901 that George Davis published the first English textbook on chemical engineering. The fact that during the first six years of the Section’s history such names as Professors Ferguson Henderson Dittmar Mills Fawsitt, Orme Masson and Crum Brown appear in the Committee’s minutes as representing the academic side and E.C. C. Stanford Sir George Beilby, Sir J. J. Dobbie Sir Robert Pullar Sir J. N. Cuthbertson Sir James King, and Sir Charles Tennant and Messrs. R. R. Tatlock J. R. Readman, A. Crum Dr. J. Crystal and Dr. W. Wallace as representing the industrial side gives remarkable evidence of the breadth of experience which was brought to bear on all educational matters with which the Section was concerned. It is a moot point as to whether our chemical societies in general give sufficient consideration to matters of educational importance or take their proper share in chemical matters of public concern. An active local section be it Institute S.C.I.or Chemical Society can do much to direct public opinion into the right channels. The presentation of lectures or original papers is surely only one phase of their activities. The chair of technical chemistry instituted by James Young in 1870, is the oldest chair of applied chemistry in the United Kingdom. Although [ 220 Young had made a large fortune in the oil industry it is to be noted that he did not take the narrow view and endow a chair of oil technology. Its first occupant was the world-renowned W. H. Perkin who returned to academic life from his 17 years’ successful exploitation of his new synthetic dyes. A man of Young’s shrewd acumen probably desired to attract the most distinguished man he could find for his chair. We do not know the salary that was offered for Young paid the whole cost of staff and labora-tory expenses directly out of his own pocket.Unfortunately therefore, no records remain of this interesting introductory period. Perkin was followed by Gustav Bischof from Bonn whose contribu-tions to industry after his resignation from the chair in the form of his spongy iron filter and white lead process operated commercially with the collaboration of Ludwig Mond made him an international figure in the last quarter of the century. He was followed by E. J. Mills who held the chair for 28 years ; his main interests were more of an academic nature, but covered a wide field. Thomas Gray came to the chair in 1903 and for 30 years built up a strong school of fuel technology and in addition the Fuel Research Station at Greenwich in 1916 as a piece of war-service.There was therefore a strong industrial tradition established when Henderson came to the Royal Technical College in 1892. His experience with this new approach to chemical training convinced him of its sound-ness. The degree in applied chemistry of this University had therefore, been placed on a well and truly laid foundation right from its inception in 1915. It is interesting to notice the gradual evolution of a still newer conception of applied chemistry during the early years of the present century. In the earlier days chemical processes were treated on a descriptive and qualitative basis. This gradually gave place to a more mathematical and quantitative treatment of the subject. Indeed the course in technical chemistry veered more and more into the realm of what to-day is styled chemical engineering.The idea of systematic training in chemical engineering came to light in the Royal Technical College long before there was any chair of chemical engineering in the country and several decades before the Institution of Chemical Engineers was inaugurated. It is worth noting that an almost identical evolutionary process took place in the corresponding department some 20 years older, of the famous Technische Hochschule Zurich. This is important in that it suggests in my opinion that the more logical approach to chemical engineering is from chemistry rather than from engineering a view which I may say is shared by most of my colleagues on the academic side of the subject.Furthermore this natural growth has had a profound effect on the development of most of the departments of chemical engineering in this country. The department in Edinburgh University brought into being by Sir James Walker and those at Leeds and Birmingham have all been modelled on the Glasgow pattern. The degree in chemical engineering in Glasgow instituted in 1923-c 221 the first degree in this subject in this country-was in the circumstances, possibly a little premature. In so far as it neglects the fundamental subject of chemistry it will continue to be subject to adverse criticism. If we accept the definition that the chemical engineer is a person concerned with the design of chemical plant then I hold the opinion very strongly that he cannot design plant until he has had adequate experience in the operation of chemical plant.He cannot operate chemical plant intelligently without a sound knowledge of what is taking place within the plant hence the importance I place on the fundamentals of chemistry and in particular physical chemistry. The course in applied chemistry in Glasgow was designed to meet a clamant need in industry for men who could operate chemical plant or control chemical reactions on a large scale not primarily for the design of chemical plant. My own early industrial experience based as it was on a pure science degree and my subsequent experience leave me in no doubt of the need for chemists who can assume responsibility for the intelligent control of production. In any case there can hardly be even 5 per cent.of the graduates in chemical engineering at present who find employment in plant design, and these few are employed mainly on the staffs of the more important chemical plant manufacturers not usually in the chemical industry as such. I mention such facts to show the enormous influence and power that were placed in Henderson’s hands and how wisely he used them. The School of Applied Chemistry largely owes its present position in chemical engineering and chemical industrial circles to the guidance and en-couragement given by Henderson at all times and particularly after he returned to the University. I feel sure he would have given his blessing to the recent developments designed to bring the students more intimately into contact with the industry they are going to serve.As is known every student in applied chemistry of this University over the last three years has spent a month in carrying out a pre-arranged investigation in one of twenty chemical or metallurgical works in this area and in presenting a report on the work he has carried out. This is in addition to the regular fortnightly works visit on which a report has also to be presented. I have found these experi-ments extraordinarily successful of inestimable and clearly recognised, value to the student himself and the member of the staff responsible for his supervision not to mention the smaller manufacturers in whose works most of the experiments were carried out. Henderson indeed impressed this very need in more than one of his presidential addresses.At this stage I should like to stress the value of the contact with the University. The affiliation scheme of 1913 linked the Royal Technical College with the University of Glasgow. In a sense the College came out of the University in 1796 when Professor John Anderson of the chair of natural philosophy urged the necessity for training in the technologies-incidentally for both sexes. (The great Massachusetts Institute of Tech-nology did not come into being until 186 1 .) Anderson expressed the hop in his last will and testament that it would become “a Seminary of Sound Religion Useful Learning and Liberality of Sentiment.” It is probable that in recent years the development policy of the College has been iduenced too strongly by his intentions or what have been assumed to be his intentions.A college of this importance cannot be diverted from taking its place beside the world’s great technical institutions by conditions laid down more than a century and a half ago. The success of the venture backed by the goodwill and energy of prominent citizens of Glasgow with faith in the quality of its teaching and in the distinguished scientists who occupied the chairs made it an institution commanding the respect of both academic and industrial circles. It was fitting therefore that after perhaps a wayward lapse of about 120 years it should return to the Alma Mater. The University fortunately did not stop to inquire if the College had in fact fulfilled the aspirations of its founder. Perhaps they welcomed it all the more because of their opposition to Anderson’s scheme in the first instance.The reunion was not without difficulty. Henderson must have exerted a powerful influence in College circles at the time; I know suffi-cient of the man to conclude that if he had been against it the affiliation scheme would never have materialised. Of one thing there can be no doubt-and I speak from intimate experience-that he did a great service when he went to the Regius Chair of the University in clearing up the maternal and filial difficulties of those days. It is true to say that if Henderson did not completely design the affiliation he erected the machine and made it run smoothly. He carried with him the goodwill and confidence of the College and earned the esteem and respect of his newer colleagues of the University.If he left the University as a man of medium stature he returned as a giant. Suggestions have been made that time has shown the affiliation scheme to have been a mistake and that the College might if it had persisted, have earned from the Privy Council the right to issue its own degrees. Be this as it may I have always consistently pursued the belief that it was a good thing for both institutions. So far as chemistry is concerned the relationship with colleagues has always been cordial. The College representatives have taken their full share of responsibility in matters of common interest and there has been mutual respect on both sides. The contact between the two institutions could perhaps be of a less formal character.The day has surely passed in a university-but not so very long ago-when the mere application of a science was enough to condemn it in academic eyes. We fortunately are not concerned here with the thorny question of whether a university should or should not engage directly in the teaching of technology. Suffice it to say that in this case each institution has its own sphere of influence and both spheres are complementary. I should like to have seen some interchange of staff. What more appropriate than to have a member of the College staff to deal with industrial applications of chemistry without which no course in t 223 pure chemistry could be complete? I would like to have seen the appro-priate College professors accepted as members of the Senate or even of the Faculty as for example holds in similar circumstances in Manchester ; and there are many ways in which the two staffs could collaborate on research projects.For practically every chemical operation semi-large-scale plant is available and this is particularly useful in isolating and purifying raw materials and natural products. I hope it may be possible for at least some of these matters to be rectified in the course of time. Like the parallel courses in pure chemistry in other universities the course in applied chemistry has become overloaded and I am at a loss to suggest a remedy for this state of affairs which of course is being further aggravated as the sessions pass. I reckon that my recent students had to listen to twice the number of lectures that I had in my own student course, and the scope of the work must have increased several fold.The same applies of course in other faculties. We must reach a stage when it will be literally and physically impossible for the student to absorb or adsorb, let alone digest all the material presented and I have a deep respect for the student’s amazing capacity to take in and reproduce the facts and theories which he hears from the lecture table. One temporary solution is to shed more of the elementary work to the schools with which close collaboration must of course be secured. Another is to leave the more advanced and specialised work to the post-graduate years. The average chemist in industry-except the few who enter the research departments-does not need this specialised work, but his foundations must be sound particularly in analysis and ordinary school teaching certainly does not require such an exhaustive treatment of the subject as is given in most university schools to-day.The Hankey report gives interesting information in connection with this matter. Of the total of 7,500 chemists it is hoped to employ in industry in 1953 it is estimated that 1,700 with 1st or 2nd Class Honours degrees will be required or roughly less than 25 per cent. The position is admittedly very different even to-day in one or two of the larger firms but that is the figure given by 136 out of 166 firms circularised and as the Committee states “emphasises that there is a place within the industry for a man with academic qualifications other than a first or second class honours degree.” My plea is that a special course is required for this type of man and not a course which he has shown in advance he is unfitted to accept.All competent observers to-day deplore too early specialisation. Henderson was deeply concerned with these problems and we often discussed them but like myself he did not venture to suggest a solution, although his sympathies were always on the side of the student. It is obvious that a solution to this problem of increasing intensity must ultimately be found and I commend this as a subject for discussion at a Symposium to be organised possibly by the Royal Institute of Chemistry, which has taken a forward part in such deliberations in the past. The position arises as a result of the publication of literature at a alarming rate.It is hardly possible to read even the original work published in any one field of the subject. Moreover our libraries are overtaxed and understaffed and there is a growing need for more highly equipped librarians even in the departmental libraries of university schools. Reference libraries particularly in technology are few and far between and largely out of date. Could anything contribute more to the commercial prosperity of this highly industrialised country than the provision of first-class reference libraries of science and technology in all our large cities conceived on a grand scale and based on the experience of the Patent Office Library? There is no first-class reference library in technology throughout the length and breadth of Scotland.This is another problem that will have to be faced Could not the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research which has done so much for the development of industry in general sponsor some such scheme for dis-seminating knowledge to those who would use it if it were made readily available ? Let us remember that Henderson’s main interests in research were in the field of natural products. It seems to me that the whole world situation is crying out for the return to such products. Europe has depended on coal for her supplies of the element carbon; America, within the last 80 years on oil. For this reason chemistry has developed mainly in the aromatic field in the former and in the aliphatic in the latter.The lifetime of both these natural products is measured. Both have been used with “unbridled extravagance.” The world has been living luxuriously on its capital. Enlightened thought is now turning to the idea of banking our capital and rather living on the interest. Generally speaking vegetable matter at or near the surface is replaced quite rapidly. We have little information of how this occursunder the surface but we know it must take milleniums. The ways of future generations would appear therefore to lie in a greater respect for vegetable matter which is replaced by a beneficent sun once a year and often more frequently. In this connection attention might be directed for example to the increasing interest in freshwater algae e.g. ChoreZZa Vulgaris. This alga is rich in carbohydrates but by suitable change in environment its photosynthesis can yield over 70 per cent.of the dry weight as fat or over 60 per cent. as protein. It appears that cultivation can be worked on a continuous system and the initial calculations indicate that as much as 50 tons of dried material per acre can be achieved-about 30 times the amount the same area would yield in wheat. Two main lines of research open up:+) the degradation of these enormous supplies of natural vegetation preferably by enzyme or bacterial action for the production or synthesis of our simpler organic molecules ; (2) the utilisation and beneficiation-to use an expressive American term-of the complex molecules which nature has already synthesised. Recently I have become interested in the second category on the industrial scale.For example logwood or its active dyeing principle haematein known for several centuries gives a black colour on wool with a bloom and tone which it is not yet possible to achieve by synthetic dyes. And so despite a slight lack of fastness to light it continues to find an important place in the dyehouse. Research is at present being carried out to see if this latter defect may be eliminated by slight modi-fications in the structure of the molecule or in its application. Similarly, the natural tannins are not likely to be completely replaced by syntans, some of which bear no structural relationship to the natural product. This is an age of intensive synthetic chemistry but if nature can assist us in our synthesis why should she not do so? After all she has been longer at the game.Even if we successfully synthesise a compound, we still need the units from which it is built up. Henderson implanted in the hearts and minds of a large number of distinguished research students many of them now occupying the leading chairs of chemistry a love for research into natural products possibly inherited from contacts made at Continental universities during his vacation periods. Maybe the concurrent work of a distinguished Glasgow chemist E. C. C . Stanford a former President of the Society of Chemical Industry on alginic acid from seaweed influenced his mind. I am always interested to cogitate over the circumstances which may have brought about the initiation of lengthy research programmes.For example in Glasgow in 1890 T. L. Patterson a well-known sugar chemist, delivered a paper on the quantitative estimation of colouring matters by means of their absorption spectra. Had this anything to do with the field that his son T. S. Patterson cut out for himself in optical activity? Sabatier himself leaves us in no doubt on this point. He has recorded that his work on hydrogenation arose from a deep interest he evinced in the Mond nickel process announced in 1890. The formation of nickel-carbonyl suggested to him that other unsaturated gaseous molecules might similarly react with the metal to give well-defined stable volatile products. But whatever the influence may have been in Henderson’s case chemistry would have been infinitely poorer without the brilliant work which followed these men from Liverpool Manchester London and Cambridge.But in those days research was a much more leisurely affair than it is to-day. It was taken in one’s stride. There was ample time for experi-mental work and what is more important ample time for thought and reading. To-day the popular method is the research team. There is feverish activity at the bench. How many of our young research workers realise that the laboratory is only a tool? Research is not done there; it is or should be done in the head. The laboratory is not an end in itself. It is an instrument the use of which has to be learned. Too often does the young worker act merely as a pair of extra hands to a senior. This is not real training in the methods of research.It may get a Ph.D. degree but that has too often been looked upon as the end rather than the beginning of valuable work. In Scotland we have suffered from the lack of an M.Sc. degree. Too often are our research laboratories cluttered 226 with young aspirants whose only concern is to increase their market value by obtaining the Ph.D. In the absence of any regulation requiring the publication of at least the major part of a thesis before presentation, they often leave the University with the higher degree without having given publication a serious thought. Having myself turned out a large number of Ph.Ds. under conditions of individual as well as team work I am convinced that the former gives by far the better training. It allows scope to the personal attributes of each investigator and there is more satisfaction in turning out a few men of this kind than scores who have had to submit to a pattern often imposed upon them against their will.Team work has its place of course in tackling urgent national problems but this is best done by the more senior research worker. It is probably easier to inculcate enthusiasm in the young research worker in applied chemistry than in pure chemistry. It is true that the goal is usually more clearly defined and although the approach and prosecution of the research may be more difficult the young student can at least appreciate where the target lies. For example a student may be asked to investigate the conditions under which an acetylene flame, burning in air can produce carbon monoxide.Or he might be asked to determine the solubility of silica with special reference to particle size. Neither of these subjects is likely in itself to strike a major chord of enthusiasm in the beginner in research. If however these studies can be linked up with or applied to the dangers in underground workings or with silicosis then the problem takes on a different complexion. At any rate this is my personal experience. Students to-day are intensely interested in human problems. For those intending to enter industry as soon as possible the experience in designing a complicated piece of apparatus to do a specific job and of modifying it in the light of experience before any reliable results can be presented is of immense value. The training of young research workers I have always looked upon as one of my primary duties and have been fascinated by it.I have always felt it essential that the students at the outset should have a clear conception of what research really is. Henri PoincarC the distinguished physicist and one-time President of the French Republic once wrote :-“an isolated fact can be observed by all eyes; by those of the ordinary person as well as of the wise. We must believe that many before Newton had seen apples fall but they made no deduction; facts are sterile until there are minds capable of choosing between them and discerning those which conceal something and recognising that which is concealed-minds which under the bare fact see the soul of the fact.” But it is absolutely essential that the research student junior or senior should be clear on one fact-that he is not likely to get a clear answer to a problem unless he has set his mind a clear question.He is much more likely to take note [ 227 3 The same might equally well be said of the chemist and appreciate the significance of any new form of evidence or new association of ideas if he has formed a clear conception of the case to be proved or disproved. William Hamor is quoted in a recent book “The Genius of Industrial Research ” by Killeffer as giving in precise language and crystallised for the first time so far as I am aware the individual steps involved in an attack on any research problem. I quote them in full. The investigator :-“gets‘ history of problem surveys literature defines problem studies attack suggests solution determines data needed selects methods, outlines program enters experimental stage tests solvability verifies findings collects data systematises data analyses data appraises results makes deductions reaches conclusions tests conclusions plans development.” This is a statement worthy of the most careful study not only by the student but by all who have the great responsibility of guiding and directing his research progress.Although latterly terpenes occupied Henderson’s full attention and in this field he brought order out of chaos the first 20 years of his research activities it should be noted covered a variety of topics in inorganic as well as organic chemistry. In 1901 he published in conjunction with George Beilby a short study of the effect of ammonia on copper and other metals.This must have been one of our earliest scientific studies in materials of plant construction which emphasised the importance of this method of approach rather than of the acceptance or rejection of materials on ad hoc tests. It must have been known for a long time prior to that date that ammonia was fatal to copper or its alloys. This communication. for the first time made the steps in the disintegration of the metal clear. At moderately high temperatures the metal forms a nitride which becomes reduced back to the metal by the hydrogen liberated in the decomposition of the gas. This cycle of events destroys the mechanical strength and it was proved conclusively that during the process the metal and indeed many other metals when in contact with the gas passes through the plastic condition.This paper must have had a marked effect on the use of copper in the chemical industry. Incidentally the dissociation of ammonia is now being used for the hydrogenation of fatty acids. As signifying Henderson’s practical interest in industrial chemistry, I would refer to another of his works which has received little mention. In 1919 he published his “Catalysis in Industrial Chemistry,’’ which must have been written in the midst of a war in which his services were fully diverted to more urgent problems. This was the first book in English to give a general account of the subject and I would recommend it even yet to any student desirous of obtaining a good working know-ledge of the applications of catalysis.It is written in his usual lucid style. His opening sentence is worth quoting:-“The term ‘catalysis’ is now generally used to designate those chemical changes of which the progress is modified by the presence of a foreign substance and the agent which r 228 induces the effect is called the ‘catalyst’.” One can conjecture that he felt the time had come when the startling advances made within the previous 15 years should be put on record for the benefit of the student. Sabatier and his co-workers were at their zenith and had had brilliant success with hydrogenation and dehydrogenation of organic compounds with nickel. They had in fact witnessed-it must have been with intense satisfaction-its first industrial application in the hardening of oils and Henderson had already gained practical experience of their methods in some of his own researches.The synthesis of ammonia from its elements had just been achieved on the industrial scale possibly not more than a couple of years before Henderson put his pen to paper. These were great milestones on the road of theoretical and applied chemistry. He it was who took the time to stop and assess their profound significance. The trouble to-day is that those who are most competent to do this kind of work shy clear of it. Thirty years have passed since he wrote this book on industrial catalysis. During this period a voluminous literature on the subject has appeared. Possibly no other subject in chemistry has received more attention and yet we have to record that in many aspects of the work, we are not much nearer an understanding of the fundamental principles governing the applications of catalysis than are recorded in Henderson’s chapters.As he says “it is only necessary to consider the great diversity of catalytic reactions in order to realise the difficulty of formulating an explanation of the mechanism of catalysis which will be applicable to all cases.” He deals with the poisoning of catalysts or negative catalysts, with activators or promoters with the finely divided and colloidal states and mentions their chemical and physical implications. But can we yet predict with any certainty the role which a metal or compound will play in a chemical reaction? It is not an uncommon experience in this field to get the complete reverse of the effect to be anticipated.Sulphuric acid has been manufactured for 200 years but no one would say that the mechanism of the reaction in the “chamber” process an example of the so-called homogeneous catalysis or in the “contact” process an example of the so-called heterogeneous catalysis are at all well-defined. Or take a process which goes back to the dawn of history-the combustion of carbon. Despite all our work we are simply in a fog concerning the role of carbon monoxide or dioxide as to when how and where these are formed. Possibly we have neglected to take into account that since reaction takes place at a surface it may well be of a catalytic nature. At any rate the inorganic matter present in all commercial forms of carbon must inevitably bring into action forces which have so far received scanty attention.And it is this reaction which has provided all our energy for industrial purposes in the past and is likely so to do for a long time to come. Such a state of affairs gives a fertile field for the patent agent and the fact that much of the literature in recent years has appeared in the form of patent specifications does much to obscure the real issues. I 229 So far as heterogeneous catalysis is concerned-and this is much the simpler of the two types to investigate-we are far from a clear under-standing even in a case of straightforward hydrogenation of the forces acting at the surface of how activation of the molecule takes place of how it is affected by heat of activation or heat of adsorption or why for example in a bi-molecular reaction one molecule is preferentially adsorbed on a surface.Recent work presented to the American Chemical Society in which l4CO as well as ordinary CO were chemisorbed on an iron surface in the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis suggests that even the surface of the catalyst can behave as if it consisted of two distinct parts, a homogeneous and a heterogeneous. Incidentally this work has shown that intermediate carbide formation does not take place as has hitherto been believed. All chemical reactions are normally carried out in contact with a surface. To carry out a reaction in a laboratory in a glass vessel is no guarantee that that reaction will take the same course or even go at all, when that vessel has to be replaced as in most industrial operations by a metallic structure.One is reminded of a simple instance if toluene is chlorinated in glass side-chain substitution is the principal reaction ; in iron the reaction goes in favour of nuclear substitution. Yet despite a hit-and-miss approach industry has made enormous advances within these three decades. While a survey of the more im-portant of these developments would form an appropriate text for several Henderson Memorial Lectures I leave it for more competent reviewers. Time does not permit of more than a mere mention of some of these. By far the longest chapter in Henderson’s book is devoted to hydro-genation of coal. Before he had resigned from his chair the hydrogena-tion of coal in two stages at high pressure to yield motor spirit had been accomplished in this country.Running concurrently with this, mainly in Germany was the hydrogenation of carbon monoxide in one stage at atmospheric pressure to yield motor and diesel fuels and more recently at slightly increased pressures to yield alcohols acids and a host of other oxygenated products. On the petroleum side to which he briefly refers there are later catalytic reactions concerned with such things as aromatisation alkylation and the new fluidisation technique. On the subject of polymerisation, we have made great advances in the field of synthetic rubbers and plastics, providing materials with new properties. The polymerisation of the butylenes also deserves mention because of its importance in providing aviation spirit.Only one page and a half is devoted to the action of enzymes but recent applications in this field are so diverse and so profound that a separate section of the subject-biochemistry-is now entrusted with its development. If Henderson could have been induced to bring his wisdom and experience to the writing of a second edition these and many other [ 230 important aspects of catalysis would doubtless have received his critical assessment and we would all have been the better for it. We honour him for the auspicious start he made and can only hope that others equally well qualified and endowed will follow in his steps. Henderson followed a long line of distinguished men at this Univer-sity starting with William Cullen in 1747.What would Cullen have thought of those magnificent laboratories which Henderson worked so hard to bring into being but which he did not occupy? It is on record that the first laboratory cost the University E136. Not unlike present-day conditions this was 150 per cent. more than was authorised. Cullen took some part in industrial development-perhaps most by directing attention to the subject. We must never overlook however his great indirect contribution in directing the attention of his successor Joseph Black to the subject of heat ; he in turn was the inspirer of James Watt’s pioneering work on the steam engine. Black took a lively interest in the develop-ment of the manufacture of soda and actually invested some of his capital in a Glasgow venture.It was John Ferguson who in 1884 as chairman of the provisional committee brought into being the Glasgow and West of Scotland Section of the Society of Chemical Industry. By a curious coincidence the great St. Rollox Works of Tennant and the Royal Technical College were founded in the same year. The College therefore must have made an enormous contribution to the various subsequent developments of those days. The “Young” chair has been in being for 80 years 50 of them directly or indirectly under the influence of Henderson 40 of them in association with this University. During its long history five Professors have come and gone; each has made his own contribution-some large some small. In my opinion the greatest single influence even although it was largely indirect was that of the man whom we honour again this day.Having myself recently laid down the academic toga in search of new adventure I cannot conclude without paying tribute to former colleagues and friends in this and other universities in the Royal Technical College, in industry in the Royal Institute of Chemistry and in other chemical societies who have given me of their continual support and encourage-ment throughout these later years. Amongst these I must give prime place to my esteemed colleague the Regius Professor and President of this Institute. Our pathways have been different but our aims and goal have been one. To him I offer most sincere thanks and appreciation for his active interest and collaboration over the past decade and look forward with hope and confidence to a continuance of his friendship and goodwill CAREERS IN CHEMISTRY On Friday 24 March 1950 a very successful Conference for senior pupils in Secondary Grammar Schools was held under the auspices of the Leeds Area Section in the Riley Smith Hall of the University of Leeds.The decision to bring the opportunities for careers in chemistry to the notice of sixth-form boys and girls in this way was taken early in the session and the Committee were fortunate in securing the advice and co-operation of Miss E. W. Venables H.M. Science Advisor for the area and Miss B. Patch and Mr. F. L. Swift the local Hon. Secretaries of the two Associations of Science Teachers, while the eight Local Education Authorities concerned readily gave their approval to the venture.The idea was taken up with such enthusiasm by the schools that at first nearly 900 scholars asked to attend and a system of volun-tary rationing had to be introduced to bring the total down to 700 the maximum seating capacity of the hall. Despite the fact that they provided their own transport parties came from as far away as Northallerton Thirsk and Pickering, and the two Scarborough High Schools joined forces in a visit to the works of Messrs. Joseph Watson and Sons Ltd. in Leeds earlier in the afternoon. Through the generosity of a number of local firms who appreciated the value of such a conference to the chemical industry all those attending were enter-tained to high tea in the University refectories before the meeting. The proceedings were opened at 5.15 p.m.by the chairman Professor F. Challenger a Vice-president of the Institute who welcomed the great gathering as fellow-students and spoke of the satisfaction to be gained by those who remain students at heart throughout life. The attitude of mind of the student is a valuable antidote to those influences which tend to destroy individuality, but it is necessary for students of chemistry to be on their guard lest enthusiasm should lead to lack of balance; in particular whole-hearted devotion to the study of science should not be incompatible with the capacity to write and speak good English. “Wisdom exalteth her children and layeth hold of them that seek her.” Eight speakers then gave ten-minute talks on various aspects of the training and activities of the chemist.Dr. J. W. Baker Reader in the Mechanism of Organic Reactions in the University of Leeds outlined the nature of the course for an honours degree in chemistry at the University and the discipline of post-graduate research. The university is essentially a community of those seeking knowledge in which the responsibility of the staff is to help the student to learn how to study for himself the university provides the atmosphere and oppor-tunities and it is the student’s responsibility to make good use of them not only in his specialist study but also in those cultural and physical activities necessary to keep himself human. The honours degree in pure chemistry is being increas-ingly recognised as the best preliminary to any form of specialisation in the field of applied chemistry.Dr. R. L. Elliott Head of the Department of Chemistry and Dyeing at Bradford Technical College emphasised the varied character of chemical training in the technical colleges. These institutions cater for the requirements of industry for chemists of all ages from 16 to 26 and much of the training is on a part-time basis. They differ from the universities in atmosphere and approach in that while the university aims at knowledge for its own sake the technical colleges aim at scientific knowledge for the sake of quality and quantity of production and the emphasis both in study and research is on the applica-tion of knowledge to useful ends. [ 232 Mr. G. Brearley Managing Director Brotherton and Co. Ltd. spoke on the position of the chemist in industry.By “chemist” is meant one who has obtained an honours degree or the A.R.I.C. without which one may remain a laboratory technician for whom the field of employment is more limited. The chemist may be concerned with research with manufacture or with the adminis-trative and commercial side and according to his choice of these will have to deal in varying degree with the four Ps-products plant people and paper work. Young people should not enter the chemical profession merely because they get good marks in chemistry at school nor should they select the industrial side merely because they may earn more money. It is more important to enjoy congeniality of occupation a feeling of doing something really worth while, than to derive a higher income from a task which is irksome.The chemist in industry has a wide variety of opportunities for giving full expression to his own personal abilities qualities and desires and his success will depend on the soundness and wideness of his basic training and on his ability to co-operate as a member of the industrial team. Dr. W. Cule Davies Research Manager Brotherton arid Co. Ltd. described the various types of industrial research organisations and the nature of the problems with which they have to deal. Industrial research is essentially planned team-work controlled by circumstances and employing a range of workers at different levels of training. The speaker thought that inadequate attention was paid to analytical chemistry in degree courses. Professor R.E. Tunbridge Professor of Medicine in the University of Leeds, dealt with chemistry in relation to medicine. Whereas in ancient times medicine was regarded as a pre-training for chemistry to-day the chemist had provided the medical man with such fundamentally important drugs as the sulphonamides, penicillin streptomycin paludrin and so on. The audience were greatly intrigued by the similarity between the chemical formulae of cholesterol calci-ferol the sex hormones cortisone and the carcinogenic hydrocarbons. Living processes involve chemical changes hence chemistry is fundamental to the biological sciences. Besides the opportunities for fully qualified chemists there are openings for pharmacologists and dieticians while in the work of the hospitals and medical schools both chemists and laboratory technicians play an important and highly skilled part.Dr. J. R. Nicholls Deputy Government Chemist explained the organisation of the Scientific Civil Service and discussed briefly the qualifications required for entry into the various grades and the nature of the work in the different scientific establishments. Miss Mamie Olliver Chief Research Chemist Chivers and Sons Ltd., spoke on the opportunities for women in the profession of chemistry. In chemical work the values of the contributions of men and women are usually not comparable because of the different approach to problems that arise. While men tend to attack the salient points women concentrate more on details. In industry women on the plant are often at a disadvantage because they lack physical strength and because employees are less ready to take orders from them, but in the laboratory they attain greater manipulative skill and can become first-rate analysts.From the employer’s point of view the great drawback to the employment of women chemists is the wastage due to marriage. Mainly on account of the less flexible hours the married woman chemist finds it more difficult to continue her career in industry than in teaching or in academic research. Mr. W. A. Wightman Hon. Secretary of the Leeds Area Section reminded the audience that when they were fully qualified as chemists they would be members of a great profession. The Royal Institute of Chemistry is their I 2 3 3 professional organisation. It not only confers qualifications which are held in high esteem and works unceasingly to further the interests of chemists as individuals and to ensure that the standing of the profession is properly recog-nised in high places but also through its Local Sections brings its members together on terms of social equality on the common ground of chemistry.It is a very human and personal body which inspires a high degree of loyalty in its members. The meeting was then thrown open for questions which were forthcoming from all parts of the hall and from pupils masters and mistresses alike. Much interest had been aroused by Professor Tunbridge’s attractive exposition and a number of enquiries were directed towards the nature of the training for pharmacological research and the importance of the laboratory worker in hos-pital medicine.Dr. Nicholls was closely cross-examined on the annual intake of chemists into Government service at various levels the proportion of non-graduates to graduates employed and the opportunities for women in the service in general and in the forensic science laboratories in particular. Miss Olliver was able to assure an inquirer that there was ample scope for bio-chemists in the food industry. The proceedings had to be closed at 8.30 p.m., after Mr. F. L. Swift had expressed the thanks of the schools to the Leeds Area Section for the organisation of the conference. The close attention maintained by the audience throughout the whole of the three hours meeting was remarkable and the many letters of appreciation received from the schools testifying to the interest aroused among the pupils make it clear that the venture was well worth while.For all concerned it was indeed a memorable experience. 234 SUMMARIES OF LECTURES THE CHEMISTRY AND APPLICATIONS OF THERMOHARDENING PLASTICS By N. J. L. MEGSON D.Sc. F.R.I.C. F.P.I. (Bristol and District Section jointly with the Plastics Institute at Gloucester, Plastics form a special section of high polymer chemistry. The type of plastic produced by a particular reaction depends on the principles of “func-tionality,” enunciated by Kienle as long ago as 1928 and later elaborated by Carothers. Polymerisations of compounds having 2 reactivities (e.g. singly unsaturated compounds) or polycondensations of two compounds each of which has a reactivity of 2 (e.g.dihydric alcohols and dibasic acids) are said to be 2 2 reactions and lead to thermoplastics. Higher reactions (e.g. 2 3 or 2 4) allow the possibility of branched-chain or ultimately cross-linked structures and lead to thermohardening resins. The latter can be formed by three main methods :-26 October 1949) (a) polycondensation (phenolic and urea resins silicones) ; (b) polymerisation of doubly unsaturated substances (diallyl phthalate, diallyl starch) ; (c) intermolecular re-arrangement (reaction of isocyanates with hydroxyl groups to give polyurethanes). Simple bifunctional polymerisations such as that of styrene are amenable to kinetic and similar treatment. Cross-linking reactions cannot so readily be examined by such means because of the intractability of the resulting products, so that indirect methods such as electrical mechanical and solubility determina-tions have to be used.Other methods are based on an organic chemical approach and include analysis of products before cross-linking occurs pyrolysis of resins followed by examination of decomposition products synthesis of intermediates and formation of resins by artificial means and examination of fine structures of intermediates e.g. by X-ray crystallography. The chemistry of phenolic resins provides a typical example of the way in which organic chemistry can usefully be employed in polymer investigations. The initial resins whether of Novolak or resole type have comparatively small molecular weights of the order of 800 that is they contain about 8 phenolic residues.The heat-hardened resins derived from them have a very high molecular weight which has not been determined because of an absence of known means of estimation. From phenolic condensations with formaldehyde, various crystalline intermediates of dihydroxydiarylmethane type have been isolated and identified while pyrolysis of Novolaks and resoles at about 550” C. has confirmed the belief that an important part of the resin structure is certainly of phenol-methylene chain type. This deduction is probably true despite recent continental work by Hultzsch by von Euler and by Zinke which has indicated in addition the likely presence of such groups as quinones substituted stilbenes and phenolic ethers. From theoretical considerations based on atomic dimensions bond angles and bond lengths it can be deduced that molecules of the phenol-methylene chain type have a semi-rigid non-planar irregular structure.Such a structure implies that heat-hardened phenolic resins contain few cross-links as compared with the number generally assumed. The geometry of the chain molecules is, in fact of the highest significance. From the molecular standpoint a heat-hardened phenolic resin will possess a sponge-like structure having numerous [ 235 holes; such a structure would account for the low tensile strength found in practice as compared with that calculated theoretically by Houwink assuming complete cross-linking. It seems unlikely that cross-linking is completely absent and that heat-hardening is caused by simple entanglement of chains.In support of these ideas recent X-ray work has demonstrated that molecules of dihydroxydichlorodiphenylmethane possess a non-planar bracket-like shape. It is likely that they are fairly rigid structures with comparatively little oppor-tunity for free rotation. Such structures in phenol-methylene chains would mean that the hydroxyl groups will be irregularly situated in space. If it be assumed that one im-portant factor in adhesion and in electrical characteristics is the polar character of such groups then it may be argued that a structure in which the groups possess some alignment or reinforcing effect will be better than the phenol-methylene structure. It appears that resins based on phenol-ethylene chains may be preferable in permitting possible alignment of hydroxyl groups and such resins are therefore being examined.Another important aspect is the effect of condensation conditions on the yieIds and types of initial products. Variations in acidity can affect enor-mously the individual yields of the three isomeric dihydroxydiphenylmethanes from phenol while the use of sodium ethoxide instead of aqueous sodium hydroxide causes formation of a dialcohol instead of a monoalcohol from 3 5 xylenol condensations. Work on condensations of mesitol (2 4 6 trimethylphenol) has shown that under certain conditions rneta substitution is possible in the phenolic nucleus and this observation provides an explanation of the heat-hardening of resins made from bifunctional phenols such as p-cresol.Much still remains to be done in the direction of making resins artificially from isomeric or homologous mixtures of intermediates which have yet to be syn-t hesised. Certain modern techniques involving thermohardening resins include low pressure moulding " post-forming " of laminated stock the moulding of resins of diallyl type the use of high frequency pre-heating in moulding and the combination of thermoplastics and thermohardening compositions. Attention is also drawn to the anti-tracking electrical properties of melamine resin mould-ings although the present state of knowledge does not provide an explanation of why such resins possess properties so different from those of say the phenolic resins. BIOLUMINESCENCE AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR By H.A. KLASENS Ph.D. (London and South-Eastern Counties Section at Mitcham I3 December 1949) The process of luminescence has the great advantage above many other physical and chemical processes that it provides its own speed indicator-the intensity of the emitted light-which can easily be measured and accurately and instantly recorded. Luminescence has therefore become a most valuable tool in many fields of science. The study of bioluminescence in particular is of great importance for students of the chemistry in the living cell and of animal behaviour. Bio-luminescence is very widespread in nature and occurs in 40 different orders of animals from bacteria to fishes. Vertebrates higher than fish are non-luminescent and reported instances of luminescence amongst them must be considered as caused by luminescent bacteria.The energy necessary for the production of light comes from an oxidation reaction. The natuie of this reaction has been studied mainly by using extract from a small ostracod crustacean Cypridina hilgendorfii found near Japan, after du Bois concluded from studies of the fire-fly that two substances are required which he called luciferin and luciferase. Despite many efforts luciferin has not yet been prepared in pure crystalline state neither is its structure solved completely. The most likely structure based on its chemical activities redox potential and absorption spectrum is that of a polyhydroxybenzene with a side-chain. On oxidation in alkaline medium it undergoes first a reversible oxidation probably the formation of a quinone followed by an irreversible oxidation probably connected with destruction of the side-chain.Both processes are accelerated very strongly by luciferase. This substance has the nature of a protein and acts as a catalyst. By studying the kinetics of the reaction it can be shown that the oxidation takes place in several stages. The rate-determining reaction under normal conditions of pH and oxygen supply is the formation of a complex between luciferin and luciferase. The speed of the reaction increases at first with temperature then goes through a maximum and drops sharply above room temperature. The drop is caused by a reversible denaturation of the enzyme luciferase. In luminescent bacteria in which a steady luminescence is maintained a cycle occurs whereby luciferin is restored with the same speed as it is destroyed by oxidation.The oxidised luciferin acts as a hydrogen acceptor and probably takes as such a part in the general assimilation process. The recombination of luciferin and luciferase is again the rate-determining process. The light intensity of bacteria decreases both on cooling because of the slowing down of the reaction rate and on heating because of the denaturation of the luciferase. Pressure increase lowers the intensity at low temperatures but raises it at high temperatures. Drugs such as alcohol ether and nicotine lower the intensity. The effects of temperature pressure and drugs on the light intensity of bacteria have all been explained quantitatively by the application of thermo-dynamics.Luminescence has been used in nature fdr several purposes depending, to some extent on the way the light production is controlled. In luminescent bacteria the light production is probably a fortuitous by-product of the assimila-tion. In more highly developed animals the light organs can be very ingeniously constructed. Various accessories such as lenses reflectors and shutters are used as a means of directing the light. The immediate control of the light production is carried out in one of the following ways :-(1) Muscle control. In many animals such as Cypridina and deep-sea shrimps granules containing luciferin and luciferase are squeezed out of special glands to react in the water and form a luminescent cloud. In Pho toblepharon and Anomalops special muscle-controlled organs have been developed for harbouring luminescent bacteria.(2) Hormone control. When the animal is attacked or otherwise stimulated a hormone such as adrenaline is secreted which causes the light organs to glow (deep-sea fish). (3) Nerve control. Among animals where the light production is nerve-controlled one finds the most developed organs (fire-flies). In the large family of fire-flies four types of light emission are found deter-mined by the structure of the organ:-(a) Continuous glow (larvae and larviform female of Phengudes). The photogenic cells are supplied with oxygen by the surrounding body liquid. (b) Intermittent glow (larvae of most fire-flies Lampyris noctiluca). Air is supplied through a tree-like branching of tracheoles.[ 237 (c) Pulsation (Pyrophorm). Air inlet to photocell is controlled by special end cells but control is not perfect. (d) Flashing (Photinus Photuris). Control is an air supply and is carried out by special cylinders containing the tracheal trunk, tracheal twigs end cells epithelium and tracheoles. The end cells which act like valves are nerve-controlled. During a flash they are opened to admit air. The efficiency of the light production has only been measured in bacteria. Per watt caloric energy of the consumed food 1 lumen of light is produced. This is high for a chemiluminescent reaction but not high compared with modern light sources. The capacity of producing light is used for various purposes:-(1) illumina-tion (deep-sea fishes squids); (2) attracting prey (some glow-worms lantern fish); (3) protection (Cypridina deep-sea shrimps); (4) signalling between sexes (Odontosyllis fire-flies).In the Orient and less frequently in America synchronous flashing of thousands of fire-flies is observed. Various explanations of this phenomena have been given. The most likely explanation is a kind of trigger action. THE OXIDATION OF CELLULOSE AND SOME musrmu IMPLICATIONS By D. W. H ~ L Ph.D. D.Sc. F.R.I.C. (Birmingham and Midlands Section 11 January 1950) Like that of other organic compounds the behaviour of cellulose is governed by among other things the presence of functional groups and a consideration of these indicates five possible points of attack namely (1) fission of the glycoside linkage to produce a shortenirig of the chain; (2) oxidation of the primary alcohol to either aldehyde or carboxylic acid; (3) oxidation of the secondary alcohols to mono- or di-ketones without rupture of the pyranose ring; (4) oxida-tion of the secondary alcohols to dialdehydes or dicarboxylic acids with rupture of the pyranose ring; (5) oxidatio of the terminal glucose unit.These simple conceptions arexowever complicated in a number of ways. First since the molecule contains upwards of 3,000 units and the individual units can be oxidised one at a time it is possible to prepare a series of oxy-celluloses containing anything from one unit to 100 per cent. of the units oxidised. Since much of the work at the Shirley Institute has been inspired by bleaching practice in the textile industry a great deal of it has been confined to products which from a chemical point of view are only very slightly oxidised, e.g.less than 1 per cent. of the glucose units attacked. Secondly nearly all reactions with cellulose are heterogeneous reactions and reactivity is therefore, controlled to some extent by accessibility. Thirdly the principle of accessibility extends to the micro-structure of the fibres which contain both amorphous and crystalline regions. The fibre struchre is such that a single chain molecule may be in both conditions at different places along its length. The amorphous regions of the fibres are accessible to reagents whilst the crystalline regions present a barrier to many reagents which would normally be expected to attack the material.Hence different parts of the same chain may be differently attacked. Fourthly the rate of reaction which normally controls the extent to which a reaction proceeds is complicated by the accessibility factor to such an extent that the rates for different reactions in different parts of the same chain may overlap. For these reasons the specificity of most oxidking reagents is obscured and this made the oxidation of cellulose too baffling for the early organic chemsts Until quite recently most of the work was confined to a careful examination of the effects of individual oxidising agents upon characteristic properties of cellulose such as strength viscosity acidity and reducing power. In recent years attempts have been made to oxidise cellulose with reagents which behave specifically and thereby to obtain an insight into the effects of aldehyde or carboxyl groups introduced at known positions in the molecule.Three reagents have been used with considerable success namely periodic acid, chlorous acid and nitrogen dioxide. The first is a specific reagent for the oxidation of a-glycols with splitting of the carbon-carbon bond. Considerable evidence has been accumulated to show that this specificity is retained when periodic acid is used to oxidise cellulose with the resultant production of 2 3-dialdehydes. The reagent differs from oxidants previously used in that it penetrates into the crystalline regions of the fibres and in consequence, oxidation can be carried to great lengths without destroying the fibrous character of the material.Nevertheless X-ray examination shows that the crystalline structure is completely destroyed by the oxidation process. Periodate oxycelluloses have characteristics of their own. They are highly reducing in type and there is no significant development of carboxyl groups. They are also the most alkali-sensitive of this group of compounds. Cold dilute alkali produces a complete loss of strength and decrease of nitrocellulose viscosity. The specificity of periodic acid has led to an understanding of the cause of the alkali-sensitivity of certain types of oxycelluloses which it cannot now be doubted is due to the presence of the aldehyde groups produced by the oxidation. Further oxidation of these groups by chlorous acid which oxidises them quantitatively to carboxyl groups confirms this view.Such treatment brings about an increase in the viscosity of an oxycellulose in cuprammonium hydroxide and is the only known instance of an oxidation reaction of cellulose material which so behaves. A complete explanation of this remarkable behaviour is afforded by the present conception of the chain structure of the cellulose allied with the sensitising action of the aldehyde groups. Nitrogen dioxide produces oxycelluloses different from the periodate products in that they are of an extreme acidic type. The reagent reacts equally with the amorphous and crystalline regions but the X-ray diagrams of the products (again unlike those obtained with periodic acid) show no loss of crystalline structure. This however is not the only reaction which occurs, since if uronic acid groups alone were obtained the fully oxidised materials, which are still fibrous would be expected to be polyglucuronic acids and hence to resemble alginic acid-the differences between them being stereo-chemical only.That this is very largely the case has been shown by the following series of reactions :-(u) oxidation of cellulose with nitrogen dioxide; (b) conversion of the acidic oxycellulose to the 2 3-dialdehyde by further oxidation with periodic acid; (c) conversion of the 2 3-dialdehyde to 2 3-dicarboxylic acid by treatment with chlorous acid and isolation of mesotartaric acid in the form of its acid brucine salt. There are however considerable differences in behaviour from alginic acid, which include high reduping power and considerable alkali sensitivity.We are led to assume therefore that though the main reaction is the oxidation of the primary alcohol groups side reactions occur to a limited extent but sufficiently to affect markedly the properties of the resultant oxycelluloses. There is evidence to show that these side reactions probably include the forma-tion of both dialdehydes and diketones. The often profound effects upon behaviour of very minor chemical changes are characteristic of the oxidation of cellulose. The importance of these oxidation reactions for the understanding and control of the bleaching of cellulose products and also of many other cellulose reactions including the ageing of rayon dopes cannot be over-estimated. [ 239 WITH INTENT TO DECEIVE By C.L. WILSON M.Sc. Ph.D. F.R.I.C. (Belfast and District Section 20 January 1950) By the Forgery Act of 1913 forgery is the making of a false document in order that it may be used as genuine. Only the making-with intent to deceive or .defraud-is necessary for the commission of a felony. Making use of or uttering the document is a separate offence. There can be forgery without uttering and uttering without forgery. Any material alteration in a document purporting to be complete converts it into a false document. Forgery as is well known need not be concerned only with writing the interpretation placed on the term “document” being a very wide one. Thus books and pictures have frequently been forged while even more unusual objects such as the number plates of a car have been adjudged capable of being forged.It is however probably true to say that the bulk of the work of a document examiner is concerned with written documents so that he is frequently referred to in a loose way as a handwriting expert. This undoubtedly explains when one is introduced as “the handwriting expert in X . v. Y. and others,” the high rate of incidence of the question-rather coy, and usually by the feminine element-“Oh can you tell character from hand-writing?” It may also explain the extreme reluctance of many people to furnish specimens of their handwriting. In order to amass a collection of handwritings of a standard piece of writing for scientific comparisons it has proved necessary to mark the test sheet prominently as confidential and usually, in addition to supplement this with a verbal assurance.The tools employed in the examinations of documents can be loosely classi-fied as (1) mechanical (2) chemical and (3) common sense. Mechanical tools are largely those concerned with the identification of handwriting. Various methods are employed for comparisons of slopes and curves among these being scales ruled on glass. Latterly the examiner has found sheets of a transparent plastic such as Perspex very helpful for the purpose of preparing easily a wide range of scales suited to his own methods. Graphical methods of comparison of the relative heights of letters can often indicate anomalies. Tracing is one of the easiest methods of forgery to detect if the original is also available.Either squared screens or superimposed photography of the tracing and the original will give a convincing demonstration of this procedure. It is however in the minor characteristics that most clues are usually to be found. Sometimes these are “ twiddley bits,” sometimes they are unobtrusive writing habits such as the lifting of the pen or a characteristic curve in a stroke in one specific letter. Examination and comparison of a piece of genuine writing with (1) the same piece carefully copied by a person who is both a good draughtsman and conversant with the methods of detecting forgery and (2) a test specimen by this person in his own handwriting show the utter im-possibility of maintaining forged writing over any extended piece of script, without allowing some of one’s own minor characteristics to creep in and without losing some of the minor characteristics of the genuine writing.No two people write exactly alike but any one person’s writing also varies internally even within a short period of time. Nevertheless writing is charac-teristic. Many people will recollect that they can invariably identify the writing on an envelope (if already familiar to them) before opening the letter. Indeed with practice it is also possible in many cases similarly to identify with reasonable certainty by simple inspection the source of a typewritten envelope partly by the appearance of the characters and partly by typing habits. It does not follow that anyone is competent without training to comment on the genuineness of a piece of writing.It has been clearly shown in America, 1240 that there is such a thing as “expertness” in identifying handwriting. In one test in which professors in a Law school were presented with genuine specimens, careful copies careless copies and tracings of their own and their colleagues’ signatures the highest record for correct discrimination was 29 per cent. the average being 11 per cent. Only one of the professors identified correctly all his own genuine signatures! Experienced bank clerks obtained an average of 43 per cent. but this figure was almost equalled by untrained persons making visual comparison with standard signatures. However when the signatures were submitted to three specialists one of them was correct in every instance, while the other two were wrong only once giving an average identification of about 98 per cent.Chemical tests are mostly concerned with the identification of inks and paper. The multiplicity of inks nowadays is no help to the document examiner, but a range of chemical tests on the micro scale will assist in establishing the similarity or dissimilarity of inks. These tests may be applied to individual strokes but must be carried out in such a way as to damage the document as little as possible. Permission of the Court must be obtained before any such examination is made and Counsel is usually reluctant to apply for such per-mission unless he is convinced that the answer will be completely in his favour. Much work has been done on the estimation of the age of ink from its quantita-tive behaviour with reagents but as a rule only an approximate estimate of the order of the age-days weeks or months-can be obtained.The detection of anachronisms has led to proof of forgery in many famous cases use being made of the first dates of introduction of the various pigments used in inks or the various fibres used in paper-making. Carter and Pollard used the fibre method in exposing a clever series of forgeries of rare books and pamphlets of which the most notable was a copy of Tennyson’s “Morte d’hthur,’’ dated 1842 but printed on paper containing chemical wood pulp, a material not introduced till about 1874. Similarly in 1931 a document purporting to be signed by William Penn was shown to be signed with a silver ink using a steel pen.Silver inks were not in use in Penn’s time and steel pens were not invented till 1808. These last exAmples might almost be considered as falling within the third, or commonsense category-which is probably for all the aids of scientific technique the most important one. The failure of people to scrutinise docu-ments closely can be exemplified from personal knowledge by a recent case in which a cheque stolen on its journey between the printers and the bank figured. This cheque although unstamped was first cashed by a publican and was then passed without comment by the publican’s bank to the branch on which it was drawn the absence of the stamp going unnoticed not only by the publican but also by the cashier at the bank! Such points as minor alterations to a document in the course of a case as occurred in the Henry and Cornwallis cases might very well have gone un-noticed had it not been for careful scrutiny and in one instance the fore-thought of the solicitors in having the document photographed.A subsequent photograph showed clearly on comparison that the document had been re-touched. Writing over folds in paper which should have been made before the paper was folded can be clearly detected. One document examined recently to which an addition had been made contained most of the mistakes open to a forger. Four words had been added between the body of the writing and the signature. One of these words occurred earlier in the text ar,d was obviously a crude copy. The four words had been written after the paper had been folded, whereas the remainder of the text and the signature were written before folding.r 241 The ink was different. The pen was Werent. Finally ink had been spilled on the paper. The ink blots were clearly made at a different time from the main body of writing and the signature but it was equally obvious from one of the ihk blots which touched both the signature and the added writing that it had been made at the time at which the words were added and was probably under the added words. An otherwise very clever forger failed to recognise that an eye-hole in parchment was an anatomical phenomenon and not the result of age and wear. This led him to omit certain words as if they had been written on the missing portion rather than to write them round the hole or to jump over it as the writer would have done had the document been genuine.Perhaps the most outstanding case of forgery on record is the series of documents amounting to 27,000 in number produced by Vrain-Denis Lucas for the benefit of Michel Chasles an eminent mathematician. Produced at the rate of eight per day over nine years and netting about 26,000 for the forger, these included such masterpieces as a letter from Lazarus to St. Peter and a correspondence between Cmar and Cleopatra. All the documents were on paper in French! Nowadays undoubtedly less ambitious attempts than this do occasionally succeed but the way of the modern forger is hard. The more one learns about the art of forgery the less one is inclined either to adopt it as a source of livelihood or to recommend it to one’s friends.LEATHER ITS CONSTITUTION AND PROPERTIES By M. P. BALFE B.A. Ph.D. F.R.I.C. (East Anglia Section at Norwich 20 February 1950) The various stages of the manufacture of leather have already been reviewed and an account given of the changes which occur in skins during tanning, whereby they are converted into leather (see Journal and Proceedings 1949, VI 488). Leather owes its importance as the base material for shoe manu-facture to some interesting properties. On account of its fibrous structure and because it is largely composed of a protein (collagen) leather has a combina-tion of properties which has not been produced in any synthetic material and which makes it the best material for boots and shoes except for certain specialised and comparatively small usages.Upper leather is flexible elastic so that the general shape of the shoe is retained and yet with a certain degree of plasticity which enables it to conform to the shape of the individual foot. Sole leather can be firm and yet sufficiently flexible is resistant to abrasion and resists the passage of liquid water because its capillary channels are filled with tannin and because the fibres swell when wet thus further constricting the capillaries. The water resistance of leather can if need be be increased by appropriate treatments and this without impairing the characteristic “breathing” property of leather; that is the capacity to transmit and to absorb water vapour. Some types of leather can transmit water vapour at a rate which is several times as great as that of the emission of water vapour from the same area of the skin of a person doing moderate work.The capacity of leather to absorb moisture from humid atmospheres while still remaining dry to the touch is also important in connection with foot comfort. Leather contains about 15 per cent. of moisture under normal atmospheric conditions and can take up an additional 20 per cent. under humid conditions such as exist in contact with the foot. Nylon the best of the synthetics in this respect holds approxi-mately 4 per cent. of moisture under normal conditions and only takes up an additional 4 per cent. from humid atmospheres INORGANIC CHROMATOGRAPHY By R. A. WELLS B.Sc. A.R.I.C. (Belfast and District Section 10 March 1950) Although application of the technique of chromatography to inorganic chemistry is only in its infancy the variety of methods adsorbents solvents, etc.available is already very large. The first separations of inorganic materials by chromatography were achieved by Schwab and co-workers in 1937.l They found that if an aqueous solution of electrolytes was passed through a column of alumina differential adsorption took place and the individual ions of the solution were found in layers. By this method separation of both cations and anions was possible but a disadvantage lay in the lack of separation between layers. A large number of other inorganic adsorbents have been tried e.g. CaCO, MgO TiO, but all were found less efficient than alumina with the exception of zinc sulphide which Bach2 has used for the separation of copper and cadmium.Later in 1937 Flood described separations he had obtained using filter paper impregnated with alumina. Erlenmeyer and Dahn (1939)4 separated a number of cations by passing a suitably buffered solution through a column of 8-hydroxyquinoline mixed with kieselguhr. In this case the separation appears to be dependent upon the relative stabilities of the metallic hydroxyquinolates. Robinson has successfully applied this method to the estimation of zinc in brazing alloy^.^ Other organic reagents have been used for column packings e.g. Burriel-Marti and Perez have used dimethylglyoxime columns for the separation of nickel from cobalt and other metals.6 Until the introduction of synthetic organic ion exchangers by Adams and Holmes in 1935 the only major application of ion exchange materials was to water softening.The new materials have found many uses in chromatography and the extension of their application has received great impetus recently from the problems facing the Atomic Energy Project in America. As a result it is now possible to separate gram quantities of rare earths from each other in a state of spectroscopic purity by means of ion exchange. Other uses of ion exchange include the separation of americium and curium the separation of zirconium and hafnium and the isolation of radio colloids. Yet another form of chromatography which has recently been applied successfully to the field of inorganic chemistry is “paper” or “partition” chromatography fist used by Martin and Synge (1944)’ for the separation of amino-acids and later studied in detail for inorganic products at the Chemical Research Laboratory.* Separations by this method may be divided into two main groups :-(a) separation on strips or sheets of filter paper of quantities of salts in the range 0.1-500pg.(b) separation on columns of cellulose of amounts of material in excess of 500pg.Q In dealing with small quantities of material a drop of the test solution (0.05 ml.) is placed near one end of a strip of Whatmans No. 1 or 3 filter paper (2.5 cm. width 20-40 cm. length). The strip is allowed to dry in air and is then hung vertically from a glass boat containing a suitable organic solvent with the end nearest the test spot immersed in the solvent.The complete apparatus is enclosed in a glass cylinder in which the atmosphere is kept saturated with respect to the organic solvent and components e.g. acid and water which may be included. To aid saturation a layer of solvent is maintained in the bottom of the cylinder together with a container of acid or water saturated with solvent. After the solvent has been allowed to diffuse down the strip sufficiently far to effect a separation the strip is removed and the solvent is allowed to evaporate. The presence and position of the separated radicals is revealed by spraying the strip with a suitable developing reagent. Williams and Kirby modified this tech-nique and used capillary ascent.lo For this a sheet of filter paper is rolled and clipped to form a cylinder and drops of the test solution are placed a few r 243 centimetres from the bottom edge.The paper cylinder is then placed vertically in a dish of solvent both cylinder and dish being enclosed in a glass tank in an atmosphere saturated with respect to the solvent. The solvent diffuses up the paper cylinder and separation takes place in the same manner as for downward movement. The conditions for the separation of the normal analytical groups of cations by paper chromatography have been worked out.8J1 Other separations include a number of rarer elements.*J2J3 Some anions have also been separated.8J4 Conditions have been established in the case of some separations for quantita-tive estimation. In most cases the strip is run in a normal fashion and is then cut into pieces to isolate each metal.Each portion of the strip is then ashed and the metal estimated in the ash by polarographically colorimetrically or by any other sufficiently sensitive method. Uranium in minerals and ores has been accurately measured by this method. Again nickel manganese cobalt copper and iron in samples of steel have been estimated by first separating all five metals on a strip with the aid of methylpropylketone containing acetone water and HC1 as solvent. Each metal after recovery from the cellulose is estimated with the aid of the polarograph. For the separation of large quantities of material columns of cellulose pulp have been used. A suitable form of pulp may be prepared by treating filter paper wood pulp cotton linters etc. with dilute nitric acid.For most purposes a starting material with a low ash content is preferred and this is rendered down by boiling with 5 per cent. w/v HNO solution. The time of boiling depends upon the starting material and the fineness of pulp required. To prevent wall effects due to creep of aqueous solution down the walls of the column the inside surface of the glass tube is treated with a water-repellant material. Dimethyldichlorosilane has been found very suitable for this purpose. The cellulose is packed as a smooth column in the presence of the organic solvent to be used and the aqueous test solution is transferred to the top of the column and eluted with further quantities of solvent ; the extracted metal is then recovered from the eluent. This method has been used both for the analytical estimation of a number of metals and for the preparation of others in a high state of purity.Uranyl nitrate is extracted quantitatively from the nitric acid solution of a large number of minerals using ethyl ether containing 5 per cent. w/v HNO,. By the use of ether containing 123 per cent. w/v HNO thorium is extracted quantitatively from the rare earth nitrates. Gold is extracted from the Pt metals with ethyl ether containing methyl alcohol and dilute hydrochloric acid and mercury from a number of other metallic chlorides with methyl acetate. Nickel cobalt, copper and iron are estimated in samples of steel using ketonic solvent^.^ The process has also been used for the preparative separation of scandium from the rare earths and of rhodium and iridium from platinum and palladium.Theoretical Considerations.-The present approach to inorganic paper chromatography is largely empirical. The factors underlying separation are fairly well understood but the extent of combination of these factors in any one separation is hard to assess. Complex formation between solvent and salt is very important strong complex formation leading to a high solubility. Partition of the inorganic material between organic and aqueous phases in the cellulose plays a major part in most of the separations. In some cases physical adsorption appears to take place. When solvents containing acid and/or water are used for paper strip separations both acidity and water gradients are detectable along the cellulose. Thus the relative stability of organic solvent-metal complexes to acid and water concentrations may aid separation.Consideration of the principles of partition has led to the definition of the term “RF value”’ as a means of describing the degree of movement of a compound. An R F value is defined as the ratio of distance moved by band/distance moved by solvent front. I 2 4 4 It is possible to obtain fairly constant RF values for the ions in most separations by rigidly fixing the conditions of extraction. Future Work-In the not too distant future it should be possible to arrive at a chromatographic substitute for the normal group separation of the metals. For this purpose it would probably be necessary to revise the groupings of the metals. Variations which are still very largely unexplored include separations on paper impregnated with organic or with ion exchange materials.Many adsorbents other than cellulose could be used in conjunction with organic solvents. The usual system for partition chromatography is a stationary aqueous phase and a mobile organic phase; by pretreatment of the cellulose with an anti-wetting agent such as a silane it is possible to arrange for a system in which the two phases are reversed. The scaling up of chromatography has an obvious importance as has the need to make the process more nearly continuous. In this connection “Radial”15 chromatography which has been used for organic separations may well have a contribution to make in the inorganic field. Chromatography with applied voltage has been used by Haugaard and KroneP for the separation of amino-acids and a similar application might aid inorganic separation.Berraz at Berkley California has achieved separations by application of a voltage drop to either end of a strip of paper which has been impregnated with an electrolyte before the test solution is app1ied.l’ 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. REFERENCES Schwab and Jockers Angew. Chem. 1937 50 546. Bach Assoc. Quimica Argentina 1937 183 55. Flood Tidsskrgt for Kjemi og Bergvesen 1937 10 178. Erlenmeyer and Dahn Helv. Chim. Acta 1939 22 1369. Robinson Metallurgia 1947 37 45 107. Burriel-Marti and Perez Anal. Chim. Acta 1949 3 468. Consden Gordon and Martin Biochem. J. 1944 38 224. Burstall Davies Linstead and Wells J.Chem. SOC. 1950 516. Burstall Davies and Wells Faraday SOC. Discussions. Williams and Kirby Science 1948 107 481. Lacourt Sommereyns Degeyndt Barah and Gillard Nature 1949 163 999. Arden Burstall and Linstead 1949 Communication to Chemical Society’s Osborne and Jewsbury Nature 1949 164 443. Lederer Science 1949 110 115. Hopf Lynam and Weil Brit. Pat. Spec. 1944 No. 585,224. Haugaard and Kroner J.A.C.S. 1948 70 2135. Berraz Anales Assoc. Quim. Argentina 1943 31 96. Schwab and Dattler ibid., 691. Schwab and Ghosh ibid. 1939 52 666; 1940 53 39. 1949 7 179. Symposium on Chemistry of Heavy Elements ACTIVITIES OF LOCAL SECTIONS Aberdeen and North of Scotland.-The Annual General Meeting of the Section was held in the University Union Aberdeen on 3 May 1950 with Dr.R. B. Strathdee in the chair. The Secretary’s report the financial statement and the District Member of Council’s report were considered and duly approved. After Dr. Strathdee had intimated his desire to retire from the position of Chairman the office-bearers for the forthcoming year were elected as follows:-Chairman Dr. W. T. H. Williamson; Hon. Secretary and Treasurer Dr. H. G. M. Hardie; Hon. Auditor Mr. D. W. Menzies; Committee Dr. R. B. Strathdee, Dr. J. A. Lovern Dr. M. B. Watson Messrs. J. E. Bowen H. J. Gregson and A. M. Meston. Cordial thanks were given to Dr. Strathdee for his services as Chairman during the past seven years. Birmingham and Midlands.-On 11 January Dr. D. W. Hill Member of Council delivered a lecture entitled “The Oxidation of Cellulose and some Industrial Implications” (for summary see p.238). A keen discussion ensued and a cordial vote of thanks to the lecturer was proposed by Mr. D. Entwistle. The customary joint meeting with the Society of Applied Science was held in Wolverhampton on 10 February. The lecturer was Dr. A. T. Green O.B.E., and his subject “Refractory Materials.” As usual the meeting was well supported . On 8 March Dr. T. Malkin Member of Council lectured on “The Chemistry of the Phospholipids.” The small but specialised audience much appreciated the lecturer’s lucid explanations and the thanks of the meeting were expressed by Mr. Garfield Thomas. A Social Evening on 17 March provided members and friends with a chance of relaxation but the number availing themselves of the opportunity was dis-couraging to the organisers.Instrumental and vocal music was interspersed with lighter fare and opportunities for conversation. Those who attended had an enjoyable evening. The Annual General Meeting of the Section was held on 22 March with Dr. H. C. Smith in the chair. After completion of the formal business the following committee was elected for the session 1950-51 :-Chairman Dr. S. H. Jenkins; Vice-chairman Mr. F. G. Broughall; Hon. Treasurer Mr. D. W. Parkes; Hon. Secretary Mr. E. M. Joiner; Hon. Assistant Secretary Mr. Frank Brown; District Member of Council Mr. E. G. K. Pritchett; Members Fellows, Dr. H. C. Smith Dr. F. W. Norris Mr. C. L. Evans Mr. F. A. Jones Dr. D. A. Hall; Associates Miss R.M. Fentiman Dr. H. Coates Mr. G. Barnett Mr. E. S. Tonks. Messrs. J. H. Bennitt and S. A. M. Thompson were re-elected auditors. At the conclusion of the meeting there was a short film show. On 14 April a Symposium on “Careers in Chemistry” was attended by some 250 children from senior forms of Grammar Schools in Birmingham and district. The Registrar (Mr. R. L. Collett M.B.E.) presided and short talks were delivered by a panel of speakers which included Dr. H. C. Smith Professor M. Stacey F.R.S. Mr. F. G. Broughall and Mr. C. L. Evans. The subjects dealt with were “Training,” “Research,” “Industry” and “The Public Service” respectively. Questions were asked on several of the points raised and a useful discussion ensued. On 19 April a visit was paid to the Nelson laboratories of the English Electric Co.Ltd. at Stafford. The party was received by Mr. Slator chief administra-tive officer and conducted through the chemistry physics metallurgy ceramics [ 246 and high-tension electrical laboratories. Afterwards tea was taken with the laboratory research staff. The Section chairman Dr. S. H. Jenkins thanked Mr. J. K. Brown director of research and members of his staff for a very instructive and enjoyable visit. In the evening a joint meeting with the Stafford Chemical Society was held, with Mr. J. G. Cowan President of the Society in the chair. A lecture entitled “The Chemistry of Paper Manufacture” was delivered by Mr. G. C. Hampson and a good discussion followed. Before the Birmingham members left for the return journey light refreshments were served.Dr. J. A. Newton Friend paid a tribute to Mrs. T. A. Evans and her helpers for this gesture of hospitality. This was the first Section meeting in Stafford and the occasion was a notable one. Mention must be made of the good work done by Mr. T. A. Evans in organising the proceedings. Mr. Frank Brown has been awarded a Fellowship under the auspices of the Economic Co-operation Administration and will shortly leave for the United States to spend two years in the study of chemical engineering problems. Consequent upon this appointment Mr. Brown has resigned the Assistant Secretaryship of the Section. In accepting his resignation the Committee has congratulated him on his success and expressed appreciation of the useful work he has done during his two years in office.Midland chemists were shocked to learn of the sudden death of Sir Norman Haworth on 19 March. Although he had retired from the Mason chair some 18 months previously he was still actively engaged in professional work. All who knew him well will respect his scholarship and great administrative ability: those who knew him even better will appreciate his great personal charm and his adherence to Christian principles. At a Memorial Service in Birmingham Cathedral the Section was represented by the Secretary Mr. E. M. Joiner. Cardiff and District.-The Annual General Meeting was held at the Royal Hotel Cardiff on 3rd May 1950 when the following Officers and Committee were elected Chairman Dr. J. Grant; Hon. Secretary and Treasurer Mr.G. M. Kerman; Hon. Auditor Mr. S. Dixon; Committee (to retire in 1952), Messrs. P. J. C. Haywood W. T. Roberts and W. D. Williams. The meeting was followed by a supper. Dublin and District.-The Dublin Section in conjunction with the local representative of the Chemical Society the Irish Chemical Association and the Dublin Section of the Society of Chemical Industry held a series of meetings in Dublin Cork and Galway on 1 3 and 6 March 1950 respectively. At these meetings the members of the four societies had an opportunity of hearing Professor M. Stacey F.R.S. of the University of Birmingham lecture on “Deoxysugars and Nucleic Acids.” The enjoyment which his visit gave to chemists in Ireland was heightened by the arrival during his stay of the news of his election to the Fellowship of the Royal Society.The Annual General Meeting of the Section was held in the Chemistry Department Science Buildings Dublin on 22 March 1950 Mr. J. Andrews, Chairman presiding. The conjoint arrangement of the programme for the past session was re-viewed and approved and it was agreed that the Section should continue to participate in a conjoint programme with the other chemical societies in the area. The Hon. Treasurer’s report which was adopted showed a balance in hand at 31 December 1949 of E27 2s. Id. Messrs. B. G. Fagan and G. A. F. Harrison were elected Hon. Auditors for the year 1950. A ballot to f31 two places on the Committee resulted in the election of Professor T. S. Wheeler and Mr. W. J. Stringer The thanks of the members were accorded to:-the Universities for pro-viding meeting facilities; the Officers of the Section for their services; the ladies of the Chemistry Department U.C.D.with whose kind assistance light refresh-ments were served at the meeting. It was agreed subject to suitable arrangements being made to join with the Belfast Section in visiting the Alcohol Factory at Cooley Co. Louth. An ordinary meeting of the Section followed the Annual General Meeting, Mr. J. Andrews Chairman presiding over an audience which numbered over 100 members and visitors. Dr. A. E. Werner Research Chemist The National Gallery London gave a lecture entitled “The Scientific Examination of Pictures.” A most interesting discussion followed in which many members of the audience took part and Dr.Werner replied to the points raised. The Chairman expressed the thanks of those present to Dr. Werner and a most successful meeting then terminated. The Officers and Committee for the Session 1950-51 are as follows:-Chair-man Mr. J. Andrews; District Member of Council Dr. A. G. G. Leonard; Com-mittee Dr. V. C. Barry Mr. D. Crowley Mr. W. V. Griffiths Mr. J. W. Parkes, Mr. W. J. Stringer and Professor T. S. Wheeler; Hon. Treasurer Mr. C. Lipman; Hon. Secretary Mr. H. D. Thornton. Dundee and District.-On 24 March a lecture entitled “The Chemist in the Heavy Textile Industry’’ was delivered jointly by Mr. H. L. Parsons technical director of Messrs. Low and Bonar Ltd. and Mr. R. G. Reid chief research chemist of the same firm. Mr. Parsons sketched the functions and organisation of a textile research department the work it does and how it integrates with other departments.Mr. Reid illustrating his part of the lecture by the production of numerous exhibits discussed the control of textile processes and the analytical chemistry of dyed and proofed fabrics especially in jute and flax. The Annual General Meeting of the Section was held on 14 April in the Royal British Hotel Dundee with Mr. Andrew Dargie in the Chair. The following were elected for the ensuing year :-Chairman Mr. Dargie; Vice-Chairman Dr. Robert Roger; Hon. Secretary-Treasurer Mr. W. s. Liddle (275 Blackness Road Dundee); Committee the foregoing and Messrs. Alexander Hood Douglas M. G. Lloyd George F. P. Parsons Herbert L. Parsons and Henry A.Watson; Hon. Auditor Mr. Norman B. B. Johnstone. At a meeting held on 5 May in the Chemistry Lecture Theatre University College Dundee a lecture entitled “The Stereochemistry of Polymers” was delivered by Professor P. D. Ritchie “Young” Professor of Technical Chemistry in the Royal Technical College Glasgow. Dr. R. Roger presided. The lecture was illustrated by lantern slides ably projected by Mr. A. S. Martin and was followed by questions. The excellence of the lecture and the appreciativeness of the large audience made a gratifying finale to the Section’s first season. East Ang1ia.-On 10 March the Section held a joint meeting with the London Section of the Society of Chemical Industry at Ipswich when Mr. F. Armitage and Mr. W. T. C . Hammond of Lewis Berger and Sons Ltd.gave an address on “Recent Developments in the Surface Coating Industry.” At Norwich on 20 March Dr. J. W. Corran lectured on “Mustard,” out-lining the many applications of this spice. The discussion which followed testified to the interest the subject had aroused. The Eighth Annual Meeting was held at the Oriental Cafe Ipswich on 15 April the Chairman of the Section presiding. The Hon. Secretary’s report recorded the ten meetings held during the session and drew attention to the contributions made by members of the Section in the cause of Technical Educa-tion. He also recorded his appreciation of the assistance received from the staff at Russell Square. The following officials and committee members were [ 248 elected for the coming session:-Chairman R.S. Colborne; Hon. Treasurer, T. P. Dee; Hon. Secretary J. Williams; Hon. Auditor G . H. Whyatt; Committee, B. J. Balfe H. F. Bamford S. H. Edgar N. G. Perkins H. A. Perry and P. J. Platt. After tea Dr. D. W. Kent-Jones the Honorary Treasurer of the Institute, gave a stimulating informal talk on the various financial activities of the Institute. The appreciation of the meeting was expressed in the vote of thanks proposed by Dr. Edgar. East Midlands.-A joint meeting of the committees of the East Midlands Section and the Sheffield South Yorkshire and North Midlands Section was held at the Station Hotel Chesterfield on 22 April. The meeting was preceded by a luncheon arranged by the Sheffield Section who were acting as hosts on this occasion. The main business of the meeting was to receive reports from Mr.E. J. Vaughan District Member of Council for the two Sections up to April 1949 and from Mr. F. C. Bullock the present District Member. Mr. Vaughan’s report was read in his absence by Mr. Barraclough Secretary of the Sheffield South Yorkshire and North Midlands Section. Both reports were accepted and the thanks of the Sections were expressed to their authors. The chairman of each Section referred to the fact that owing to the con-stitution of the East Midlands Section as a separate District this would be the last of the joint committee meetings. The feeling was expressed that these meetings had been of considerable value and their cessation although foreseen. was regretted. Edinburgh and East of Scotland.-At a joint meeting with the Chemical Society and the Edinburgh Section of the Society of Chemical Industry in the North British Station Hotel on I6 March Dr.M. Ritchie gave a very interesting lecture on “Some Aspects of Photo-oxidation with special reference to Chloro-phyll.” Professor S. J. Watson presided. Huddersfie1d.-On 7 February 1950 in the Large Hall of the Huddersfield Technical College a joint meeting with the College Chemical Society was held, at which Dr. R. Spence of A.E.R.E. Harwell gave a lecture entitled “The By-products of Atomic Energy.” The chair at this meeting was taken by Mr. J. King student-chairman of the College Chemical Society and the vote of thanks to the lecturer was proposed by Mr. F. Hobson (College Chemical Society) and seconded by Mr.T. Ritchie (R.I.C.). The 30th Annual General Meeting of the Section was held on 7 March at Field’s Cafk Huddersfield under the chairmanship of Mr. F. Robinson. The reports of the Hon. Treasurer (Mr. T. Ritchie) and the Hon. Secretary (Mr. E. A. C. Crouch) reflected the activities of the Section which included two works visits the annual dance and six lectures. The vote of thanks to the two retiring members of Committee Mr. T. Ritchie and Mr. L. G. Cratchley was proposed by the Hon. Secretary. The Section Committee now consists of the following members :-Chairman, Mr. F. Robinson; Hon. Treasurer Mr. R. Raw; Hon. Secretary Mr. E. A. C. Crouch; and Dr. W. E. Scott Dr. J. R. Atkinson Mr. D. Hanson and Mr. T. Waterton. Immediately following the Annual General Meeting an Ordinary Meeting was held at which Professor W.T. Astbury F.R.S. gave a lecture entitled “Macromolecular Studies with the Electron Microscope.’’ The lecture was profusely illustrated with lantern slides. The vote of thanks to the lecturer was proposed by Mr. T. Ritchie and seconded by Mr. R. Raw. On 14 April a joint meeting with the Manchester and District Branch of the Tnstitute of Physics was held at the Huddersfield Technical College at which Dr. J. S. Anderson (A.E.R.E. Harwell) gave a lecture entitled “Conductivity, Catalysis and Surface Reactions on Solids.” The Chair at this meeting was r 249 taken by Professor F. A. Vick (Institute of Physics) and after the discussion which followed the lecture he thanked Dr. Anderson on behalf of the two organisations and indicated the experimental nature of this meeting the fist in which the Manchester Branch of the Institute of Physics had participated outside Manchester.In associating himself with the expression of thanks, Mr. F. Robinson (Chairman Huddersfield Section R.I.C.) hoped that further joint meetings of the two organisations might be arranged in the future. Liverpool and North-Western.-On 8 March in the Lecture Theatre of the Widnes Municipal Technical College a lecture entitled “A Modern Contact Sulphuric Acid Plant,” was given by Mr. W. J. Murphy. Messrs. Bottomley, Boddican Lowe Speakman Newman and Moffatt took part in the lively discussion which followed. A vote of thanks proposed by Mr. W. Bottomley and seconded by Mr. Holt was heartily accorded by the members present.After the Annual General Meeting of the Section held in the University of Liverpool on 4 April the Chairman Mr. J. F. Clark introduced Professor F. S. Fowweather who delivered a lecture entitled “The Laboratory Examina-tion of Service Recruits.” Messrs. Phillips Saul Jeffries and Leigh took part in the discussion which followed. A cordial vote of thanks was proposed by Mr. P. N. Williams and seconded by Mr. Turner. Manchester and District.-On 14 March a meeting convened by Dr. I. E. Balaban was held in the Central Library Lecture Hall Stockport. Mr. J. H. Carrington gave a concise survey of rubber chemistry which in spite of the compression imposed by so large a subject presented an informative and interest-ing picture even to the non-specialist.The Ladies Evening is now a well established and popular meeting and this year it was held in the Lecture Theatre of the Gas Showrooms Town Hall, Manchester on 22 March with Dr. G. N. Burkhardt in the chair. The subject was-appropriately-“ Gas Appliances and Gas Utilisation.” The lecturer, Mr. Howell a senior official of the North-Western Gas Board gave his audience an insight into the manner in which domestic gas appliances are tested so as to conform with the rigorous requirements of the British Standards Institution specifications and into the very diverse problems which the technicians of the gas industry have to face in supplying fuel to such varied industries as for example paint steel bakery and cotton. The audience of well over 100 appreciated both the address and the illustra-tive lantern slides and a lively discussion followed.After a buffet supper during which it was possible to inspect a number of domestic gas appliances the evening was completed by films illustrating the scientific application of gas in the home and industry. A stimulating meeting was held at the University of Manchester on 27 March under the chairmanship of Dr. Burkhardt. Professor E. R. H. Jones gave a talk on the Organic Chemistry Department of the University of Man-Chester. Introducing the lecturer the chairman said that it was with pride and satisfaction that he referred to the election of Professor Jones as a Fellow of the Royal Society. Professor Jones said that he regarded this honour as one which could be shared equally by himself and the Chemistry Department of the University.He then went on to give a survey of the work of the Depart-ment since 1851-a period rich in well-known professorial names which pro-vided both challenge and stimulation-dealing in some detail with more recent research on vitamin synthesis tri-terpenes plant growth hormones steroids and acetylenic compounds. That the audience were deeply impressed and interested was obvious from the variety of questions asked and the chairman’s request to show appreciation of Professor Jones’s lecture received a hearty response The second meeting to be held at Bolton took place on 28 March at the Municipal Technical College but the attendance in contrast to the previous meeting was disappointing. The lecturer Dr.F. L. Rose of Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd. gave a pleasantly informal and fascinating talk on “Some Problems in Chemotherapeutic Research.” Dr. E. M. Stoddart convened the meeting. The lecturer’s delight in his subject was very infectious and many questions were asked. On 27 April a meeting was held at the Engineers’ Club Manchester at which Dr. W. H. Thompson F.R.S. gave a very interesting talk on “Recent Applications of Infra-red Spectroscopy.” Dr. G. N. Burkhardt presided. The audience showed by their applause their great appreciation of the lecture. North Wales.-At a meeting held at Ruabon Grammar School on 24 February Dr. A. T. Green O.B.E. Director of Research to the British Pottery Research Association and the British Refractories Research Association, gave a lecture on “Research and the Clay Industries.” Some 25 members of the Section paid a visit on 29 April to the Nickell Research Laboratories and factory of Monsanto Chemicals Ltd.Ruabon. In the morning the visitors were shown around the Nickell Laboratories by Dr. M. J. Rose and Mr. W. H. Ritchie and were then conducted over some of the production units by Dr. E. W. Bodycote and Mr. E. V. Weekes. After lunch taken at the invitation of the Management of Monsanto Chemi-cals Ltd. Professor M. G. Evans of the University of Manchester addressed the meeting on “The Kinetics of Oxidation Reactions.” After a brisk discussion the vote of thanks to the lecturer was proposed by Mr. G. C. Wickham. Dr. S. R. Illingworth expressed the thanks of the meeting to the Management of Monsanto Chemicals Ltd.for their hospitality. South Wales.-On 3 March members of the Section participated in a meeting arranged by The Chemical Society and the University College of Swansea Chemical Society held at University College Swansea with Professor C. W. Shoppee presiding. Professor F. E. King lectured on “Synthetical Investiga-tions in the Series of Cyclic Imines.” On 10 March Dr. F. G. Tryhorn Director of the Home Office Forensic Science Laboratory Nottingham lectured on “Chemistry and Biology in a Forensic Science Laboratory” at a meeting of the Section held at University College Swansea with Professor C. W. Shoppee in the Chair. The audience included representatives of the Department of Biology in the College and of the Borough Constabulary.In pursuance of the policy of holding meetings in different centres in the Section area a meeting was held on 24 March at the Technical College Llanelly, by the kind permission of the Board of Governors. Mr. D. Luther Phillips presided and Dr. J. Pearson Head of the Chemistry Department British Iron and Steel Research Association lectured on “The Disposal of Spent Pickle Liquor .” The Thirty-second Annual General Meeting of the Section was held on 28 April at the Grand Hotel Swansea with Mr. R. 0. Bishop M.B.E. presiding. The Annual Report and Financial Statement were received and adopted. In the Report mention was made of the arrangements to extend the activities of the Section by holding two meetings during May-a works visit and dis-cussion at the Mond Nickel Refinery and a discussion meeting intended especially for teachers-and a first meeting of the Section in Aberystwyth to be held in July.Officers and members of the Committee for the ensuing session were elected as follows:-Chairman Dr. A. G. Ramsay; Hon. Secretary Mr. E. E. Ayling; Committee Professor C. W. Shoppee Dr. I. Jones Messrs. R. 0. Bishop, [ 251 R. G. Cox D. L. Phillips and E. S. Squire; with Mr. J. 0. Samuel District Member of Council ex officio. Messrs. J. W. Adye and M. L. Hughes were re-elected as Hon. Auditors. The Secretary gave a brief report of the Conference of Honorary Secretaries, outlining discussions on Higher National Certificates qualifications in tech-nology the Journal social responsibilities in science and participation in the Festival of Britain.Mr. Dudley Williams District Member of Council during the past year, then spoke of Council activities during that period. He referred to the coming revision of the By-laws the issue of a new Register and the formation of new Sections. The work of various Committees was then described and mention was made of the participation of the Institute in the compiling of a document, “Notes on Terms of Engagement of Chemists” (see p . 213). In expressing thanks to Mr. Williams for his talk the meeting recorded its indebtedness to him for his services both to the Welsh District and to the South Wales Section during his term of office as District Member of Council. Stirlingshire and District.-The first meeting of the Section was held on 3 May in the Temperance Cafk Falkirk at which Mr.R. J. Loveluck presided. There was an excellent attendance and considerable interest was shown. The Chairman reviewed the events leading up to the formation of the Section. The proposed Rules and Constitution were adopted and the Officers and members of Committee for the 1950-51 session elected. These are Chairman, Lt.-Col. F. M. Potter; Vice-chairman Mr. E. 0. Wisbey; Honorary Secretary-Treasurer Dr. F. S. Fowkes; Ordinary Members Mr. J. M. Haig Mr. R. J. Loveluck Dr. W. B. Peutherer Dr. M. A. Pyke Mr. D. M. Webster and Mr. A. White. The Hon. Auditors are Mr. J. B. Kitchin and Dr. J. K. Thomson. Arrangements are being made to hold an Inaugural Dinner and Address for the Section in October if possible. Tees-side.-It has been the aim of the Section for several years to include in each annual programme a symposium contributed wholly or partly by Tees-side men.This year Mr. D. A. Dowden and Dr. P. W. Reynolds spoke on “Heterogeneous Catalysis” on 10 March. Dr. R. R. Goodall gave a lecture illustrated by experiments on “Partition Chromatography” on 24 March. We were glad to welcome a party from Barnard Castle on this occasion. At the Annual General Meeting on 28 April the following were elected to the Committee:-C. E. Beynon A. G. Carter B. Harris and W. W. Stevenson. A vote of thanks was passed to the retiring members of Committee Mr. H. M. Lowe Dr. G. Milner and Dr. A. Robertson. There was no change in the officers of the Section. After the Annual General Meeting Dr. H.J. T. Ellingham spoke on “Recent Developments in the Work of the Institute.” The following points from the subsequent discussion are worth recording. Concern was expressed about the policy of the Institute in dealing with problems arising from the employment of chemists in nationalised industries. It was admitted that the Institute’s methods had been successful in the past but grave doubts were expressed about their effectiveness in dealing with the boards of nationalised industries and combating the tendency to treat even scientific employees en masse. Another member said that to his knowledge reputable chemists who had spent years in the coal industry were being indirectly pressed to join a trade union; in his opinion the situation was grave. A large majority of those present were of the opinion that “Activities of Local Sections” should be discontinued as a regular feature of the Journal this part of the Journal very often resembled a school magazine.Appreciation was expressed of the work of the Section in helping members to brush up their chemistry without undue strain Cape.-A meeting of the Section was held in the Chemistry Department, University of Cape Town on 10 February 1950 when Dr. T. H. Mead gave a very interesting lecture on “Molecular Distillation.” Members of the Section were invited to attend a meeting of the Western Province Section of the South African Chemical Tnstitute which was held in the Drawing Office of the Cape Explosive Works Ltd. at Somerset West on 3 March. The speaker was Mr. E. N. Costa whose subject was “Chemistry in the Wine Industry.” The 25th Annual General Meeting was held at the Athenaeum Newlands, on 24 March.Eleven members of the Section and a number of visitors were present. The following officers and committee were elected for the year 1950-51 :-Chairman Professor E. Newbery; Hon. Secretary Mr. H. W. Schirach; Hon. Treasurer Mr. H. E. Krumm; Committee members Mr. F. E. A. Leibbrandt Professor W. Pugh Dr. A. H. Spong; Hon. Auditors Mr. E. N. Costa Mr. W. H. Seath. A presentation of a pen and pencil was made to Dr. Helen M. Schwartz who has acted as Hon. Secretary for the past five years and who is leaving Cape Town shortly for a tour of duty in Great Britain. After conclusion of the formal business of the evening the retiring chairman, Mr.Abbott read a most informative paper on “What is a satisfactory water Western India.-This Section was formally inaugurated on 13 February by Sir Shanti Bhatnagar O.B.E. F.R.S. The Section serves the area of the States of Bombay Saurashtra Rajasthan Madhya Pradesh and Madya Bharet. Informal meetings had been held since the autumn of 1949 pending completion of the necessary official arrangements for constituting the new Section. supply.” PAPERS READ AT MEETINGS OF LOCAL SECTIONS Since the first list of papers deposited in the Institute Library was published (Journal and Proceedings 1949 VI 532) the following papers have been received. They were all read at meetings of the London and South-Eastern Counties Sec-tion :-1949. 18. The Manufacture of Soap.By J. Charlton. 19. Some Present Trends in Baking Research. By J. B. M. Coppock (Summary Journal 1950 11 123). 20. The Minor Constituents of Coal. By A. C. Monkhouse (1950 11, 128). 1950. 21. The Public Analyst and his Work. By T. McLachlan. 22. The Functions of the Chemist in a large Industrial Organisation. 23. The Chemistry of some Actinomycetic and Bacterial Antibiotics. By J. Dewar. By R. Slack BOOK REVIEWS Molecules and Crystals in Inorganic Chemistry. A. E. Van Arkel. Translated by J. C. Swallow. Pp. ix + 234. (London Butterworths Scientific Publications Ltd. 1949.) 17s. 6d. (postage 9d.). This book claims to be “for students in their first year of science or medicine.” It is “devoted almost entirely to the correlation of structure and properties that can be derived from a consideration of the heteropolar bond.” The text develops the author’s belief that even though the electrostatic interpretation of chemical bonding “can only be regarded as an approximation of the general theory yet it clarifies a large part of chemistry.” The scope of the book is difficult to reconcile with the intention that it is for the use of first year students.A clearer idea of the contents would have been given by a more specific title such as “The electrostatic interpretation of chemical bonding in molecules and crystals.” Within this rather limited but very important field a fairly elementary and very clear discussion is presented of some of the consequences of the balance between electrostatic forces and other repulsion forces for the stability of various compounds.Because of the lucid treatment the book forms a valuable if somewhat limited introduction to the theory of heteropolar bonding. It could be read with benefit by science students beginning a systematic study of quantitative valency theory in molecules and crystals. However the very fact that the author aims to develop electrostatic inter-pretations of chemical bonding to the utmost extent makes the book somewhat unbalanced particularly for inexperienced readers. Properties of chemical bonds which cannot be interpreted solely on the basis of electrostatic effeets are relegated to a very late stage in the text and are not systematically confronted with heteropolar bond properties. Even on the basis of a semi-empirical comparison between bond properties in covalent systems and properties cal-culated from heteropolar theory an illuminating approach to covalent bonding might have been developed without calling for much more mathematical apparatus.It seems doubtful if a book of this kind can be included with benefit in a course for students in the fist year of medicine since the chemical concepts, though valuable and illuminating would call imperatively for much comple-mentary matter from the lecturer and medical curricula are already very crowded. But the book gives a useful approach to valency theory for students in their first year of science provided the limited scope aimed at by the author is clearly realised. The present translation corresponds with the third Dutch edition since 1941.Though its place in courses of teaching may be different in the two countries, the popularity of the Dutch work seems likely to be matched by the English edition. A. R. UBBELOHDE. The Chemistry and Physiology of Growth. Edited by A. K. Parpart. Pp. vii + 293. (Princeton University Press; London Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press 1949.) 36s. net. This book represents a collection of revised papers first presented at a conference in Princeton in 1946. The editor is at pains to point out in the introduction the continuity of thought which underlies the papers. The discussion begins with a chapter on the synthesis of proteins which are not only the chief structural components of the living cell but also comprise the enzymes which guide its activity.This leads to a discussion on the molecular morphology of the cell. Factors which affect the growth of plants and animals are dealt with under the heading of “Plant Growth Hormones” and “Vitamins [ 254 and Growth Factors.” Cells arise from pre-existing cells and much knowledge concerning cell multiplication and the growth of micro-organisms has recently been accumulated; the kinetics of this form the subject of the fifth chapter. The biological reactions involved are next considered under the heading of “Cellular Metabolism and Growth.” Proceeding from the individual cell to the multicellular adult organism it is necessary to consider problems of differentiation (Chap. 7) and problems of organisation (Chap. 8). What may happen when such organisation breaks down may of course throw light on the mechanism of normal growth and organisation and the ninth chapter deals with neoplastic (cancerous) growth.Finally as an example of one of the chief regulatory mechanisms controlling the manifold activities of a complex organism the hormones of the adrenal gland are considered in the final chapter. It was inevitable that the writers concerned with describing their own particular aspects of the problem would not all achieve the same degree of relevance to the main theme. For example whilst it is undoubtedly true that the vitamins and other animal growth factors are of importance to the problem as a whole we know far too little as yet about the detailed mode of action of some of the vitamins especially the newly isolated ones to see at all clearly how say the anti-stiffness factor or folic acid fit into the picture.Moreover, since the chapter was written so much recent work has appeared especially about vitamin BI2 that it is now perhaps too much out-of-date to be really useful. Again the chapter on cellular metabolism though very readable and an excellent summary is difficult to incorporate into the wider theme with which this book is primarily concerned. On the other hand some of the essays dealing with the more general problems are admirable not only as summaries of existing knowledge but as attempts to define the problems and orientate logical concepts and especially to visualise the relationship in increasing complexity from molecular structure through molecular organisation to cell structure and cell organisation.The reviewer would particularly recommend the long chapter on “Differential Growth” by Paul Weiss and also that on “Problems of Organisation” by J. S. Nicholas. But this is perhaps not a fair judgment; at least the earlier chapters and the two final chapters are almost as informative interesting and stimulating. J. YUDKIN. Acetylene and Carbon Monoxide Chemistry. J. W. Copenhaver and M. H. Bigelow. Pp. xvi + 357. (New York Reinhold Publishing Corporation ; London Chapman and Hall Ltd. 1949.) 60s. net. Of the findings of the British and American investigation teams that entered Germany after the war none created more interest in chemical circles than the epoch-making technological advances in the use of acetylene and carbon monoxide as industrial raw materials.The novelty of these developments, carried out under the zgis of Dr. J. W. Reppe lay in the audacious use of high pressures and unconventional catalysts. Since that time many reviews have appeared describing the basic processes and products but workers in the field have been much hampered by the difficulty of access to detailed practical in-formation concerning the reactions; such facts could only be acquired by a tedious time-consuming search among mounds of F.I.A.T. B.I.O.S. P.B. and German patent reports. The need for a comprehensive factual treatise on these modern developments has been evident for some time and the publication of the above book is therefore very welcome. It was early realised that the natural author of such a survey of his life’s work was Dr.Reppe himself and the preface of this book describes with mild irony how this project was rendered impracticable by Bizonian bureaucracy and Dr. Reppe’s recalcitrant personality. Tribute must be paid to the courage and [ 255 initiative of the two American authors in shouldering such a Herculean task, involving the sifting of 28 tons of documents and the correlation of the informa-tion so obtained. It would have been only too easy to have put forward the results as a dry and indigestible mass of data but in fact the book is so superbly written and presented that the reviewer must needs restrain himself from gushing over it . The book opens with an account of German developments in the “con-ventional” chemistry of acetylene (e.g.chlorination hydration hydrogenation, etc.) and then goes on to deal with the novel technical processes of vinylation, ethynylation cyclupolyolefine formation and carbon monoxide carbonylation ; it ends with a detailed description of the evolution and nature of the safety precautions employed in working with acetylene under high pressures in the presence of heavy metal acetylides. All the processes are described in scrupu-lous detail with a wealth of checked experimental data much of which has been hitherto unpublished. The treatment is critical throughout and the authors have not hesitated to indicate the probable course of further developments. Every series of related reactions is followed by an easily assimilable flow-sheet and the provision of a compound index at the end of certain chapters is a welcome asset.The style is clear concise and eminently readable leavened as it is with humour (as exemplified by the highly theatrical extracts from Reppe’s descriptions) and an obvious feeling for the subject. The print is clear and the errors trivial and remarkably few. The book happily describing the results of a close and fruitful collaboration between the organic chemist physical chemist and chemical engineer should make interesting reading for members of all these three classes of investigators and is certainly indispensable to those actively engaged in the field. R. A. RAPHAEL. Advanced Organic Chemistry. G. W. Wheland. 2nd edition. Pp. xi + 799. (New York John Wiley and Sons Inc.; London Chapman and Hall, Ltd.1949.) 64s. net. This is an interesting and thoughtful advanced text-book with new features in a treatment which derives in the main from that of classical organic chemistry. It is descriptive and non-mathematical except on a few topics. From the vast field which could be included under the title a quite limited range of subjects is selected and these are thoroughly discussed. “The primary guiding and unifying principle . . . is the structural theory in its broadest sense,” and in the first half of the book structure is the central topic with some 300 pages devoted mainly to isomerism including steroisomerism. In this generation when considerable re-integration of chemistry is taking place, in spite of the vigour of specialised branches there are great advantages in discussions which include together the structural basis and the relations between structure and reactivity with more kinetic and other physical evidence than is presented in this part of the book.But the method chosen simplifies the pres-entation of clear chemical argument and that is there in full measure most readable and precisely stated. In the later chapters the balance changes as they proceed through consideration of racemisation and inversion reactions strain theory and steric hindrance resonance and. electrostatic effects to molecular rearrangements including tautomerism and free radicals. Some chapters such as those on acids and bases addition compounds and electrostatic effects are restricted in their scope but others are fuller and in general deal excellently with their topics.The first chapter consists of a critical examination of fundamental concepts concerning molecular structure “to call attention to the complexity of even the most familiar ideas of chemistry which ‘everyone understands’ but whic practically no-one ever takes the trouble to define precisely and unambiguously.” This theme recurs repeatedly in later chapters and although the discussion is most valuable there is some tendency to overstate the critical thesis as in parts of the discussion of the similarities between covalency and electrovalency. The discussion of fundamental concepts involves a critical examination of terminology. It remains to be seen whether chemists in general will follow the author in this matter.For instance the definition of molecules leads to the classification of tetramethylammonium nitrate as a “stoichiometric mixture,” which therefore cannot have a molecular formula. Similarly methylammonium formate and ammonium acetate are “stoichiomers.” In stereochemistry too the quest for precision influences the terms and treat-ment. “Diastereomer” is used for any non-enantiomorphic stereoisomer-a wider conception than is usual. A valuable section on the principles of sym-metry forms the basis for the subsequent treatment. The author gives clear rules for the use of projection formulae in stereo-chemistry and minimises the use of three-dimensional diagrams ; he deprecates the common arbitrary assumption of a particular configuration for say D-glyceric aldehyde or D-glucose.Many chemists will consider that learning to think in three-dimensions is essential to sound stereochemistry. For this it is better to choose a conventional configuration for key compounds with a clear understanding that an arbitrary assumption is involved and then use diagrams which represent structures in three dimensions for the discussion of relationships to other compounds. These points are referred to because they concern fundamental general questions and are a special feature of this book but they only occupy a small part of it and the discussion involving them is so clearly stated that the reader can appreciate it and profit from it whether the terminology and treatment become general or not. This book is intended for students who have already had good courses in elementary organic and physical chemistry.In using it they will find it a mine of information including much on recent work their understanding will be greatly deepened and in particular their critical faculties will be developed. G. N. BURKHARDT. Boron Trifluoride and its Derivatives. Pp. ix + 3 15. (New York John Wiley and Sons Inc. ; London Chapman and Hall Ltd. 1949.) 40s. net. Boron trifluoride is a substance which has been known for well over a hundred years. It is only within the past decade however that owing to its remarkable catalytic qualities it has been developed commercially. The appearance of the present book is both valuable and timely since many of the reactions such as isomerisation alkylation and polymerisation for which boron trifluoride is so useful are important in the petroleum industry.British chemists will find the excellent summaries contained in this book most helpful to have at hand. Nearly a thousand references many of them in the patent literature have been carefully scrutinised and the results ably presented. The first part of the book deals with the highly interesting history of boron trifluoride with its methods of preparation and purification and with the physical properties of the gas. Its remarkable chemical properties are then outlined and since it is the most powerful electron acceptor known it is readily apparent that there are few chemical substances with which it will not react to some extent. Even argon under pressure and at low temperatures can be shown by thermal analysis to form six addition compounds with it.The number of co-ordination compounds formed by boron trifluoride is astonishingly great and some of them such as the fluo-borates which are dealt H. S . Booth and D. R. Martin. r 257 with at some length in the book are very useful. The diazonium fluoborates have been the subject of extensive research since they provide a means of introducing fluorine into aromatic molecules. Useful tables showing the properties of aryl fluorides have been compiled. The lengthy chapter on boron trifluoride and its derivatives as catalysts in organic chemistry should be read by every chemist interested in synthesis for one is indeed astonished at the breadth and variety of the applications. The book concludes with useful chapters on the specialised analysis and on the practical handling of this valuable new reagent.The authors are to be complimented on having compressed a wealth of mainly new information into a relatively small space without making their account a mere catalogue of names and reactions. One might perhaps have expected a somewhat more critical presentation but nevertheless this is a valuable book which one can recommend without reserve. M. STACEY. The Industrial Chemistry of the Fats and Waxes. T. P. Hilditch. 3rd edition. Pp. xi + 604. (London Bailliere Tindall & Cox 1949.) 27s. 6d. The new edition of Professor Hilditch’s book is assured of a great welcome, not only because it is a great book in its own right but also because we have produced very few books on oils and fats in this country for a number of years and this one so adequately fills the gap.The United States of America has been luckier during the last decade claiming works by Jamieson and Bailey, among others as its recent contribution to the literature of the subject; at the moment of writing we can point to Hilditch alone as the upholder of our claim to be among the leaders in the development and description of the chemistry of fats and waxes. This is the third edition of the work; the second edition appeared in 1941 and was re-printed in 1943 1945 and 1947. It is thicker than its predecessors and covers much the same ground but in a more comprehensive manner. It includes accounts of the main technical developments that have occurred since 1941 and among these may be mentioned continued progress in the manufacture of syn-thetic detergents the application of solvent segregation and low-temperature crystallisation to the technical separation of oils into more useful fractions, progress in the theoretical aspects of the autoxidation and polymerisation of the drying oils and the attempted widening of the range of oils available for the manufacture of paints and varnishes.Characteristically Professor Hilditch makes one of his most important points in the preface to the new edition. He records that he has replaced the nomenclature of former editions by the Geneva system and that he has finally rejected the rule adopted by the Chemical Society and the Bureau of Abstracts in November 1946 whereby the carboxylic group is invariably regarded as a subs tituent group.The number of fatty acids alcohols etc. dealt with by those interested in the chemistry of fats has always been very small compared with the number of compounds that have to be named in other branches of organic chemistry; and the trivial names oil chemists have adopted have almost always been capable of simple adaptation to show the relationship of compounds. Thus the relation-ship of oleyl alcohol to oleic acid is immediately obvious from their names. Similarly it is equally obvious if one gives to these compounds the nomenclature used by Professor Hilditch in this edition of his book; they are respectively octadec-9-en01 and octadec-9-enoic acid. But by the Chemical Society’s rule oleic acid would become hepta-8-decene-1 -carboxylic acid though the alcohol is still octadec-9-enol.Confusion seems inevitable with this system and Pro-fessor Hilditch hopes that the rule will be abandoned in favour of the system he prefers. [ 258 He might like however to consider dispensing with these formal systems of nomenclature altogether and substituting for them Dyson’s ciphering system. One does not often need to speak of the fatty compounds by their systematic names their trivial names sufficing for all ordinary occasions; and there can be no possible doubt that the Dysonian enunciation is clearer more concise and more elegant than the circumlocutions of the classic nomenclature. Com-pare with the names above stearic acid C18.X ; oleic acid C18.E1 ,9.X ; oleyl alcohol CI8.E1,9.Q; with X to represent the terminal OOH group of the fatty acid Q to represent the hydroxyl group of the alcohol El to denote a cis- double bond in the -9- position and CI8 showing the basic 18-carbon chain all is clear and simple.K. A. WILLIAMS. Freeze-Drying Drying by Sublimation. Earl W. Flosdorf. Pp. vii + 280. (New York Reinhold Publishing Corporation; London Chapman and Hall Ltd. 1949.) 40s. net. The author is well known for his considerable original work on the principles and technique of drying by means of freezing methods. He has in this the first book and indeed the only book published on the subject joined to his own work the existing information on the processes involved. The fundamental principle of the method is drying by the sublimation of ice a technique which has been known for very many years and which was transformed into workable procedure some fifteen years ago.The war-time application of the technique to the drying of such invaluable medical products as blood plasma and amorphous penicillin gave the necessary impetus to the improvement of manufacturing methods and the required stimulus to the application of “freeze-drying” to many other medical materials and also to certain quickly-perishable food-stuffs. It is very evident from the author’s account of the application of this process that only the very fringe of the field has been touched. The complete process involves two stages of drying. The first stage which is the true freeze-drying process necessitates freezing of the product followed by the removal of ice by sublimation under high vacuum while the material is being heated.It is of course obvious that the heat is controlled in such a manner that thawing does not take place. The first stage is continued until 98 to 99 per cent. of the total original water content is removed the exact figure varying with the product under treatment. The second stage of drying which takes place under vacuum at as high a temperature as the product will stand, reduces the total water content to 0.5 per cent. or less. The advantages of the process-apart from those normally associated with drying methods such as the checking of bacterial and enzymatic changes-are, primarily that the loss of volatile constituents at the low temperature used is small and that denaturation of constituents normally sensitive to rise in tempera-ture is negligible.A most interesting effect arising from the gradual sublima-tion of ice is that the dissolved constituents do not undergo concentration in the remaining solvent. The fact that the virility of bacterial cultures is not notice-ably impaired after they have been dried by this method is an indication of the biological delicacy of the process of extracting water from the tissues under treatment . While freeze-drying is now commonly used in the biological and pharma-ceutical fields it has yet to be developed into commercially economic processes for the preservation of food-stuffs. The apparatus and procedure now used for the desiccation of orange juice milk meat and other such material are more expensive than the more usual methods of preservation such as spray and roller process drying canning and quick-freezing.The higher cost is not sufficientl compensated by the greater apparent freshness of the “freeze-dried” products when reconstituted. The author states in his preface “probably few will read the book from cover to cover.” This is a modest estimate of the value of the matter contained in this book which is recommended for reading from beginning to end by all who are interested in the preservation of biological material whether it be for research medical use food or other industrial application. M. BOGOD. Chemical Engineering Plant Design. Frank C. Vilbrandt. New 3rd edition. (London New York and Toronto McGraw-Hill Book This book contains some 550 pages of which all but the final 150 are dis-appointing.The reasons for disappointment are two; the title of the book is misleading to British readers and the contents are not particularly useful. In a preface the author states that “chemical engineering design is divided into equipment design and plant design; it is the purpose of this book to deal only with the latter . . .” This exclusion of what British readers would regard as plant is not sufficiently clear at the outset. The introduction and the next six chapters discuss foundations drainage, piping pumps buildings and power in a manner which suggests that their purpose is only to remind the reader of the more important factors to be con-sidered for most of the matter will have been covered in much greater detail by any chemical engineering student long before graduation and indeed it would be quite impossible to do any reliable design from the information given.Much of this information is contained in Chemical Engineers’ Handbook edited by Perry to which the author makes liberal reference. A chapter on flowsheets follows which is well written in considerable detail and contains one fully worked out example for a plant making gamma-benzene hexachloride material balances and equipment specifications being given. “Selection of process equipment” is next dealt with in some 100 pages given over to catalogues of materials of construction and the main types of process equipment. Design of such equipment is not considered but rather the main functions are mentioned and examples of the relevant manufacturers’ question-naires gven.In the following chapters “Plant layout and elevation” and “Location of chemical plant” are discussed in the manner typical of the earlier chapters. “Preconstruction costing” is covered in the final 150 pages this section being outstandingly better than earlier ones. A well laid-out scheme shows the relative costs of different types of house foundation floor and roof con-structions. Costs of equipment of various types are given in tables and graphs, with factors for differing materials of construction and types of industry ; depreciation rates and formulae for predicting the total cost of a plant are fully presented. This section ends with an example of preconstruction costing for the benzene hexachloride plant previously considered.The value of these latter pages is considerable even though the figures quoted being American, must be handled with care in this country. The overall impression given by this book is that deletion of two thirds would leave a valuable reference work. Pp. x + 608. Company Inc. 1949.) 51s. JAMES S . FORSYTH The Art and Science of Brewing. C. A. Kloss. Pp. x + 121. (London: 12s. 6d. net. In a sense this book replaces The Brewing Industry by Julian L. Baker, written over forty years ago. The present author has set out to explain why, although the brewing industry undertakes scientific research and employs chemists in its individual breweries yet beer is not made from chemicals.The latter notion dies hard in some parts of the country! The chemist the layman and even the practical brewer himself will find matters of interest although to the first named the chemistry will be almost absurdly elementary and to the last the technical sections will appear in the same light. After a brief history of beer come sections on chemistry and brewing materials and operations. A section on the craft of the cooper is unusual in such books and welcome for that reason. Attractive features are the chapter on Brewing Research Organisations here and abroad and another on famous scientists, Pasteur Koch Hansen Winge and H. T. Brown. By these means something of the atmosphere of brewing science is conveyed to chemists and the ordinary reader will realise how much brewing and other branches of science e.g.medical have in common and have benefited from each other’s researches. All is written in a readable and attractive style and with scientific accuracy notwithstanding the fact that the author has written primarily for the layman. Stuart and Richards 1949.) R. H. HOPKINS. BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED BUT NOT REVIEWED Name Index of Organic Reactions. By T. S. Wheeler and J. E. Gowan. Pp. 46. (London Society of Chemical Industry 1950.) Symposium on Particle Size Analysis. Supplement to Trans. Ins?. Chem. Eng. (1947). Pp. 145. (London Institution of Chemical Engineers.) 42s. A Problem in Chemical Engineering Design The Manufacture of Mononitro-toluene. By J. M. Coulson and F. E. Warner. Pp. 55. (London: Institution of Chemical Engineers 1949.) 15s.6d. British Standards. The following Standards may be obtained from British Standards Institution 24-28 Victoria Street London S.W. 1 at the prices stated:-1636 Part 1 1950. Terms used in Spectrographic Analysis. Part 1 : 572 1950. Interchangeable Conical Ground Glass Joints. 2s. net, 684 1950. 7s. 6d. net post free. Chart outlining the Provisions of the Pharmacy and Poisons Act 1933 and the Poisons Rules 1949 relating to sales of insecticides fungicides weed-killers rodenticides etc. Association of British Insecticide Manufacturers, 166 Piccadilly London W.l. 5s. net. Emission Spectrography. post free. 2s. net post free. Methods of Analysis of Oils and Fats. Is. (cash with order) OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF COUNCIL 1950-51 PRESIDENT: JAMES WILFRED COOK hr.D.D.W Sc.D F.R.S. VICE-PRESIDESTS: FREDERICK CHALLENGER PILD. D.Sc. HANS KRALL B.A M.Sc. WILFRED HERBERT LINNELL. PH.D. D.Sc. REGINALD PATRICK LINSTEAD C.B.E. M.A. D.Sc. F.R.S. GERALD ROCHE LYNCH O.B.E M.B B.S. D.P.H. ERNEST THOMAS OSBORNE O.B.E. M.A. HON. TREASURER: DOUGLAS WILLIAM KENT-JONES B.SC. PH.D. MEMBERS OF COUNCIL: CYRIL CLIFFORD ADDISON PH.D. D.Sc. F.1~fl.P. HARRY BAINES D.Sc. HON. F.R.P.S. GEORGE MACDONALD BENNEIT C.B Sc.D. F.R.S. HERBERT EDWARD BLAYDEN B.Sc. Newcastle upon Tyne and North-&st Coast Tees-sfde. HUBERT THOMAS STANLEY BRITTON D.Sc. D.I.C. FREDERICK CECIL BULLOCK B.Sc. Eat Midlands. HAROLD BURTON hr.D. D.Sc. RAYMOND RENARD BUTLER M.Sc. F.I.I.A. HUGH HANNAY CAMPBELL B.Sc.A.H.-W.C. M.P.S. Edinburgh and E a t of Scotland. RALPH CLARK CHIRNSIDE. HERBERT WILLIAM CREMER O.B.E. M.Sc. M.1.CHEM.E. WILLIAM MURDOCH CUMMING O.B.E. D.Sc. M.I.CHEM.E. FREDERICK PERCY DUNN B.Sc. A.R.C.S. CHARLES FORRESTER K-i-H. PH.D. A.H.-W.C. F.1"r.F A.M.I.CHEM.E. F.R.S.E. Overseas. ARTHUR CLARENCE FRANCIS A.H.-W.C. Leek Area; Huddersfifd. ARNOLD TREVOR GREEN O.B.E. D.Sc. F.1~sr.P M.I.Cm.E. HON.M.INST.GAS E. JOHN GAIUS ASHWELL GRIFFITHS. B.A. PH.D. SIR WILLIAM THOMAS GRIFFITHS D.Sc. F.Im.P. F.I.M. FRANCES MARY HAMER M.A. D.Sc. Sc.D. CLIFFORD WALTER HERD B.Sc. hr.D. London and South-&tern Counties; East Anglia. DOUGLAS WILLIAM HILL PH.D. D.Sc. HERBERT HENRY HODGSON M.A. B.Sc. PH.D. HARRY MUNROE NAPIER HETHERINGTON IRVING M.A. D.PHIL. L.R.A.M.ARCHIBALD ROBERT JAMIESON. B.Sc. Gfasgow and West of Scotland. SAMUEL HARRY JENKINS hr.D. D.Sc. FREDERICK MEASHAM LEA O.B.E D.Sc. ALFRED GODFREY GORDON LEONARD B.Sc. PH.D. F.R.C.Sc.1 F.I.C.I. Dubfin and District. BERNARD DUNSTAN WILKINSON LUFF Liverpool and North- Western. CHARLES GEORGE LYONS M.A. PH.D. Bristol and District; Mid-Southern Counties; South- Western FREDERICK GEORGE MA" Sc.D. D.Sc. F.R.S. JOHN THOMPSON MARSH M.Sc. F.T.I. Munchester 4 Distrfct. REGINALD ARTHUR MOIT D.Sc, A.1.Mm.E. SheflieZd South Yorkshire and North Midlands; Counties. Hull and District. HUGH BRYAN NISBET PH.D. D.Sc. A.H.-W.C. F.INST.FW. M.INsr.F. F.R.S.E. MAMIE OLLIVER. M.Sc. ERIC GEORGE KEMP PRITCHETT. B.Sc. Birmingham and Midlands. ERNEST HARRY RODD D.Sc. A.C.G.I.D.I.C. JOHN OSWALD SAMUEL M.Sc. M.1~sr.F. South Wales; Card# and District; North Wales. HAROLD CECIL SMITH M.Sc. PH.D. HARRY WEATHERALL. WILLIAM TURNER HORACE WILLIAMSON B.Sc. hr.D F.R.S.E. Aberdeen and North of Scotland; Dun&e and District. CECIL LEEBURN WILSON M.Sc. hr.D. &Ubst und Dfstrict. HERBERT NEWTON WILSON. FRANK GEORGE YOUNG hr.D D.Sc. F.R.S. comprised in their Districts.] [District Members of Council are indicated by the appropriate references in italics to the Local Sections t 262 CENSORS 1950-5 1 THE PRESIDENT ex-oficio. ALEXANDER FINDLAY. C.B.E M.A. D.Sc. LL.D. SIR IAN MORRIS HEILBRON D.S.O. D.W LL.D. F.R.S. GERALD ROCHE LYNCH O.B.E M.B. B.S. D.P.H. WILLIAM WARDLAW C.B.E. D.Sc. COMMITTEES FOR 1950-51 COMMITTEES OF COUNCIL Pinance and House Committee THE PRESIDENT AND THE HONORARY TREASURER* WITH J.G. A. GRIFFITHS C. W. HERD D. W. HILL H. H. HODGSON H. M. N. H. IRVING H. KRALL, W. H. LINNELL G. ROCHE LYNCH C. G. LYONS AND M. OLLIVER. Nominations Examinations and Institutions Committee THE PRESIDENT G. ROCHE LYNCH* E. T. OSBORNEt AND THE COUNCIL IN COMMIITEE. Publications and Library Committee THE PRESIDENT WITH F. CHALLENGER* F. P. DUNN C. W. HERD D. W. HILL H. H. HODGSON S. H. JENKINS B. D. W. LUFF H. B. NISBET M. OLLIVER, E. H. RODD AND C. L. WILSON. Special Purposes Committee THE PRESIDENT* THE HON. TREASURER AND E. T. OSBORNE w r r ~ SUCH OTHER MEMBERS OF COUNCIL AS MAY BE INVITED BY THE COUNCIL TO PARTICULAR MEETINGS. STANDING COMMITTEES OF THE INSTITUTE Advisory Committee on Indian and Pakistani Affairs H.B. DUNNICLIFF A. FINDLAY C. FORRESTER, Appointments and Economic Status Committee THE PRESIDENT N. BOOTH H. BURTON R. P. LIN-H. KRALL* E. T. OSBORNE AND Sm JOHN SIMONSEN. STEAD* J. T. MARSH E. T. OSBORNE AND F. G. YOUNG w m POWER TO CO-OPT. Benevolent Fund Committee THE PRESIDENT AND THE HON. TREASURER* WITH THE FINANCE AND HOUSE COMMITTEE (Miss) E. A. M. BRADFORD D. M. FREELAND AND E. M. HAWKINS. Residential Clubs Fund Committee THE PRESIDENT AND THE HON. TREASURER* WITH THE FINANCE AND HOUSE COMMITTEE (MISS) E. A.M. BRADFORD D. M. FREELAND AND E. M. HAWKINS. Scientific Courses committee F. CHALLENGER* WITH THE PUBLICATIONS AND LIBRARY COM-MITTEE C. C. ADDISON N. BOOTH H. H. CAMPBELL C. FORRESTER F. M. HAMER, E. M. JOINER W.H. LINNELL AND D. TRAILL. AD HOC COMMITTEES OF THE INSTITUTE Cmrnmittee on Revision of By-Laws THE PRESIDENT* WITH A. L. BACHARACH L. V. COCKS G. E. DODDS A. FINDLAY E. M. JOINER D. W. KENT-JONES H. KRALL G. ROCHE LYNCH AND E. T. OSBORNE. Membership Committee THE PRESIDENT AND THE CHAIRMAN OF THE PUBLICATIONS AND LIBRARY COMMITTEE (F. CHALLENGER*) w r r ~ H. T. S. BRITTON L. V. COCKS A. FINDLAY C. W. HERD T. MALKIN R. B. STRATHDEE AND D. TRAILL. * Indicates Chairman. t Indicates Vice-Chairman. REPRESENTATIVES ON JOINT COMMITTEES Tbe aemical Council (for 1950) A. FINDLAY W. H. LINNELL. E. T. OSBORNE AND THE HON. Joint Council of Professional Scientists (for 1950) THE PRESIDENT R. P. LINSTEAD AND THE SECRETARY. Joint Library Committee (for 1950) A. L. BACHARACH H.BURTON H. W. CREMER AND-A. FINDLAY. Joint Committee of the Institute and the Society of Public Analysts and Other Analytical Chemists G. M. BENNETT F. C. BULLOCK A. R. JAMIESON G. ROCHE LYNCH E. T. OSBORNE. E. J. VAUGHAN WITH THE REGISTRAR. TREASURER. Joint Consultative Committee of the Institute and the British Association of Chemists A. J. W. COOK. C. W. HERD AND E. T. OSBORNE wrm THE SECRETARY. Joint Committees on National Certificates : L. BACHARACH, (0) with the Ministry of Education (England and Wales) R. C. CHIRNSIDE H. W. CREMER A. FINDLAY H. H. HODGSON AND E. H. RODD. (b) with the Scottish Education Department W. M. CUMMING. J. WEIR W. T. H. WILLIAMSON (1. W. COOK HAS BEEN APPOINTED CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE). (c) with the Ministry of Education (Northern Ireland) A.N. ADAMSON AND C. L. WILSON. c 263 REPRESENTATIVES OF THE INSTITUTE ON OTHER BODIES The Parliamentary and Scientific Committee (for 1950) A. FINDLAY AND H. J. T. ELLINGHAM. The Poisons Board (Pharmacy and Poisons Act 1933) Statutorv Appointment G. ROCHE LYNCH. The Advisory Committee appointed under the Therapeutic Substances Act 1925 D. H. HEY. The National Committee for Chemistry of the Royal Society E. T. OSBORNE. The British National Committee of the World Power Conference J. G. KING. The Chemical Divisional Council of the British Standards Institution G. M. BENNETT. The British Chemical Ware Manufacturers’ Committee dealing with Key Industries (Scientific Equipment and The Oils Fats and Waxes Advisory Committee of the City and Guilds of London Institute W.H. SIMMONS. Advisory Committee of the City and Guilds of London Institute on the Dyeing of Textiles H. H. HODGSON. Advisory Committee of the City and Guilds of London Institute on Laboratory Technicians’ Work H. BAINES, The Chemical Trades Advisory Committee and the Chemical Trades Examination Board of the Union of The Scientific Film Association Appraisals Committee F. L. ALLEN; Sciences Committee D. M. FREELAND Materials) A. H. COOK. H. J. T. ELLINGHAM AND R. C. ROGERS. Lancashire and Cheshire Institutes D. W. HILL. BOARD OF EXAMINERS FOR THE ASSOCIATESHIP AND FELLOWSHIP 1950-51 Chairman THE PRESIDENT. Representatives of the Nominations Examinations and Institutions Committee G. M. BENNETT H. BURTON. Examiners for the Associuteshlp D.H. HEY B.Sc. PH.D. (LoND.) M.Sc. (WALES) D.Sc. (MAN.). THOMAS Examiners for the Fellowship: F. CHALLENGER AND W. H. LINNELL. GIBSON PEARSON PH.D. (DUNELM.) D.Sc. (LoND.). *Branch A -INORGANIC CHEMISTRY’ WILLIAM WARDLAW C B E D SC (DUNELM.). *Branch B*-PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY. R G W NORRISH M ScD” ( C ~ N ~ A B ) F R.S. *Branch C:-ORGANIC CHEMISTRY :- D H HEY B.Sc. PkD (h~’.),’ M.Sc. (V(;kd) D.Sc. (MANC.) Branch D -BIOCHEMISTRY R. A. MORTON PH.D D.Sc. (LIv.). Branch E.‘-THE C H E M I ~ Y INCLUDINQ MICR~SCOPY”OF FOOD AND DRUGS AND OF WATER GEORGE SHIRE CM.G M B B.S B.Sc. (LoND.) M.R.C.S L.R.C.P. Branch F.-AGRICULTLJR~L ‘CHEM~R; ‘k. 0.’ DAVIES. M.&. (WALE$. Branch G.-~NDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY (GENERAL .CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY) W. PRESTON M.Sc. pH. I) (LoND.) M.1.Cm.E.Examiners in the special sections of Branch G will be appointed as required. Branch H . ~ E N E R A L ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY R. C. CHJRNSIDE AND J. HASLAM MSc. (vrcr.) BranchI.-WAmR SUPPLY AND THE TREATMENT OF SEWAGE AND TRADE EFFLUENrS w. GORDON CAREY. TAYLOR,’ O.B.E. THERAPEUTICS ~HARMACOLOOY AND MICROSCOPY C. H. HAMP Assistant Examiner A. D. MITCHELL D.Sc. (LoND.). Oral Examinations H. V. A. BRISCOE D.Sc. (LoND.) Chairman; J. R. NICHOLLS C.B.E. D.Sc. (LO-.) * For candidates accepted under the old Regulations. HON. AUDITORS 1950-51: EDWARD QUENTIN LAWS B.Sc. KENNETH ALAN WILLIAMS B.Sc. PH.D. M.1~m.m. AUDITORS 1950-51: MESSRS. J. Y. FINLAY ROBERTSON & CO. Chartered Accountants. SOLICITORS : MESSRS. MARKBY STEWART & WADESONS 5 Bishopsgate London E.C.2.BANKERS : THE WESTMINSTER BANK LTD. Bloomsbury Branch- 214 High Holborn. London W.C.1. SECRETARY: REGISTRAR : RONALD LESLIE COLLETT M.B.E M.A. F.R.I.C. DEPUTY EXECUTIVE OFFICER: LEONARD WILLIAM RAYMOND I.S.O. B.A. B.Sc. A.R.C.S. F.R.I.C. PRINCIPAL ASSISTANT SECRETARY! HAROLD JOHANN THOMAS ELLINGHAM B.Sc. PH.D. A.R.C.S. M.I.CHEM.E. F.I.M. F.R.1.C ASSISTANT SECRETARY: D. A. ARNOLD. A.C.I.S. ISABEL CAWSTON. ASSISTANT REGISTRAR. L. W. WINDE NOTES PERSONAL Dr. D. H. R. Barton Fellow has been appointed to the University readership in organic chemistry tenable at Birkbeck College London from 1 October, 1950. Dr. A. Colin-Russ Fellow has been appointed senior chemist-microbiologist to the Premier Yeast Co. Ltd. Greenford. Sir Ian Heilbron D.S.O.F.R.S. Fellow has been appointed chairman of the Advisory Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in succession to Sir Geoffrey Heyworth. Dr. N. J. L. Megson Fellow has been appointed a representative of the Society of Chemical Industry on the Chemical Council Committee of Enquiry on Publicity for British Chemistry on the resignation owing to pressure of work of Mr. H. V. Potter Fellow. Professor H. B. Nisbet Member of Council has been appointed Principal of Heriot-Watt College Edinburgh. Mr. J. A. Wallwork Associate has been appointed to the Board of the Gardinol Chemical Co. Ltd. At a special degree Congregation of the University of Leeds on 19 May the degree of D.Sc. honoris causa was conferred on Emeritus Professor R. W. Whytlaw-Gray O.B.E.F.R.S. Fellow who held the chair of chemistry and was administrative head of the chemistry departments in the University from 1923 to 1945. Dr. C. L. Wilson Member of Council has been appointed reader in analytical chemistry in Queen’s University Belfast. INSTITUTE AFFAIRS Recognised Colleges.-The Council has agreed to add the name of the Cambridgeshire Technical College and School of Art to the list of Institutions recognised for training candidates for the Associateship. This recognition is for an initial period of two years. Hon. Secretaries of Local Sections Retirements.-The Council has expressed sincere thanks to Mr. G. Elliot Dodds for the valuable services he has rendered to the Institute in the capacity of Hon. Secretary of the Edinburgh and East of Scotland Section over a period of many years.Mr. Elliot Dodds has been succeeded in this office by Mr. J. K. Grant. The Council has learned that Dr. H. M. Schwartz has resigned her office as Hon. Secretary of the Cape Section as she is shortly coming to England to work for a year at the Low Temperature Research Laboratory at Cambridge. The Council has expressed its high appreciation of the work of Dr. Schwartz in developing this oversea Section of the Institute and extends to her a cordia1 welcome to this country. She is being succeeded as Hon. Secretary of the Cape Section by Mr. H. W. Schirach. Status of the Institute’s Qualifications.-Since its inception in 1947 the Membership Committee has been concerned with means whereby a still larger proportion of the suitably qualified chemists in the country might be attracted to membership of the Institute.In this connection the Committee has been led to examine the status of the Institute’s qualifications and to consider if any extension of the requirements for admission to the Associateship or the Fellow-ship was desirable. Reference has been made in earlier issues of this Journal to interim reports submitted by the Membership Committee to the Council on this subject and the thanks of the Council have been accorded to the Committee for the extensive investigations they have made. It has been c 265 concluded however that no major modifications in the regulations for admission to the established grades of corporate membership are warranted at present, and it has been agreed at least for the time being not to consider further a suggestion that there might be a temporary grade of non-corporate membership between those of Registered Student and Associate.Although this aspect of the work of the Membership Committee has now been suspended for a period of two years the Council recognises that the information and opinions collected may be of considerable value in this or other connections in the future. JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS Electrodepositors’ Technical Society Silver Jubilee.-The silver jubilee of the foundation of the Society was celebrated by a conference held at Eastbourne on 19-22 April. The five technical sessions included papers on electropolishing, alloy deposition metal cleaning and miscellaneous fields of electrodeposition, and discussions on education in the electroplating industry and on the inter-pretation of specifications.On 20 April the Society was accorded a Civic Reception in the Winter Garden by the Mayor of Eastbourne and on the following day the Conference Dinner was held in the Grand Hotel. The objects of the Society have been to promote the development of electro-plating and allied processes and to bring together all who are engaged in the industry or interested in its scientific background. Great advances in the field of electrodeposition have taken place in the past twenty-five years and the Society may well be proud of the part that it has played in fostering these developments not only by the publication of scientific and technical papers in its Journal but also by promoting a closer understanding among the people of varied outlooks who have been brought together under its aegis.The principal officers of the Society are at present Mr. A. W. Wallbank, F.R.I.C. President; Mr. F. L. James Hon. Treasurer; Dr. S. Wernick F.R.I.C., F.I.M. Hon. Secretary. The Society has three centres of activity-London, Birmingham (Midlands Centre) and Sheffield (Sheffield and North-East Centre). In London regular meetings of the Society have been held since its inception at the Northampton Polytechnic Institute and these meetings were continued without a break during the war-though not always without some interruption by enemy activity. The Secretary of the Institute (Dr. H. J. T. Ellingham) who is a past President of the Society attended the final session of the Conference thereby expressing informally the interest of the Institute in the completion by the Society of twenty-five years of useful work.British Ceramic Society Jubilee.-The Society originated in a discussion group of potters interested in the science and technology of their industry but it was not until October 1900 that it became established as an organised body with Mr. William Burton as its first President. From the outset the avowed object of the Society has been the discussion of subjects relating to the clay working industries and the scope of its work is indicated by the three existing “Sections,” relating respectively to Pottery Refractory Materials and Building Materials. Since 1900 (except during the war years) there have been regular meetings of the Society and the papers presented and discussions held have been published in the Society’s Transactions together with abstracts of papers of ceramic importance from other periodicals.In 1903 Dr. J. W. Mellor was elected Secretary of the Society and Editor of its Transactions and he acted as Hon. General Secretary from 1905 to 1938. Throughout this period it was Dr. Mellor’s aim to widen the scope of the Society to increase its membership and to enlarge the sphere of its influence and it is recognised that the present [ 266 high standing and international reputation of this body are due in great measure to the success of his efforts. The activities of the Society were considerably reduced during the war but regular meetings were resumed in 1946.In the following year Dr. A. T. Green O.B.E. F.R.I.C. who had been Secretary of the Refractory Materials Section since 1930 was appointed Hon. General Secretary of the Society and it was on him that the duty largely fell of organising the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of its foundation-a task that he performed with enthusiasm and outstanding success. The Jubilee Meeting of the British Ceramic Society was held at Stoke-on-Trent and Buxton on 25-27 April. The technical sessions of the three Sections afforded an opportunity for the presentation of papers reviewing half a century of progress in their respective fields and a concluding general session was devoted to papers and discussion on education for the ceramic industries. The proceedings opened with a Reception by the Lord Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent (Alderman Dr.A. P. Spark J.P.) followed by an address by Professor W. T. Astbury F.R.S. and luncheon in the King’s Hall by invitation of the Lord Mayor and Corporation of the City of Stoke-on-Trent (a federal city comprising Stoke Hanley Burslem Longton Tunstall and Fenton-the six pottery towns). In the afternoon an Exhibition of Pottery (all intended alas, for export) was opened at Hanley and in the evening the President’s Dinner was held at the Palace Hotel Buxton and followed by dancing. Technical sessions occupied most of 26 April which concluded with the Jubilee Dinner in the King’s Hall Stoke-on-Trent at which a company of about 350 had the memorable experience of dining off exquisite services of china that had been presented to the city by some of the principal pottery firms and are normally used only at the installation banquets of successive Lord Mayors.The morning of the following day was devoted to visits to a number of potteries in the area, and visitors concluded that the combination of art and science involved in the development of this highly English industry is still a potent influence in the production of things of beauty as well as of utility. Guests of the Society at the Jubilee Meeting including many distinguished visitors from overseas were cordially welcomed by the President Mr. M. S , Whitehouse M.B.E. The Institute was represented by its President and Mrs. Cook and by its Secretary and Mrs. Ellingham. Professor Cook proposed the toast of “The British Ceramic Society’’ at the Jubilee Dinner and Mr.Stanley Robson (President of the Society of Chemical Industry) that of “The British Ceramic Industry.” The Presidents of the Institution of Chemical Engineers and the Institution of Gas Engineers were also present to do honour to the Society on this notable occasion in its history. HEALTH CONGRESS The Health Congress of the Royal Sanitary Institute was held this year at Eastbourne on 24-28 April. The field was divided into sections devoted respec-tively to Preventive Medicine; Engineering and Architecture; Maternal and Child Health; Veterinary Hygiene; Food and Nutrition; Housing and Town Planning; Tropical Hygiene. There were also conferences of Medical Officers of Health Engineers and Surveyors Sanitary Inspectors and Health Visitors.The Congress was attended by 2,300 delegates from over 1,OOO Local Authorities, Government Departments and other interested bodies. The delegate of the Institute was Mr. F. C. Bullock Member of Council, who has furnished a report on the proceedings to the Council. The section of the Congress on Food and Nutrition was presided over by Mr. A. L. Bacharach and a number of papers by other members of the Institute were presented THE INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTRY OF IRELAND A new body with this title has been established in the Republic of Ireland and was incorporated under the Companies Acts on 28 January 1950. By its Memorandum and Articles of Association it is constituted as a qualifying professional organisation for chemists in the Republic and has aims and objects closely similar to those of the Royal Institute of Chemistry and of the Chemical Institutes in Australia Canada New Zealand and South Africa.In some respects however it is the successor of the differently constituted Irish Chemical Association which now disappears as a separate body. The Institute of Chemistry of Ireland will be composed of Fellows (F.I.C.I.) and Ordinary Members (M.I.C.I.). Candidates for admission as Ordinary Members will normally be required to hold “an honours degree having Chemistry as a major subject from a University recognised by the Institute or an equivalent qualification from a recognised body” and to have had “at least one year’s practice at a level satisfactory to the Institute in any branch of Chemistry approved by the Institute.” For admission to the Fellowship a further four years of such practice will be demanded and a minimum age of 30 years is prescribed.The Council is empowered however “to admit as Fellows or Ordinary Members persons of such standing and experience in the Profession of Chemistry as make it desirable that they should be Members of the Institute.” Provision is also made for the Council “to elect as Honorary Fellows a number of distinguished persons of international repute in Chemistry provided that at no time shall there be more than five such Honorary Fellows.” There will be associated with the Institute (a) Student Associate Members (“persons preparing themselves at a University to enter the Profession of chemistry”) and (b) Non-Professional Associate Members (Laboratory Technicians).It has been realised that since the formation of the Republic of Ireland as a country outside the Commonwealth qualified chemists in the Republic might find the need for establishing their own professional organisation which would be recognised by the Government of the Republic. At the Annual General Meeting of the Royal Institute of Chemistry in 1948 the Committee of the Dublin and District Section of the R.I.C. had raised the question of the possible relationship between such a national Institute of Chemistry of Ireland and the R.I.C. It appeared that this relationship could hardly be closer than that among the Chemical Institutes in the Commonwealth which though independent bodies were coming to regard one another as sister organisations in view of their similar constitutions and common objects.It was felt to be best to allow any more formal association among them to evolve naturally. If this happens the fact that the Republic of Ireland is outside the Common-wealth would not necessarily preclude the attachment of the Institute of Chemistry of Ireland to such a group. In any event co-operation between the R.I.C. and the new Institute appears to be desired by both and the Council of the R.I.C. has congratulated the Institute of Chemistry of Ireland on its establishment and expressed good wishes for its future. That the high standards of qualification and professional ethics established by the R.I.C. and exemplified in Ireland through the members of the Dublin and District Section will be followed by the Institute of Chemistry of Ireland is further assured by the nomination of Dr.A. G. G. Leonard as the first President of the new body. As District Member of the R.T.C. Council for the Republic of Ireland Dr. Leonard will be in a special position to foster cordial relations between the two Institutes-and nobody could be found with better prospects of success SCIENCE IN PARLIAMENT Iodisation of Domestic Salt.-On 22 March Mr. Hastings asked the Minister of Food whether the Food Standards Committee have yet completed their inquiry into the measures necessary to give effect to the Medical Research Council’s recommendation that all domestic salt supplied in Great Britain should be iodised as a measure of protection against goitre.THE MINISTER OF FOOD (Mr. Webb) The Medical Research Council after extensive examination have recommended that all table and cooking salt should be iodised for the prevention of goitre and thyroid enlargement. This recom-mendation has been endorsed by the Ministry of Health Standing Committee on Medical and Nutritional Problems and it has the full approval of my right hon. Friends the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Minister of Health. The Food Standards Committee were asked to advise on what measures would be necessary to give effect to the medical recommendation. They have recently completed their inquiries and have recommended a standard of com-position for iodised salt which can be enforced by chemical analysis. The Committee received evidence from representatives of the salt industry who have concurred in the recommendation as a permanent measure and from other expert witnesses and have advised that within one year from the date of an Order all pre-packed free-running salt should be treated with small traces of iodide and that within two years all other pre-packed salt should be similarly treated.I understand that this would mean that production of cut-lump salt would have to be discontinued. I am advised that if salt production as between pre-packed free-running salt and other salt used in the home remains substantially in the same proportion as in 1948 slightly more than half the population of Great Britain would benefit within the first year from the Medical Research Council’s recommendation and that the entire population would benefit by the end of two years.A copy of the Food Standards Committee’s report has been placed in the Library and I am arranging for the Report to be issued for publication to-morrow. Steps will not be taken to give effect to the Committee’s recom-mendations until all concerned (the trade and technical interests the Medical Profession and indeed the public) have had full opportunity to make any representations they wish. The Food Standards Committee will be open to receive representations until 30 June 1950. Iron Foundries (Dust).-On 30 March Mr. M. MacPherson asked the Minister of Labour what are the present arrangements for research on the sub-ject of dust in iron foundries; what have been the findings of such research so far; and to what extent these findings have been put into practice in the foun-dries.THE MINISTER OF LABOUR (Mr. Isaacs) Arrangements for seeking further knowledge as to the various problems connected with dust in iron foundries fall broadly into two groups namely research in research institutions especially into such questions as the possibility of using less dangerous materials for various processes and secondly experimental work in the foundries themselves in trying out methods of suppressing dust and other changes in working methods. Also, the Factory Department have carried out a special inquiry into the incidence of silicosis among various classes of foundry workers the results of which are about to be published and are making further tests of atmospheres in foundries.The findings of research so far indicate that certain dusts should be regarded as dangerous to health and that others may be generated in such substantial quantities that they should so far as possible be suppressed or removed near the points of origin. Various measures have in view of this been taken to reduce dust in foundries and further experimental work as to improving methods of doing so is being tried in some foundries. In the meantime special [ 269 attention has been paid to precautions in connection with the process known as blasting which has recently been made the subject of more stringent regulations, In addition regulations have recently been proposed to impose restrictions on the use of dangerous parting powders. Technological Training.-In the House of Lords on 14 March Lord Calverley raised the question of Technological Training asking H.M.Government “what is their immediate policy towards the development of higher branches of technology.” In his speech opening the discussion Lord Calverley quoted from both Mr. Churchill and the late President Roosevelt to indicate the importance which must be attached to technology and mentioned a few of the war-time inventions which had played a vital part in the conflict. Referring to the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee’s Report on Colleges of Technology and Technological Manpower he said :-I have been considerably helped by the all-Party Parliamentary Committee for the Study of Scientific and Technical Knowledge. I did not belong to that Committee when I was a member of another place because I was not qualified to render much service to that illustrious Committee.The Committee con-sisted of 200 members of both Houses under the presidency of Sir John Anderson and included men like the noble Viscount Lord Samuel and the noble Lord Lord Marley-I am sorry the noble Lord is not here because I should have asked him to take part in this debate. The noble and learned Viscount the Lord Chancellor in a debate in 1947 expressed his concern about higher technical education and told us that we were entitled to larger grants under various advisory boards. In spite of all this very little has been done. Lord Calverley then referred to the 27 colleges of advanced technology in the country and the inability of many of them to grant degrees.He con-sidered it was “high time His Majesty’s Government stated definitely that they are prepared to give graduate status to these technical colleges” and after referring to the position of particular colleges appealed for a “ sympathetic answer on this anomaly.” Viscount Caldecote while supporting the demand for a Government state-ment thought the value of degrees would be lost if they were granted indis-criminately. Universities did provide something Merent from technical colleges. Lord Chorley urged that the technologists which industry required could best be provided by expanding the technical faculties of universities instead of embarking on grandiose schemes which would take years to carry out. The Marquess of Aberdeen as Governor of a Scottish technical institution, urged closer co-operation between technical colleges and universities.Lord Cherwell said the higher technical institutions should have the same status as universities. He instanced the German Technical University of Aix-la-Chapelle which had 3,000 full-time students in residence 50 full pro-fessors and 50 honorary professors. Lord Webb-Johnson said that the education at many institutions was of university standard. He pointed out the anomaly that although post-graduate students from all over the world came to the Royal College of Surgeons the University Grants Committee was not even competent to visit it. The com-mittee’s terms of reference should be revised. LORD DARWEN Lord-in-Waiting replying on behalf of the Government said the output of technologists at universities since the war had doubled and training facilities in technical colleges had been increased.The problem of how to improve the status and qualifications of technical colleges was difficult. “We have never in this country contemplated single-faculty universities,” he said. “To confer university status on technical colleges would be contrary t our traditions. There is abundant evidence that to give these colleges the power to grant degrees would be widely opposed.” Lord Darwen said that the Minister of Education had referred the problem two years previously to the National Advisory Council on Education for Industry and Commerce. Without anticipating the conclusions of the Advisory Council, its proposals would not preclude the development of new types of institutions, particularly for post-graduate training on the lines followed abroad if they were deemed advisable.Lord Calverley expressed himself as disappointed with the Government reply and added “So far as the policy of the Ministry of Education is con-cerned I think we know just as much now when the debate is over as we did when it began.” Mr. Tomlinson Minister of Education listened to the debate from the steps of the Throne. University Grants (Technology).-On 16 March Mr. Higgs asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what grants in aid are at present provided to assist universities in setting up post-graduate schools in various branches of technology; and whether he will give details of such arrangements.THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Sir S. Cripps) At the suggestion of the University Grants Committee a number of universities are instituting or expanding post-graduate courses of advanced instruction in technological subjects. These are intended mainly for graduates in technology who have already spent a few years in industry and the subjects represented in the courses include the three main branches of engineering metallurgy mining and chemical engineering. Other courses are under consideration. To meet the cost of these courses additional recurrent grants have so far been promised of the following amounts 1949-50 E15,500; 1950-51 U2,000; 1951-52 f57,000. These special arrangements are additional to the normal programmes of post-graduate study which are being carried on by universities with the aid of the quinquennial grants announced in 1947.Scientific Resources (Utilisation).-On 5 May Mr. M. Philips Price (Chair-man of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee) was fortunate in being the first hon. Member for 12 years to draw a Private Member’s Motion. His motion “That in the opinion of this House there should be the fullest develop-ment and utilisation of Britain’s exceptional scientific resources and manpower, with a view to ensuring effective progress in the development of our industry, agriculture and the Colonies and a material improvement of our economic position in the world,” was agreed to without opposition. In the course of the debate almost every aspect of the subject was touched upon and a summary of some of the more important contributions will be referred to in a later issue of this Journal.[ 271 THE REGISTER NEW FELLOWS (P) Bondi Jonas Ph.D. (Berlin). (0) Sen Professor Nirmal Kumar, (P) Forrest James B.Sc. Ph.D. B.A. (Calcutta) M.A. D.Sc. (W) Schofield Kenneth B.Sc. Ph.D. (Glas .). (Dacca). (Dunelm.). ASSOCIATES ELECTED (H) Albans John William B.Sc. (C) Arnold Michael Henry Miller, (P) Brent Maurice B.Sc. Ph.D. (Q) Burrow Kenneth. (Q) Coucill Joe Harrop. (0) Cullen James Henry Joseph. (P) Evans Edward Michael B.Sc., Ph.D. (Lond.),A.R.C.S.,D.I.C. (P) Finch Roland Arthur B.Sc. (Lond.). (M) Goodall Allen James B.Sc. (Lond.). (D) Gregson Harry B.Sc. Ph.D. (Lond.). (N) Harral James Charles. (0) Harris Tennyson.(T) Hibbert Sydney B.Sc. (Lond.). (C) Kent Paul Welberry B.Sc. Ph.D. (FF) Liddle William Stewart B.Sc. (0) MacArthur Arthur. (Lond.). B.A. B.Sc. (Oxon.). (Lond.) A.R.C.S. D.I.C. (Birm.). (St. Andrews). TO THE FELLOWSHIP (K) Marke Douglas John Burrows, B.Sc. Ph.D. (Bris.). Martin Robert Mitchell B.Sc. (Glas.) M.P.S. (S.A.). (K) McLean Angus B.Sc. (Glas.), A.R.T.C. (R) Moignard Lionel Arthur M.A., B.Sc.,D.Phil.(Oxon.) M.1nst.F. (N) Moore Walter Robert Alfred Dennis B.Sc. (Lond.). (P) Mundy Cecil Walter AndrC. (H) Murfin John Webster B.Sc. (Lond.). (P) Ross Francis Fraser B.A. B.Sc. (Oxon.). (P) Shearing Leonard Albert B.Sc. (Lond.). (C) Stein Walter Dr. rer. nat. (Prague). (P) Taylor Leonard B.Sc. (Lond.). (WW) Thomson Thomas Gordon Herd B.Sc.Ph.D. (Edin.). (0) Townsend Leonard George, M.Sc. (Lond.) M.Inst.Gas E. (0) Walker Norman B.Sc. Ph.D. (Leeds) . NEW ASSOCIATES (Q) Abbott Cyril Frank B.Pharm., (P) Abell Barry Peter B.A. B.Sc. (N) Allan Eric B.Sc. (Lond.). B.Sc. (Lend.). (Oxon.). (Q) Ames Thomas Rawlinson B.Sc., (Manc.). (J) Anderson Ronald James B.Sc. (St. Andrews) (P) Austing Cyril Edward. (U) Baig Eric Norman B.Sc. (Delhi), B. Sc.Tech. (Manc .) . (P) Black Robert Monro M.Sc. (Lond.). (F) Conan Henry Robert B.A. B.Sc. (Oxon.). (K) Currie Leslie Robert B.Sc., Ph.D. (Edin.). (D) Davies Caleb Thomas. (P) Drinkwater Harold Geoffrey, B.A. (Oxon.). (D) Ewart John Archibald Douglas, B.A. (Oxon.). (P) Fogg Alan Hampson M.A, B.Sc. (Oxon.).(U) Gamlen George Albert M.Sc. (Lond.). (P) Gangolli Sharat Dattatraya, B.Sc. (B.H.U.) (B) Gewing Mrs. Gisela Dr.Phi1. (Vienna). (0) Golby William George Nelson, B.Sc. (Lond.). (P) Hamilton Lester Dewie Good-child B.A. (Cantab.). (P) Heacock Ronald Arthur B.Sc. (Lond.). (P) Hodges John Roberts B.Pharm. (Wales). ( S ) James Thomas Ernest B.Sc. (Dunelm.). (0) Jones Gordon Leslie M.P.S. (E) Kingston Miss Margaret Gwen-llian B.Sc. (Wales). (P) Klatzkin Miss Chloe Ph.C., B.Pharm. Ph.D. (Lond.). (P) Lewis Clement Alexander B.Sc. (Lond.). (E) Mieszkis Kazimierz Wiktor. (P) Mulley Richard Derek B.Sc. (Lond.). (0) Nixon Gilbert Andrew B.Sc. (Lond.). (0) Page Walter. (H) Panton Francis Harry M.B.E., B.%. (Lond.). Pitchandi Narayanasamy M.Sc.(Madras) A.I.I.Sc. (P) Powell Edgar Wyndham B.A. (Oxon.). (H) Russell Harold James B.Sc. (Lond.). Saboor Muhammad Abdus, M.Sc. (Dacca) Ph.D. (Lond.). (P) Schmeidler Gunther Arthur, B.Sc. Ph.D. (Lond.) A.R.C.S. (P) Srivastava Ram Saran M.Sc. (Luc know). (L) Stewart Peter Alexander B.Sc., Ph.D. (St. Andrews). (P) Still Miss Bessie Margaret B.Sc., Ph.D. (Lond.). Varadan Kalianapuram Sarang-apani Srinivasa M.A. M.Sc. (Madras). (C) Waldron Miss Deirdre Mary, B.Sc. (Birm.). (P) Walker Deryck George B.Sc. (Lond.). (Q) White Donald William B.Sc. (Manc.). (S) Woodhead Charles Alfred Bevan, A.M.Inst.Gas E. (N) Wright John Wedgwood B.Sc., Ph.D. (Glas.). NEW STUDENTS (P) Atkinson Edmund Philip. (C) Eden Alan James. (R) Aylett Kenneth Clarence.(R) Edgley Ronald. (P) Bennett Murray. (0) Edwards Alan. (D) Bennett Royston Henry. (P) Elkington Alfred William Roy. (P) Brockett Ronald William. (P) Ellison Michael. (E) Brooking Herbert Lewis. (P) Floyd Peter Russell. (P) Brown John Edward. (P) Goodchild Geoffrey. (M) Burton Fred. (P) Goodwin Raymond Wilbert (P) Churcher Thomas Christopher. Lindfield. (P) Clarke Stanley Arthur. (P) Gould Ralph Cecil. (D) Clifford Derek Reginald. (P) Hallett Ernest Leo. (E) Cook Anthony Edward Charles. (P) Halliburton John Ewen. (H) Cooke Granville Harry. (P) Hancock James William. (P) Cooper Roger James. (J) Hedderick John Barclay. (P) Couche Bernard David. (0) Hill Albert William. (0) Davidson William. (C) Hollick David Arthur. (E) Davies Arthur Evan.(0) Huartson Alan. (D) Davies Herbert Colin. (C) Davis Howard Alfred Constan- ($) Hutchinson William Miles. (0) Doyle Denis. (E) Dunton Robert Leonard. (T) Jones Edward George Howel. (H) Eabry Victor Edward. (T) Jones Norman. (0) Eaton Peter Millhouse. (D) Hunt Robert Charles. (0) Iredale Frederick Stanley. (Q) Isherwood Kenneth. (0) Jowett David Herbert. tine Pax. r 273 (Q) Kay Geoffrey. (P) Prentice Albert George. (J) Kornander Alfons Anzelm. (C) Preston Russell Arthur. (P) Landau Dennis Marcus. (0) Rawcliffe Fred (Jun.). (P) Lee Derek Charles. (0) Reid Lawrence Alan. (P) Lee Kenneth Lyall. (L) Roberts George Stanley. (H) Lewis Kenneth George. (0) Roberts Keith John. (P) Ley John Barry (0) Rudd John Kenneth. (0) Mason Jack. (P) Showler Alan John.(0) Maxfield Brian. (P) Simpson Edgar George. (P) McHale David. (0) Sparks Raymond Frederick. (0) McKenna Kenneth Charles. (Q) Milhench Stephen. (J) Stewart Andrew. (P) Miller Robert Percy. (K) Stewart Duncan McDonald. (Q) Monaghan James Edward. (P) Swan David Hugh. (P) Mooney Eric Francis. (0) Twist Reginald James. (P) Moran John Joseph. (0) Walmsley Dennis. (P) Mortimer-Ford Frank Bernard. (Q) Walmsley Fred. (Q) Nuttall Alan. (P) Welham Clifford Edward. (W) Q’Callaghan Anthony James. (P) White Ronald Anderson. (0) O’Hare Charles Donald. (H) Wilford John Malcolm. (T) Parry Edgar. (P) Wilkinson Raymond Westrop. (K) Paterson George Clelland. (P) Williams Roy. (K) Peacock John Williamson. (Q) Williamson Miss Vera. (Q) Peters Kenneth.(0) Wilson William. (P) Phelps Clive Alan. (0) Winstanley David Eric. (Q) Pinless Walter. (W) Stander Derek. RE-REGISTERED STUDENTS o() Black Duncan Alexander. (0) Freeland Ambrose. Corrigenda.-Journal 1950 11 197. Under New Students for (S) Rigg, Tyson BSc. (Lond.) read (S) Rigg Tyson B.Sc. (Dunelm.). DEATHS Fellows Albert Richard Mansfield. Edward Sharratt B.Sc. Ph.D. (Birm.). Edward Ernest Howard Thorne O.B.E. Harold George Tribley A.C.G.F.C. Associate William Laverty. Gavin Lawson Ph.C. M.P.S. Brian Maxwell Shaw B.Sc. (Lond.). Regret has been expressed to Mr. James Joseph Cowperthwaite B.Sc., formerly a Registered Student of the Institute and now in the service of Thornley and Knight Ltd. Birmingham whose career was referred to in an obituary notice in the Journal 1950 11 198.The notice should have referred to James Cowperthwaite a Registered Student who died as the result of an accident in 17 December 1949 in his 23rd year. He was a student at the Royal Technical College Salford. [ 274 OBITUARY Norman Parr Booth died on 18 February 1950 in his 72nd year. He received his early education at King Edward VI Grammar School, Camp Hill and entered Mason College Birmingham in 1894. From 1898 to 1901 he worked in the laboratories of the Apothecaries’ Hall London. In 1901 he became the first qualified chemist to be employed by Cadbury Brothers Ltd. and took a large part in the many developments of the succeeding years. In 191 1 he set up the research laboratory under the immediate care of the late A.W. Knapp who subsequently succeeded him as chief chemist. Booth was appointed managing director and chairman of Cadbury-Fry-Pascall Ltd. at Hobart Tasmania in 1923 and held these posts until his retirement in 1938. In 1939 he paid a final visit to this country. During the recent war he took a very active part in industrial technical and social work in Tasmania; among other activities he was a member of the Food Standards Committee and the Tasmania Committee of the Council for Scientific Research for Australia. He was elected an Associate of the Institute in 1900 and a Fellow in 1903. Alexander Linton Davidson died on 28 February 1950 in his 62nd year. He was educated at Montrose Academy and continued his scientific studies at the School of the Pharmaceutical Society and King’s College London, qualifying Ph.C.He held appointments successively with Allen and Hanburys Ltd. London, Southall Brothers and Barclay Ltd. Birmingham Boots Pure Drug Co. Ltd., Nottingham and Marmite Food and Pharmaceutical Products Ltd. Burton-on-Trent . He served in the Gordon Highlanders during the 1914-18 war and sub-sequently emigrated to Canada. After holding appointments with Acetate Products Ltd. New Westminster C. E. Frost and Co. Montreal and Malt Products CQ. of Canada Ltd. Guelph and spending a short time in the Uni-versity of Toronto he became research chemist to the Forest Products Labora-tories of Canada at McGill University Montreal. In 1926 he transferred to the Department of Health Laboratories Ottawa as Dominion Analyst.At the time of his death he was Assistant to the Director Food and Drugs Division, Department of National Health and Welfare. Davidson was a Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada. He was elected an Associate of the Institute in 1913 and a Fellow in 1916. Cecil William Dear died on 4 February 1950 in his 45th year. He was educated at St. Peter’s Lowden Church of England School and the County School Chippenham and in 1923 was apprenticed as a chemist to the British Thomson- Houston Co. Ltd. He studied meanwhile at Rugby Technical School. In 1926 he became assistant analyst to Mr. S. Judd Lewis and con-tinued his studies at the Sir John Cass Technical Institute graduating B.Sc of the University of London with 1st Class Honours in chemistry in 1931. In 1928 he was appointed assistant analyst to The British Drug Houses Ltd.and in 1932 became one of their technical representatives. From 1933 to 1942 he was chief analytical chemist to Cooper McDougall and Robertson, Ltd. at Berkhamsted. He then joined the Royal Air Force and was a radar officer. He served subsequently in the Chemical Industries Branch B.A.O.R., at Minden Dusseldorf and Bochum. In 1948 he took up an appointment with the Ministry of Supply (Atomic Development). He was elected an Associate of the Institute in 1931. [ 275 Alfred James DeHailes died on 28 December 1949 in his 90th year. He worked in the laboratories of Mr. G. W. Wigner (1876-79) and Dr. T. Redwood (1 880-85) and studied meanwhile at the Pharmaceutical Society, King’s College the City of London College and the Birkbeck Institution.In 1885 he established an analytical practice at Hornsey Rise. Not long afterwards he entered into partnership with the late T. H. Redwood and carried on the consulting practice after the latter’s death in 1892 until 1936. He was elected a Fellow of the Institute in 1888. Charles Stanley Gibson died on 24 March 1950 in his 67th year. He was educated at Manchester Grammar School and in 1902 proceeded to. Corpus Christi College Oxford with an open scholarship in natural science. He graduated B.A. with Second Class Honours in chemistry in 1905. From 1906 to 1909 he was research assistant to Professor W. J. Pope and during this period he graduated B.Sc. (Oxon.) and M.Sc.Tech. of the University of Manchester. He was for three years Goldsmiths’ senior student of the Uni-versity of Oxford.From 1909 to 1912 he continued research work and was lecturer and demonstrator in the University of Cambridge where he graduated M.A. In 1912 he was appointed professor of chemistry in H.H. The Maharaja’s College Trivandrum South India but returned to the University of Cambridge in 1916 and was honorary adviser to the Chemical Warfare Committee of the Ministry of Munitions 1916-19. For his services he was awarded the O.B.E. in 1919. During 1919-20 he was professor of chemistry in the Egyptian School of Medicine Cairo and in 1921 was appointed to the chair of chemistry at Guy’s Hospital Medical School University of London from which he retired last year with the title of emeritus professor.From 1939 to 1945 he was senior gas adviser in south-east England. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1931. Gibson was honorary secretary of the Chemical Society from 1924 to 1933 and vice-president 1933-36. In 1938 he was president of the chemistry section of the British Association. He was the author of “Essential Principles of Organic Chemistry” and published numerous papers on stereo-chemistry chemotherapy and the organic compounds of gold. He was elected a Fellow of the Institute in 1917 and served as a Member of Council 1929-32. He was awarded the Sc.D. of the University in 1932. Archibald Alexander Hall died in June 1949 in his 70th year. He was educated at Liverpool College and entered University College (now the University) Liverpool in 1896 graduating B.Sc.of the Victoria University in 1899 and M.Sc. in 1903. From 1901 to 1904 he studied at the University of Jena and was awarded the degree of Ph.D. He subsequently held appointments as assistant lecturer in chemistry and in agricultural chemistry at Armstrong College Newcastle upon Tyne. During the 1914-18 war he served with the South Staffordshire Regiment in France, and from 1917 was seconded to the Royal Engineers being Gas Officer 8th Division and later chemical adviser to the 13th Corps. After the war he returned to Armstrong College as lecturer in agricultural chemistry. He was later appointed Warden of Henderson Hall King’s College, Newcastle upon Tyne from which post he retired in 1944. He was elected an Associate of the Institute in 1919 and a Fellow in 1924 and served on the Council 1938-41.[ 276 John Hanley died on 18 April 1950 in his 80th year. He was educated privately and received his scientific training at University College (now The University) Liverpool. He then became a student in the laboratory of Norman Tate under Watson Gray. After a short period at Bancrofts he joined J. Bibby and Sons Ltd. as a chemical engineer in 1896. He did much pioneer work for the firm and was their chief chemist for many years prior to his retirement in 1936. Hanley was an authority on milk edible oils and fats. After his retirement he carried on a consulting practice until his home and laboratory were wrecked by a bomb during the recent war. He was a member of the Institution of Chemical Engineers.For many years he served as Hon. Treasurer of the Committee of the Learned Societies of Liverpool. He was elected an Associate of the Institute in 1894 and a Fellow in 1901, and served as District Member of Council for the Liverpool and North-Western District from 1921 to 1924. John Arthur Heald died on 6 April 1950 in his 57th year. Educated at Sedgebrook Grammar School Grantham he entered University College Nottingham in 1912. He enlisted in the Royal Engineers in 1914 and served in “E” Special Coy. in France being mentioned in despatches and awarded the Military Cross. He was granted the war degree of B.Sc. by the University of London in 1917. In 1919 he entered the Clayton Branch of Levinstein Ltd. and in 1922 was appointed a chemist in the Government Laboratory.He studied meanwhile at the Chelsea Polytechnic and passed the Institute’s Examination in Branch E in 1925. In 1933 he was called to the Bar. Heald rose to the rank of senior chemist in the Government Laboratory and at the time of his death was in the War Department Food Supplies Laboratory. He was elected an Associate of the Institute in 1919 and a Fellow in 1925. Francis Mary Gore Micklethwait died on 25 March 1950 in her 83rd year. Educated privately and at Swanley Horticultural College she entered the Royal College of Science London in 1898 being awarded the Associateship of the College in 1901. She continued research work at the College-mainly in collaboration with the late Sir Gilbert Morgan-until 1912 and was for some t h e the holder of a Beit Research Fellowship.For her services during the period of the 1914-18 war she was awarded the M.B.E. in 1919. She was then for some time in the research Department of Boots Pure Drug Co. Ltd. Nottingham and in 1920-21 was at Swanley Horticultural College. Subsequently much of her time was occupied in compiling the index of the revised edition of Thorpe’s Dictionary of Applied Chemistry completed in 1927. Miss Micklethwait was joint author of numerous papers on organic chemistry in the Journal of the Chemical Society and Berichte. She was elected an Associate of the Institute in 1904 and a Fellow in 1907. Andrew McCulloch died on 21 March 1950 in his 56th year. He was educated at Mottram Grammar School Cheshire and received his scientific training in the School of Technology of the Victoria University, Manchester obtaining the Associateship of the School.After a short period as assistant chemist at the Davyholme Sewage Works of the Manchester Corporation he enlisted in the R.A.M.C. in 1915 and was engaged on water supplies in Egypt and Palestine. 277 On his return to civil We he obtained an appointment in the fuel research laboratories of the Manchester College of Technology and later became lecturer in fuel. He was awarded the degree of M.Sc.Tech. of the University of Man-Chester in 1928 and was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Fuel in 1940. In 1947 he was appointed chief research engineer to the Research Council of Alberta Canada and in 1949 joined the Coal Research Laboratory of the Carnegie Institute of Technology Pittsburgh U.S.A.He was elected an Associate of the Institute in 1918. Walter James Rees died on 4 April 1950 in his 71st year. He received his early education at Bridge Street Technical School Birming-ham. In 1896 he became an assistant in the physics laboratory at Mason College and was a part-time student at Birmingham Municipal Technical School. He studied chemistry at the Royal College of Science London, 1899-1900 and resumed part-time study at Birmingham in 1901 in which year he was appointed senior assistant in the laboratory of Chance Brothers and Co. Ltd. at Smethwick. In 1907 he became chief chemist to the firm. About 1918 Rees was appointed lecturer on refractory materials in the Department of Applied Science University of Sheffield.He subsequently graduated B.Sc.Tech. of the University proceeded to M.Sc.Tech. and in 1940 to D.Sc.Tech. He received a Sir George Beilby Memorial Award in 1932. After his retirement from the University in 1943 he practised as a consultar’ on refractories and clay technology. He was awarded the O.B.E. in 1944. He was elected a Fellow of the Institute in 1917 and acted as special p - h e r in Branch G. Industrial Chemistry on several occasions. Edward Sharratt died on 11 March 1949 in his 39th year. He received his early education at Queen Mary’s Grammar School Walsall, and entered the University of Birmingham in 1930 graduating B.Sc. with First Class Honours in chemistry in 1933 and Ph.D. in 1936. In 1936 he was appointed research assistant to the Earthenware (now the British Pottery) Research Association at the North Staffordshire Technical College Stoke-on-Trent.He continued his studies at the College and was awarded the silver medal for advanced pottery in 1937. In 1940 he became research chemist to Murex Welding Processes Ltd. Waltham Cross and held this position until the time of his death. Sharratt published several papers in the Journal of the Chemical Society, Transactions of the Ceramic Society and other journals. He was elected an Associate of the Institute in 1933 and a Fellow in 1946. Brian Maxwell Sbaw died on 30 March 1950 in his 31st year. He was educated at the Ashburton School and the Polytechnic Croydon, and entered the service of the late Edward Hinks Public Analyst of Southwark, in 1937.He attended evening classes at The Sir John Cass Technical Institute and graduated B.Sc. of the University of London with Second Class Honours in Chemistry in 1944. In the same year he became a research chemist to Imperial Chemical Industries (Paints) Ltd. Slough later becoming Paints Division Analyst. He was elected an Associate of the Institute in 1944. Robert Tatlock Thomson died on 20 February 1950 in his 95th year, At an early age Thomson-one of five brothers who all engaged in chemistry -entered the laboratory of his uncle the late R. R. Tatlock attending classes meanwhile in the University of Glasgow. In 1888 they founded the analytical 278 and consulting practice of R. R. Tatlock and Thomson in Glasgow. For some years the teaching of practical chemistry was combined with the analytical work.On Tatlock’s death Thomson became senior partner and until recent years remained actively associated with the practice which is still carried on on the original site in Bath Street. At various times he held the positions of Gas Examiner to the City of Glasgow and Public Analyst and Official Agricultural Analyst to the Counties of Dun-harton and Stirling the City of Perth and the Burghs of Falkirk Stirling, Clydebank Rutherglen Airdrie Coatbridge Hamilton and Motherwell. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Thompson published several papers alone or with Tatlock on the analysis of food water etc. He was elected a Fellow of the Institute in 1887. William Williamson died on 19 March 1950 in his 84th year.He was educated at Gordon’s College Aberdeen and received his scientific training at the Royal College of Science London. In 1897 he entered H.M. Customs London as a chemist and from 1901 to 1904 was employed in the Customs Branch of the Government Laboratory. He then transferred to the Government Laboratory in Clement’s Inn and was there until 1912 when he went back to the Custom House. During 1923-24 he went as chief chemist to organise the new Irish Free State Laboratory. Dublin. He returned to the Government Laboratory London as super-intending chemist in charge of the Custom House Laboratory in 1925 and held this post until his retirement in 1928. He was elected a Fellow of the Institute in 1925. William Palmer Wynue died on 16 February 1950 in his 90th year.Educated at King Edward VI Grammar School Birmingham he served an apprenticeship with a firm of manufacturing pharmacists before entering the Royal College of Science London in 188 1. He obtained the Associateship of the College and graduated B.Sc. of the University of London with First Class Honours in chemistry in 1884. He later proceeded to the D.Sc. degree. After a short period as lecturer in chemistry at Rutherford College New-castle upon Tyne he became private research assistant to the late Professor H. E. Armstrong in 1886-an association which led to the researches on the chemistry of naphthalene with which his name is always connected and which he was able to pursue again at Cambridge in his later years. In 1887 he was appointed lecture-demonstrator and later lecturer in chemistry at the Central Technical College of the City and Guilds of London Institute.From 1890 to 1902 Wynne was assistant professor of chemistry at the Royal College of Science and from then until 1904 professor of chemistry in the School of the Pharmaceutical Society. In 1904 he was appointed to the Firth chair of chemis-try in the University of Sheffield from which he retired in 1931 with the title of emeritus professor. He was Dean of the Faculty of Science in the University from 1911 to 1931. Wynne was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1896 and received the honorary degrees of M.A. (Cantab.) and D.Sc. (Sheffield). He was an Hon. Member of Sidney Sussex College and an Hon. Fellow of the Imperial College. Me took a very active part in professional and scientific affairs.He was editor of the Journal of the Chemical Society (1899-1902) Hon. Secretary of the Society (1 898-9 and 1903-5) and President (1 923-5). The British Associa-tion elected him President of Section B for the meeting at Birmingham in 1913. Me was a member of the University Grants Committee from 1933 to 1943. He was elected a Fellow of the Institute in 1887 served as an Examiner ((19OO-04) and was a Member of Council from 1905 to 1908. [ 279 ANNOUNCEMENTS (For other Announcements see p . ii.) LABORATORY TECHNICIANS In an earlier issue of this Journal (1950 11 164) reference was made to the preparation by the City and Guilds of London Institute of syllabuses for courses and examinations in Laboratory Technicians’ Work.Regulations and syllabuses for the Laboratory Technicians’ Intermediate Certificate Examination, to come into operation in the Session 1950-51 have now been issued and copies may be obtained from The Superintendent Department of Technology City and Guilds of London Institute 31 Brechin Place London S. W.7. The scheme envisaged is a three-year part-time course requiring attendance for approximately 180 hours per year (day or evening) with an examination by the City and Guilds of London Institute at the end of the third year. The suggested curriculum covers I Science and Drawing; 11 General Laboratory Techniques and Organisation including Laboratory Workshop Practice; 111 Specialised Laboratory Techniques-each candidate will be expected to take only one of the following Physics Laboratory Techniques Chemistry Laboratory Techniques Biology Laboratory Techniques Combined (Physics, Chemistry Biology) Techniques Physiology and Pharmacology Laboratory Techniques Anatomy Laboratory Techniques Animal House Techniques, Mechanical Engineering Laboratory Techniques Electrical Engineering Laboratory Techniques Metallurgy Laboratory Techniques.For all candidates the first year’s course may be the same. In Sections I and I1 the syllabuses are common to all. The selected specialised laboratory techniques and related ancillary science and drawing are intended to be introduced gradually in the second year and to be completed in the third year. These syllabuses represent an elaboration of those outlined by the earlier Committee on the Education and Training of Laboratory Technicians on whose recommendation the City and Guilds of London Institute undertook to act in consultation with appropriate bodies as the examining body for nationally recognised Certificates in laboratory arts and techniques (Journal and Proceedings 1949 V 438-9; VI 495).Among the bodies represented on the Advisory Committee of the City and Guilds of London Institute set up for this purpose are The Institute of Physics the Royal Institute of Chemistry the Physiological Society the Biological Council the Institutions of Mechanical Electrical and Chemical Engineers, the Institution of Metallurgists the Anatomical Society of Great Britain the Science Technologists Association (an organisation for technicians in science laboratories) the Institute of Medical Laboratory Technology the Science Masters’ Association the Association of University Teachers the Association of Technical Institutions the Association of Principals of Technical Institutions and the Association of Teachers in Technical Institutions together with repre-sentatives of industry industrial research associations Government depart-ments trades unions etc.It may be concluded that all aspects of the problem have thus been considered and that the scheme now put forward will receive support from all concerned. Classes to operate the above Certificate Course will be started at L.C.C. Paddington Technical College Saltram Crescent W.9 next September. Students may attend the Course either on three evenings per week or on one day and one evening per week.In order to prepare certain junior laboratory personnel for entry to the Certificate Course a one-year Preliminary Course of one day per week will also be run. Enquiries concerning the Course should be made to Mr. .R. C. Rogers, M.Sc. A.R.C.S. A.R.I.C. Senior Lecturer in Chemistry who is directing the Laboratory Technicians’ Courses at the Paddington Technical College. r 280 GERMAN IN SCIENCE COURSES An important industrial organisation has informed the Institute that recent investigation has disclosed the fact that a high proportion of young chemists have professed inability to read simple technical literature in the German language. In view of the large amount of chemical literature written in German such a state of affairs is undesirable.Some years ago the Institute ceased to insist on a knowledge of foreign languages in considering applications for Registration as Students of the Insti-tute but a translation test in both French and German has always been applied in the Institute’s own examination for the Associateship and the Council has recently referred back several applications for admission to the Associateship from honours graduates who have applied for exemption from the Institute’s examination because they have admitted that they have never done any German. It appears that not all universities insist that all candidates in the honours school of chemistry or applied chemistry should have a knowledge of German. In some universities although no course in German is prescribed students are expected to acquire this knowledge on their own initiative during their course.The Council wishes to draw the attention of all teachers and students to the desirability of complying with the Institute’s requirements in this respect. SCIENTIFIC COURSES AND CONFERENCES Courses at Acton Technical College.-( 1) A course of Lecture-Demonstrations on Microchemical Analysis will be held during the Autumn Term 1950 on Fridays at 7.30 p.m. beginning 22 September. (a) Microchemical Analysis in General and Inorganic Chemistry four lectures by Miss I. H. Hadfield (22 September-13 October). (b) Semi-micro and Microchemical Technique applied to Organic Chemistry : four lectures by Miss M. Corner (20 October-10 November). (c) Microchemical Analysis in Metallurgical Operations one lecture by Mr.C. Whalley (17 November). (d) Microchemical Analysis applied in Analysis of Oils and Fats four lectures by Mr. C. Whalley (24 November-15 December). The course is intended for industrial chemists research workers and others who may be interested in modern microchemical technique. Fee for the full course 20s. (2) A series of advanced courses in the Chemistry and Technology of Plastics will be held during the Session 1950-51. The courses are part-time and are designed for chemists and engineers engaged in the industries associated with the use of plastics. Sessional fee for courses on Chemistry and Technology of Plastics or Plastic Machines and Mould Design and Technology of Plastics 35s.; single subject 20s. Further particulars of the above Courses and Registration Forms may be obtained from the Principal Acton Technical College High Street Acton, London W.3.Courses at Chelsea Polytechnic.-( 1) Six Post-graduate Lectures on “Syn-thetic Perfumery Chemicals Their Preparations and Olfactory Properties,” by Mr. A. J. Krajkeman will be given on Fridays 13 October to 17 November, 1950 at 7.30 p.m. Fee for the Course 10s. (2) Biochernistry.-Four groups of five lectures on Biochemistry will be given by Dr. E. M. Crook and Dr. F. L. Warren during the Autumn and Spring Terms on Mondays at 7.15 p.m. beginning 2 October 1950. The lectures are designed for students who have a knowledge of chemistry to degree standard and wish to acquire a knowledge of general biochemistry.Fee for the whole Course 40s.; for each part 10s ( 3 ) The Chemistry and Microscopy of Food Drugs and Water.-A special course of lectures and practical work based on the syllabus for the Fellowship of the Royal Institute of Chemistry Branch E will be given for 1 st-year students on Tuesday and Thursday evenings during two complete sessions beginning 26 September. Responsible Lecturer Mr. R. G. Minor; Lecturer in Materia Medica Mr. E. S. Mayer; Lecturer in Bacteriology Mr. A. W. G. Chetham; Assistant Lecturers and Demonstrators Mr. A. J. M. Bailey and Mr, W. R. Rankin. Course Fee for each Session E4 4s.; Laboratory Fee 5s.; Membership Is. Further particulars of the above Courses may be obtained from the Principal, Chelsea Polytechnic Manresa Road London S.W.3.East Ham Technical College.-A course of six lectures on “The History of Chemistry,” by Mr. H. H. Neville began on 5 June 1950. Fee for the Course, 10s. Particulars may be obtained from the Principal East Ham Technical College Barking Road East Ham London E.6. Symposium on “Polymer Chemistry as Applied to Plastics.”-The Plastics and Polymer Group of the Society of Chemical Industry proposes to hold a three-day Symposium under the above title from 21 to 23 September 1950. It is intended that as far as possible contributions shall be planned to bridge the gap between those engaged in theoretical studies and those concerned with industrial applications. Communications should be addressed to the Hon. Secretary for the Sym-posium Dr. N. J. L. Megson Ministry of Supply R.716 Shell Mex House, London W.C.2.Registration Fee 10s. to members 42s. to non-members of the Society of Chemical Industry to be sent to J. R. Whinfield Esq. Hon. Treasurer Sym-posium c/o Society of Chemical Industry 56 Victoria Street London S.W.l. Cambridge Summer Schools 1950.-(a) A Summer School in Electron Microscopy will be held in the Cavendish Laboratory Cambridge by the courtesy of Sir Lawrence Bragg O.B.E. F.R.S. from 18 to 29 July inclusive. The School will provide a grounding in the theory and applications of the electron microscope. It is intended for those who are already or in the near future will be operating it in physical chemical or biological laboratories. Syllabus and form of application for admission may be obtained from G. F.Hickson MA. Secretary of the Board of Extra-Mural Studies Stuart House Cambridge. (6) A Summer School on “The Physics and Chemistry of Free Radicals” will be held in the University Department of Physical Chemistry Cambridge, from 19 to 26 August 1950. Courses of lectures and demonstrations will be given on the Structure, Spectroscopy and Mass-Spectroscopy of Free Radicals; Free Radicals produced by Light and Nuclear Radiation and their Reactions; The Role of Free Radicals in Combustion and Polymerisation; Free-Radical Reactions in Solution. The fee for the course will be 14 guineas inclusive of accommodation for seven nights. Further details and forms of application may be obtained from the Secretary of the Summer School Department of Physical Chemistry Free School Lane, Cambridge.MISCELLANEOUS Festival of Britain.-Consideration has been given by the Council and by Hon. Secretaries of Local Sections at their Conference on 1 April to special activities that might be arranged by the Institute alone or in conjunction with r 282 other bodies during the period of the Festival-May to September 1951, inclusive. It has been agreed that it would be desirable for one or more public lectures to be arranged drawing attention to the contributions of chemistry to the life and well-being of the community and that such public lectures would best be organised in collaboration with other bodies through the Chemical‘ Council. The Chemical Council has been informed accordingly and is giving active consideration to the arrangement of such lectures.The Future of Higher Technological Education.-In Part I1 of this Journal (page 164) reference was made to the setting up of an Ad Hoc Committee of the Institute to advise the Council on observations to be made on a confidential Draft Report on this subject issued by the National Advisory Council on Educa-tion for Industry and Commerce. In the course of its work this Committee had the advantage of consultation with representatives of a number of other professional bodies and prepared a draft statement which was accepted subject to two minor amendments by the Council for submission to the National Advisory Council. Although this document is marked “strictly confidential” in order to meet the desire of the National Advisory Council to avoid undue publicity at this stage of consultation with professional bodies there has been no restriction of its circulation to other institutions or organisations that have been invited to discuss the draft proposals of the National Advisory Council.Members of the Institute who are concerned in such discussions and have not received a copy of the document are invited to make application to the Secretary of the Institute. Metals in the Service of Mankind.-An Exhibition under this title will be open at the Science Museum South Kensington London S.W.7 from 7 July to 30 September 1950 on Weekdays 9.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. and on Sundays, 2.30 to 6.30 p.m. Admission free. An Exhibition Handbook can be obtained from the Museum or from the Secretary The Institution of Metallurgists 4 Grosvenor Gardens London, S.W.1 (ls.by post 1s. 2d.). University of London Library Photographic Department .-This Department is now in operation. It is primarily designed to serve the needs of the Univer-sity Library but is available to library readers (including Members of the Royal Institute of Chemistry who apply for readers? tickets through the office of the Institute). The Department is equipped to produce photostat and microfilm copies. Particulars of the service may be obtained from The Goldsmiths’ Librarian, University of London Senate House W.C. 1 COMING EVENTS The following list has been compiled from the latest information available. The Institute cannot hold itself responsible for changes that may be made of which it may receive no notification.Under each date meetings arranged by Local Sections of the Institute are listed first in alphabetical order of Sections. Next come meetings of The Chemical Society and the Society of Chemical Industry. Finally meetings of other organisations are mentioned. Works and other visits are not included. Place names are printed in heavy type. 1950 June 9 SOCIETY OF LEATHER TRADES’ CHEMISTS (London Group) “Forty-eight Years in the Profession of Chemistry.” Mr. R. Faraday Innes at the Leathersellers’ Technical College Tower Bridge Road London S.E. 1, at 2.30 p.m. 10 THE INSTITUTE (North Wales Section) “The Slate Industry.” Capt. E. Andrewes and Mr. D. Pritchard at the John Bright Grammar School, Llandudno at 2.30 p.m. SOCIETY OF CHEMICAL INDUSTRY (Agriculture Group) Summer Meeting at Jealott’s Hill Research Station BracknelI Berks.14 THE INS- (Birmingham and Midlands Section jointly with Coventry Chemical Society) “Some Unusual Properties of Dusts.” Professor H. V. A. Briscoe at the Technical College Coventry at 6.30 p.m. 15 INSTITUTION OF MINING AND METALLURGY Meeting in the Rooms of the Geological Society Burlington House Piccadilly London W.l at 5 p.m. 17 BIOCHEMICAL SOCIETY Meeting at Cambridge. J d Y 1 THE INSTTWTE (South Wales Section jointly with the University College of Wales Agricultural Society) “The Effect of Chemicals on Biological Processes.” Dr. P. T. Thomas in the Edward Davies Chemical Laboratories University College of Wales Aberystwyth at 3 p.m. 3-7 INSTITUTE OF PETROLEUM Second Oil Shale and Cannel Coal Conference, at Glasgow.10-14 SOCIETY OF CHEMICAL INDUSTRY Annual General Meeting at Newcastle upon Tyne. 14 ROYAL SANITARY INSTITUTE Sessional Meeting at Great Yarmouth. 21 BIOCHEMICAL SOCIETY Meeting at Edinburgh. August-Sep tember 30 August-3 September. INSTITUTION OF PRODUCTION ENGINEERS Summer 30 August-6 September BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF School of Production Engineering at St. Peter’s Hall Oxford. SCIENCE. Annual Meeting in Birmingham. September 3-9 THE INSTITUTE AND THE SOCIETY OF PUBLIC ANALYSTS AND OTHER ANALYTI-CAL CHEMISTS Summer School in Analytical Chemistry in London. 1284 GENERAL NOTICES For notices relating to matters of immediate importance see “Announcements” onpp. ii and 280.) Notice to Associates.-Regulations and forms of application for the Fellow-ship can be obtained from the Registrar.Appointments Register.-An Appointments Register is maintained by the Institute through which Fellows Associates and some senior Registered Students can be informed of vacancies. Facilities are afforded by this Register free to authorities and firms requiring the services of qualified chemists. Prospective employers and Fellows and Associates who desire to make use of this service should communicate with the Registrar. Libraries.-The comprehensive Library of the Chemical Society Burlington House Piccadilly W.l to the maintenance of which the Institute makes sub-stantial contributions is available to Fellows Associates and Registered Students wishing to consult or borrow books from 10 a.m.to 9 p.m. on week-days (Saturdays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.). Books can also be borrowed by post. Books may be borrowed from the Science Library Science Museum South Kensington S.W.7 on production of requisitions signed by the Registrar or the Secretary of the Institute. The use of the Goldsmiths’ Library of the University of London is also permitted to Fellows and Associates on application being made through the Office of the Institute. The Library of the Institute is open to Fellows Associates and Registered Students from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays (not including Saturdays). Lantern Slides for Lecturers.-A list of slides of portraits of great chemists and other scientists throughout the ages can be obtained on application to the Secretary.As the slides are frequently in demand members are requested to notify their requirements at least 14 days before the date on which the slides are to be used. Joint Subscription Arrangements.-Fellows Associates and Registered Students who wish to participate in the arrangements whereby they can maintain on favourable terms their membership of the Chemical Society and the Society of Chemical Industry and also if desired of the Faraday Society or the Society of Public Analysts and Other Analytical Chemists with substantial privileges as to publications (see special article Journal and Proceedings 1945 Part IV, p. 148) can obtain further particulars and necessary forms from the Conjoint Chemical Office 9 and 10 Savile Row London W.l. Benevolent Fund.-Contributions for 1950 may be sent to the Honorary Treasurer 30 Russell Square London W.C.1.Forms for Deeds of Covenant may be obtained from the Secretary. Covers for the Journal.-Members who desire covers (3s. each) for binding the Journal and Proceedings in annual volumes should notify the Secretary of their requirements. Covers for the years 1939 to 1949 inclusive are available. Changes of Address.-Fellows Associates and Registered Students who wish to notify changes of address are requested to give so far as possible their permanent addresses for registration. When writing from an address different from that previously given they are requested to state if the new address is to be used in future and whether the change affects the Appointments Register. All requests for changes should be addressed to the Registrar and not to the Honorary Secretaries of Local Sections.In order to facilitate identification Fellows Associates and Registered Students are asked to give their full initials on communications addressed to the Institute. In the prevailing circumstances they are also asked not invariably to expect formal acknowledgements of communications addressed to the Institute unless replies are necessary. 1285 PUBLICATIONS OF THE INSTITUTE LECTURES MONOGRAPHS AND REPORTS “Microchemistry and its Applications.” Ronald Belcher F.R.I.C. (1 946.) 4s. 6d. net. “Soil Metabolism.” J. H. Quastel D.Sc. Ph.D. A.R.C.S. F.R.I.C. F.R.S. (1946.) 2s. 6d. net. “A New Notation for Organic Chemistry and its Application to Library and Indexing Problems.” Lecture under the joint auspices of the Chemical Society, the Royal Institute of Chemistry the Society of Chemical Industry and the Bureau of Abstracts. G. Malcolm Dyson M.A. Ph.D. M.I.Chem.E. F.lnst.Pet., F.R.I.C. (1946.) 2s. 6d. net. *“Water and Public Health.” W. Gordon Carey F.R.I.C. (1946.) 2s. 6d. net. First Henderson Memorial Lecture. Sir Ian Heilbron D.S.O. D.Sc. Ph.D. LL.D. F.R.I.C. F.R.S. (1949.) 2s. 6d. net. $“Counting Calories.” Sir Jack Drummond D.Sc. F.R.I.C. F.R.S. (1947.) 3s. net. “Some Aspects of Nuclear Chemistry.” H. J. EmelCus D.Sc. A.R.C.S. D.I.C., F.R.I.C. F.R.S. (1947.) 3s. net. $“Nutritional Requirements of Man in the Light of War-time Experience.” Sir Jack Drummond D.Sc. F.R.I.C. F.R.S. (1948.) 3s. net. $“The Determination of Alcohol.” J. R. Nicholls D.Sc. F.R.I.C. (1948.) 3s. net. §‘‘Chemistry and Medicinal Treatment.” Sir Henry Dale O.M. G.B.E. F.R.C.P., F.R.S. (1948.) 3s. net. **“Some Applications of Acetylene Compounds in Organic Synthesis.” A. W. Johnson B.Sc. Ph.D. A.R.C.S. D.I.C. (1948.) 3s. net. *“The Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act and Some Analytical Implications.” George Taylor F.R.I.C. (1948.) 3s. net. “Chemical Ciphering A Universal Code as an Aid to Chemical Systematics.” M. Gordon M.Sc. A.R.I.C. C. E. Kendall B.Sc. A.R.I.C. and W. H. T. Davisori B.A. (1948.) 4s. net. Proceedings of a Colloqui2m on “The Industrial Utilisation of Agricultural Products and of Seaweed. Published jointly by The Irish Chemical Association and The Royal Institute of Chemistry. (1948.) 5s. net. “The Chemical Research Laboratory Teddington.” R. P. Linstead C.B.E., D.Sc. F.R.I.C. F.R.S. (1948.) ,?s. net. “The New Fluorocarbon Chemistry. M. Stacey Ph.D. D.Sc. F.R.I.C. (1948.) 3s. net. Symposium on “Coal Petroleum and their Newer Derivatives.” (1948.) 7s. 6d. net. $“Through Chemistry-Adornment.” C. J. T. Cronshaw B.Sc. D.Sc. F.R.I.C., M.I.Chem.E. F.T.I. (1949.) 3s. net. “Percy Faraday Frankland.” L. H. Lampitt D.Sc. M.I.Chem.E. F.R.I.C. (1949.) 3s. net. “Anaesthetics.” H. B. Nisbet Ph.D. D.Sc. A.H.-W.C. F.R.I.C. F.R.S.E. (1949.) 3s. net. Report of a Conference on “The Origins and Prevention of Laboratory Accidents.” (1949.) 5s. 6d. net. “The Function of the Expert Witness in Litigation.” Lionel Heald K.C. “The Protection of Chemical Inventions.” J. G. Fife M.Sc. Ph.D. F.R.I.C., F.C.I.P.A. (1949.) 3s. net. Report of a Symposium on “Laboratory Lay-out and Construction.” (1949.) 4s. 6d. net. “The Development of Chemical Processes.” F. Roffey B.Sc. Ph.D. F.R.I.C. (1949.) 3s. net. Report of a Symposium on “The Hydrogen Bond.” L. Hunter Ph.D. D.Sc., F.R.I.C. W. C. Price Ph.D. Sc.D. F.R.I.C. and A. R. Martin Ph.D. D.Sc., F.R.I.C. (1950.) 3s. net. Gratis. “The Life and Work of George Gerald Henderson.” First P. F. Frankland Memorial Lecture. REGISTER OF FELLOWS AND ASSOCIATES 1948. REGULATIONS FOR THE ADMISSION OF STUDENTS ASSOCIATES AND FELLOWS. JOURNAL. Six Parts annually. 5s. each 21s. per annum. 10s. net. * Streatfeild Memorial Lectures. 0 Dalton Lectures. t Gluckstein Memorial Lecture. Tatlock Memorial Lecture. * * Meldola Medal Lecture. t 286