Announcement from the Lalor Foundafion.--The Lalor Foundation announced recently the program of its fifth series of Fellowship Awards in Chemistry to be granted for the academic year I941-42. Four post-doctorate awards of a value of $2,ooo each and two awards of $2,500 each have been authorized. The awards are open to both men and women. The recipient of an award must have the equivalent of a Ph.D. degree and the applicants will be judged by their previous training, demonstrated competence and promise in their special fields of work. Detailed information and application forms may be obtained by addressing C. Lalor Burdick, Secretary of the Lalor Foundation, Wilmington, Delaware. Applications should be filed before December 31, I94O and appointments will be announced early in I94I.
R. H. O.
Chemists Study Vanilla.--Research is now trying to improve on traditional rule-of-thumb methods to get out of vanilla beans more of the extract that housewives use as a flavoring. Chemists of the U. S. Department of Agriculture have already found that treatment with ethylene gas hastens curing and improves the product. The Mexican method of curing--used in America since the days of the Aztecs, who discovered the vanilla plant--is to dry the pods or beans in the sun. The Bourbon process, which is to dip the beans into hot water, is used in Madagascar and other French islands, which supply most of the world's vanilla. These methods with local ramifications, have been matters of custom for many years. It now appears that there is a scientific basis for some of the traditional rule-of-thumb procedures. There is no vanillin in the green beans but it was learned long ago that it develops during the curing. The Department is now studying vanilla growing at the United States Agricultural Experiment Station at Mayagnez, Puerto Rico, and workers find that vanilla beans treated with ethylene gas and hot water and then dried in an electric oven cure much faster than with the old treatments. Vanillin apparently is not the only important flavoring material in the plant, as the typical "fruity" vanilla fragrance develops only after long conditioning. R. H. O.