Evening star., 1939-04-15
Of Sturs, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
By Thomas r. Henri.

poTJeu al Jne recent meeting OF the
American Chemical Society
They were extracted from the red seeds
| of Mexicos coral tree, whose strikingly
beautiful red or orange flowers form a
conspicuous feature of the spring land
scape, 1t was reported by Drs. Karl
Folkers and Frank Koniuszy, Railway,
N. j., chemists.
The alkaloid curare obtained from a
South American vine, long has been
known as one of the most strangely
vlrulent poisons in nature. Its effect is
to cause paralysis of the nerve endings
/ OF voluntary muscles. 1t was once used
widely as poison for dart tips and also
as means Of torture by Indians of the
Upper Amazon.
conscious, would be unable to move a
muscle. 1t must have been like the most
horrible nightmare of being dead but
yet conscious. Actual death soon inter-
Vened to end such sufferings, unless an
antldote was given.
The two new alkaloids were reported
to have similar action, but much
use in medicine partly because of its ex-
treme danger, but considerable use has
been made of it in physiological labora-
tories in blocking off parts of the volun-
tary nervous system Of experimental ami
| mails.
The new substances are being tested in
the Marck Institute of Therapeutic Re-
search at Railway where it is hoped that
some medical usefulness will be found
Tor them in connection with the treat
ment OF certain muscular diseases.
1t has long been known throughout the
regions where these trees grow, the two
chemists reported, that the seeds were
very poisonous and in the past crude ex-
tracts Of chem have yielded a nerve
paralyzing poison. Their own work has
been to isolate pure crystalline COM
pounds. belonging to the alkaloid family,
which had the same physiological action
and which could be used in exact physio-
logical experiments.
Ready-made houses produced on a
mass production basis like automobiles
through the use Of synthetic building
| materials developed in the past few years
by American chemists were predicted at
the meeting
Past efforts at such mass production of
homes have met with Indifferent success,
DR.. F. G. Anderegg, Newark, Ohio, expert
on the chemistry of building materials,
told the society, because of the weight
nYty,, ,l,orc
parts. Many of the new materials, he
said, are synthetic resin plastics, such as
now are used for desk telephone sets.
There are now needed" he said,
strong, durable, fireproof materials,
light in weight, which can be decorated
readily and which can be assembled in
large units at low COST An interesting
new development which permits the use
OF many materials which could not
previously be considered for wall con-
struction lies in the combination of
tough, durable phenolin resins with ag-
gregates to build up protective surface
OF greater resistance to weathering and
abrasion than can be secured with the
ordinary paint film. In the field of pro-
tective coatings for metals, especially
sheet steel, variety of baked-on enam-
els is available, permitting the inclusion
within the modern home of great va
rlety OF cupboards, special closets, air.
conditioning units, refrigerators and
similar devices at very moderate costs.
"A novel method has been worked out
for the application of formaldehyde res
lns in the production of plywood. 1t is
first formed into thin Sheet usually by
impregnating sheet of porous paper.
Such sheets then are interlaced with the
plies, to reduce the labor costs on small
work and special shapes. On heating,
the resin softens and flows to wet the
wood, after which it sets and hardens.
For larger and routine plying, an appli-
cation in liquid form from rolls is more
generally used. With phenolic glue and
to lesser extent with urea resin binders,
most of the previous objections to ply
wood have been removed. The fire haz-
ard remains, but even after the wood of
the plies is badly charred the resin con-
tinues to hold them together. 1t is also
feasible to impregnate the wood with
some of the fireproofing salts especially
when bonding with the phenolic film
by the application of various oleores-
ins to the surface of fiber boards excel
lent finishes are obtainable so that they
can be used for inside finished walls with
good effect. From sugar cane, wood pulp,
extracted licorice roots, fax straws and
corn stalks many millions of board feet
OF such insulating board are being fabri-
Gated every year. Outstanding results
have been obtained with this product
through the use of modified urea resins,
While lacquer finishes applied with con-
siderable pressure to depth of about
f1ve-hundredths of an inch provide beau
tlful and serviceable surfaces
THE building industry has been COM
pared with the automobile industry and
the former appears to be very bad lag
gard IN progress, but the reason for this
is understandable. Automobile produc-
ton centers around small number of
assembly lines so that changes in design
can rapidly be carried out. The product
is readily shipped all over the world, the
cars themselves often doing their own
delivery. And people from the days of
the horse-drawn carriage have been con-
tent to drive standardized buggies or
cars. When houses are produced in the
same manner they will be much more
economical"