Am.  Tour.  Pharm.  j  . 
May,  1919.  ' 
Modem  Paint  Vehicles. 
287 
We  shall  learn  how  one  scientist  devoted  his  energies  to  the  pro- 
duction of  metal  Dewar  flasks  for  providing  liquid  oxygen  to 
aviators ;  how  another  one  spent  days  in  finding  the  best  way  to  dis- 
perse toxic  solids  or  liquids,  producing  a  fine  powder  or  mist  to 
penetrate  masks :,  how  many  others  worked  unceasingly  to  synthesize 
new  types  of  toxic  compounds  of  arsenic  or  selenium  or  tellurium, 
whereupon  colleagues  tested  their  pharmacologic  potency;  how  face 
masks  with  nondimming  eyepieces  were  made  comfortable  for  work- 
ing and  sleeping  hours ;  how  helium  was  extracted  from  natural  gas 
to  replace  hydrogen  in  balloons.  Xow  that  the  war  is  over  we  can 
pause  to  consider  innumerable  scientific  advantages  of  the  ceaseless 
labor  and  investigation  of  the  past  months.  The  thought  that  went 
into  the  war  work,  says  a  reviewer  of  its  details,  cannot  be  destroyed. 
The  industries  have  gained  much  through  the  personal  sacrifices 
of  American  chemists ;  likewise  has  medicine.  The  charcoal,  the 
gas  mask,  the  many  potent  new  compounds,  the  liquid  oxygen,  the 
protective  clothing,  the  dispersoids — these  and  dozens  of  other  dis- 
coveries will  surely  find  an  application,  somehow,  somewhere, 
some  day. 
MODERN  PAINT  VEHICLES.1 
By  James  E.  Heckel, 
CHIEF  CHEMIST.  JOHN  LUCAS  &  CO.,  IXC. 
During  the  four  years  just  past,  the  German  lust  for  world 
dominion,  now  happily  rendered  impotent,  at  least  for  a  century  01 
two,  succeeded  in  disturbing  greatly  many  of  the  normal  customs, 
channels  of  supply  and  sources  of  information,  of  the  sane  portion 
of  the  world's  population. 
Gradually,  as  the  need  for  tonnage  to  supply  our  forces  and  carry 
them  "over  there''  increased,  the  pressure  on  us  at  home  increased. 
We  were  forced  by  a  long  and  complex  chain  of  circumstances  to 
meet  a  shortage  of  all  sorts  of  materials  which  everyday  habit  had 
taught  us  to  regard  as  essential  and  in  the  same  class  with  air  and 
water.    Many  familiar  substances  enlisted  or  were  drafted,  and  right 
1  A  paper  read  before  the  annual  convention  of  the  Pennsylvania  Master 
House  Painters'  and  Decorators'  Association.  Reprinted  from  Drugs,  Oils 
and  Paints,  February,  1919. 
