University of Kentucky - Kentuckian Yearbook (Lexington, KY)

Page 26 text:

Chemical Department It is known perhaps to most of our readers that for the last ten or twelve years the Chemical Department has occupied the second floor of the Experiment Station building, the remainder of the building being occupied by the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station. For some time past both the Chemical Depart- ment and the Experiment Station have felt the need of larger quarters. The needs of these two departments of the college, in this direction, having become ap- parent to the Board of Trustees of the institution, it was decided by these gentle- men, at their last semi-annual meeting in December, to erect a new' building for the station and to convert the present station building into a chemical laboratory for the college. With very slight modification and improvement this beautiful building can be converted into a well arranged and commodious laboratory of modern type, it is proposed to convert the right half of the basement into a Metallurgical Laboratory and Assay Room. The basement rooms on the left of the building will be used as store rooms for apparatus and chemical supplies. On the first floor will be located the instructor’s office, the library, the recitation room for more advanced students, a balance room and the laboratories for Quantitative Analysis, Organic Chemistry and Chemical Research. The lecture room on the second floor of the building will be retained for its present use, while the labora- tories on the second floor will be converted into one large laboratory for instruction in general Chemistry. Such an arrangement will insure permanent and adequate quarters for the Chemical Department for years to come, and with such there is every reason to expect its continued growth and success. From two or three rooms in the Main Building fifteen years ago to the beautiful building which is to be the future home of Chemistry in this institution is in itself indicative of the pro- gress we have made along these lines. Both in point of numbers and in the character of the w'ork done the present collegiate year has been one of the most successful in the history of the Chemical Department. Of the more advanced students of the department two, Messrs. Mason and Donan, will take the degree of Master of Science in June, and two others, Messrs. Elvove and Hart, will take the degree of Bachelor of Science. For some- time past these students have been engaged on the following chemical investiga- tions, the results of which they will submit as Theses for their respective degrees: Oxidations by Means of Oxidizing Ferments—G. F. Mason. A Comparison of the Digestive Ferments in Their Conduct Towards Glycogen and Inulin—D. C. Donan. Oxidation by Means of Hydrogen Peroxide—B. R. Hart. A Review of the Literature of Nitrification and Denitrification—E. Elvove. Two communications on the Mechanism of Oxidation by Hydrogen Peroxide by A. S. Loevenhart, one of the graduates of the department, and J. H. Kastle will appear in the May and June numbers of the American Chemical Journal. Still another on Iodine Cynanide as an Indicator for Acids by J. H. Kastle and Miss Mary E. Clark will shortly appear in tins journal. These articles represent the results of chemical researches undertaken and completed during the present collegiate year. From time to time the more advanced work of the Chemical Department has received gratifying recognition from abroad. Sometimes this has come in the form of a kindly letter of encouragement from some distinguished investigator, sometimes it has been the republication of some communication from the depart- ment in a foreign journal. Recently it has come in the form of an appointment of the Head of the Chemical Department as one of the Committee of Publication of the Jubilee Volume of the American Chemical Journal. At the close of the present year this journal will have been published twenty-five years. It is pro- posed by American Chemists to celebrate this event by the publication of the 26th., Volume as a Jubilee Volume, in honor of its Editor, President Ira Remsen, of the Johns Hopkins University. In this volume ample space will be set apart for the publication of the chemical researches from the laboratory of the State College. It is intended to make these communications in every way worthy of our institu- tion. i CARNEGIE RESEARCH ASSISTANTSHIP EOR THE CHEMICAL DEPARTMENT OF THE STATE COLLEGE. It is known perhaps to the majority of our readers that last year Mr. Andrew Carnegie placed at the disposal of the United States Government the sum of ten million dollars, tire interest on which was to be expended in the promotion of Scientific Research in this country. On this magnificent endowment the Carnegie Institution of Washington has been founded. Among its other plans for the pro- motion and encouragement of scientific investigation, in this country, it was de- cided by the authorities of the Carnegie Institution to establish and maintain out of its funds a certain number of Research Assistants. These Research Assistants were to be appointed from young men and women of promise and ability through- out the United States. They were to receive liberal compensation for their ser- vices, amounting in most cases to $1,000.00 per annum, in return for which they were expected to devote themselves entirely to the study and investigation of some scientific subject under the direction and guidance of some competent investigator. Up to the present twenty-five of these Research Assistants have been appointed. It is gratifying to record that one of these appointments went to Mr. Elias Elvove, one of the Senior students of the Chemical Department. This is certainly a splen- did tribute to the industry and. ability of Mr. Elvove and a well deserved recogni' tion of the good work that is now being done in the Chemical Department of this institution.