March 8, 1918] 



SCIENCE 



227 



tlie chemicals have been distributed in lots of 

 a few grams to a few ounces, in some cases in 

 amounts of a few pounds, it is easy to realize 

 the labor involved in this work. Although the 

 above figures in dollars may seem insignificant 

 compared with those of an ordinary commer- 

 cial concern they seem large for this type of 

 manufacturing when one is reminded that very 

 little apparatus, a few copi)er cans and two or 

 three large stoneware jars, was purchased out- 

 side of the equipment abeady available; that 

 the amount of each chemical manufactured at 

 one time was generally one to two pounds, 

 sometimes less, and never over five pounds; 

 and that the work is being done by compara- 

 tively inexperienced men. 



Many different types of chemicals have 

 been synthesized. Of those badly needed in 

 analytical work may be mentioned dimethyl 

 glyoxime, nitroso beta naphthol, cupferron, 

 nitron, ninhydrin. Dimethyl glyoxime, before 

 it was ready for sale by the University of 

 Illinois, was entirely off the market. This re- 

 agent is most valuable for the quantitative 

 determination of nickel and without it nickel 

 steel manufacturers and analytical laboratories 

 had to use less satisfactory methods in their 

 nickel analyses. Although only extremely 

 small amounts of this substance are needed 

 for a determination, over 60 pounds were sold 

 within the first month. Nitroso beta naphthol 

 is a reagent for the quantitative separation of 

 cobalt and nickel, nitron for the quantitative 

 determination of nitric acid and nitrates, cup- 

 ferron for the quantitative separation of cop- 

 per and iron, and ninhydrin is used as a 

 delicate testing reagent for alpha amino acids. 

 The demand for these has been comparatively 

 small but, nevertheless, urgent. Other chem- 

 icals widely used in synthetic organic chem- 

 istry have been made, such as malonic ester, 

 acctoacetic ester, ortho and para nitro benzoic 

 acids, dimethylamine hydrochloride, allyl al- 

 cohol and acetonitrile. In one or two in- 

 stances, chemicals as amyl alcohol and amyl 

 acetate of a very high degree of purity have 

 boon prepared for certain biological labora- 

 tories, or again, as ethyl benzene, for certain 

 physico-chemical work. Various rarer chem- 



icals to be studied for their insecticidal action 

 as furfural and chloropicrin, others for their 

 various physiological properties as tetranitro- 

 methane or mercury dimethyl have been syn- 

 thesized and finally many uncommon chem- 

 icals needed purely for scientific research. 

 Especial attention has been given to the purity 

 of all the chemicals sold. They have been 

 carefully tested and in many cases have been 

 compared with samples of Kahlbaum's prod- 

 ucts which had been obtained before the war. 

 \Mierever this was done, it was found that 

 those manufactured at Illinois were certainly 

 as good and in many eases much better than 

 the imported materials. 



In general, the chemicals have been sold at 

 a price which would cover labor, raw materials, 

 and a general overhead charge and when sold 

 to commercial concerns, a slight profit was 

 added. Whenever chemicals were made which 

 in ordinary times had been manufactured on 

 a large scale, for the most part in Germany, 

 it was generally impossible to make them at 

 a price approaching that which existed before 

 the war. If, however, the chemicals were those 

 which had never been manufactured on a large 

 scale, it was found that even though the raw 

 materials were much more expensive than pre- 

 vious to 1914, in practically every case the 

 cost was either below, or never much above the 

 1914 Kahlbaum price. If only a few grams 

 of a substance were made, it was natural 

 that the charge had to be high if expenses 

 were to be covered. Thus whenever it seemed 

 probable that there might be a future demand 

 for these substances, a larger amount was syn- 

 thesized and kept in stock, thus lowering the 

 price and possibly being of aid to other lab- 

 oratories at a later time. 



Recently a committee has been appointed 

 by the President of the American Chemical 

 Society consisting of five organic chemists, 

 one from each of five of the leading institu- 

 tions in the country, Johns Hopkins, Chicago, 

 Michigan, Columbia and Illinois. The pur- 

 pose of this committee is to arrange for co- 

 operation in this work among the scientific 

 schools, hoping thus to cover much more 

 ground than one imiversity possibly could. 



