PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY AND AFFILIATED 



SOCIETIES 



THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



The 246th meeting was held at the Cosmos Club, March 11, 1915. 

 W. D. BiGELOW, Director of the Research Laboratory of the National 

 Canners' Association, gave an illustrated lecture on Some of the proh- 

 Urns and diffi.culties of the canning industry. Motion pictures were 

 presented showing the work of the Bureau of Chemistry with the 

 various canning industries, especially along the line of the betterment 

 of sanitary conditions in the sardine packing industry, and the solution 

 of the difficulties encountered by corn-packing establishments. The 

 scope of the work of the Canners' Laboratory was given and many of 

 the specific problems were outlined, such as the causes of the darken- 

 ing of corn and other packed materials, the effect of the nature of the 

 tin plate used in can manufacture on the finished pack, etc. The 

 latter point is being made the object of an extensive investigation by 

 the makers and users of tin plate in co5peration with the government. 



Lender the head of informal communications H. C. Gore, of the 

 Bureau of Chemistry, discussed the Preparation and uses of calcium acid 

 malate. This material is readily prepared from what is ordinarily 

 apple refuse and offers possibilities as a substitute for the acid con- 

 stituent used in baking powders. Samples of the materials were shown. 



The 247th meeting (special) was held at the Cosmos Club, March 17, 

 1915. Mr. W. S. Landis, Chief Technologist of the American Cyan- 

 amid Company, presented an illustrated lecture on The fixation of 

 atmospheric nitrogen. A review of the methods for the fixation of 

 nitrogen in commercial use was presented, giving particular attention 

 to the manufacture of cyanamid which according to the speaker occupies 

 a preeminent place and has been making steady progress since its 

 introduction by Frank and Caro. Manj^ of the uses of cyanamid in 

 the chemical industries and agriculture and as an intermediate prod- 

 uct in the production of ammonia were described. Motion pictures 

 showing the plant of the American Cyanamid Company at Niagara 

 Falls, Canada, in operation presented an interesting feature of the 

 lecture. This lecture is published in full in the Journal of Industrial 

 and Engineering Chemistry, 7: 433-8 (1915). 



The 248th meeting was held at the Cosmos Club, April 8, 1915. 

 H. D. GiBBS, of the Bureau of Chemistry, presented a paper entitled, 

 A study of so7ne palm trees, with special reference to the sugar and alcohol 

 industries. Practically all the alcohol used in the Philippines is obtained 



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