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Reformed Spelling at Ohio State.

The Ohio State University has lately announced several progressive plans to bring this great institution in closer touch with the citizens of the state. Its latest progressive step is the adoption. of reformed or phonetic spelling on a list of 176 words, here appended. This spelling will be adopted in all University publications.

With the exception of some few words the list does not include any chemical names and it is to be hoped the reform will not be further extended to chemical terms at least until the forthcoming U. S. P. IX is issued and those chemical societies interested in a reformed international nomenclature shall have had time to act. Some years ago the reformed spelling, really phonetic, was undertaken in chemistry but after a few years trial was dropped.

The spelling of some minor chemical terms in the Ohio State list has been accepted generally in the pharmaceutical press for some time, namely, liter, meter, niter, saltpeter, ether, anesthetic. The list is as follows:

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enamor

encyclopedia

eon

saber saltpeter savior

savor

scepter septet sepulcher

sextet

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skilful

esophagus

somber

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-:- Of General Interest

Exhibits of Chemical and Pharmacal Industries at the Panama-Pacific

International Exposition.

The exhibits from the chemical and pharmacal industries of the world will be shown in the splendid Palace of Liberal Arts at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915, and their extent promises to be as inclusive as their variety will be instructive and interesting.

The diversity of these displays is seen in the fact that soaps and perfumes are scheduled under group 36 of the exposition's book of classification and SO are apparatus and processes for the compression and liquefication of gas. Pyrotechnics, bombs and signals, together with matches, will find a logical place in chemical relationship with the by-products for pharmacal use obtained from treatment of petroleum and coaltar derivatives. The evolution of the den of an ancient alchemist will be seen in model laboratories of the present with complete equipment installed.

The extent of the industrial interests that are embraced in this department is disclosed in the statistical eloquence of the United States Census bureau, which shows that there are 5,168 establishments in the United States devoted to the production of articles involved in the chemical and pharmacal arts, with an invested capital of $419,930,000, employing 109,309 persons earning $73,491,000 and producing $455,095,000 annually.

In connection with this exhibit it is expected that there will be carried on a most interesting series of public demonstrations exhibitions, for instance, of the research work carried out by the use of liquid hydrogen and illustrating the properties of matter at temperatures approaching "absolute" zero, should be of engrossing interest.

There is, according to scientists, a point at which heat is extinguished where "the molecule ceases to vibrate." This theoretical point is called "absolute zero." It has been scientifically stated

to be 460.6 degrees, Fahrenheit, below zero. The lowest temperature recorded by Arctic explorers is 72 degrees below zero, though balloon carried thermeters have registered as low as 100 degrees below zero, by thermometers carried to a height of nine miles at which altitude the 100 degrees below zero weather prevailed.

Another series of experiments that is calculated to prove as interesting in a popular way as important scientifically, will be the demonstrations devoted to the exposition of liquid air. These experiments, as prosecuted under the genius of Professor Dewar, have been reduced to the terms of popular understanding without rendering negative their scientific value.

The principle upon which Professor Dewar constructed his apparatus for liquid air production is elemental. Vapors and gasses in a state of expansion release heat and reduce temperature. His successful experiments grew out of the extremes to which he carried this principle and the marvellous precision of the apparatus employed. The low temperature required for solidifying hydrogen was attained in three progressive stages. The liquifier was divided into three concentric and corresponding parts. The low temperature of the first stage became the high temperature of the second and the low temperature of the second became the high temperature of the third. Step by step, the theoretical, critical temperature has been approached and gas after gas solidified, the element helium alone resisting all efforts to reduce it to a solid state.

The Federal government's interest in these experimental processes is sufficiently indicated by the fact that the United States has installed a complete "low temperature" plant in Washington and is proceeding with important experiments. Germany is another nation deeply interested, the more recent achievements of that country in the field of synthetic carbon chemistry being largely responsible for the reputation popularly ascribed to Germany of being in the lead of all nations in individual chemistry-a belief

intimately associated with Germany's recent brilliant achievements in her color industries.

It is probable that these experiments in what until recently was the world's greatest mystery, next to life itself, the mystery of heat, will be carried on at the forthcoming exposition under the light of the latest research and knowledge.

Mr. Theodore Hardee, chief of the department of Liberal Arts, says that there has been more than gratifying response made to his invitation to participate, and that all nations will send their representatives and products to this most interesting department of human enterprise. From attar of roses brought from Bulgaria-the World's almost single source in the Balkan mountains, to perfumes from Brazil, herbs from China and medicine chests from France, the American exhibitor is promised much friendly but vigorous competition to the importance of which he is, says Mr. Hardee, fully alive, his concern arising no less from impulses of patriotism than from motives of business and the opening of new trade routes and commercial centers due to the completion of the Panama Canal and the consequent opening up of the Orient and the rich nations on the western coast of South America.

A Correction.

In our January number, we reprinted an article entitled "The Ideal Pharmacist from the Physician's Standpoint, taken from the Bulletin of the Department of Pharmacy of the University of the State of New Jersey, at Jersey City, but in an effort to shorten this name it seems we gave credit to another institution.

The Department of Pharmacy of the University of the State of New Jersey has recently been reorganized and Mr. Otto Raubenheimer, of Brooklyn, has been made Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and History of Pharmacy.

Birds and the Wireless.

Since our coast began to be studded with Marconi stations, says an English newspaper, it has been noticed that the birds do not seem very happy about it. In the neighborhood of

a wireless station birds seem to be vaguely disturbed and uneasy, gulls being the chief sufferers.

And when the line of a pigeon race lies over or near a wireless station it has been noticed that an unusual number of birds fail to find their way home. The wireless waves in the air seem to interfere with their sense of direction.

The cause has not been definitely settled, but there is no doubt that birds and animals both are more sensitive to mysterious vibrations of the air than are human beings. Horses and monkeys in earthquake lands tremble with fear hours before an earthquake arrives.

It has been suggested that animals and birds have a sixth, or "electric" sense, and are in touch with the ether, that mysterious fluid which scientists declare to pervade everything in the universe both on earth and in air. It is by waves in the ether that wireless travels.

So when the wireless waves start interfering with the ordinary waves of the ether, such as those along which light travels, the birds lose their little heads and forget their way.

-Our Dumb Animals.

German Doctors will Stricke.

More than 21,000 German physicians from small towns and country districts in Germany have decided to follow the example of their professional brethren in Great Britian and declare a "doctor's strike" against sickness and accident insurance associations established under the imperial insurance laws. They complain against certain regulations under the laws, which they say militate against them, particularly one depriving the patient who is a member of an organization of any say in the choice of the physician by whom he desires to be treated. They object, too, to the wide discretion given to the organization in the matter of contracts with physicians.

The decision to declare a strike against these regulations was reached at a meeting in Berlin of more than 800 delegates from all over Germany.

More than two-thirds of all the Germans are members of insurance organizations, which have their own contract physicians and the remaining medical field is over-crowded. The number of medical students in Germany has risen from 6,300 in 1905 to 14,000, an increase utterly disproportionate to the increase of population. The result is, according to statistics, that half of all the physicians have incomes less than $1,500 yearly.

The doctors of Berlin, Dresden, Hamburg and other large cities did not join in the, movement, owing, it was said, to the desperate competition among them.-Square Deal.

Association
Association News and Items.

Detroit and the A. Ph. A. Convention.

Plans have been pretty well decided upon now for the Detroit meeting of the American Pharmaceutical Association. The meeting will be held on the week beginning Monday, August 24th. The Hotel Pontchartrain will be the headquarters. This hotel is admirably suited to the purpose.

It has a convention floor up at the top of the building, with eight or ten rooms of various sizes, thus being well adapted to an organization like the A. Ph. A. which is split up into so many sections and auxiliaries of one kind and another. Furthermore, the convention floor of the Pontchartrain is so high up that it is away from the dirt and noise of the street on the one hand, and on the other is subjected to the cooling breezes from the river.

The Detroit meeting, indeed, is going to be delightfully cool and pleasant. Detroit is not at all like the usual American city-hot and stuffy in the summer. It is located on the Great

Lakes, gets the benefit of the water breezes, and is furthermore a city of great beauty and charm. Thousands of people go to Detroit annually to spend their summer vacations instead of frequenting the customary resorts. It is a city that everybody wants to visit who hasn't already seen it, while the man who has seen it is not satisfied until he can return to it again.

Many delightful features are planned for the convention. There will of course be the customary reception and ball on Monday evening. On Wednesday, from 4 to 6, there will be a reception for the ladies. The afternoon and evening of Thursday will be devoted to a boat-ride tendered by Parke, Davis & Co., and many of the attractive spots will be viewed that have helped to make the environs of Detroit so noted. On Friday there will in all probabllity be an automobile ride to the parks and to the famous shore drive around Lake St. Clair. Other contemplated entertainments are a smoker for the men, and either a theater party or a ride to Bois

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Blane Island for the ladies. Of course smaller entertainments for the ladies will be sandwiched in all through the entire week.

Detroit has come to be a great manufacturing center-famous in three particulars. In the manufacture of drugs, stoves and automobiles, Detroit unquestionably leads the world. It may be that some of those in attendance upon the convention will want to visit industrial plants in various lines. Thus, for instance, ten or fifteen people may want to go through the Ford or the Cadillac or the Packard automobile factory. Others may want to visit the Solvay Process Works or any one of a hundred other interesting places in the city. It is expected that arrangements will be made for a number of small trips of this kind if sufficient interest is shown by the members. It is up to them. If you are interested please write now to the local secretary so that he may get an idea of what is wanted. Address your letter to Leonard A. Seltzer, 32 Adams West, Detroit, Mich.

It may be interesting to state, too, that certain reforms are going to be inaugurated at the Detroit meeting in the conduct of the convention business. All the sessions will be held in the day time, and the evenings will be left free for rest, recreation and enjoyment. The Council, only, will meet at that time, and this will give a chance for the Sections to begin their work in the morning promptly at 9:30. Mr. Seltzer, the local secretary, is working out a plan of bulletin boards so that a member who is sitting in one Section may know what is going on in the others at the same time, thus making for a maximum of interest. Promptness will be exercised all along the line, and there is every expectation that the Detroit meeting will be a hummer!

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The purpose of this bill is to remedy as far as possible the conditions which make it difficult, if not impossible, to secure for the Army Hospital Corps the class of men necessary for the efficient performance of duties connected with the care of the sick and with the sanitary science in general. The bill provides increased pay and establishes a higher rank of non-commissioned officers thereby affording opportunity for promotion such as compares in a measure with the other staff corps of the army.

Pharmacists throughout the country are urged to write to their senators and representatives asking them to support this worthy measure. Act at once as the time is short. Just a few lines asking your senators and the congressmen from your district to support House Bill No. 1 or Senate Bill No. 929, as the case may be, will be sufficient-but do it now. The list of the members of the military committees who now have the bill at their disposal is as follows:

MILITARY COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE

James Hay, Virginia; S. Hubert Dent, Alabama; William J. Fields, Kentucky; Kenneth D. McKellar, Tenn.; William S. Howard, Georgia; Daniel J. Griffin, New York; Robert H. Gittins, New York; Warren Gard, Ohio; Frank T. O'Hair, Indiana; Frederick S. Deitrick, Mass.; Percy E. Quinn, Mass.; Daniel E. Garrett, Texas; Maurice Conolly, Iowa; William Gordon, Ohio; Julius Kahn, Cal.; Daniel R. Anthony, Kansas; John C. McKenzie, Illinois; Frank L. Greene, Vermont; John M. Morin, Penna.; Samuel B. Avis, W. Va.; Willis J. Hulings, Penna.; James Wickersham, Alaska.

MILITARY COMMITTEE OF THE SENATE

George F. Chamberlain, Oregon; Gilbert Hitchcock, Neb.; Luke Lea, Tenn.; Duncan U. Fletcher, Fla.; Henry L Meyers, Montana; Charles S. Thomas, Colorado; James K. Vardaman, Miss.; James P. Clarke, Ark.; Henry A Dupont, Del.; Francis E. Warren, Wyoming; Joseph L. Bristow, Kansas; Thomas B. Catron, New Mexico; James H. Brady, Idaho; William S. Kenyon, Iowa; Nathan Goff, W. Va.

We are especially anxious to have letters from their constituents reach these committeemen.

W. B. DAY, Chairman, Committee on Pharmacists in the Government Service.

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