SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF SKIN GERIATRICS 387 this, in closing. These people who are forcibly retired are frequently in difficulty because they are not prepared for it, they don't know what to do, so they wander around like lost souls. It is imperative that we realize that these people are important, that they must not be neglected and they must not be forgotten. Everybody is important. There is no such thing as an unimportant person. We hope, furthermore, that you in cosmetic science will provide the ways and means so that all the people can look a lot younger if we can make them feel younger. You have certainly done a grand job up to date, and I wish you success in the future. THE MERCAPTAN-DISULFIDE SYSTEM IN PERMANENT WAVING* By Ross WHITMAN Raymond Laboratories, Inc., St. Paul 1, Minn. EDITORS NOTE: In the first half of his paper Whitman presented a three-way equation to describe human hair in any degree of reduction or neutralization: (A) (B) (C) WSSW • WSH q- WSSR WSSR WSH (E) (D) in which WSSW indicates the cystine bond in keratin, WSH indicates a cysteine terminal linkage arising from the breaking of a WSSW, and WSSR indicates a mixed disulfide cystine terminal group, the R representing the body of the mercaptan reducing agent used in the process. Going on, the speaker developed five equations which, when solved si- multaneously by conventional methods, yield values for each of the five components shown in this equilibrium: (1) (Cystine)o = A q- B/2 q- C/2 q- D/2 q- E/2 (2) (Cystine)•na•. = A q- C q- E (3) B+E = C+ D (4) (Cysteine)an•. = B + D + E + C B E (5) B:E = D:C The juxtaposition of the terminal groups formed by the severance of the cystinc bond was described by the speaker, and the following three equa- * Presented at the September 23, 1954, Seminar, New York City.

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF SKIN GERIATRICS 387 this, in closing. These people who are forcibly retired are frequently in difficulty because they are not prepared for it, they don't know what to do, so they wander around like lost souls. It is imperative that we realize that these people are important, that they must not be neglected and they must not be forgotten. Everybody is important. There is no such thing as an unimportant person. We hope, furthermore, that you in cosmetic science will provide the ways and means so that all the people can look a lot younger if we can make them feel younger. You have certainly done a grand job up to date, and I wish you success in the future. THE MERCAPTAN-DISULFIDE SYSTEM IN PERMANENT WAVING* By Ross WHITMAN Raymond Laboratories, Inc., St. Paul 1, Minn. EDITORS NOTE: In the first half of his paper Whitman presented a three-way equation to describe human hair in any degree of reduction or neutralization: (A) (B) (C) WSSW • WSH q- WSSR WSSR WSH (E) (D) in which WSSW indicates the cystine bond in keratin, WSH indicates a cysteine terminal linkage arising from the breaking of a WSSW, and WSSR indicates a mixed disulfide cystine terminal group, the R representing the body of the mercaptan reducing agent used in the process. Going on, the speaker developed five equations which, when solved si- multaneously by conventional methods, yield values for each of the five components shown in this equilibrium: (1) (Cystine)o = A q- B/2 q- C/2 q- D/2 q- E/2 (2) (Cystine)•na•. = A q- C q- E (3) B+E = C+ D (4) (Cysteine)an•. = B + D + E + C B E (5) B:E = D:C The juxtaposition of the terminal groups formed by the severance of the cystinc bond was described by the speaker, and the following three equa- * Presented at the September 23, 1954, Seminar, New York City.