In one experiment 20 grms. of barium perchlorate were treated with 60 cc. of hydrochloric acid. The precipitate of barium chloride was very bulky and voluminous, entirely filling an ordinary Gooch crucible. The 60 cc. of hydrochloric acid just made the residue liquid enough so that it could be poured upon the filter. The yield of perchloric acid was 80.9 per cent of theory. Washing with ten I cc. portions of hydrochloric acid failed to wash the perchloric acid out of such a bulky residue. Another experiment showed that "commercial" hydrochloric acid did not give as good results as the "C.P." acid. This was no doubt due to the lower concentration of the "commercial" acid. The yield of perchloric acid was 88.7 per cent as compared Potassium perto 960 per cent for the "C.P." acid. chlorate cannot be used.

Summary.

These experiments were made to determine the best conditions for the preparation of perchloric acid by the action of concentrated hydrochloric acid upon sodium perchlorate.

The sodium chloride is insoluble in the excess of concentrated hydrochloric acid, and can be separated from the perchloric and hydrochloric acids by filtering upon an asbestos filter, and by washing with concentrated hydrochloric acid. By heating the filtrate, the hydrochloric acid can be volatilised away from the perchloric acid. The best conditions are:-Use 25 to 30 cc. of concentrated hydrochloric acid for each 20 grms. of sodium perchlorate. Do not add any water to the substances. Filter out the sodium chloride residue, and wash with ten 1 cc. portions of concentrated hydrochloric acid. Heat the filtrate and washings to 135° to volatilise the hydrochloric acid. The yield of perchloric acid is about 95 per cent of the theoretical. Only about 1 per cent of the sodium perchlorate is lost in the sodium chloride residues. The other 4 per cent is in the perchloric acid as sodium perchlorate. The perchloric acid is free from chlorides. The process does not work with potassium perchlorate and is unsatisfactory with barium perchlorate.

(NOTE. This investigation was the result of a search for a cheap and convenient method for the preparation of perchloric acid, to be used in making perchlorate baths for the electro-plating and refining of metals as described in the United States Patent No. 931,994, issued to the author). -Journal of the American Society, xxxii., No. 1.

ORGANISATION OF INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH.*

By WILLIS R. WHITNEY.

THE intimate connection between the purely scientific research of a people and its advance in the art of good living cannot be too frequently discussed. The organisation of industrial research involves arranging and maintaining a body of involute parts as an operative whole of highest efficiency. It is never perfectly accomplished, and the fact that improvement can always be made is an incentive for its discussion.

A recent copy of Life has this to say, which, without straining, bears directly upon industrial research :

"This is the most interesting country in the world. The game here is the biggest that is being anywhere played. The problems of humanity that are being worked out here are the greatest problems under consideration, and the prospect of solving them is better than it is anywhere

else."

Lord Bacon said:"The real and legitimate goal of

the sciences is the endowment of human life with new invention and riches." He, in turn, cited King Solomon,

* An Address delivered at the Twentieth Anniversary of Clark University, Sept. 17, 1909. From the Journal of the American Chemical Society, xxxii., No. 1.

who said, "it is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the glory of a king to search it out."

Bacon distinguishes three degrees of ambition :First, that of men anxious to enlarge their own power in their own country. This is "vulgar and degenerate." Second, that of men who strive to enlarge the power and empire of their country over mankind. This is "more dignified, but not less covetous."

Third, that of those who strive to enlarge the power and empire of mankind in general over the universe. Evidently this is the best, and is the real ambition, whether recognised or not by himself, of any good experimenter.

For purposes of systematic analysis, the subject, "Organisation of Industrial Research," may be divided into two parts:

Part one, the personal or mental organisation, with its requirements, &c.

Part two, the objective or material organisation. For brevity, these may be called the mind and the matter organisations.

The former, or personal, I will sub-divide into such parts as :— Its training and characteristics. Division of its labours.

Its records, &c.

The objective or matter organisations, I divide into :The fields for material research.

The laboratory equipment and systems of its material co-operation.

In an

Naturally, the personal comes first, relatively and chronologically, and the mental precedes the material. The personal factor is everything in industrial research. Strangely enough, it is everywhere and always dominant, while every other factor is sometimes recessive. organisation "A" cannot work well with "B" because one is too slow, too fast, too egotistical, too jealous, too narrow, &c. Nowhere else do the personal traits protude so much as in concerted research. And so I hold that above all, as an industrial experimenter, I should like as

broad a human training as possible, before any other specific one. This probably means little more than acquirement of a demonstrated desire to play fair, and it may be no more applicable to this field than to others.

To one always in close touch with research, it seems as though there is an immutable law of nature, which may be stated as follows. (It is an application of the principle of reversible reactions so as to include the reactions of the mind).

The equilibrium between mental and material conception is so sensitive that anything which, to the fair mind, seems possible, is to the trained persistence permissible. If this should be proven not strictly true, it would still be a good working hypothesis for a research organisation. This theory requires, then, a certain characteristic in the generally successful research operator. This is recognised in optimistic activity, and, to my mind, should be placed first among the requisites. It is placed above knowledge, because, without it, little that is new will ever be done except by accident. With active optimism, even in absence of more than average knowledge, useful discoveries are almost sure to be made.

Speaking from personal analysis, and from the observation of others, I would say that general chemical and physical knowledge may sometimes be as much a detriment as a help to one imbued only with a need of solving new problems. A possible explanation is this:We always reason deductively. We apply general laws in attempting to answer specific questions. To any specific problem of research there are usually general laws which may seem to forbid the solution. These laws are known and revered. Naturally, the unknown, specific ways by which it may be solved are more or less hidden. An illustration may not be out of place here.

Cotton may be dissolved in a solution of zinc chloride.

The solution may be squirted through a die into alcohol in such a way that a smooth coagulated cellulose thread is thereby obtained, This may be heated so as to give a solid compact and pure carbon filament. Many are thus made. But as a new problem, it would certainly appear quite impracticable to one who might have a fairly extensive knowledge of the chemistry of the materials. Generally speaking, zinc chloride solution does not dissolve cellulose. Only a strong solutlon, kept at a high temperature for a long time, will give the desired solution. In general, too, it could not be squirted and coagulated into a smooth thread. Very specific conditions are necessary. Finally, the treatment with gradually rising temperature, which alone succeeds in giving the compact carbon filament, is a matter of specific detail. The places in this process where general reasoning points to failure are numberless. Years of multiplied effort are necessary to perfect such a process. Once established, it is easily analysed along the lines of understood reason, and theories of reactions may be based upon the facts. But such processes are not laid out greatly in advance of their accomplishment. The successful steps are found among the many which are actually attempted, and something more than general knowledge is necessary. This something is hopeful pertinacity, optimistic activity. To a chemist imbued with fair knowledge, it was recently apparently useless to attempt such an experiment as the continual removal of traces of hydrogen from oxygen by passing the gas through a red-hot iron pipe. He had seen iron wire burned rapidly in oxygen, he tried wrought iron and the iron was oxidised, and his knowledge was vindi- | cated, but he also tried cast iron and found that it did not burn and that it would operate perfectly. A scramble for an explanation evolved the theory that the silicon burning to silica protected the iron. Ex post facto theories are permissible.

This

As the mental world is constituted, optimists are greatly in the minority, when one counts those only who are also imbued with knowledge. Therefore, in practice, the optimist must be used to crystallise the efforts of others less optimistic. Thus, any large industrial research laboratory is soon, perforce, systematised into organised clusters of people, working along distinct and different lines. permits, in our case, of the combined use, to maximum efficiency, of the delicate hands of young women, the strength and skill of trained mechanics, the mind of the useful dreamer, the precision and knowledge of the skilful chemist, and the data of the accurate electrical engineer. Simple mathematical axioms make clear the fact that a group of operators working together on a subject are related to the same group operating separately, as a power is related to a simple sum. This principle holds as well among a group of groups as to related subjects. It is evident, for example, that knowledge gained along the line of insulation would be of use in a study of conduction, and that the man who had studied the reduction of tungstic oxide by carbon in vacuo could help the one who is working with a pressure furnace upon the equilibrium between carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Therefore, the strength of a research department, properly operated, should rise exponentially with its numbers.

To this audience, the importance of highest advance in specific chemical and physical training will probably be apparent, but an expression of it may be of use. The supply of highly trained men is below the demand. There is a healthy supply of moderately trained men. This applies to all general scientific training. Let me give more concrete ideas. There are a hundred chemists who can fill satisfactorily an analyst's position to one who knows what J. J. Thomson has done, or who reads Drude's Annalen. Reading the Annalen is not a "sine qua non," but it is an indicator of no little merit. If a chemist or a physicist is not sufficiently interested to keep informed, he is probably not going to work at high efficiency as an investigator. This does not preclude the possibility of splendid research work being done by some one who is confined to a very limited field of vision, but such cases

are the exception, and cannot be used as bases for common application. In general, the man with the best tools, and with the best knowledge and experience in their use, will advance most rapidly in industrial research. In my own experience, we frequently have a line of work which demands the addition to the force of well trained men. The difficulty which stands out most markedly when considering this problem is usually the scarcity of men who are highly enough trained along the line of pure research. While in many fields of industrial research new and brilliant discoveries will continue to be made suddenly, and, as it were, out of new cloth, still many more are being made by the most careful application of highly refined methods and knowledge, to processes which already seem at first pretty well worked out. This intensive farming is most promising, and demands the highest skill. It is to-day most difficult to find American trained men who can do this work. It is a German attribute which we would do well to make our own.

If the chemist is only a chemist or the physicist confined to pure physics, he is liable to over-estimation of the laws he learns. He should be something of a "mental mixer," one who has enough history, enough psychology, and enough faith to read possibility of acquirement for the future out of knowledge of attainments in the past. As we have said, one of the most practical detriments to successful industrial research is that automatic action of the mind which recognises the possible grounds for a failure quicker than it sees the probable ways to success. Research needs more aviators. Those of us who feel the work-horse brand on our work have a call to cultivate a flying spirit, and are to be condemned only if we stand still.

In this connection, I am in favour of anything which helps train the American student in the path of sanguine research. It can be done by research men themselves, but probably not by others. It is not the knowledge which the student preparing for research needs so much as the spirit of the investigator. His thoughts should not be fettered by laws, but helped by them to fly. This can be done best by those who are optimistic almost to the extinction of

reason.

A search in the research laboratories of the world to-day would disclose large numbers of J. J. Thomson men, Ostwald men, Nernst men, van't Hoff men. The teacher probably made the school. The investigator probably endowed the students, not with facts alone, but with spirits. We are not of that hopeless class who assume that the sparks of genius are only Heaven-sent, but we are inclined to adopt as an axiom that man is flexible, auto-corrigible, and mentally elastic beyond limit. Therefore the rare genius in research, as elsewhere, is the one most given to hopeful effort.

(To be continued).

Royal Institution.-On Thursday next, February 3, at 3 o'clock, Major Martin Hume begins a course of two lectures on 66 Europe's Debt to Mediæval Spain." The Friday Evening Discourse on February 4 will be delivered by Prof. William Bateson, F.R.S., on "The Heredity of Sex."

Institute of Chemistry.-Pass List, January Examinations, 1910.-In the Intermediate Examination, twelve out of nineteen Candidates passed :-Miss D. F. Abraham; E. Anderson; C. L. L. Claremont, B.Sc.; E. G. Davis, B.Sc.; H. M. Harvey; F. W. Hoyland; F. G. Martin; H. M. Mason; A. H. Maude; W. H. Nodder, B.Sc.; S. Smith; H. E. Watts, B.Sc. One Candidate passed the Final Examination in Metallurgical Chemistry N. Garrett-Smith, and one in Physical Chemistry-A. Jaques, B.Sc. (Dun.). Of four Candidates who presented themselves in the Branch of Organic Chemistry, one passed-J. E. Hackford; and of eight examined in the Chemistry of Food and Drugs, six passedM. S. Baker, A. S. Dodd, N. Evers, H. A. Goldsbrough G. S. W. Marlow, and O. J. Stone.

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

Inorganic Chemistry. Part I. By F. STANLEY KIPPING, Ph.D., D.Sc., F.R.S., and W. H. PERKIN, Ph.D., M.Sc., F.R.S. London and Edinburgh: W. and R. Chambers, Ltd. 1909.

THIS book contains the first year's work of a course of inorganic chemistry extending over three years, the intention of the authors being to arrange the subject matter in such a way as to enable the student to dispense with the purchase and use in his second year of a larger text book, which besides containing the more advanced matter which he requires also discusses the elementary facts and principles alreany studied, so that he has to abstract what he wants, at any rate, from the earlier chapters. There is much to be said for the authors' plan, the working out of which exhibits some novelties. The year's work, of which it may be said, in passing, that the average student would have no time to spare if he hoped to get through the whole of it satisfactorily, practically covers the syllabus of the Matriculation Examination of London University and of the Board of Education Examination, Stage I., but the order in which the matter is arranged is in some respects different from that now generally adopted in that the historical method is rejected. After some preliminary work on physical measurements and the elementary study of some common substances, the nature of elements and compounds is discussed, while combustion is treated comparatively late. Theoretical work is deferred, as far as possible, which is undoubtedly a wise course to adopt, and it may safely be said that the plan of the book is thoroughly workable and likely to interest the student. It seems more than probable that, though a cursory survey would perhaps not prejudice the teacher in favour of the book, he would soon learn to appreciate it when in constant use, and would find that it had more to recommend it than perhaps appeared obvious at first sight.

Chemical Conversion Tables. By H. B. BATTLE, Ph.D., and W. J. GASCOYNE, Ph.D. Baltimore, Md. : Williams and Wilkins Publishing Company. 1909. THESE tables, which are based upon, but considerably enlarged from, those originally issued by Messrs. Battle and Dancy, then chemists in the N.C. Agricultural Experiment Station, in 1885, are designed to save the analyst time in obtaining the percentage results in the analysis of fertilisers, cotton-seed, iron, and food products. They are well chosen and conveniently arranged, and present the great advantage of enabling the exact percentage to be read off from the actual weights found. In all ten tables are given, and in addition the International Atomic Weight Table for 1909 is reproduced, with conversion factors based upon it, as well as conversion tables for weights and

measures.

Introduction to Practical Chemistry. By A. M. KELLAS, B.Sc. (Lond.)., Ph.D. (Heidelberg). London: Henry Frowde and Hodder and Stoughton. 1909. THIS book contains a thoroughly satisfactory exposition of the principles of analytical chemistry. Though intended primarily for medical students it has many novel features for which it may be confidently recommended for more general use. In the opening chapters a series of preparations of both non-metallic and metallic substances is given, and if the temptation to save time by skipping most or all of this is resisted, the student will lay a firm foundation for his subsequent work. In the full analytical course all equations representing reactions are stated, and a most useful table gives a summary of the appearance, solubility, and general methods of preparation of each metal and of

its most imost important compounds. In the tabulation of the metals in groups excellent reasons are given for precipitation under the given conditions. The book concludes with a short course of quantitative work, in which simple typical gravimetric and volumetric estimations are described.

Chemical Notes and Equations. By G. H. Gemmell, F.I.C., F.C.S. Second Edition. London: Baillière, Tindall, and Cox. 1909.

THESE notes, which were originally prepared for and used by the author's own students, were published in response to many requests, and they will no doubt be found acceptable by students of medicine, for whom they are specially intended. They cover the syllabus of the First Professional Chemistry Examination, and give in a very concise form a summary of the inorganic and organic chemistry which candidates for that examination are required to know. The notes will be found a great aid in revision, or they may be used side by side with larger text-books, and regarded as The second edition contains a new short article on ionisagiving only the essentials with no unnecessary details. tion, and some further additions and alterations have been made.

WITH the exception of a few small additions this work is essentially unaltered from the first edition which was reviewed in these columns not long ago. The author's speed theory, which is to supplant the Newtonian philosophy, proves that the conception of gravitation is fallacious and imaginary. Many footnotes are given pointing out pursued, but it is more than probable that the reader who the directions in which further study of the subject may be follows the author's suggestions and reads other works, and thinks for himself, will be unconvinced in spite of the author's eloquence, and will prefer to abide by Newton's mathematics rather than by speculations and untested hypotheses.

Uber die Erhaltung der Masse bei Chemischen Umsetzungen. ("The Conservation of Mass in Chemical Transpositions "). By H. LANDOLT. Halle-a-S.: Wilhelm Knapp. 1909.

THIS Volume is the first of a series of monographs to be published under the auspices of the German Bunsen Society; they are to deal particularly with questions which may be regarded as still under discussion, and the object of each monograph is to collect and summarise all the results of different investigators, and as far as possible brought. The Law of the Conservation of Mass is very to define exactly the state to which the discussion has been appropriately the subject of the first volume. The author classifies under the headings of three periods the researches their object, the first lasting from 1890 to 1892, the second which have had the investigation of the truth of this law as from 1901 to 1905, while the third includes the years 1906 and 1907. In each period the methods adopted are described, the gradual realisation and elimination of sources of error being emphasised, and the results obtained in each period are summarised. Finally, all the results of Periods II. and III. are tabulated, both as originally found, and after the application of corrections for the effects of changes of temperature on the glass vessels used, and the author draws from them the conclusion that the fifteen chemical reactions studied have furnished no proof that there is any alteration of the total mass of the substances involved. Thus it is indirectly shown that there is no warrant for the assumption that the atomic weight of an element varies within narrow limits.

CORRESPONDENCE.

COUSINS.

To the Editor of the Chemical News. SIR,-You were kind enough to insert in your columns last September a letter from me in reference to the non-renewal of the Nitrate Combination, and in that letter I pointed out that the non-renewal of the Combination and the consequent depressed state of the industry was owing to the refusal of the German Companies to join.

Mr. H. C. Gibbs, at the meeting of the Pan de Azucar

I doubt not that once this business has been liquidated that was done at the cost of the whole industry, they will agree to join a Combination, as it is being proved that under free working that at least one of these companies would have made no sacrifice whatever as regards its production had it accepted the quota offered it. (Signed)

JORGE BUCHANAN.

to this matter as follows:

"I should like to say here that the attacks which have been made upon them (the Germans) on that account in certain quarters are, in my opinion, absolutely unjustifiable."

I should, as others besides Mr. Gibbs thought it well to defend the German Companies, be much obliged if you could find room in your valuable columns for the translation which I have carefully made of part of a letter in the columns of the Mercurio, one of the most important newspapers of Chile, of the 2nd of December last, and signed by Mr. Jorje Buchanan. Mr. Jorje Buchanan is a gentleman well known in Chile and in nitrate circles for his high and independent character, and is a member of the House of Deputies.

This letter will speak for itself, and needs no comment from me upon the action of the German Companies, but it will let the shareholders and bondholders in the English Companies understand who is to blame for the non-renewal of the Combination and for the present depressed value of their securities, and it will cause some feeling of exasperation amongst the large number of Germans engaged in the industry whose interests have suffered equally with our own by the present deplorable state to which the industry has been reduced.—I am, &c.,

ACONCAGUA.

Translation of Mr. Buchanan's Letter.

We are all aware of the adhesion of 75 per cent of the industry what was the motive that prompted the remaining 25 per cent to refuse. Why not establish the truth now that the German press has taken special pains to make it known that no responsibility attaches to the two powerful companies of its nationality? Let us get to the truth of things, although in sight of the aforementioned publications it is almost unnecessary, as "qui s'excuse s'accuse."

The 25 per cent of the industry to which reference has been made above who did not enter the Combination may be divided as follows:

1. The two German Companies.

2. Two or three important Chilian Companies who did not offer great resistance, but who tried to get something more than the umpires offered.

3. Some small oficinas, belonging for the most part to foreigners, who awaited the declaration that the German Companies had joined.

With exception of the German Companies no producer, either Chilian or foreign, offered difficulties of any moment, and it was known that with small endeavour these could be overcome. In any case it was not believed that they presented any obstacles for arriving at the desired end that

was to conduce to the interest of all.

SOURCES.

NOTE.-All degrees of temperature are Centigrade unless otherwise expressed.

Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences. Vol. cxlix., No. 22, November 29, 1909.

Changes in Colour of Diamond under the Action of Various Physical Agents. - Paul Sacerdote.-X-rays do not appreciably affect the colour of a diamond, but cathode rays modify it considerably; the initial tint becomes accentuated until a Madeira-wine colour is obtained, passing into brown if the action is continued. When a diamond has been thus coloured by the action of the cathode-rays it preserves its colour; thus, one specimen which has been kept in a box for nearly a year shows the coloration un. changed. A rather high temperature (300-400°) rapidly decolorises the tinted diamond, which then assumes its original appearance.

Influence of Radium, X-Rays, and Cathode Rays on Various Precious Stones.-André Meyère.-The colorations produced by radium, X-, and cathode rays in different kinds of corundum and diamond is always the same (whatever the metal forming the electrodes in the last two cases), namely, yellow. The intensity and duration of the coloration differ according to the experimental conditions.

Catalytic Preparation of Fatty Asymmetric Ketones. J. B. Senderens.-A mixture of equal numbers of molecules of two fatty acids, RCO2H and R'CO2H, when passed over thoria heated to 400-430°, gives the mixed ketone RCOR' according to the equation RCO.OH+R'CO.OH =RCOR'+ CO2 + H2O. following reactions also occur :

2RCO.OH =RCOR+ CO2 + H2O
2R'CO.OH= R'COR'+ CO2 + H2O,

The two

the three ketones RCOR', RCOR, and R'COR' being found in the liquid obtained; they may easily be separated by fractional distillation. The mixed ketone predominates, forming about half of the liquid. The same process can be applied to the mixed ketones of the aromatic series, e.g., acetophenone is formed from a mixture of acetic acid and

benzoic acid.

Hydrogenation in the Terpene Series.-G. Vavon. -Pinene in presence of platinum black rapidly absorbs hydrogen, giving a hydride of formula C10H18. In ethereal solution camphor similarly yields C10H18, and limonene The variation of the rate of absorption as a C10H20. function of the time depends upon the amount of platinum; with a small quantity the velocity, which is at first great, rapidly diminishes and becomes very slow towards the end. The author has hydrogenated similarly many ethylenic and acetylenic compounds.

Faradiol, a New Divalent Alcohol from Coltsfoot.

substance of formula C30H5002 (or C31H51O2 or C29H4602). The author has given to it the name faradiol. It is dextrorotatory, melts at 209-211°, and forms voluminous crystals.