Jl-ly 1, 1913.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



535 



The Editor's Book Table. 



ANNUAL REPORT OK THE DIRECTOR OF FORESTRY OF THE 

 I'hiHppine Islands. Manila, 1912. [Paper, 60 pp.] 



■ I 'HE annual report of the Director of Forestry of the Philip- 

 •*• pine Island, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1912, has come 

 to hand. In the absence of the director, Major Ahearn, it has 

 been submitted by the acting director, Mr. VV. K. Sherfesse, and 

 bears evidence of careful compilation. 



It is stated that a marked decrease took place during the year 

 1912 in the exploitation of gutta-percha, owing to the extremely 

 low market price during that period. Timber naturally occupies 

 a prominent place in the report, which is embellished by some 

 effective ilkistrations of Philippine forest scenes. 



ACROSS THE ANDES: A TALK OF WANDERING DAYS AMONG 

 the Mountains of Bolivia and the Jungles of the L^pper Amazon. By 

 Charles Johnson Post. New York. 1913. Outing Publishing Company. 

 [Cloth, 362 pp., with 54 illustrations.] 



In this bright description of one of the less known highways 

 of travel, Mr. Post has accomplished the main object of the re- 

 turned voyager. He has, by means of his vivid descriptions of 

 ocean, mountain, jungle and river, carried the reader with him 

 from Panama to Manaos. He reached Callao by steamer, and 

 thence proceeded by a short railway journey of a quarter of an 

 hour to Lima, described as a "Delightful City of Contrasts," in 

 which highly civilized pleasures are found alongside of aimless 

 poverty. Resuming his steamer voyage at Callao, Mr. Post 

 reached Quilca, where he struck the trail leading to San Jose, 

 continuing his journey by train to Arequipa and Lake Titicaca, 

 finally arriving at Guaqui, where there is a connection with the 

 railway for La Paz, 



From the capital of Bolivia, his journey was continued by pack 

 train and saddle, raft and canoe. The third and last of the 

 Andean series was to be crossed, being also the highest and 

 most difficult of the range. 



Mr. Post's narrative of how he reached the confluence of the 

 Madeira and the Amazon, thence breasting the current to 

 Manaos. is graphic and picturesque, dealing with every notable 

 incident which marked his journey, lasting over three and a 

 halt months from La Paz to its termination. 



Rubber forms the subject of frequent reference, particularly 

 the discomforts and disadvantages to which the rubber-pickers 

 are subjected. The facts quoted illustrate and confirm the vari- 

 ous statements which have been officially made as to the absolute 

 dependence of rubber pickers upon the estate owners for even 

 the barest necessaries of life. 



PROTECTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. DR. L. H. BAEKE- 

 land. 1913. [Paper, 16 pages.] 



Readers of The Indi.\ Rubber World will recall the excerpts 

 pubbshed in the .\pril, 1912, issue (page 361 ) from Dr. Baeke- 

 land's paper on the above subject, read at the Detroit meeting of 

 the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. The recent issue 

 of the paper in pamphlet form affords an opportunity of reading 

 Dr. Baekeland's work in its entirety. 



The excerpts in question included those portions dealing with 

 "Intellectual Property Rights," "Fundamental American Patent 

 Law," "Incompleteness of New Rules of Supreme Court," "Ger- 

 man Practice of Settling Patent Suits," "Deficiencies of Pro- 

 posed Oldfield Bill," and other points of importance. 



In the more complete form as now issued, the paper refers to 

 the fact that the average man has a one-sided conception of 

 patents or inventions, and of the trouble and expense incidental 

 to the protection of even apparently simple devices. The far- 

 reaching effects of chemical inventions is a point which even 

 the better prepared legislators find it difficult to understand; 

 though such inventions have brought about the most far-reach- 

 mg development. An instance is aflforded by the perfecting of 



the automobile and all that it implies, from Goodyear's process 

 of vulcanizing rubber. Another example is the diflfusion of 

 knowledge rendered possible by printing on cellulose paper. 



W ith reference to the cost of living. Dr. Baekeland points out 

 that the industries where invention and patents play the smallest 

 role are also those where the increase of prices is most burden- 

 some ; while those commodities where patented inventions have 

 had the fullest influence have, on the contrary, decreased in 

 price, sometimes to an astonishing degree. The latter inven- 

 tions include those of a chemical nature, where cheap soda means 

 cheap soap, paper and glass, while cheap sulphuric acid leads 

 to cheap fertilizers and cheap bread-stuffs. The present price of 

 clothing is high, but would be slill higher only for the patented 

 machinery used in textile manufacture. 



.\n interesting section of the pamphlet deals with the organ- 

 ization of the large German chemical companies, which employ 

 hundreds of chemists and engineers exclusively upon research 

 work. Other sections of interest treat of "The Gap Between 

 Invention and Commercial Success," and "The Educational Ef- 

 fect of Inventions." 



In the final section, "What should be done," Dr. Baekeland 

 points out two ways open to our legislators; one of them "hitting 

 the trusts" by mutilating the best there is in our patent sys- 

 tem, while the other is not to put dangerous restrictions on the 

 patent rights defined by the constitution. There is, however, he 

 adds, an urgent need of reform by simplifying procedure at th( 

 Patent Office, as well as in the courts. 



Dr. Baekeland, moreover, remarks that the history of almost 

 every invention is an epic in itself, the details of which are 

 known only by the few pioneers, who gave their brains, money, 

 talent and even lives, to its development. 



UEBER KAUTSCHUK UND GUTTA PERCHA HARZE (RUBBER 

 and Gutta Percha Resins). By Dr. Gustav Hillen. Berne, 1912. 

 M. Drechsel. [Paper, 96 pages.] 



Of the various branches of rubber science, none has been 

 more largely the subject of technical disquisition than that of 

 the resinous components of the substance. In Dr. Hillen's 

 work are condensed extracts of what the principal authorities 

 on the subject have written, his references embracing the works 

 of Terry, Weber, Henriques, Harries, Tschirch and others. 



In bis treatment of the matter Dr. Hillen has dealt with it 

 in two sections — Rubber Resins and Gutta Percha Resins — 

 regarding both of which branches he has supplemented his 

 references to other authors by original chemical and scientific 

 observations. His general conclusion shows, that, of the two, 

 gutta percha resins are more uniform in their nature, w-hile 

 rubber resins, which have been in the past less the subject of 

 investigation, show quite a different composition, largely con- 

 sisting of greasy masses, difficult of separation, from which in 

 many cases only substances hard to crystallize are to be obtained. 

 Dr. Hillen adds that the resins of the so-called "pseudo-rubbers" 

 such as Pontianak, Almeidine and others, form an inter- 

 mediate group between gutta percha and rubber resins. 



.\ number of tables illustrate the analytical results obtained 

 by Dr. Hillen in the course of his researches. 



His work, though only of 96 pages, has the advantage of 

 concentrating much that has been written on the matter, thus 

 forming a key to the results obtained by previous scientists. 

 He prepared this dissertation in connection with his examination 

 for the Doctor's degree at the University of Berne, where 

 he had the benefit of the guidance of Professor Tschirch, a 

 specialist on the subject. Dr. Hillen's work will be appreciated 

 by rubber chemists generally, as a distinct addition to existing 

 literature concerning rubber resins. 



