Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-10-12
CONVENT|ONOF CHEMISTS FOLLOWS
CLOSELY after that Of engineers


vme OF the pancreas is known as tryp-
| sin and II acts theoretically upon pro-
| teins. proteoses and peptones.
| As examples Of proteolytic vege-
/ table ferments We have those of ger
minating seeds; of the pitcher plant;
\ of the papaia or pawpaw, known as
papain; of the pineapple, known as
! bromelin; and the erepsin of the cab
bage.
Chemistry as Applied to the Study
of Soils" by P. S. Burgess was greet
ed with applause Burgess said that
| the first soil study was undertaken
by Sir Humphrey Davy in 1900 and as
the results of his experiments many
chemists took up the work, but in 1854
Liebig, by declaring that nothing
could be gained by study of the soils,
4 so discouraged the other scientists
| that nothing more was done until 1875,
at which time, it might be said, the
present study of the relation between
plants and soils started.
Burgess then told of various meth
DDS employed to analyze the soil to
determine what food values are miss
! ing, and in conjunction he presented
/
/ foods, their amount appearing in the
top six inches of an acre, the number
of pounds taken out of a hundred
bushels of corn and the number of
years supply per acre.
Rsdium Not Fertilizer
According to the table there are
1000 pounds OF phosphoric acid in an
acre, from which 100 bushels of corn
takes out IL pounds, and to every
acre there is sufficient to last 100
years. Other foods are as follows:
Potash, 1900, IS, 2600: magnesia,
$4,000, a. 1000; lime, 6S 500, ~ 55,s
600; iron, $500, u. 100000; sulphur,
1000, ", 10000; nitrogen, 10000, 900,
100, 100000.
That radium is not fertilizer was
declared by Burgess and it has no
value, regardless of its widely adver-
tised virtues. Other hoaxes are cataly-
! tics. electricity, artificial lights and
the employment of dynamite, all doing
no good and often harm to the soil.
A discussion of the amount of sui
phuric acid in sugar juice came up
and methods OF determining the am
CUNT ensued. A direct method of de-
termination suggested was to evapor-
ate the juices to dryness and after
burning determine the amount. Bur-
CESS admitted that there would be a
probable loss this way and thought it
would be better to fuse the dried resi-.
due with sodium peroxide and dissolve
the resulting fusion to determine the
sulphuric acid in the solution.
Time and Temperature Vital
Herbert S. Walker In his paper on a
Simplified Inversion for the Deter.
mination of Sucrose by Double Polar.
zation," said:
Probably the greatest drawback
10 the use of true sucrose' determine
lions In sugar factory control work
has been the necessity for such ex.
IRENE care in the regulation of time
and temperature required by the Herr.
feld-Clerget inversion process. So
sensitive to fa1lty manipulation is the
method ordinarily used that an mex
perienced chemist may get even less
accurate results by double polarization
than by simply assuming the direct
| polarization to represent true sue.
] rose
The writer has for some time held
the idea that by heating the sugar so
luton before adding acid to some def.
mite temperature and letting it cool
down slowly in air during a time suf-
| ficient for the inversion to become
/ completed. The only attention re-
| Quired would be to control the tenn
| perature of solution at the moment of
adding the acid. Since the prelimi-
nary heating would be in neutral solu-
| ton the time required to raise to a
definite temperature would be imma-
/ terial."
/ In this connection Dr. Norris pro-
POSED that a committee be appointed
| to investigate the new method and
report to the chemists at the next
meeting
Each Field Needs Study
Field Distribution of Yields" pre-
sen. ed by G. II. Halden, was the mex.
report and he says in his introduce
| ton: ..
The subject of correctly crediting
to each field the sugar it has pro-
duced is of the greatest importance
to the plantation management, as from
such data may be learned the influ-
enee of fertilizers, irrigation, various
] methods of cultivation, different varie-
/ ties of cane, in short, it may be said,
that knowledge of what each field
/ is producing, both as to quantity ami
quality, forms the basis of efficient
agriculture.
t.In case the cane is brought by the
manufacturer from independent plant.
/ efs, it would. without doubt, be of
| benefit to both parties to base the
| price on the amount of obtainable
L sr,,cnr In tho nano not on the cane