Mine No. 4, the contention of the company laborers, engaged in "laying branches" at 27.78 cents an hour, against an attempted reduction was sustained. For the intent of the umpire is to be uniformly fair -his personality and methods having practically everything to do with the men. That the object of this Board of Conciliation was the first step forward by operator and union for "peaceful parley" is not denied by either side; and, if only for this reason, right now there is greater need for it than at any other period during the fourteen years of its existence. For a competitor of the union has entered the anthracite field:

At Greenwood colliery, in and around Old Forge, the Industrial Workers of the World have for months past been organizing, and a strike already has occurred. The union miners have arisen and are cooperating with the mine owners and the

state police in stamping out this flame of unrest started by a "stranger in their midst." Is this not an acknowledgment of the wisdom in the plan adopted and followed during the last fourteen years of settling all family troubles at home?

Here, then, as I found it, is the condition to-day in things anthracite:

1. The long peace has been due to the now firmly rooted principle, if not to the actual practice, of the Conciliation Board;

2. Social evils appear to have done more than the rise in the cost of living to absorb the miners' earnings;

3. The real problem confronting both operator and union is the social problem which both they, Society, and the Government neglect;

The workmen's compensation law will knit capital and labor closer together than ever before, for the general welfare.

O

N THE evening of January 21st of the present year, Dr. Charles F. Chandler, the venerable dean of American teachers of chemistry and professor emeritus of that subject at Columbia University, stepped to the centre of a platform at the Chemists' Club in New York City and faced a quiet-spoken man, Dr. Leo Hendrik Baekeland.

"My dear friend," said Dr. Chandler, "it gives me the greatest pleasure, as the representative of the affiliated chemical and electrochemical societies, to place in your hands this beautiful Perkin medal, as a token of the appreciation and affection of your fellow chemists."

The Perkin medal-the donation of which was provided for in honor of the celebrated

English chemist, the late Sir William H. Perkin, discoverer of the aniline dyes—is awarded, usually once a year, for eminence in the field of applied chemistry. It is presented by the Society of Chemical Industry acting as the representative of all the chemical and electrochemical societies of the United States, and is regarded by American industrial chemists as one of the greatest honors that can be bestowed upon one of their fellows.

The chief reason for the presentation of this medal to Dr. Baekeland was that he has recently given to the industrial world a new and wonderful synthetic material. Rivalling the legendary magic of the medieval alchemists, he has taken two familiar chemicals-carbolic acid and formaldehyde (that pungent-smelling

liquid that smarts the nostrils when its fumes are inhaled and that is so frequently used as a disinfectant in sick rooms)brought about their chemical reaction, and behold! a new material was born.

Carbolic acid, in reacting upon formaldehyde, may produce many different substances; there are few instances in chemistry where, using the same raw materials, such totally different substances may be engendered, most of which are worthless. Baekeland, after long preliminary work in his laboratory, devised a way whereby he obtained, first, a new liquid which has the singular property of "freezing" if it is heated. Poured into a test-tube, it soon loses its fluidity and gradually becomes solid, just as water congeals into ice in a freezing temperature. If the tube is now turned upside down, a transparent, ambercolored stick falls out, which has the shape and the gloss of the glass tube in which it was formed. This transparent stick is insoluble and can no longer be melted. It is almost as hard as glass, and is extraordinarily strong: a short piece one inch thick will sustain a weight of more than three tons. This material is an excellent insulator of electricity, and it is not affected by oils, steam, water, or chemicals. One can readily understand, therefore, its vast range of utility in the industrial world. Cigars and cigarette holders, pipe stems, buttons, umbrella handles, transparent fountain pens, billiard balls more resilient than ivory -are now made from this material. In liquid form it is used as a lacquer for brass which, besides possessing unusual hardness, will stand washing with soap and water or alcohol. Soft wood impregnated with the original liquid and then submitted to heat becomes harder than ebony. Paperpulp and paper- or card-board may be similarly treated. It gives to these objects increased strength, hardness, and insulating properties, which makes them suitable for entirely new purposes.

But its main uses lie in the field of electrical industries. If a dynamo or a motor is "overloaded"-i. e., if the copper wires are carrying a stronger current than they are intended to carry-they become heated to such an extent that the resin between the windings melts away and a "burn-out" or a

"short circuit" is the result. By impregnating the windings with this liquid and then heating it until it solidifies, the wire cous are now provided with an insulator which will no longer melt in case of an "overload." The same properties have given this new material an increased importance in the manufacture of molded electrical insulators that are to be exposed to heat or moisture. The molded insulation in the lighting and self-starting systems of automobiles is made of this substance.

Finely divided saw-dust can be incorporated with about its equal weight of this material, which gives an unusually wel adapted mixture for molding articles of every description. The natural color of this mixture is chocolate brown, but it may be produced in black and in various other colors. In a hot hydraulic press it can be molded accurately to any shape and for any purpose, within a few minutes. Some of the independent telephone companies are now making their telephone receivers of this new material; it can be molded automatically, screws and threads included, without any further operation. Edison phonograph discs are made with this synthetic substance; a camera company is using it in its latest models of folding cameras in place of the leather-covered casings; wireless telegraphic instruments. switchboards for warships, electrical commutators, signaling and other devices, automobile radiator caps, steering wheels, knife handles, electrical measuring instruments, grind-stones, pump-valves-these give a further inkling of its uses.

Industrial chemistry has once again. waved its magic wand: obediently, from the boundless wealth of the mysterious regions of the Great Unknown comes a new substance to render its beneficent services to mankind!

THE SCHOOL DAYS OF BAEKELAND

In the quaint old city of Ghent, in the Flemish part of Belgium, back in the middle 'seventies, was a Government high school known as the Atheneum. It contained within its academic portals a sorely discour aged student, Leo Hendrik Baekeland. With the pedagogical methods of the Atheneum, as well as with the subjects taught

therein, young Baekeland had little sympathy. The usual high school studies lulled him into a state of stupor. In one subject, geography, he was able to arouse himself to some interest: only so far, however, as it pertained to a nebulous ambition of some day becoming a sailor.

When the bell of the Atheneum tolled the closing hour for school each day, however, Baekeland came out of his trance. He had one hobby which fascinated him and to which he devoted all his spare moments: photography. The school day ended, he would sling his camera over his shoulder and go hunting his pictorial game. At evening after supper, when the paternal Baekeland noticed the absence of his precocious son from the little family circle, he found comfort in the reflection that Leo was studiously preparing his lessons for the following day. The truth was that young Baekeland, closeted in a darkened room, was diligently developing the results of his afternoon's expedition.

At that time, a new industry was springing up around Ghent as a result of the recent invention of the photographic "dry" plate. This immediately enlisted the interest of young Baekeland. He soon became absorbed in a detailed study of dry-plate manufacture to the neglect, of course, of his studies at the Atheneum.

A GENIUS IN CHEMISTRY

In Ghent in those days there was an institution conducted upon somewhat the same lines as the present Cooper Institute of New York City-the Ghent Municipal Technical School. Here, at evening, free Here, at evening, free courses were given in various subjects. Chemistry, physics, and mechanics especially delighted the practical-minded Baekeland. He lost no time in applying for entrance.

nical School he was able to work in the chemical laboratory and to continue, unhandicapped by lack of means, his study of the processes of dry-plate manufacture. It was in this study that he laid the foundations for his reputation, later, as a consulting expert on the subject.

Thereafter he devoted sufficient attention to his studies at the Atheneum to enable him to graduate-in 1880. Simultaneously he graduated from the Technical School, far and away leading his class. He now passed an examination which entitled him to a scholarship at the Government's expense he was a poor boy-at Ghent University, which he entered in the fall of the same year. At twenty-one years of age and the youngest in his class, he graduated from Ghent with highest honors and with the degree of Doctor of Science. Three years later he was professor of chemistry and physics at the Government Normal School at Bruges. At this time he won in a competition that carried with it a traveling scholarship by which he was able to visit-at such times as did not conflict with his professorial duties at Bruges-the higher educational institutions of England and Scotland, Germany, and the United States. The last trip of his traveling scholarship was to this country in the summer of 1889.

Upon his arrival at New York, Baekeland found that his fame as a photochemist had preceded him. Shortly after landing, he met a manufacturer of films and photographic papers, who offered him a position in the chemical laboratory of his factory. Baekeland accepted the offer.

He stayed with this firm for two years. Then what, in his own words, was "the most fortunate thing that ever happened" to him occurred. This was a severe illness, from which he recovered, after several months, with all his money gone.

HIS INVENTION OF "VELOX" PAPER

periments, had brought me within close acquaintance of the undertaker. Nor did the manufacture of explosives appeal much to me after I had been for so many months in the hands of surgeons and physicians. So I turned to my old love, photography, ready to manufacture some new kinds of photographic paper."

latter (phenol, as it is known to chemists) and perhaps an equal amount of formaldehyde. His object now was to cause a reaction of the formaldehyde upon the carbolic acid by an intermingling of the molecules of the two liquids. To produce this reaction he added a small quantity of hydrochloric acid and stirred the mixture.

"A MINIATURE VOLCANO"

Then several mysterious phenomena happened. At times the mixture would gently boil and slowly solidify into a resinous material which, when melted or dissolved, could be used as a substitute

But the achievements which, more than anything else, have distinguished Dr. Baekeland among the industrial chemists of this country are his discoveries that resulted from a concentrated study of one of the most remarkable of all chemical phenomena―the reaction of formaldehyde on carbolic acid. The facts which he established from his research into this complicated chemical reaction have enabled him to give to the industrial world the new synthetic material already described.

Common-or, as it is sometimes called, laurel-camphor constitutes the bulk of the camphor of commerce. It is the product of the camphor laurel tree, which flourishes largely in Japan and Formosa. During the Russo-Japanese War, in 1904, the Japanese Government, to meet the heavy expenditures necessitated by the war, levied taxes on many of its industries at home, among these being the laurel camphor industry. This sent the price of camphor soaring-in some cases it made the price prohibitive to American manufacturers who used it in large quantities.

These conditions inspired Dr. Baekeland to search for a synthetic substitute for laurel camphor. After many substances and reactions had been tried, he decided to investigate this reaction of formaldehyde on carbolic acid. Into a glass beaker he poured a small quantity of the

Again, a grayish, crystalline substance would result, which, when pulverized, resembled powdered salt in its appearance. Upon analysis this proved to be saligenin, a substance found in the willow tree and used medicinally. At other times, however-particularly when the experiment was tried on a large scalethe result was a violent reaction that was strangely suggestive of a miniature volcano. Upon being stirred, the mixture would, as before, start to boil. Instead of the boiling ceasing, however, it now gradually increased in its intensity. Pretty soon the little "volcano" would begin to foam and sizzle and spit into the air intensely hot, steaming particles—just as its gigantic brothers, Etna in Italy and Sakurashima in Japan, belch forth hot, molten lava from the mouths of their craters when they are in eruption.

By this time the entire mixture was in a state of foam, which had risen to the top of the glass beaker or other container and, in spasmodic gasps, overflowed its brim. The boiling had now subsided; the foam-of a dull, grayish color-had gently contracted, just as any other foam does when effervescence ceases. In a few minutes, after it cooled, Dr. Baekeland examined it. To his surprise he found an intensely hard, irregularly formed mass, gray-colored and porous, that, true to the analogy, looked for all the world like solidified lava. world like solidified lava. It completely filled the testing-glass; the spasmodic overflow, now solidified, of course, clung to the brim and the outside surface like

petrified barnacles to a sea stone. There was no reclaiming the glass; the only way in which it could be separated from its distorted content was by smashing it.

Another chemist, Kleeberg, had tried the experiment described above and had obtained this same, lava-like mass. After innumerable discouraging efforts Kleeberg demonstrated that this substance could neither be melted nor dissolved by any of the solvents known to the world of chemical science, and finally rejected it as a worthless product.

But in that phrase, “insoluble to all the known solvents," lay the gleam of inspiration for Baekeland. What if there existed a solvent that the chemists through the ages had not yet discovered? Suppose, he thought, it were possible to dissolve this mass and reconstruct it to produce the original substance? Here was a liquid that had, before his very eyes, solidified into a substance practically as hard as stone. What if it were possible to halt temporarily the process of solidifying while the mixture was still in its liquid state, apply it as a lacquer or varnishto mention only one of a possibly myriadic variety of usefulness-and then let the process of hardening continue?

It was a fanciful day dream. But in the long days and nights that followed, days and nights of tireless experiment and patient research for the solvent that did not exist that at the present day, so far as it is within the ken of industrial chemists to know, does not exist-Dr. Baekeland never for a moment lost sight of the essential potentialities of that dream, nor conviction as to their ultimate realization.

enter! Might it not, for example, replace stone in many fields, or iron and steel?

Accordingly, he treated several pieces of wood, first with carbolic acid, and then with formaldehyde. Following the order of his first experiment, he then introduced the hydrochloric acid and eagerly awaited the result. To his astonishment the reaction, in some instances, did not take place at all; in others, at best only feebly and very slowly. Contrary to his expectations, the wood, in some cases, instead of becoming neo-petrified actually became softer. Upon investigation Baekeland discovered the reasons for these remarkable occurrences: the narrow, microscopic channels of the fibres of the wood had retarded the reaction; for this very reason, before the formaldehyde had had time to react upon the carbolic acid the latter had destroyed the fibre. Hence the softening, particularly in the hardwoods.

Followed now a period of exhaustive study of every stage of this perhaps most remarkable of all chemical reactions. The facts which he established in this research resulted in his invention described in the early part of this article. The invention itself is one of the most interesting of recent additions to the resources of the industrial chemical manufacturer. The scientific facts are of endless significance to that great body of industrial chemists who, like the synthetic dyemakers, are producing new materials for the use of man that Nature herself had never created in her seemingly inexhaustible laboratory.

Thus has Dr. Baekeland given to the industrial world a new substance, the range of utility of which is still in its stage of development and discovery. It came into the world of materials with a name that is suggestive of its chemical constitution, but that is otherwise impossible:

Be