198 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



(January 1. 1913. 



The Editor's Book Table. 



THE TESTING OF MECHANICAL RUBBER GOODS. CIRCULAR 

 No. 38 of the Bureau of Standards. Washington, 1912. [I'aper, 

 38 pages.] 



THIS valuable pamphlet combines a number of known facts 

 with interesting details of the system of rubber testing in 

 use at the Bureau of Standards. It is divided into four 

 parts: Introductory (embracing crude rubber, rubber substitutes 

 and reclaimed rubber) ; manufacture of mechanical rubber goods ; 

 physical testing of rubber; and the chemistry of rubber. 



Chief interest, from the point of view of the subject treated, 

 attaches to the third section, dealing with the tension, friction, 

 hydraulic pressure and steaming tests most commonly employed. 

 The descriptions are copiously supplemented by illustrations and 

 diagrams. 



In dealing with the fourth section, it is remarked that it is 

 only recently that we have known very much of the chemical 

 nature of rubber. The synthesis of rubber, acetone extraction, 

 vulcanization and the determination of the amount of rubber 

 in a vulcanized compound are successively dealt with. 



In conclusion, it is stated that the methods of analysis in use 

 at the Bureau of Standards are now in course of thorougli 

 testing and revision. It is hoped within a comparatively short 

 time to publish the results of the work. 



Reference is made to various standard works and publications 

 dealing with the subject, including the India Rubber World and 

 the volume on "Crude Rubber and Compounding Ingredients,'' 

 by H. C. Pearson. 



GREEK REFINEMENTS. BY WILLIAM HENRY GOODYEAR, M.A. 

 Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut. [Quarto. 227 pp., 

 board covers.} 



It is safe to say that all rubber men — at least those in the 

 Eastern section of our country — whose outlook is not bounded 

 by the four walls of their factory or storehouse, who keep 

 abreast with the intellectual life of the age, know — by reputation 

 at least — Professor William Henry Goodyear, the scholarly 

 curator of Fine Arts, at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and 

 Sciences. But probably there are many rubber luen who are 



k 



i Hi; lllESEUM AT ATHENS. 



not aware that Professor Goodyear is the son of Charles Good- 

 year. The beginnings of the rubber industry in Charles Good- 

 year's day — though of tremendous prospective importance, were 

 so small in actual commercial production as compared with the 

 vast proportions of the industry today — that Charles Goodyear, 

 in the minds of most rubber men seems like a figure in the 

 distant past; but, as a matter of fact, his death occurred only 

 a half century ago, and his son is not only still living among 

 us, but is adding distinction to the great name he inherited. 



Charles Goodyear, though his life was devoted to scientific 

 achievements, was a man of genuinely artistic temperament. That 

 was shown in many of the devices he invented, and the famous 

 exhibitions that he gave abroad, and also to a considerable ex- 

 tent by the excellent drawings that he made of his own inven- 

 tions. His son has held a distinguished position for over 40 

 years, in the world of art — particularly in that department of art 

 devoted to architecture. His accomplishments in his chosen 



The Maison Carree at Ximes. 



field have been recognized by the leading architectural societies 

 of Europe, and he has been made an honorary member of the 

 Architectural Associations of Rome, Venice, Milan, and Edin- 

 burgh, and of the British Society of Architects. He is also the 

 author of many accepted works on the history of architectural 

 art, among them, "Roman and Mediaeval Art," and "Renaissance 

 and Modern Art." The latest contribution from his pen — which 

 is just from the press — is a beautiful volume entitled, "Greek 

 Refinements.'' It is a book of 227 pages containing a large 

 number of illustrations of ancient Greek temples — some of the 

 illustrations being full page size. Both cuts and text are printed 

 on a heavy paper of fine quality, and the book is bound in 

 buckram covers lettered in gold. 



Professor Goodyear first became interested in the Greek re- 

 finements ( which is another name for various curvatures — per- 

 pendicular and horizontal — and other departures from the strictly 

 normal in architecture) over 40 years ago, when in the years 

 1869 and 1870 he made an exhaustive study of the monuments, 

 tlie cathedral and other not.ible architectural objects in Pisa. 

 He wrote an article on this subject entitled "The Lost Art," for 

 "Scribner's Monthly," in the early 70's, but owing to other de- 

 mands upon his time he made no further literary contributions on 

 this topic for over 20 years — until 1895. Since that time he has 

 devoted a great deal of attention to these peculiarities in the 

 ancient Greek temples, and also in cathedrals and other speci- 

 mens of mediaeval architecture, and the first result of these 

 years of study and observation of this fascinating phase of early 

 architecture is the book just published which will be followed 

 later, undoubtedly, by a book on the refinements of mediaeval 

 architecture. 



This book will be found interesting — not only by professional 

 architects, but by all those to whom art in any of its phases 

 makes an appeal, and also by those who are interested in history 

 — the most absorbing chapters of which were written by the 

 ancient Greeks with their wonderful literature and their unsur- 

 passed and enduring architecture. 



