eminence in pure and applied chemistry and in the furtherance of the objects of the Society, of which any association may feel justly proud. The addition of the name of the Right Hon. Sir Henry Ruscoe, which has already been announced by the Council of the Society, will add further lustre to our roll of medallists, and will, I feel sure, be welcomed most heartily by every member of the Society. According to our Charter the recipient of the medal shall be a person who, in the opinion of the Council, has rendered conspicuous service to applied chemistry, or to the Society in furtherance of its objects.

Sir Henry Roscoe's long record of eminent service both to chemistry and to the Society needs no words of mine to justify our selection, but I may be permitted to recall something of the work of his distinguished career, especially at a time when modern advances in science are apt to make us unduly forgetful of the past.

Roscoe's earliest researches, which were conducted in conjunction with Bunsen nearly sixty years ago, were on the measurement of the chemical action of light, a series of investigations which laid the basis of quantitative photo-chemistry and which have played a large part in modern developments of the photographic industry. Some few years later, during the early days of his tenure of the Chair of Chemistry at Owens College, Manchester, he carried out his well-known work on the composition of the halogen acids of constant boiling point and on per chloric acid. Then followed in 1868 his classical research on vanadium. Roscoe proved that the substance previously described as vanadium by Berzelius was, according to the method adopted in its preparation, either an oxide or nitride. He was the first to isolate the element and to

assign to it its right place in the periodic classification; in addition he determined its atomic weight and prepared a It is worthy to note that with all the improvements suggested by the vast amount of research work on atomic weights, both in America and in this country, practically no difference is found in the latest determinations of the atomic weight of vanadium. Many valuable technical uses of vanadium have followed in the wake of Roscoe's discoveries. Vanadic acid has been employed as an oxidising agent in the aniline colour industry, whilst it has received many important applications in metallurgy.

large number of new vanadium compounds.

Apart from these direct services of Roscoe's own work to applied chemistry, he has contributed a large indirect share to the advance of chemical technology through the conspicuous success of the School of Chemistry he established at the Owens College (now the University), Manchester. During the thirty years of his professorship-from 1857 to 1887 - close on 2000 students passed through the curriculum of his laboratories. Of these many occupy positions of trust and responsibility in chemical industry and have contributed much to the advancement of applied chemistry.

Roscoe's association with this Society commenced with its inception and his selection as its first President was an augury of its future success which has been so amply realised. He gave his active support to making the Society a national institution and secured the interest of many notable chemists in its work. Throughout the life of the Society Sir Henry's interest in its welfare has never waned, and we owe much of its progress to his stimulating activity.

I must not omit one other feature of Roscoe's manysided labours which has reflected on our welfare, his work in technical education. With a firm belief in the efficacy of scientific training, he taught his students and his fellow citizens in Manchester to realise the value of the application of science to industry. He was a member of the first Royal Commission on Technical Education, and during his subsequent Parliamentary career took every opportunity to forward the means for the technical training of chemists and to bring the best methods for the education of future captains of industry before the authorities concerned.

The success that has marked all Roscoe's work in its exceptional breadth and thoroughness is the most lasting memento of its merit. Its recognition by the members of this Society is but one further record of appreciation to the many that have been accorded to him. It is the highest honour we can confer on one who has done much for the advancement of chemical industry and who by his wonderful personality and high character has endeared himself to us all.

May be long be spared to us!

Dr. Messel intimated that Sir Henry had asked him to receive the medal on his behalf, and he would hand it to him in due course in the name of the Society.

Next Year's Meeting.

Mr. J. HÜBNER said the Council had kindly accepted an invitation to hold the next Annual Meeting of the Society in Manchester, and it was his pleasant duty to extend to the Society a most hearty welcome. In 1915 they would be in an exceptionally fortunate position as the British Association were to meet in Manchester and extensive preparations for it would be made. Many of these he had no doubt their Society would also be able to enjoy.

Mr. HOSEASON Supported the invitation, which was unanimously approved, and the President, on behalf of the Society, tendered to Manchester a hearty vote of thanks for the invitation.

Sir JOHN TURNEY said he had been asked to second the vote, but it seemed rather strange that he should be doing so, because indirectly he was associated with that institution as a member of the City Council, which he had been for a few years. However, he would like to say on behalf of the people who controlled the work in this College that they were always willing to do all they possibly could to forward that which was for the benefit of the people in regard to things scientific or practical. The meeting then closed.

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

The Fixation of Atmospheric Nitrogen. By JOSEPH Knox, D.Sc. London: Gurney and Jackson. 1914. THE aim of this monograph is to give a succinct account of methods of fixing atmospheric nitrogen which are actually employed technically, laying special stress upon the theory of the processes. The preparation of nitrous and nitric acids and their salts is treated first and most fully. Theoretical considerations are discussed at some length, and copious references are given to the literature of the subject, while short descriptions are included of the processes which are at present being worked successfully on a large scale. The synthesis of ammonia and ammonium compounds is next described, the work of Haber and his collaborators being fully treated. Finally, some account is given of the conversion of atmospheric nitrogen into compounds such as nitrides, cyanides, &c., which readily yield ammonia.

Lectures on Explosives. By WILLIAM MACNAB. London: The Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland.

1914.

THIS book contains two lectures delivered before the Institute of Chemistry, and intended to give advanced students an insight into the work of professional chemists. In the first lecture the nature of explosive phenomena and the general properties of explosives were discussed, and methods of testing them were explained in some detail. The second lecture gave an account of the manufacture of explosives, special attention being paid to the restrictions imposed by the Home Office. The lectures will be found very stimulating and interesting by young students, although the lecturer was unable to do more than give an outline of the subject, and the text of them will be very acceptable to those who were not so fortunate as to be able to be present at them.

CORRESPONDENCE.

"PHOSPHORESCENCE" OF SULPHUR.

To the Editor of the Chemical News.

SIR, I hope that Dr. Léon Bloch will accept my assurance that the omission from my article on the "Glow of Sul. phur" of any reference to his researches was quite unintentional. I thought I had made a careful search through chemical literature for accounts of previous work on the subject, but for some inexplicable reason I did not discover Dr. Bloch's papers. Had I done so, I might have been spared much subsequent labour, but at any rate it may be some satisfaction to him to have an independent confirmation of some of his results.

On one point only am I unable to agree with Dr. Bloch's conclusions. He attributes the " phosphor. escence" to oxidation of sulphur vapour, but my own experiments all seem to show that it is due to the oxidation of minute particles of solid, or more probably liquid, sulphur.

Apologising for the injustice I have unwittingly done to Dr. Bloch, and thanking him for the correction.-I am,

&c.,

W. H. WATSON.

MELTING POINT OF CANE-SUGAR.

To the Editor of the Chemical News. SIR, I notice that "Van Nostrand's Chemical Annual" (1909) gives the melting-point of cane-sugar (C12H22O11) as 189 2° (corrected), a figure somewhat higher than that found by your correspondent as given in the current issue of the CHEMICAL NEWS.-I am, &c., F. H. LORING.

CHEMICAL NOTICES FROM FOREIGN SOURCES.

Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences. Vol. clviii., No. 22, June 2, 1914. Constitution of Linalol.-Ph. Barbier and R. Locquin. Barbier has suggested that linalol is a primary alcohol of formula CH3>C=CH-CH2-CH2C CH3 CH3 =CHCH2OH' while Tiemann and Semmler regard it as a tertiary alcohol. It may be shown that 2. 6-dimethyloctanol-6 and tetrahydro-i linalol are identical, and that the OH groups in the two compounds have the same nature and occupy the same position. Hence Tiemann and Semmler's formula must be regarded as correct, i.e,

он

"CH=CH2'

and Barbier's formula must be abandoned. Apparently in the formation of geranyl acetate from natural l-linalol tions a curious molecular transposition takes place, a terunder the action of acetic anhydride and in similar reactiary alcoholic function changing to a primary alcoholic and finally to an aldehyde function.

Researches on Acyclic y-Halogen Acids.-Henr Wohlgemuth.-The author has investigated the action of hydracids on y-valerolactone, thus getting three n-valericy-halogen acids, which he has submitted to treatment with various reagents. The three acids are readily etherified, giving stable ethers. The y-halogen ethers do not react with magnesium, and in general it may be said that the halogen is much less active in halogen ethers when it is in the y than in the a- and B-positions. This relative passivity may be attributed to a "steric hindrance" resulting from the proximity in space of the ether salt and halogen derivative functions in the I. 4-positions.

Migration of a Methoxy Group in the Decomposition of a Quaternary Ammonium Hydrate by Hofmann's Method.-M. Tiffeneau. - When the derivative obtained by the action of amines upon the methyliodohydrine of asymmetric methylphenyl glycol is decomposed, water and trimethylamine are eliminated, and the methoxy group migrates, the final product being C6H5-CH3-CHOCH3. There is thus no modification in the carbon skeleton, which remains branched like the original compound.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Institute of Chemistry.-Pass List, June—July (1914) Examinations.-Of twenty-three candidates who presented themselves for the Intermediate Examination eleven passed A. J. Boyd; R. G. Browning; R. C. Dennington; A. O. Jones; J. King; E. Leitch, B.Sc. (Glas.); G. W. B.Sc. (Lond.); and H. M. Webb. Of twenty-eight canMoore; P. D. Oakley; P. W. Rait; E. L. J. Stockdale, didates who presented themselves for the Final (A.I.C.) Chemistry-H. Trickett and H. Vernon, B.Sc. (Lond.). Examination, thirteen passed: - In the Branch of Mineral In the Branch of Organic Chemistry-J. G. Duncan; T. H. Durrans, B.Sc. (Lond.); S. H. Groenewoud; L. A. Jordan, B.Sc., A.R.C.S. (Lond.); L. Orange, B.Sc. (Lond.); W. S. Ritchie, B.Sc. (Lond.); F. W. Snelgrove, B.Sc. (Lond.); J. W. Tait, M.A. (Edin.); and F. D. White. In the Branch of the Chemistry (and Microscopy) of Food and Drugs, Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs, Soils, and Water-J. H. Christie, B.Sc. (Lond.); and C. G. Collins. Two candidates examined at Johannesburg have also satisfied the Board:-In the Branch of Metallurgical Chemistry, D. Millin, B.A. (Cape) and in the Branch of Organic Chemistry, A. Kloot, B.Sc. (Lond.).