methods, and experiments at the Denver office of the Bureau of Mines indicate that a concentration of four to one can be obtained. In this concentration, however, there are losses which could be prevented by chemical concentration, but at the present time it costs more to ship the necessary chemicals to the mines than it does to ship the ores to places where these chemicals can be cheaply obtained. It would appear, however, that mechanical concentration can save at least one-half of the material that is now going to waste. PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. ROYAL SOCIETY. Ordinary Meeting, December 3, 1914. Sir WILLIAM CROOKES, O.M., President, in the Chair. PAPERS were read as follows: "The Thermophone, a New Form of Telephone." By M. DE LANGE. "Hermann's Phenomenon." By Dr. G. S. Walpole. At the boundary between two solutions of unequal difference of potential be maintained between them. Alkali is liberated if the current passes from the better conducting solution to that not conducting so well; acid, if the current passes in the opposite direction. The amounts may be calculated from the potential gradients in the solutions on each side of the boundary, the time for which the difference of potential is maintained, the resistance constant of the vessel employed, the dissociation constant of water, and the known migration velocities of hydrogen and hydroxyl ions. Although, until recently, the manufacture of radium from carnotite has been carried on almost wholly in France and Germany, there appears to be no good reason why our American carnotite should not be treated at home. Carnotite is much more easily treated than pitch-specific conductivity a change of reaction is developed if a blende and the essential features of methods for its chemical treatment are well known, although much of the mechanical detail of operation has been kept secret. As the mechanical requirements, however, are those which any well-grounded chemical engineer should be able to solve, there seems to be no good reason why any of our carnotite ores should be shipped abroad, even at two or three times the present market price of the material. As before stated, the essential features of chemical methods of extracting radium from its ores are well known. As regards the principles involved, the methods have advanced little beyond the original method published by Debierne. The methods for carnotite may be described best in the words of Soddy, in an extract from "The Chemistry of the Radio Elements," by Frederick Soddy, p. 45, published in 1911 by Longmans, Green, and Co. "The most important operations in the working up of radium-containing materials are the solution of the materials, consisting usually of insoluble sulphates, and the separation of the halogen salts of the alkaline-earth group in a pure state, followed by their fractional crystallisation. The first operation is usually effected by vigorous boiling with sodium carbonate solution, filtering and washing free from sulphate. This is the well-known reaction studied dynamically by Guldberg and Waage, whereby an equilibrium is attained between the two pairs of soluble and insoluble sulphates and carbonates Naturally the greater the excess of sodium carbonate the larger the proportion of insoluble sulphate converted into insoluble carbonate. In this operation it is advisable not to wash at once with water but with sodium carbonate solution until most of the sulphates are removed, as thereby the reconversion of the carbonates back into insoluble sulphates is largely prevented. In dealing with crude materials, for example, the radium-containing residues from pitchblende, it is often advantageous to precede this operation by a similar one, using a sodium hydrate solution containing a little carbonate which dissolves part of the lead and silica present. The carbonates washed free from sulphates are treated with pure hydrochloric acid which dissolves the alkaline earths including radium. From the solution the latter may be precipitated as sulphates by sulphuric acid acid and reconverted back into carbonates as before. Or sometimes more conveniently they may be precipitated directly as chlorides by saturating the solution with hydrogen chloride; this is a very elegant method of great utility in the laboratory, for the most probable impurities, chlorides of lead, iron, calcium, &c., remain in solution, and only the barium and radium chlorides are precipitated, practically in the pure state, ready for fractionation." (To be continued.) Royal Institution.—A General Meeting of the Members of the Royal Institution was held on the 7th inst.; Sir James Crichton-Browne, Treasurer and Vice-President, in the Chair. His Highness Maharaja Gaekwar of Baroda, and Mr. Archer M. Huntington, were elected Members. It was announced that the Managers had elected Charles Scott Sherrington, M.D., D.Sc., F.R.S., Fullerian Professor of Physiology, for a term of three years, the appointment to date from January 13, 1915. CHEMICAL SOCIETY. (Concluded from p. 294). THE following communications have been received during the vacation : 254. "The Preparation of Phenyl Benzyl Ether." By DAVID HENRY PEACOCK. For the preparation of fairly large quantities of phenyl benzyl ether the ordinary method is neither convenient nor economical. According to Beilstein (3rd. Ed., II., 1049), the compound is prepared by the action of benzyl chloride on potassium phenoxide. The method usually employed is to dissolve 94 grms. (one moleculǝ) of phenol in a concentrated solution of the equivalent quantity of potassium hydroxide, and then, after the addition of 128 grms. (one molecule) of benzyl chloride, and about 20 cc. of alcohol, to beat on a water-bath under a reflux condenser for four hours. The yield of crude phenyl benzyl ether is only about 70 grms. A great disadvantage of this method is that the benzyl chloride and solution of potassium phen oxide do not mix, and therefore that reaction only occurs at their common surface. The liquid does not boil on the water-bath, which again militates against intimate contact. It was found that the addition of copper powder as a catalyst greatly improved the yield; the following summary of two experiments shows this : I. 9'4 grms. of phenol, 5.6 grms. of potassium hydroxide in 56 cc. water, 2 cc. of alcohol, and 12.8 grms. of benzyl chloride heated on a water-bath for four hours-yield, 6.5 grms. II. Same quantities as in I., but o'i grm. of copper powder added-yield, 10'1 grms. The final method of preparation adopted was the following: Four hundred and seventy grms. of phenol were dissolved in a solution of 280 grms. of potassium hydroxide in 300 cc. of water. This was heated to about 80°, and a mixture of 500 grms. of benzyl chloride, 80 cc. of alcohol, and o'5 grm. of copper powder added with frequent shaking. The mixture was heated under reflux in an oil-bath at 105-115°. It reacted vigorously at first, and was then kept in gentle ebullition for three hours. The non-aqueous layer was washed with warm water, dissolved in ether, and the solution dried. On removal of the ether and fractional distillation of the residue, 73 grms. of benzyl chloride were recovered and 575 grms. of phenyl benzyl ether obtained, a yield of about 90 per cent of the theoretical, calculated from the benzyl chloride consumed. Phenyl benzyl ether can be economically purified by fractional distillation under a pressure of 60-80 mm. The method described above would obviously be applicable, after suitable modification, in the preparation of ethers of substituted phenols, using other halogen derivatives than benzyl chloride. 255. "The Capillary Constants for Liquid Carbon Monoxide and Liquid Argon." (A Correction). By C. A. CROMMELIN. Whilst making calculations some time ago concerning the capillary constants of argon (Mathias, Onnes, and Crommelin, Proc. K. Akad. Wetensch. Amsterdam, 1912, xv., 667, 960) errors were found in the tables of data given by Baly and Donnan in their paper on the surface-energies and densities of some liquefied gases (Trans., 1902, lxxxi., 907). Below are given the corrected data for the surfacetensions of argon and carbon monoxide. Dr. G. Rudorf has already (Ann. Physik., 1909, [iv.], xx., 751) published the corrections for argon, but the complete tables for carbon monoxide and argon are conveniently given here. TABLE XVIII. (corrected). Surface Tensions of Liquid Carbon Monoxide. 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 12 11 11.88 1164 1141 1118 10.96 10'73 10'50 79 80 81 82 83 9.83 9.61 9'39 9.17 88 89 90 T γ T 78 10 28 10'05 T 86 87 8.31 8.10 7.89 7.69 needles, m. p. 156o), produced similarly from 3-benzenesulphonyl-3: 4-tolylenediamine, is an acyl derivative of the still unknown 3-amino 4-azotoluene. Experiments on the hydrolysis and oxidation of these azo-derivatives are in progress. 258. "The Possibility of a New Instance of Optical Activity without an Asymmetric Carbon Atom." By HAROLD KING. Up to the present time the only experimentally realised instances of optical activity in the absence of an asymmetric carbon atom are furnished by Perkin, Pope, and Wallach's (Trans., 1909, xcv., 1789) resolution of 1-methylcyclohexylideneacetic acid, and Mills and Bain's (Trans., 1910, xcvii., 1866) resolution of the oxime, and later of other simple derivatives of cyclohexanone 4-carboxylic acid. The molecular asymmetry of such substances belongs to the centro-asymmetric type. The possibility of further examples of the centroasymmetric type, differing widely from the previously known cases, is perceivable from the discovery by Cain and his co-workers of two o-dinitrobenzidines, two o- and four m-dinitro-o-tolidines of the formulæ shown below, each representing two isomerides : 84 85 8.96 8.74 T 84 γ TABLE XIX. (corrected). Surface Tensions of Liquid Argon. 85 86 87 88 89 90 13:45 13 19 12'93 12.68 12:42 12.17 11'92 The y-values for oxygen and nitrogen are correct. 256. "p-Chlorophenylselenious Acid." (Preliminary Note). By GILBERT T. MORGAN and J. CAMPBELL ELLIOTT. P-Chlorophenylselenocyanate, C6H4Cl Se CN (yellow leaflets from alcohol, m. p. 50-51°), was obtained by adding an alcoholic solution of potassium selenocyanate to a well-cooled aqueous solution of p-chlorobenzenediazonium chloride containing excess of sodium acetate. The cyanide group was readily removed by the action of aqueous alkali hydroxide, and the resulting selenophenol, C6H4Cl SeH, oxidised to the diselenide, (C6H4Cl Se)2, by hydrogen peroxide. Oxidation of either of these compounds with alkaline permanganate gave rise to sodium p-chlorophenylselenate. p-Chlorophenylselenious acid, C6H4Cl SeO2H (colourless needles from hot water, m. p. 178°), was produced by boiling the preceding sodium salt with hydrochloric acid; it is an amphoteric substance. giving rise to metallic p-chlorophenylselenites and to salts of the mineral acids, such as the nitrate and hydrochloride. A more detailed examination of these aromatic selenium derivatives is in progress. 257. "Benzenesulphonyl Derivatives of o-Aminoazo-compounds." (Preliminary Note). By GILBERT T. MORGAN and JOHN HARBOURNE COOKE. Benzenesulphonyl derivatives of aromatic o-diamines condense readily with aromatic nitroso-hydrocarbons in acetic acid solution, furnishing azo-derivatives. 4-Benzenesulphonyl-3: 4-tolylenediamine and p-nitrosotoluene give rise to 4-benzenesulphonyl-4-amino-3-azotoluene (I., golden-yellow needles, m. p. 151-152°) 3 Benzenesulphonyl-3-amino-4-azotoluene (II., dark yellow NH2 o-Dinitrobenzidine. NO2 NO2 To explain the existence of these isomeric dinitro benzidines and dinitrotolidines, Cain and Micklethwai (Trans., 1914, Cv., 1437) adopt Kaufler's spacial dipheny formula as the basis: where the two planes of the benzene rings are superimposed, but not necessarily parallel to each other. isomerism is ascribed to the non-rotation of one of the benzene rings. In the particular instance cited, Cain and Micklethwait have been unable to effect interconvertibility of the isomerides by any means, indicating the difficulty of free rotation of one of the rings relative to the other. A transformation, however, has possibly been effected in the case of the two o-dinitrotolidines. Now, Cain and Micklethwait find their difficulty in that they are quite unable to fix the orientation respectively of these pairs of .somerides; for example, in the case of the dinitro benzidines they have no means of proving which is the 3:3'- and which the 3: 5'-isomeride. It occurred to the present author, however, that one of each of these pairs of isomerides presents a new instance of the centro-asymmetric type of enantiomorphous compound capable of resolution into its optically active isomerides. That such a possibility exists, is evident from visual examination of the configurations of 3:5'-dinitrobenzidine and its mirror image: has observed its extreme sensitiveness to the action of acids which convert it into the substance described by Ewins. It was also found that homoveratryl alcohol, obtained with hydroveratroin by the reduction of veratraldehyde with sodium amalgam in aqueous-alcoholic solution, undergoes an analogous reaction, for example, on being warmed with a solution of sulphuric acid in glacial acetic acid. The product in this case is 2:3:6: 7-tetramethoxydihydroanthracene (II.), which is a more amenable substance than the piperonyl derivative, and was accordingly chosen for a more detailed investigation: Thence, if k= BK', equations (1) and (2) are identical. 260. "A Reaction of Homopiperonyl and of Homo veratryl Alcohol." (Preliminary Note). By GERTRUDE MAUD ROBINSON. In 1909 Ewins (Trans., xcv., 1486)) observed that homopiperonyl chloride readily underwent condensation under the influence of phosphorus pentachloride, yielding an almost insoluble substance, which be regarded as a dihydroanthracene derivative of the formula I. Owing, however, to the impossibility of oxidising it to an anthraquinone and to other experimental difficulties, it was not found possible definitely to prove this view. Having had occasion to employ homopiperonyl alcohol in connection with another investigation, the present author It is sparingly soluble in alcohol and crystallises best from benzene in slender colourless needles melting at 227° and capable of distillation without decomposition. This substance is also obtained when veratrole is condensed with formaldehyde by means of 60 per cent sulphuric acid, and this method was adopted for the preparation of the compound. On demethylation with boiling hydriodic acid, followed by distillation of the product with zinc dust, 9: 10-dihydroanthracene was obtained, whilst oxidation by heating with litharge yielded 2:3:6: 7-tetramethoxyanthracene, a substance which crystallises from ethyl acetate in colourless prisms melting at about 135°, and containing a molecule of solvent of crystallisation, or from alcohol in colourless needles melting at 173° and free from solvent. The dihydroanthracene is not fluorescent, whilst the corresponding anthracene derivative exhibits intense blue fluorescence in all its solutions. On oxidation of 2:3:6:7-tetramethoxydihydroanthracene with 40 per cent nitric acid, 4: 5-dinitroveratrole and 6-nitroveratric acid were isolated, whilst more careful treatment with nitric acid in acetic acid or acetic anhydride solution resulted in the production of a substance, C17H1808 N2, which crystallises from acetic acid in pale yellow needles melting at 183°. This proves to be 66'-dinitro-3: 43' 4'-tetramethoxydiphenylmethane (II.), and its production involves the replacement of a methylene by two nitro groups. This derivative, on further boiling with nitric acid, yields a certain amount of dinitroveratrole and 2: 2': 6: 6'tetranitro-3 3 4 4'-tetramethoxydiphenylmethane (IV.) as the main product. The latter substance crystallises from ethyl acetate in pale yellow rhombic prisms, melting at 210°, and sparingly soluble in most organic solvents :MeO OMe NEWS anthracene with nitric acid, and obtained a product melting at 217°, for which he did not suggest a constitution. His analytical results agree excellently with the assumption that the substance is C15H10O8N2, and constituted analogously to the above-described dinitrotetramethoxydiphenylmethane. 261. "The_Preparation of 3-Nitro-0 toluidine." By JOHN HENRY HADFIELD and James Kenner. Considerable quantities of the above compound were required with a view to its conversion into 3-nitro-2chlorobenzoic acid, the reactions of which it was desired to investigate. The preparation of the base according to the process described by Gnehm and Blumer (Annalen, 1898, ccciv., 105) was, however, found to be inconvenient owing to the readiness with which decomposition set in. Systematic experiments, based on Wülfing's method for the preparation of o-nitroaniline (D.R.P. 65212, 66060), The electro-magnet is put in series with E, F, and a battery G, so that when the gas-pressure forces the conducting acid up D, the circuit is closed, the electro-magnet excited, and the gas cut off. Any desired pressure is easily obtained by adjusting the height of E. The regulator appears to work equally well with low and high pressure in the gas than a year; with an electro-magnet having a resistance of main. The apparatus figured has been in use for more about 100 ohms, a 6-volt battery is sufficient, and the current used is very small. A weight may be with advantage put on the hinged bar, oscillations in pressure being considerably reduced by its means. The regulator in use is arranged to keep the pressure at 5 cm., the amplitude of the oscillations being only in the neighbourhood of a millimetre. to reproduce the accompanying woodcut). (We are indebted to the Chemical Society for permission were, therefore instituted, and the following procedure was finally adopted : A mixture of oxalo-o-toluidide (18 grms.) with concentrated sulphuric acid (96 grms.) was heated on the waterbath until a test portion was completely soluble in water. The product having been cooled to 50°, a mixture of nitric acid (D 142; 12 grms.) with sulphuric acid (12 grms.) was gradually added, the whole being well shaken and cooled to prevent any rise in temperature above 50°. After the pale red mixture had remained for some hours at the ordinary temperature, water (50 cc.) was added, and the product was then heated in a reflux apparatus by means of an oil-bath at 140° until solution was complete. The temperature of the bath was then raised to 150°, and the heating continued for fifty minutes. The solution was then considerably diluted, and the base removed in a current of steam. In this manner 8.5 grms. of base were obtained. 262. “Note on a Gas-pressure Regulator." By ALFRED FRANCIS JOSEPH. The regulator described was designed for use with a high and unsteady gas pressure (about 20 cm. of water); it can be used to reduce to any desired pressure down to a few millimetres. The gas from the main enters through a thin-walled rubber tube, which passed between a fixed point and the hinged bar of an electro-magnet, A (an old telegraph sounder was used). By means of a T-piece the tube is connected to a filter flask, B, containing 40 per cent sulphuric acid, c. D is a tube about 1 cm. in diameter fitting the stopper of B tightly, and E a narrow tube passing loosely into D, and provided with a platinum point and mercury contact; the height of the platinum point above the level of the acid can be adjusted. F is another narrow tube with platinum point. H is a large bottle to take up small variations of pressure, and к a water manometer. ше NOTICES OF BOOKS. Technical Gas Analysis. By GEORGE LUNGE, Ph.D., Dr. Ing. (H.C.). London: Gurney and Jackson. 1914. MODERN methods of technical gas analysis are comprehensively discussed in this book, a special feature of which is the number of references given in it to the literature of the subject. The chief desideratum of technical as opposed to scientific analysis is, of course, rapidity, and the author has been careful to pay the fullest attention to those methods which can be carried out in the shortest possible time with the degree of accuracy required for their purpose. The use of modern apparatus for technical gas analysis and general methods of absorption, combustion, &c., are first fully described, before the application of them to gases commonly occurring in technical operations is treated. The outstanding features of the book are those which the scientific world is now accustomed to associate with Dr. Lunge's name-accuracy, comprehensiveness, and attention to detail and chemists working on gas analysis will undoubtedly find it of very great use. The Electrical Conductivity and Ionisation Constants of Organic Compounds. By HEYWARD SCUDDER, B.A., B.S., M.D. London: Constable and Co., Ltd. 1914. THE object of this book of tables is to give a complete bibliography of all the measurements of the ionisation constants and the electrical conductivity of organic compounds which have appeared in periodical literature between the years 1899 and 1910 inclusive, together with the values of the ionisation constants and some of the values of the electrical conductivity. Seventy-eight journals and about 5000 dissertations have been examined page by page, and the indexes of other journals have also been searched. The tables are well arranged, and both an author list and a formula index are provided. The value of a book of tables depends mainly upon its completeness, the convenience of the arrangement adopted, and its accuracy. About the first two of these desiderata there can be no question, while as far as can be tested otherwise than by constant use the information given seems to be quite reliable. The British Pharmacopæia, 1914. London: Constable and Co., Ltd. 1914. THE General Medical Council announces that advance copies of the Pharmacopoeia for 1914 are now ready, and may be seen by the public from ten to four daily (Saturdays I p.m.) at 299, Oxford Street, London; 54, George Square, Edinburgh; and 35, Dawson Street, Dublin. Thus manufacturers, pharmacists, and others interested can ascertain the changes that are about to be made in official requirements, and can make the necessary arrangements to meet them. Every person who takes advantage of this opportunity will be expected to sign a declaration to the effect that he will not publish any substantial extracts from it without the Council's sanction, nor publish in book form before December 31, 1914, any information derived from the new issue. No objection will be taken to such reasonable references to the facts and figures in it as may properly be made for purposes of criticism, review, or NEWS directions are given in it for qualitative and quantitative tests of water, foods, &c., and many typical results of analyses of all kinds of samples are included. The ordinary routine methods adopted by public analysts are usually described, but when it appears desirable a choice of methods is given, and the interpretation of results is always fully described. The detection and in some cases the estimation of common adulterants of various articles of food is included, and in every respect the book may be regarded as a satisfactory introduction to food analysis. CORRESPONdence. WAR ON GERMAN TRADE IN BELGIUM. To the Editor of the Chemical News. SIR, Through the columns of your valuable paper may we draw the attention of English manufacturers to the splendid opportunity they have at present in making arrangements to be represented in Belgium. Amongst the good class of refugees there are a number who, before the war, acted for German firms, and who are wishful to replace these makers by English manufacturers of similar goods. These refugees are here unoccupied, and would be very pleased to spend their time in acquiring the knowledge of the lines they will be called upon to introduce later on. The Belgian Chamber of Commerce in London, 24, St. Dunstan's Buildings, St. Dunstan's Hill, E.C., is at the disposal of manufacturers to put them in communication with suitable applicants for such posts. We further take advantage of the present to invite all employers who have vacancies for foreign correspondents, &c., to let us have particulars of their requirements, as the enforced idleness is very irksome to our countrymen.—I am, &c., L. GODCHAUX, President. Belgian Chamber of Commerce in London, NOTICES FROM FOREIGN NOTE. All degrees of temperature are Centigrade unless otherwise expressed. DEFINING physical metallurgy as the study of the physical The Chemical Examination of Water, Sewage, Foods, and other Substances. By J. É. PURVIS, M.A., and T. R. HODGSON, M.A. Cambridge: The University Press. 1914. THIS book belongs to the Cambridge Public Health Series, and is written for students attending courses for the diplomas and degrees in public health. Working Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie No. 22, November 30, 1914. Indene Dicarbonic and Hydrindene Dicarbonic Acids.-J. Bougault.-When concentrated sulphuric acid acts on benzyloxalacetic ether a product of formula C15H1704 is obtained. This is the diethyl ether of indene dicarbonic acid, and the acid itself may be obtained from it by acid saponification. This new acid is almost insoluble in water, benzene, and acetic acid. It dissolves in alcohol and acetone. It decomposes at about 215°, giving CO2 and indene carbonic acid. When hydrogenated with zinc in acetic solution it gives hydrindene dicarbonic acid. This acid fuses at 222° without undergoing decomposition. It is more soluble in most solvents than indene dicarbonic acid. |