f Rivalry m J
SijntMic fatter
S tlio world on tlio ovo
of another commercial
revolution duo to an
accidental chemical
discovery: Ib syntho
tic rubber going to
tako Hb place upon
equal terms of com
petition with tho Julco
of tho trees and plants which so long
have supplied tho rubber commerce?
Just at tho present time English
nnd German chemists are disputing
over their claims to precedence In
finding a way to crcnto from certain
raw materials a chomlcnl counterpart
of nntural rubber. Tho world at largo,
Is not directly concerned in tho deter
mination of this question of priority,
but It has a very deep Interest In tho
commercial practicability of theso dis
coveries. Two years ngo Dr. P. E. Matthews
of England, then associated with
other distinguished chomists, among
thorn Prof. V. II Perkln, Sir William
llamBay and Prof. Pornbach, was Book
ing to perfect a cheap process for tho
manufacture of synthetic rubber and
ly chance left some isopreno and
metallic sodium in contact for n
iperlod of nbout two months, going oft
In tho meanwhile for his Bummer out
ing. Upon his return Dr. Matthews
wan n mazed to find that tho isoprona
bad In tho Interval been convertod
Into Holid rubber, Tho long sought
key to tho riddle was thus uncovored
by an accident.
iBoprcno s an. oily, volatllo hydro
carbon, it wub obtained by distilla
tion from caoutchouc fifty yeara ago
by Williams, and tho nnalyslB of Iso
preno showed that It was chemically
Identical with tho oil of turpentine.
The problem slnco that day has been
twofold; first, to derive Isoprono from
Abundant raw materials, and then to
effect Its conversion Into rubber
through the medium of plentiful nnd
cheap reagents. In ordor to compoto
illli nature's product It was neces
tiary that artificial rubbor Bhould bo
xnadn In large quantities and nt a
cost which would put It on a par at
least with tho expense of gathering
trol nnd that tho synthetic rubber fac
tory would bo located whoro It could
reach easily Its raw materials and Its
market for tho finished output
Climatic and geographical conditions
havo proscribed tho zones In which
tho rubber plant can be successfully
grown, oven though Its cultivation bo
subject to scientific methods and aro
freo from tho haphazard ways of tho
rubber huntor.
In England tho present discoveries
nro hailed by Sir William Ramsay
and his follows not so much as n prom
lso of commercial advantage but as
a professional achievement which
puts tho British chemist ahead of his
rivals across tho Cuannel. That tho
Germans have good reason to bo satis
lied with their own accomplishments
In this very flold is undoubtedly true.
Tho Germans claim that they havo
now a method for making rubbor
synthetically which will soon bo ready
to compete with tho output of tho
tropical forests.
Back in tho '80's Tllden, an English
man, gave long Btudy to tho problem
of mnking synthetic rubber, but aban
doned his work Anally becauso ho did
not beliovo tho attainment practicable.
Tho individual was poworloss to copo
with so gigantic a problem and his
resources woro unequal to tho task.
Capital was necessary as well as tho
united cffortB of many men. In fact
In ono factory alono In Oormany there
woro .100 college brodchetmstsconcen
trntlng upon tho technical researches
litres of it. This showed us that wo
had tho right formulao, tho scientific
execution of which was no longer
questionable. Dut with tho making
of isopreno our troubles wero not
onded; on tho contrary, they woro but
beginning.
" We wero confronted with the pro
blem of converting this liquid into
that tough, elastic, plastic colloid
which waB to bo a successful substi
tute for rubber, In truth Its very
counterpart. Theoretically tho task
was easy, becauso, as Bellsteln Bays,
Isopreno Is converted into caoutchouc
by treating it with muriatic acid. Of
course, wo tried that at once, but for
our pains wo got nothing but oily
chlorldos not a trace of rubber. Wo
woro apparently dolled.
" Wo tried all sorts of likely and
Imaginable physical and chemical
mediums in connection with isopreno,
but tho wilful stuff refused to thicken.
Finally I discovered tho power to per
form this miracle hidden away in
heat. Thoro was nothing new In
heating isopreno, but tho result we
obtained thereby was new. Other
authorities had tried heat, but all they
got was either nn oily or at best a
resinous substance.
" Polymerlsm In chemistry Is that
proporty peculiar to aomo compounds
by which they dlffor in their mole
cular weights and also In their chemi
cal properties ovon when formed from
tho same elements and combined In
tho samo proportions. In other
iKHDRfiar.
mmm &;
&r' m i , 'j
Thousands upon thousands of ex
periments havo thus been brought to
a crystallized knowledge which mnkes
It posslblo and practicable to embark
upon tho manufacturo of rubber syn
thetically from available cheap mate
rials. Tho plantations in tho far
east havo been developing ovor a
period of fully thirty-llvo years, and
in a seiiEo they havo the start of the
artificial product In a quantitative
estimate, but this advantage) will not
continue it tho chemist manufacturer
can make rubber synthetically as
cheaply as Dr. Hofmann predicts.
In 1910 and 1911 tho world produc
tion of India rubber reached a total
of about 80,000 tons nnd tho world
consumption of caoutchouc was In tho
neighborhood of 75,000 tons. Figur
ing tho cost of this rubbor at an aver
ago of $1 a pound tho total valuo of
tho production reaches $100,000,000.
Synthetic rubber, it is belloved,
would mako it poBBlble to widen tho
field of application of rubber. Make
shifts and substitutes of ono sort or
another aro now used In many direc
tions, becauBo natural rubber is too
expensive Thoroforo, tho public Is
interested in to artificial product
first because It will add stability to
tho prico of tho rubber from troea, and
next It will mako It posslblo to apply
It in many ways now prohibited by
price and tho relatively limited out
put of plantations and tho wild
growth.
Whether tho basic iBoprcno bo made
from a Btarchy substance after tho
EngllBh process or from a product of
coal, us Dr. Hoffmann has chosen,
there will bo lmmenso quantities of
by-pro'ducta which will bo a part of
the Bystoma omployed In making lao
pror.f and in converting it Into coun
terpart caoutchouc in either case. It
would bo financially prohibitive to
neglect thoso by-products in concen
trating upon tho manufacturo of arti
ficial rubbor.
Dr. Hoffmann sayB that If 25 per
cent of artlllclal rubber could bo pro
duced from every pound of basic mate
rial, thon a factory turning out half
a million pounds a day would require
2,000,000 pounds of tho mother sub
otauco, throo-quarters of which would
accumulate every twenty-four hours in
the form of by-products. This gives
an idea of what tho chemist-manufacturer
has before him, even though the
secret of aynthotlc rubber has been
solved. With characteristic thorough
ness, tho Germans aro working away
at this end of the question.
So far as Is known tho German
synthetic rubber has met all tho ex
acting testB and analyses of other
German chomists. On tho other hand.
It is said that tho English artificial
rubber 1b not chomlcally identical In
Its atomic makoup with natural caout
chouc, nnd tho critics declare that this
artlllclal Bubstituto will not meet all
of tho requirements. It seems that
the artificial rubbor contains ono
atom of carbon less than naturo's
caoutchouc, and whether or not this
WSWBSPY
CHAIRMAN OF THE EUGENICS CONFERENCE
-
JK
M$K-f
MkX-trii , 4". .
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Darwin's theory of evolution, thej
survival of tlio fittest nnd 'the inilu-,
enco of environment In the . develop
inent of organic llfo, has provoked
much controversy, and has sometimes;
been allowed to remain In the dim do
main of speculation llko tho atomic
theory of Epicurus or tho Platonic Bys-j
tem of Ideas. It has at last been
recognized as something prnctlcal in.
tho social life of the human race. The
most sober-minded of physicians,
economists, and philanthropists .havo,
acknowledged that tho Improvement
of tho race, tho promotion of Its hap
piness, and the prevention of many
moral errors depend very largely upon
a recognition of such laws as that of
heredity. The pnronts of the cdming
generation aro to bo looked to for tho
furthering of tho race's happiness in
the future. It Is upon this basis that
a new science, Eugenics, has been
inaugurated and has claimed tho at
tentlon of tho world.
The First International Eugenics conference, recently held In London, was
'attended by men nnd women delegates from America, Franco, Germany, Nor
way, Italy, Spain, Greece, and Japan. It Is interesting to note that the presi
dent of tho society was tho son of tho very Charles Darwin who originated
jthe theory of evolution on which its principles aro based.
"It Is essential to bear in mind," points our Major Darwin, "tho truth
(that If tho human rnco is to continue to progress, indeed, If It is not to loso
some of the ground so painfully won In the long ages of struggle In tho past,
;somo other agency, checking the reproduction of tho feeble In body and mind,
must be mado to tako the place of natural selection, tho action of which
we aro how in so many ways rightly endeavoring to prevent."
J
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V-k
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FETE OF THE "400" AT PUBLIC BEACH
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' lmm ' ' '- in- i , .i in, iatummmn
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i mMms jFWmS2MimmMM ,
fyiV&MIMrzFfjpf ijwvlwf w' rr frf lift i i Mfflttii! Vi
BJ(!' r. . iAJjflK2Z3wW&t-' 3 FKWk. ....,.-.
Whirling about merry-go-rounds and
thrusting at coveted brass ring prizes,
bowling over "Aunt Sally" or shoot
ing at bobbing balls In the rifle range,
more than 300 members of the sum
!mer colony enjoyed several hours of
amusement the other evening no
guestB of Mrs. Oliver H. P. Belmont
at Nowport's public beach. After 10
,o'clock tho public was excluded from
'Newport's miniature Coney Island.
From that hour until they became
tired, Mrs. Belmont's guests had full
possession and enjoyed a night as in
formal as it was novel.
Mrs. Belmont's reasons for giving a
free evening at Easton's beach wero
Uireefold, aside from her desiro to pay
social obligations. Those reasons wero
'a protest against extravagant enter
'tainlng, an Intention to turn over to
a public institution money expended in
.a social diversion and an argument
against tho hiring of men waiters.
"In tho first place I am in favor of
tho truly democratic idea in entertaining," said Mrs. Belmont "I see no
reason in tho tremendous expenditure of money so common this summer In
giving society an evening's diversion."
xfcao-. e '
PROFESSOR MAXWELL'S NEW EXPERIMENT
nature's rubber and delivering it at
flit factories.
Fermentation is nn action sot up by
parlous kinds of gonna, and Prof
S'ernbach found tho germ that would
convert certain plontlful starchy mate
rials Into fuBel oil, and from thlB fusel
oil ho obtained cheap Isoprouo. It
M'as this isopreno which Dr. MatthowB
learned by accident how to turn Into
rubber by means of Bodlum. Sir
William 'itnmsay and hlu associates
bejlovo that rubbor can bo made In
thiH wny at at cost of about 21 cents
o pound. From 25 to 28 conta a
pound Is what It coatB now to collect
rubborjn tho far east and amid tho
forests of tho Amazon. Tho heaviest
nfter expense Ib involved In trans,
fiorting tho raw material to manufac
turing centers, and alao in purifying
this rubbor bo that It shall bo tit to
i;o into tho finished products.
Tho rubber hunter mlxoa tho Julco
or latex otlmany trees, and tho raw
etuff Is Boldom uniform and la fre
quently filled with foreign substances,
end even pebbles, tho latter hidden
away In tho gum to Increase the
Hveight. Tho coat of getting rid or
theso things is heavy, and this fact
jnust ho homo In" mlud In giving prop
t value to any process for tho Byn
Ihotlu making of rubber. It is natural
to; Buppobo that a chemical produc
fion would bo subject to perfoct con
involved in that slnglo establishment.
Many factories In tho fatherland had
Joined In thla International effort to
find an artificial process by which
rubber could bo built up syntheti
cally from raw materials readily
available, but to tho Elborfolder Far
bonfnbrlkon bolongs tho distinction of
priority In tho solution of the problem,
Dr. Fritz Hofman, director In charge
at Elborfold, gives his own story of
tho pursuit of tho olualvo koy.
" By moro chanco my attention waB
called to this question of synthetic
rubbor through a lecture delivered In
Loudon about Blx years ago by Prof.
Dunatan. As a pharmaceutic chemist
In a dyo factory my work did not take
mo In tho direction of rubbor, but tho
problem fascinated mo.
"I found on roadlng up tho subject
that caoutchouc wnB based on lao
prcno, and I trlod to provo It. To do
that 1 had to havo laoprono, and, what
was moro, I had to havo Bynthotlc lso
prono and not tho kind obtalnod by a
dry distillation of rubbor such ns had
hllhorto generally boon used. I had
a task boforo mo.
" To tho organic chemist coal Is an
Ideal mothor nubatanco, and I chose
It as my basic material. In this wo
woro justified, and in March of 1909
Carl Coutello and I succeeded in ob
taining the ilrst largo quantity of
puro synthotlo isopreno several
wordB, tho structural atoms aro differ
ently arranged, nnd tho body or sub
stance thus differs from nnother of
tho same chemical get up but with
Us tiny unite otherwise distributed,
"Wo soon recognized that the poly
merizing powar of heat could bo
furthered by numoroua chemical ad
mixtures, but we soon found thnt
there aro many more Bubstnnces that
work In opposition to this end. In
August of 1909 1 obtained tho first
rubber polymorlzod by heat in tho
laboratory of tho Elberfeld works, In
September of that year I submitted
a sample of thla material to Dr.
Gorlach. Ho was tho first to conllrm
that our product actually contained
caoutchouc. A month later Harries
tested our synthetic matorlal with
his ozono method, and by this means
was ablo to establish that our heat
polymerized isopreno was verltnblo
India rubbor."
Dr. Hofmann frankly admits that
should tho extenslvo rubbor planta
tions cultivated under English direc
tion In tho Malay Archipelago moot
expectations synthotlo rubber will not
bo bo necessary in nupplylng at a
moro reasonable rate tho present
market. Howover, ho says thnt tho
synthoalst has so adjusted conditions
that he can comp,cto with his ware In
prico and quality with tho natural
I product.
dlffcrencd will prftvo vital elthor at
onco or later in tho omploymcnt of
tho synthetic substance has yet to bo
established.
Summer School.
Particularly significant la th
growth of summer schools In the
CarolinaB, whero tho movement start
ed comparatively lato. At tho Uni
versity of North Carolina thoro was
an attendance of 450 this year, Just
doublo last yoar's onrollmont. At the
normal school at Groensboro, North
Carolina, a Bosslon of eight weeks was
hold, tho first In the hUttory of tho
institution, and 200 enthusiastic teach
ers woro in attendance. At the sum
mer session of tho Wlnthrop Normal
Collogo, Rock Hill, South Carolina,
particular attention waa paid to prob
lems of industrial education nnd rural
schools, and men of national promi
nence participated In tho work.
Now York will try an experiment
this fall which, If successful, will
completely overturn all methods hlth-i
erto applied In Its schools and lntio
duce a new era In education.
It Is so sensational that, at first
sight, It seems like the Impossibloi
dream of a mad Inventor. Yet it has
the thorough approval of men who
are by no means Identified with any-i
thing sensational and unpractical,,
among them Superintendent of Schools'
William H. Maxwell and Dr. LouIb,
Blan of Columbia university, while thrf
inventor of tho scheme, Nikola Tcsln.
can point for corrpboration of whati
ho claims, to tho extremely successful
results already obtained by means of,
his invention in tho schools of Stock
holm, capital of Sweden.
Fifty mentally defective school
children will be tho first subjects of
the experiment. They will enter and,
scat themselves in what will look,, to
au intents nnd purposes, llko an or
dinary schoolroom. But It will bo far from that. Through tho walla invisible
electrical currents will run, by means of which, II) Is declared, the brains
of tho childern will recelvo artificial stimulation to such nn extent that they
will bo transformed from dunces Into star pupils. '
City Superintendent of Schools William II. Maxwell said, in confirming
the report that tho experiments aro to be made:
"I am convinced thnt tho high-frequency current haB no deleterious ef.
'feet; thut, on the contrary, It Is possltlvely beneficial, and that the experi
mental tests should bo and li all probablliy will bo carried ou in tho Fall."
J. G. SCHURMAN NEW ENVOY TO GREECE
Growth Attached to It.
"You've been Bleeping In tho tele
phone booth, I believe," Bald tha
manager of tho summer hotel.
"Yea."
"I can give you n billiard table now,
If you llko."
"No; I'll atlck to tho booth., I rath
er llko the room. It Isn't largo, but
It's" coay." U
President Taft sent to tho senate
during tho closing days of congress
.the nomination of Jacob Gould Schur
mnn, president of Cornell university,
to be minister to Greece. This nomi
nation created soino surprise, slnco
there has been no announcement that
George H. Moses, tho present minis
ter to Greece, was to leavo that post.
It was stated that Mr. Moses volun
nrlly tendered his resignation for pri
vate business roasons some time ngo,
and that It has been accepted. Ho ex
pects to leave this post within a short
time. Intimations that Mr. Moses was
being recalled woro without confirma
tion at elthor tho Whlto House or
Btato department or from members of
tho Now Hampshire delegation.
Dr. Schunnan, who has long been a
cIobo friend of Presldont Taft, hns ar
ranged to tako u year's leavo from his
duties as president of CornSll. In ac
cordance with custom, Mr. Schurman,
like all other ministers and ambassa
dor, will bo expected to formally tender his resignation on March 4 npxt
whether President Taft is re-elected or not. Dr. Schurman has been president
of Cornell slnco 1892, and was born on Prlnco Edward island fifty-eight yeain
ngo. Ho has a degreo of A. B. and A. M. from the University of London, and
la a LL 3. of Columbia, Ynle, Edlnbuigh, Williams, Dartmouth, and Harvard,