CALIFORNIA CHAPTER NEWS T•E JANUARY MEETING was one of the most stimulating on Quality Control. Chairman Oscar Scherr, substituting for Mario de Montesquiou, held forth with charts and graphs on "Spectrophotometric Applications for Control of Cosmetics." Retiring chairman, Pete Clapp, did an ad- mirable job of explaining "Statistical Weight Control," while Western Filling Corporation's Chief Chemist, Darrell Baum, did no less in present- ing a vivid word picture on "Quality Control on the Final Package." Dr. Paul Jewel gave one of his finest talks concerning the color legisla- tion and its present status. Those who attended the Feburary meeting were given a treat in an ex- cellent description of the workings of both the infrared and ultraviolet spectrophotometers Mr. Gene Hatfield, of Beckman Instruments, Inc., th • , speaker, received his Bachelor's degree from Texas Western College. At our March meeting, Dr. E. J. Karolyi, Head of Product Develop- ment and Biological Laboratory, Max Factor & Company, attracted the largest attendance, 65, of this year. For his very intent audience, Dr. Karolyi described his unique technique of detecting skin irritation at levels far below those which give positive patch tests. The method con- sists of examining microtome sections of exposed skin under the microscope. Using guinea pigs, he found that the ratio of fibroblasts to other cells in- creased as the dosage of irritating substance was raised. In normal skin, the ratio is 1.20:2.30, while skin exposed to 3 per cent croton oil gave a ratio of 5.69:6.24. Many of the substances which showed irrita- tion by this method gave completely negative patch tests to humans. The membership was especially appreciative for the enlightening points Dr. Karolyi brought out as well as his interesting slide demonstrations Applause following his talk was strong evidence of the member's compli- ments to, and enjoyment of Dr. Karolyi's presentation. The April meeting heard a most enlightening talk on the problems en- countered in present-day toxicological evaluation of both food and cos- metic products. Joseph B. Michaelson, Ph.D., Director of Applied Biological Sciences Laboratory, spoke of current practice under the new F. D. A. regulations. He emphasized that any produce may be toxic, de- pending on the method of use. Accordingly, in evaluation, tests must be carried out in the same manner as in proposed use. All meetings were held in Rodger Young Auditorium, Los Angeles. 349

35O JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS CHICAGO CHAPTER NEWS THV. ^NNUA•. Ladies' Night was held on June 13th at Henrici's Restaurant in the Merchandise Mart. Vic Perry, fvmed night club and T.V. artist, was featured entertainer. He has appeared in 30 countries as "The King of Thieves" and "The World's Greatest Pickpocket." As is the usual custom, each lady present received a gift package of products donated by the Chicago area cosmetic manufacturers. NEW ENGLAND CHAPTER NEWS ON THURSDAY, April 27th, the regular meeting was held at Armand's Beacon Terrace, Framingham, Mass. The program consisted of a regular business meeting and a movie entitled "Perfome Production in France." The movie was provided by the French Government through the facilities of the French Consulate, New York City. April marked the first ap- pearance of the New England Chapter's Newsletter with Dr. Richard E. Faust as its first editor. "Plastics, the Revolution in Packaging" was the title of a talk presented by Dr. Roger Brandt of Thursday, May 25th. Dr. Brandt has been in this field since its infancy. He is presently connected with the Bradley Sun Division of the American Can Company. Dr. Brandt presented a flow diagram of the formation of a plastic tube from the raw material to finished product. He covered the various ma- terials presently being used for the formation of plastic tubes, such as polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride and also discussed new materials which are presently under evaluation such as nylon and polypropylene. The speaker pointed out that there were many pitfalls connected with the packaging of products in plastic tubes, and he stressed the necessity for studying the stability of the product in the package. It was pointed out that plastic tubes can be either lined on the inside or coated on the out- side with various materials which either enhance the appearance or the barrier qualities of the plastic tube.