certain modifications, is capable of cutting ordinary steel at a very high rate of speed. A test was made against high-speed steel, and it was found that the stellite tool would cut a continuous shaving from the bar at the speed of 200 feet a minute, while the high-speed alloy steel tools failed almost instantly.

RADIUM. Much interest has been manifested in the exploitation of this rare element during the year. The institute founded in Vienna, Austria, was formally opened in November when its director, Prof. Franz Exner, announced that it would be entirely devoted to research into the physical and chemical properties of radium. The problems that will be studied first are the establishment of a standard for the content of radium in radioactive substances, an exact determination of the atomic weight of radium, and the examination of mineral waters and rocks believed to contain radium.

The Austrian government has established a sanatorium with hotel and bathing accommodations in Joachimsthal, Bohemia, where the water of the river Tepi is believed to be strongly impregnated with radium. These waters have been reported as affording relief in cases of rheumatism, uric acid poisoning, nervousness, neuralgia, and old exudations of various kinds.

In England the British Radium Institute, founded in 1909 for the purpose of loaning that precious element to scientists and physicians, had made for it a safe for the storage and protection of radium. This was constructed of lead, which is said to be the only element capable of withstanding the great penetrating power of the radium emanations, and in order to prevent the escape of these emanations when the door is opened, two valves have been fixed in it through which tubes of mercury will be passed to collect and retain any escaping emanations. The cost of radium according to Sir William Ramsey is now $2,100,000 an ounce, which is considerably less than the amount ($3,000,000) reported last January. This reduction in price is attributed to the discovery of larger deposits of pitchblende containing radium in Cornwall, England, and the establishment of a factory in Limehouse, London, where by an improved process commercial radium is obtained in two months as compared with a year required by the methods used in Joachimsthal. It is claimed that before long England will be the chief producer of radium. It is estimated that the total stock of radium now in the world is about four ounces.

The usual commercial product known as radium is in reality one of its salts, usually the bromide. By following the process used in 1807 by Sir Humphrey Davy for the reduction of the alkaline elements, Madame Curie and E. Debierne announced in September, 1910, that they had isolated pure radium. They prepared an amalgam of mercury by the electrolysis of a radium salt. This amalgam was placed in a quartz tube and distilled by hydrogen under pressure and high temperature. The mercury was then found to have left a thin coating of a brilliant white metal which proved to be radium. The metal acts with great energy; it decomposes water, oxidizes rapidly in air, is attracted by iron as though by some magnetic property, and burns paper when placed in contact with it. Announcement was made earlier in the year of the isolation of polonium by Madame Curie, who found that it had a radioactivity superior

to radium, although radium conserves its energy for an indefinite period while that of polonium disappears rapidly.

SYNTHETIC SAPPHIRES. In 1910 announcement was made of the discovery of synthetic sapphires. Synthetic rubies, that is crystallized aluminum oxide colored red, were first announced in 1893 but other colors seemed to resist all efforts for their production. A. Verneuil has successfully overcome the difficulty and it is said that the new sapphires surpass the synthetic rubies in excellence. To ordinary tests no difference is apparent between the natural sapphire and the synthetic variety, only to the expert with a microscope are minute differences detectible.

A desposit of peridots has recently been discovered in Alexandria, Egypt. These stones, which are amber in color, for many years have been found in large quantities in Upper Egypt, but never before in this section of the country. The finder has uncovered several thousand of them at a depth not greater than ten feet. It is believed that the peridots were buried in the foundations of houses of the ancient Egyptians and in tombs as an omen of luck. The stones now found are estimated to have been buried for over 1500 years.

An

PAPER AND FIBRE. The search for materials from which paper can be made continues. appropration of $30,000 was given by Congress to the Secretary of Agriculture for the purpose of testing such plants and woods as may require tests, to ascertain if they will be suitable for making paper. A project has been started for the manufacture of paper from Australian timber. The blue-gum wood from that country has been tested in the paper mills of Great Britain, and the result was a product said to be equal to paper made from the African esparto grass. The intention is to make better-class paper, and for this the blue gum is particularly suitable. A factory will be erected in Tasmania, and as there is an enormous supply of blue gum all through Australia there is every prospect for the successful outcome of the proposition.

The fibre of the sea plant has been identified as Posidonia australia. Later reports show that this fibre, cleaned and dried, posseses many valuable properties. It is not inflammable, except at a very high temperature, and for this reason has a distinct advantage over flock, kapok, oakum, etc. For bedding and upholstering purposes it has been found to have the lightness and softness of flock, while its purity and the utter absence of animal life give it great sanitary value. A mixture of this fibre with wool appears to weave into an excellent cloth, which may be dyed various colors. Other purposes for which the fibre seems adaptable are rope, string, twine, mats, linoleum, army blankets, paper; for packing fruit, eggs, etc., for export, calking decks and woodwork of ships, stuffing saddles, insulating doors to cool chambers, and packing around submarine cables.

ARTIFICIAL CAMPHOR. Synthetic camphor, which is one of the recent triumphs of chemistry, has had a curious experience. During the Russo-Japanese War, when the exporting of Japanese products became difficult, the price of camphor increased so that the artificial product could be manufactured profitably, and at the close of the war the Japanese hastened to take advantage of the high price and in many cases exhausted their plantations. Consequently the price fell, and at present synthetic camphor can

CHEMISTRY

not compete against natural camphor; moreover as the principal demand for camphor was for the manufacture of celluloid, and as other products, especially those that are not explosive, are taking its place, the future of camphor, either natural or synthetic, is dubious. Artificial camphor is made from essential oils derived from turpentine. Chemically the only difference between turpentine and camphor is the possession by each molecule of the latter of one atom of oxygen which is lacking in the former. By chemical processes the needed oxygen is supplied. Three-fourths of the entire supply of camphor is used in the arts, chiefly in the celluloid industry, and one-fourth in medicine.

ARTIFICIAL RUBBER. The shortage in the world's supply and the steadily growing consumption of rubber, especially in construction of automobiles and air ships, has created so great a demand for it that prices have materially increased. To meet this demand inventors have striven to obtain a satisfactory substitute. The problem has been attacked from three points of views, as follows: actual substitutes, containing no rubber; composite rubber, in which some natural rubber is worked up with other substances; and true synthetic rubber. In the first of these the most successful results have been obtained thus far, and they consist for the most part of some oxidized, sulphured, or nitrated oil worked up with other ingredients into a solid with some elastic properties. Other substitutes are mixtures, such as bakelite (see YEAR BOOK, 1909, p153), a condensation product of formaldehyde and phenol, and they are many. The composite rubbers are compounds of rubber and such ingredients as tend to make them acceptable for some special purpose. A true synthetical rubber is the result which has attracted the attention of many chemists in recent years. It had been found that some distillation products of caoutchouc changed into rubber when treated with hydrochloric acid, consequently the study of products of the destructive distillation of rubber and similar substances has been followed. In 1882 Sir William Tilden found that isoprene could be obtained from terpemes (from oil of turpentine), and this isoprene in turn underwent a polymorzation into rubber. This proposition has been denied by some chemists, but in April the directors of the Farbenfabriken-Bayer Company of Elberfeld announced that their chemists had successfully synthetized India rubber though they were not ready to undertake its commercial production. This process is said to start with oil of turpentine, from which isoprene is obtained, and the product is then treated with acetic acid which transforms caoutchouc into a soluble compound. This successful synthesis is a splendid tribute to the persistence and ability of German chemists. MISCELLANEOUS. A process for the manufacture of alcohol from the waste of paper mills is reported from Sweden, where a company is now making ethyl alcohol from the residues of the sulphite. This will enable the refuse of paper mills to be utilized and the sulphite waste, heretofore thrown away and which polluted streams, can be turned into a valuable by-product.

CHEMISTRY

a mixture of carbon dioxide there is secured a sediment saturated with potassium carbonate which by precipitation absorbs other organic compounds of the liquid in connection with phosphoric acid. The deposit or lime mixture is separated by filtering.

PERMUTIT FILTERING. A process for rendering hard water completely soft and of preventing boiler incrustations that is effective and inexpensive has been put into practical use in Germany. It consists in a rapid filtering of the water through a composition named permutit," by which the calcium or lime, manganese, iron, and magnesium compounds, which render the water hard, as well as the microbes it may contain, are, it is claimed, wholly removed, a result hitherto unattainable outside of the laboratory of the chemist. When desired the compounding of the permutit may be such as to leave either the lime or magnesium in the water. It is also said that by permutit filtering gold can be obtained quantitatively from solutions as thin as sea water, containing 0.006 gram to the ton. Furthermore, the water filtered through permutit when used in boilers will leave no incrustations. Another important economy which is claimed for this system is the saving of fuel, the completely softened water requiring much less coal to convert it into steam than is required by hard water.

PRESERVING WOOD. A new method of preserv ing wood that has been invented and successfully employed in Australia, consists in boiling the wood and allowing it to cool and absorb a saccharine solution, after which it is dried, rendering the wood thoroughly seasoned within a few days after cutting, increasing its strength, and stopping all warping and shrinking. The sap in the wood is driven out and replaced by an antiseptic, owing to the saccharine solution boiling at a higher temperature than water, thus making the wood impervious to dry rot and to the attacks of white ants and other parasites which prey on ordinary lumber.

RESINITE. Resinite is a new substitute for celluloid that has been invented in Germany. It is produced in a variety of modifications by the union of formaldehyde and carbolic acid in connection with certain metallic salts. This special variety is used chiefly with porous materials, such as wood, paper, pasteboard, etc., and renders them hard and impermeable. Thus ordinary pine wood, when thoroughly impreg nated, becomes so hard that it rapidly dulls a planer. In another form it can be poured as a liquid into molds. After coagulation it is transparent, with ruby tint, infusible, and unaffected by ordinary chemical reagents. It is well adapted for making ornaments, such as hat-pin heads, imitation jewelry, and for most purposes where enamel or enamel varnish is employed. For doorplates, street numbers, signs, etc., it seems capable of rendering excellent service, being entirely unaffected by atmospheric action. A third modification is liquid, but upon the addition of a mineral acid, it quickly solidifies to an elastic, homogeneous substance, which can be easily cut, turned, polished, etc. In this form resinite can replace, for a multitude of purposes, horn, celluloid, vegetable ivory, and similar substances.

to such problems. Among the reasons for this indifference he pointed to the evils of denominationalism, concern with the next world instead of this, and devotion to foreign missions. ExGovernor Guild of Massachusetts made a strong plea for the enactment of the following amendments to the Massachusetts laws: shorter days for children of 14-16; abolition of night work for the same; health certificates for factory employes; prohibition of employment in dangerous trades; and regulation of certain street trades. Dr. Felix Adler, chairman of the National Committee, declared that the American people are inspired by "a delirium of work"; and that the fundamental reason for child labor is that the American people are exploiting themselves. Reports were presented on the progress in Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Massachusetts and other States. Very great stress was laid on the need and advantages of vocational training as a means both of increasing efficiency and of putting youth in contact with advantageous fields of employment. Special reports were presented on the employment of children in the canning industries of New York State and in the tobacco fields of Kentucky; and on the employment of the same children in the truck gardens of Maryland in summer and in the oyster fisheries of Florida in winter.

At a meeting in Washington, D. C., January 17-19, at the call of the National Civic Federation the representatives of many public bodies discussed uniform legislation in general and adopted a resolution calling for a high standard of uniform child labor laws. This resolution followed a summary of existing laws and an analysis of a proposed uniform law by Isaac Seligman of New York.

In New York City a general committee on child welfare was organized, including Miss Helen Gould, Dr. N. M. Butler, R. Fulton Cutting, Robert W. De Forest, V. Everett Macy, E. R. A. Seligman and many other leading citizens and philanthropists. It provided sub-committees on houses, health, Sunday schools, work and wages, laws and administration.

The Southern Conference on Women and Child Labor formed a permanent organization in Memphis, Tenn., on April 13. Governor Patterson, who had called the Conference, was elected president. Its object is to secure uniform legislation. The Southern Conference for the protection of working women and children adopted again resolutions which had been adopted at the Child Labor Conference at Nashville and New Orleans in preceding years. The States of Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee were represented; and eight cotton manufacturers were present. Vigorous exception was taken to the proposal of Dr. Stiles of the Rockefeller hookworm commission, that children of the poor whites be gathered into the mill towns in order to facilitate their treatment for hookworm. The Conference held this policy to be hostile to child labor welfare and urged a campaign for better sanitation on farms and in rural schools.

LEGISLATION. By a law effective August 1, Massachusetts became the twelfth State requiring a certificate of physical fitness for children seeking employment. The law requires that children of ages fourteen to sixteen present a certificate from a specially appointed physician showing sound health and physical strength before the school authorities and others may grant

CHILD LABOR

age or school certificates. By another law the State Board of Health is empowered to determine whether any trade or process of manufacture is sufficiently injurious to the health of minors under eighteen years to warrant their exclusion therefrom. A fine of $200 is imposed upon any manufacturer refusing to follow the mandate of the Board. In the same State the Supreme Court had sustained the judgment of lower courts that acting was prohibited for children under fourteen years. Theatrical people and others at once began a movement to have a law passed exempting child actors from the provisions of the child labor laws. The widest possible agitation was stirred up by those favoring and those opposing; and a bill exempting child actors was defeated. After five years' agitation a law was passed in New Jersey restricting the night employment of children in factories which operate a double shift. The chief opposition came from the glass manufacturers. The law provides that after July 4, 1910, no child under fifteen years may work at night, and after July 4, 1911, no child under sixteen. New Jersey, Illinois, New York and Ohio have thus forbidden the employment of children at night in glass factories; campaigns to a similar end are now on in Pennsylvania, Indiana, and West Virginia. New York enacted a law forbidding the employment of any person under twentyone years of age as a night messenger, that is between 10 P. M. and 5 A. M. The employment of messengers was regulated also by Ohio, Maryland and Virginia. The Ohio law forbids such employment for persons under eighteen, between 9 P. M. and 6 A. M. Maryland forbids such employment during the day for persons under fourteen and at night for persons under sixteen, and forbids sending any minor to any house of ill repute. The Virginia law is similar to this last provision of the Maryland law. New York forbade the employment of children under sixteen in bowling alleys or as ushers, checkers, etc., in places of amusement, after 9 P. M. It also increased the list of dangerous trades; revised the adult delinquency law, which punishes parents for the delinquency of their children; and required that the names of immigrant children at Ellis Island be reported to the school authorities in the city of their destination. In Ohio the law regarding the granting of age and school certificates was revised so as to require more documentary proof; certificates are to be issued for a specific employment, and the employer is required to return this certificate to the school authorities within two days after the child leaves his service. Rhode Island repealed the law allowing mercantile establishments to employ children on Saturday evenings and on four evenings preceding Christmas, and passed a law requiring educational qualifications. Kentucky revised its law of school certification.

A law of Pennsylvania, effective January 1, made little change except in the manner of securing certificates. It provided that the issuance of certificates to children of ages 12 to 16 should be transferred from magistrates and notaries public to the public school authorities. The result was that hundreds, even thousands, of children previously employed in shops, mills, factories and mines were compelled to attend school.

CHILD LABOR COMMITTEE. See CHILD LABOR.