306 proceedings: chemical society 



memorandum in order to make it more effective. Messrs. Johnston, 

 Munroe and Fuller were appointed members of the Committee. The 

 resolution in its final form reads ; 



Whereas the bill now before the Senate, known as S 1082, introduced 

 by Senator Sheppard, which is concerned with the manufacture and 

 sale of alcoholic liquors within the District of Columbia, in its present 

 form contains provisions which would prohibit absolutely the use of 

 grain alcohol for all chemical and technical purposes in all the many 

 laboratories, connected with Government departments or with educa- 

 tional or private institutions, now established in the District of Colum- 

 bia, and would also prohibit the delivery, for analysis or other purposes, 

 of samples and specimens containing alcohol; 



And whereas the important work, highly beneficial to the public 

 welfare, carried on by these several laboratories would be very seriously 

 crippled, and much of it would be stopped altogether, by the prohibi- 

 tion of the delivery of alcohol to these laboratories, or of its use therein ; 

 for in many chemical operations pure alcohol is an absolute necessity 

 and irreplaceable; 



And whereas Congress itself has specifically provided in the Food and 

 Drugs Act and in the Insecticide Act that the degree of purity of food 

 and drug products should be determined by certain prescribed tests, 

 few of which could be made if the use of alcohol be prohibited; 



And whereas it is unreasonable to suppose that Congress would 

 enact a law which would effectually prevent the making of tests pre- 

 scribed in previous acts, work which moreover can not be interrupted 

 without detriment to public welfare; and it is the belief of this Society 

 that it is not the intent of Congress to prevent legitimate and neces- 

 sary scientific work in any laboratory, private or public, or to hinder 

 the advancement of science, or to interfere in any way with the train- 

 ing of technically skilled men, especially at this time when the advan- 

 tage — nay, the necessity — of proper technical training and advice has 

 been brought home to all of us; 



Therefore be it resolved by the Washington Section of the American 

 Chemical Society, that the foregoing summary statement of facts be 

 brought to the attention of those in charge of this bill, with the plea that 

 they modify those provisions which, if the bill S 1082 were enacted in 

 its present form, would be highly prejudicial to the laboratory work, 

 scientific, technical, and educational, now carried on within the District 

 of Columbia, a work which is absolutely essential to the continued 

 progress of the country. 



The program of the evening consisted of a lecture on Radium by 

 C. L. Parsons, of the Bureau of Mines. A concise survey of the re- 

 cent methods developed by this Bureau for the extraction of radium 

 from carnotite ores was accompanied by lantern slides and motion 

 pictures showing the entire range of operations from the mining of the 

 ore to the crystallization of the radium bromide. By means of the 

 new methods it is thought that 90 per cent of the radium is actually 



