The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1936-09-11
CHEMISTS TOLD
OF SUBSTITUTE
FOR GLASS

XII 10DObGL1, oEpG' IL NA'AN'O''
Over the protest C the American
Medical Association, DR.. Herman
Seydel, youthful Jersey City chem
list, late today was to deliver his
controversial arthritis paper at the
closing session of the American
Chemical Society convention here.
DR.. Edward Barlow, of the Uni
versity of Iowa, president Of the
Chemical Society, refused the re-
quest of the medical association
that the paper be withdrawn. The
association has protested against
publicity arising from the an
nouncement of Seydel'S discovery,
claimed by him to be a cure for
arthritis, several days ago before
he actually read the paper to the
convention.
The chemists meanwhile were
told of modern miracles of science,
a substitute for glass that is just
as clear but can be bent like any
plastic substance, a synthetic"
chemical m e hod of healing
wounds and treating gangrene and
of a bakelite like substance made
from ordinary sawduSt. Other
wise they we're occupied with the
problems of scientifically treating
and preserving food supplies.
Discovery of the new glass sub
stitute which is waterclear, only
half as heavy as ordinary glass
and Just as strong, was made by
DR.. H. r. Ditimer of the E. l
Dupont de NemourS Company.
The new plastic, he said, is as
clear as optical glass, resiStS a
tension of 4 to 512 tons a square
inch, is thermaplaStic and can be
sawed, cut, drilled and polished.
It can be rolled readily and when
in LIQUID state can be poured into
moldS and hardened.
Predicts Wide Use
Unlike glass, the new substance
transmits large proportion of the
suns Ultraviolet rays, is unaf-
fected by sunlight and in general
is not attacked by other destruc-
tive elements, DR.. Dittmer said.
He added it would be readily appll-
cable in the aircraft industry and
in the electrical industry.
The basic materials of which it
is made are coal, air and water.
The process was extremely technl-
cal, DR.. Dittmer explained. The
chemist predicted a wide variety
of commercial uses for the new
glass, active production of which
is scheduled to begin next year.
The synthetic method for
healing wounds and treating
gangrene, described by DR.. Fred
erick H. Greenbaum, was some
what similar to the natural mag
got method. In this method, live
maggotS are allowed to eat out
the infected parts of the wound.
DR.. Greenbaum said he converted
the excretions of the maggotS into
a substance known as "allantoin"
which was found as effective as
the cumbersome and inConvenient
use of actual maggotS.
Use Waste Sawdust
Five chemists from the Forest
Products Laboratory of Madison,
Wis, told the society how they
took waste sawdust, subjected it
to chemical treatment and ex-
IRENE heat and pressure. and
produced a black, bakelite-like
substance. They predicted wide
spread commercial utilization OF
a large part of waste sawdust.
LuciuS w. Elder. a research
chemist for large food corpo-
ration, reported laboratory tests
showed roasted coffee does not
become rancid during three
months exposure to air but be-
comes stale in two weeks unless
it is packed in vacuum.
VOTE AMERICAN
Nicaraguan Designates
MANAGUA, Nicaragua.-Sena-
tor Modesto Armijo and Deputy
Francisco Sanchez have been Sc
lected by congress as first and
second designates for the presi-
dency. AS there is no vice presi-
Dental office, should the presi-
dency become vacant the first
designate automatically becomes
president. If he is unable to
take the post the second deSig-