202 Anthracen Testing. CHEMICAL NEWS, percentage and melting-point before, the second line that | powder, originally of a more or less light yellow colour, was after treatment with sulphuric acid :-- Powder. 280 in all cases darkened by separated carbon; the loss in percentage is mostly considerable; the melting- and solidifying-points are slightly improved; and, taking this series by itself, the results might well be estimated as pure quinone. But this idea will soon prove most erroneous. The crystals are very little affected both in percentage and melting-point; they retain their original pure colour; 42 not at 300 no carbon is separated; and they are undoubtedly pure quinone both before and after treatment with acid. 278 37 not at 300 But the powder shows a totally different character. In most cases the percentage is largely reduced, while the melting-point, which before could only be noted in nine out of fifteen cases, has altogether disappeared. The expression "not at 300 " means, in most cases, the substance 77 not at 300 slightly softens and becomes charred at that temperature. In most cases the residue from the treatment with acid was simply carbon, and no crystals could be detected even under the microscope; in a few instances some welldefined crystals were observed, but the relative quantity was insignificantly small, and had no effect upon the melting-point; No. 16 forms the only real exception, and I look upon the 12 per cent of powder as good quinone. 30 not at 300 3'9 not at 300 32 not at 300 37 not at 300 24 not at 300 4'0 266-272 2.6 not at 300 6.1 not at 300 4'2 261-266 278 1.2 278-278 3'1 not at 300 4.6 not at 300 4'2 not at 300 262 5'2 not at 300 I look upon this result with the powder as of considerable importance, because it clearly shows that by the separation of crystals and powder the actual truth has been more nearly approached than before, and also because it affords a pretty accurate insight into the nature of different samples. As an illustration I will take one sample, No. 9 in first table, which is of a very exceptional character, for which reason I have also submitted it to the process of purification by two consecutive treatments, the results of which are given in Nos. 17 and 27. This sample represents, as I know, a lot of anthracene obtained by the re-distillation of anthracene oil, i.e., oil from which the anthracene has been separated. It is of course well known that large quantities of such anthracene are made and sold simply because no ready means were known to prove its more than doubtful quality. By the usual test this sample would appear to be of a fair average quality, but the splitting up into crystals and powder is much more striking than the action of sulphuric acid. But the last table shows the action of the acid upon the products of usual quinone test not to give anything like accurate results; the melting-point of the mixture is misleading, and the powder in the mixture is not so well acted upon by the acid as in the separate form. This leads me to a short consideration of Messrs. Meister, Lucius, and Brüning's "new and improved method," which, I think, has but little chance of being adopted, and I find my opinion shared by several people here whose judgment must be of considerable weight. I consider this method as not practical, because it is too delicate for practical working, and consequently the results will not be correct. I think it scarcely possible without loss to transfer the solution of quinone in hot acid from one basin to another considering the small 0°4 not at 300 | quantities in hand, and I look upon this operation as an unnecessary addition to the already large number of manipulations-more than twenty from beginning to end -as the solution may be heated and cooled in the same basin. This is a minor objection, but I take it as practically impossible to separate the quinone from carbon by heating the dish, .e., to completely volatilise the first 47 not at 300 without burning a particle of the last or without the last retaining any of the first. 246 8.1 not at 300 42 not at 300 Above all this method is based upon the assumption that the acid destroys everything except quinone, which 2.6 not at 300 it certainly does not. I have made several experiments with samples of commercial quinone, dissolving them in acid, treating them like anthracene samples, i.e., boiling them with chromic acid in the usual manner, also separating the product into crystals and powder, and finally treating these with sulphuric acid. 55'3 278-278 0'7 not at 300 The action is perfectly uniform with samples of the most varying percentages. The mixture of crystals and A detailed account of these experiments I must reserve for a future occasion, but I will state the results arrived at clearly bring out the fact that sulphuric acid does not destroy all impurities. Before concluding I wish to say a few words on the melting- and solidifying-points of pure quinone. I have long been under the impression that the pale yellow colour of quinone was due to some trace of impurities, and that perfectly pure quinone was quite white. I have purified a quantity by repeated re-crystallisations from petroleum spirit and sulphuric acid alternately, but the final result is not absolutely colourless, it shows the faintest trace of very light yellow. The melting-point of quinone is given by different observers as 273, 275, and 276. I find it even a little higher; the very pure sample melts and solidifies at fully 277, which degree I am inclined to look upon as the current one. In conclusion I may remark that to fix the relative commercial value of per cent unit by my test it may perhaps be desirable at first to combine with it the usual test, thus giving as the result of the analysis, percentage and melting-point of crystals and powder mixed, and of crystals and powder separate. A very short time will suffice to bring out the relative value of per cent. 35, Whitecross Place, Wilson Street, Finsbury, E.C. PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. CHEMICAL SOCIETY. Professor ABEL, F.R.S., President, in the Chair. AFTER the minutes of the previous meeting had been read and confirmed, and the presents announced, the following names were read for the first time :-Messrs. W. C. Davis, J. Clark, T. Tyrer, F. H. Marshall, T. G. Charlesworth, J. Wood, Griffith Jones, B.A., J. Falconer King, and C. C. Capel. For the third time :-Messrs. Thomas H. Johnson, Otto Hehner, G. C. Thomson, H. A. Bernays, W. J. Fuller, and Gustav Auerbach, who were ballotted for and duly elected. The PRESIDENT then announced that the Goldsmiths' Company had generously contributed £1000 towards the Society's Research Fund, started some time since by Mr. Longstaff. Mr. LUPTON read the first paper, "On the Oxides of Potasstum." After mentioning the experiments of Davy, Gay-Lussac, Thénard, and others, he described the method by which he had obtained some new oxides of potassium: this consisted in passing air, and in some cases nitrous oxide, over metallic potassium gently heated to a known temperature in a glass flask. In this way he had, by stopping the action at certain stages, obtained three new oxides,-K8O5, K604, and K403,-but could find no evidence of the existence of an oxide of the composition K40. The PRESIDENT having thanked the author, a communication "On certain Bismuth Compounds" (Part III.), by Mr. M. M. P. MUIR, was read by the SECRETARY. In it the author describes two new bismuth chromates, namely, 3Br203,7CrO3 and 5Bi203,11CrO3,6H2O, the former being of a light orange colour and the latter brick-red. The action of bromine on hot bismuthous oxide was found to give an oxybromide of the formula BiBг7013. On passing dry ammonia over the bismuth oxybromides, BigBr16015 and BiOBr, metallic bismuth was obtained. The author has also succeeded in preparing a hypobismuthic hydrate, Bi204, H2O, by suspending the oxide in potassic hydrate solution and passing in chlorine at 100° until the oxide had acquired a chocolate-brown colour. 203 The next paper was “On Phospho- and Arseno-Cyanogen," by Mr. W. R. HODGKINSON. As chloroform is converted into formonitrile or hydrocyanic acid by the action of ammonia, it was hoped that an analogous compound, containing phosphorus or arsenic in place of nitrogen, would be obtained on substituting PH3 or AsH3 for ammonia. A variety of experiments were tried by acting on chloroform and iodoform with nascent phosphine in different ways, but the results were very unsatisfactory. On the other hand, a solution of iodoform in anhydrous alcohol or ether, when treated with arsine, yielded a reddish brown amorphous precipitate, containing carbon, hydrogen, iodine, and arsenic, and which is insoluble in most menstrua. This substance is still under investigation. "A Secondary Oxidised Product formed during the Reduction of Stannic Ethide to Stannous Ethide," by W. R. HODGKINSON and G. C. MATTHEWS. On treating an aqueous solution of stanno-diethyl chloride or bromide with zinc, it is reduced to stannous ethide, whilst a small quantity of a yellowish green amorphous solid is produced by a secondary process of oxidation. After being repeatedly washed with ether and with strong hydrochloric acid, to remove adhering stannous ethide and metallic zinc, &c., it was thoroughly washed, and dried in vacuo over sulphuric acid. The results of the analyses were found to agree with the formula C5H15SnCO2. This substance does not combine with acids. It fuses and volatilises slightly at 100°. The thanks of the Society having been given to the authors of these papers, a preliminary notice by Messrs. W. R. HODGKINSON and H. C. SORBY was read, on Pigmentum nigrum, the Black Colouring-matter contained in Hair and Feathers." When perfectly white hair or feathers are heated gently with dilute sulphuric acid for some time they completely dissolve, but if black or brown feathers or hair are thus treated an amorphous black residue is obtained. This substance, which exists only in very small quantity in the blackest feathers, may be conveniently prepared from rooks' feathers (which yield about one per cent) which have been separated from the central rib, and thoroughly cleaned from waxy and fatty matter by treatment with alcoholic ammonia. On digesting them with successive quantities of dilute sulphuric acid for several days, until the acid ceases to be coloured by red or brown soluble colouring matters, a black residue is obtained, which, after being thoroughly washed with dilute hydrochloric acid at 80° C., and then with water, is dried, and the last trace of fatty matter finally removed ty treatment with boiling alcohol and ether. On analysis it gives numbers agreeing very well with the formula C18H16N2O8. It is not acted on by dilute acids or alkaIt forms new lies, but nitric acid slowly oxidises it. compounds by the action of bromine, one of which is soluble in water, and gives a characteristic absorption spectrum. In reply to a question from the President, Mr. SORBY said he had regarded the subject of the colouring-matter of hair and feathers more from a biological than from a chemical point of view. Having found that a black residue was left on heating feathers with the dilute acid, Mr. Hodgkinson had undertaken to investigate chemically the nature of the substance. The black pigment was found in black, brown, and dark red hair, but in the latter it was associated with a brown pigment soluble in dilute sulphuric acid. In very bright red hair he had also found a pink colouring-matter. The feathers of birds were of two kinds, namely, those which contained the pigmentum nigrum-including the iridescent feathers, such as those of the peacock, which are really black-and another class of feathers, like those in the crest of the crowned crane, which are not iridescent, but contain various coloured pigments. He considered it very important, from a physiological point of view, that this matter should be more fully investigated. With regard to the pigment of the negro's skin, he had not examined it, but had no doubt that it would prove to be identical with that found in the hair. Mr. SORBY exhibited a specimen of pigmentum nigrum, and also specimens illustrating the colours obtained with this pigment and others soluble in the dilute acid. Prof. CHURCH said his attention had been entirely directed to the feathers in twelve species of turacoa, in which the red parts of the feathers were coloured by turacin. This differs in an important point from the pigmentum nigrum, in that its ash consists wholly of oxide of copper. The amount of copper present in turacin is considerably larger than he had formerly stated: this was owing to the fact that when turacin is distilled a red coloured substance passes over which contains copper. This, unlike turacin, is insoluble in ammonia, but soluble in ether. The PRESIDENT, having thanked the authors for their extremely interesting communication, adjourned the meeting until Thursday, November 16th, when the following papers will be read :-" On Barwood," by the late Dr. Anderson; "On Potassium Trioxide," by G. S. Johnson; "On the Coal-Gas of the Metropolis," by J. S. D. Humpidge; "On Calcium Sulphate," by J. B. Hannay. PHYSICAL SOCIETY. November 4th, 1876. Professor G. C. FOSTER, F.R.S., President, in the Chair THE following candidates were elected Members of the Society:-Warren de la Rue, D.C.L., F.R.S., and W. H. Preece. Dr. GUTHRIE read two letters which he had received from Dr. Forel, in continuation of a communication he made to the Society on the 27th of May last, in reference to the "Seiches" or periodic oscillations which take place in the Swiss lakes, and on which he has recently made an elaborate series of observations. Since his communication he has found, in a pamphlet by Dr. J. R. Mérian, published in 1828, a formula strictly applicable to the phenomena under consideration. If t be the duration of half an oscillation, h the depth of the lake, and its length : CHEMICAL NEWS, Nov. 10, 1876. Dr. STONE exhibited some diffraction gratings on glass and metal, ruled for him by Mr. W. Clark, of Windsor Terrace, Lower Norwood. The majority of them were close spirals, about 1000 to the inch, which, when held between the eye and a distant lime-light, exhibited circular spectra of great brilliancy. The slight difference between the spiral and true circles appeared to exercise no appreciable effect on the result. The metal gratings were of linear form, 1000 lines to the inch, intended for use by reflection in a spectroscope. The spectra thus obtained were of much greater brilliancy than those ordinarily obtained by refraction, and presented obvious advantages for examining the ultra-violet rays. He explained the mechanical difficulties which had been surmounted in their manufacture, together with the manner in which the diamond cutters are prepared. The metals hitherto employed, namely, cast-steel and German silver, are objectionable, and Dr. Stone proposes, on the suggestion of Prof. McLeod, to employ speculum metal, and will report the result of the experiments more fully at a subsequent meeting. Dr. GUTHRIE then briefly described some experiments which he had made to determine the effect of a crystalloid on a colloid when in the presence of water. Mr. Graham, in his classical researches, made numerous experiments with a salt on one side of a colloid membrane and water on the other, and Dr. Guthrie thought it might be well to determine what action, if any, takes place when a salt is added to a solution of a colloid such as size. Two or three lumps of rock-salt were added to a jelly of size, and the whole hermetically sealed in a glass tube. The colloid parted with its water readily, a saturated solution of the salt was obtained, and the size became perfectly white and opaque, having undergone a structural change. Experiments were also made, employing a more hygrometric salt, such as chloride of calcium. Mr. W. C. ROBERTS pointed out that a jelly containing phuric acid, and dries into a hard glass-like hydrate of 5 per cent of silicic acid readily parts with water to sulanalogous to the action of salt on size, or whether the silica. He asked whether this might be considered as strong affinity between the acid and water removed it to another class of action. Dr. GUTHRIE thought it might be possible to establish the existence of a point at which the jelly did not give up its water to the hygrometric substance. He also pointed out the analogy between a jelly and a mass of small bags filled with liquid. Considering that probably this formula will be applicable to lakes of irregular depth if I be the mean depth, he has applied it to several, and the following are some of his results-In the case of transverse seiches on Lake Leman the formula gives 216 metres as a mean depth, and 334 metres is the greatest known depth. With a longitudinal oscillation the mean depth is found to be 130 metres. In the case of Lake Wallenstadt, the formula having shown the mean depth to be somewhat greater than the generally accepted greatest depth, Prof. Forel took a number of fresh soundings, and found a great basin of comparatively even bottom, and of such a depth as to render probable the mean depth given by the formula. Mr. O. J. LODGE suggested that the formula would be rendered more simple by using the hyperbolic function. It would then become NOTICES OF BOOKS. Water Analysis: a Practical Treatise on the Examination of Potable Water. By J. ALFRED WANKLYN and ERNEST THEOPHRON CHAPMAN. Fourth Edition, rewritten by J. ALFRED WANKLYN, M.R.C.S., &c. London: Trübner and Co. WE are by no means surprised that a new edition of this work has become necessary. The increasing attention paid to public health and the growing conviction of the importance of a pure water supply, must lead to a higher appreciation of the analytical process first made known in its pages a process which may truly be said to have rendered the sanitary examination of water possible, which, if not absolutely perfect, is by far the most satisfactory we yet possess, and which has been adopted by competent and disinterested judges in most parts of the civilised world. The present edition is by no means a mere reprint o those which have appeared before. The body of the work is now divided into three sections; the first part being Mr. Lodge also exhibited the curve which this equation devoted to "water analysis for general sanitary purrepresents. poses." If the question is merely whether the water of a CHEMICAL NEWS Nov. 10, 1876. Chemical Notices from Foreign Sources. SOURCES. 205 given well can be safely used for domestic purposes, Mr. CHEMICAL NOTICES FROM FOREIGN Wanklyn considers that a reply may be obtained from the results of the determination of total solids, of chlorine, of free and albuminoid ammonia, and of poisonous metals, if present. Instructions for these determinations are given in successive chapters and require no further comment, since this portion of the work has not undergone any essential modification. The second part of the book "is more especially designed for those who make analytical chemistry a profession," and contains minute directions for the execution of a complete mineral analysis of a waterresidue. These instructions will be of great service to the chemist who is consulted on the selection of a water supply for any town. This part of the work has been rearranged, modified, and considerably extended. We have, first, a chapter, not found in the earlier editions, on the specific gravity of natural waters. Then follows the determination of the insoluble, and of the soluble solids in the water residue, and of the alkalinity. Here we find an account of an improvement for the details of which the author declares himself indebted to a private communication from Dr. Mohr, and which will be of great use in all cases where very small amounts of alkali in the state of carbonate have to be determined volumetrically. Mr. Wanklyn remarks that the alkalinity of water expressed as grains of carbonate of lime per gallon is almost identical with the insoluble solids. The section on "Hardness" is extended by the addition of a method for the titration of magnesia in drinking waters, the operation being capable of completion within a quarter of an hour. Next follows a chapter on the "General Quantitative Analysis of the Water Residue," under which head we find directions for the determination of sulphates, nitrates, iodates, &c., and phosphates, which latter, however, the author considers can rarely be present except in infinitesimal proportions. In stating the results of an analysis, Mr. Wanklyn disapproves of the method of "stating the quantity of each metal and each acid-radical in a given volume of water," which, he considers, "has the fatal property of masking and concealing most fundamental facts that the analysis should disclose." He holds that "water residues may be looked upon as impure carbonate of lime or impure chloride of sodium." The chapter on the "purification of water" contains much novel and interesting matter. The decomposition, or otherwise the removal, of such bodies as quinine, morphia, and strychnine by passage in solution through charcoal must lead to further results. The chapters on "Gases and Vapours Dissolved by Water" and on Urine and Sewage are substantially the same as in the last edition. The third part of the work is composed of " Examples of Complete Mineral Analyses," and deals with the water supplies of London, Manchester, Sunderland, Croydon, and Bonn, and with the waters of the Rhine and the Nile. The appendix contains a republication of the original memoirs of Messrs. Wanklyn, Chapman, and Smith, on the action of oxidising agents upon organic substances in alkaline solution, and a reprint of documents bearing on the controversy between the author and Dr. Frankland as to the merits of their respective processes for the analysis of water. To pronounce upon this portion of the book would be an invidious task. We do not like prolonged controversies, and we find that a man with a grievance, however good his case, often comes to be regarded as a bore. But if an author is attacked, and if his reply is excluded from the journal where the attack is published, he can scarcely be blamed for defending himself wherever it is practicable. Nothing, we think, is more certain to find its level than an analytical method. In fine, we must express our opinion that this edition of Mr. Wanklyn's work will meet with even higher and wider approval than its predecessors in accordance with its greatly increased value. NOTE. All degrees of temperature are Centigrade, unless otherwise expressed. at Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Seances, de l'Acade.ni des Sciences. No. 15, October 9, 1876. Absorption of Free Nitrogen by the Proximate Principles of Vegetables under the Influence of Atmospheric Electricity.-M. Berthelot.-According to experiments which have been made free nitrogen is directly absorbed the ordinary temperature by organic matters under the influence of the electric effluve (Comptes Rendus, lxxxii., p. 1283). This absorption takes place both with pure dry nitrogen and hydrocarbons, a case in which oxygen is totally excluded, and with moist cellulose and dextrin (p. 1357). The author's experiments demonstrate the influence of a natural cause, hitherto scarcely suspected, and nevertheless of great importance for vegetation. When the effects of atmospheric electricity have been taken into consideration, its luminous and violent manifestations, such as thunder and lightning, have been chiefly regarded. Upon whatsoever hypothesis the monia have been exclusively studied. But the author's experiments show a new and hitherto unknown action, which works unceasingly under the most serene sky, and which determines a direct fixation of nitrogen in the principles of the tissues of plants. formation of nitric and nitrous acids or of nitrate of am On Capillary Affinity.-M. E. Chevreul.-The author refers to experiments on this subject described in his earlier writings. He advises all chemists who desire to know the degree of certainty which ought to be attributed to analytical methods to examine both their reagents and the bodies that have been separated with the spectroscope. Action of Boric Acid and of the Alkaline Borates upon Plants.-M. E. Peligot.--The author finds that boric acid and borates of potassa and soda have a destructive action upon vegetables. He therefore doubts the propriety of their use for the preservation of articles of food, and suggests that their action upon animals should be carefully investigated by a commission nominated by the Academy of Sciences. Reciprocal Action of Oxalic Acid and the Monoatomic Alcohols.-A. Cahours and E. Demarcay. Not suitable for abstraction. Determination of Free Nitrogen in Organic Substances: Chemical Composition of certain Guncottons (Abel's Compressed Gun-cotton, CollodionPaper, and Collodion.-P. Champion and H. Pellet.— The authors have applied to the determination of nitrogen the methods of Pelouze or of Schlosing with an important modification. When nitro compounds are not capable of being carried along by the vapour of water they employ the arrangement which has been suggested by M. F. jean (Bull. de la Soc. Chim., June, 1876, p. 13). The authors consider compressed gun-cotton, prepared by Abel's method, not as tri-nitro-cellulose, C12H7O73 NO5, but as penta-nitro-cellulose, C24H150155 NO5. They have found the composition of a Russian sample of collodion obtained from M. Carette. A sample of pyroxylised paper only contained two equivalents of nitric acid. Limits within which the Explosion of Fire-Damp is Possible, and on New Properties of Palladium.M. J. J. Coquillion. It is difficult to obtain a strong explosion with air and fire-damp on working upon small quantities of gas, as is done in laboratories. I part of fire-damp with 6 of air, and 16 of air with 1 of fire-damp, are the two extreme limits. Palladium wire, even if heated to white-redness, does not fire the most explosive mixtures. 206 Chemical Notices from Foreign Sources. No. 16, October 16, 1876. The session of the Academy was opened by a discourse pronounced by M. Dumas, on occasion of the death of M. C. Sainte-Claire Deville, the well-known mineralogist. Relation of the Two Specific Heats of a Gas.-M. C. Simon. It is concluded that in simple gases the physical molecules remain sensibly invariable in form and dimensions so long as no electric or chemical phenomenon is produced. Etching Action Produced upon Different Metals by the Acids. MM. Tréve and Durassier.-It is known that the action of acids upon metals gives rise to various figures throw a light upon the internal structure of the metal. We have had occasion to make certain observations, which seem to show that in the conditions in which we operated the figures are connected, not with the internal structure, but with the external action exerted by the bubbles of gases disengaged during the reaction of the acids. The authors give an illustration representing two horse-shoe magnets which have been plunged into acids, and which are grooved in a regular design, not capable of being made intelligible by a mere description. which have been sometimes considered as calculated to Compound of Chloral and of Acetic Chloride.-MM. J. Curie and A. Millet.-The result is a liquid heavier than and insoluble in water, soluble in alcohol, ether, and glacial acetic acid, boiling without decomposition between 186° and 188°, and containing 62 per cent of chlorine. Sulpho-antimoniuret of Lead found at Arnsberg, in Westphalia.-M. F. Pisani.-This mineral is not a plagionite, as might at first sight be assumed, but a true heteromorphite. Its hardness is 2'5, and its specific gravity 5'59 to 5'73. Its composition is AlB12, and to the yellow kind C2A13B48. The determinations of the specific heat of boron are hence no longer trustworthy, with the exception of those of Kopp, executed with amorphous boron, the number found being o'254. This multiplied into the atomic weight of boron, 11, gives 2'798, a product half as large as that of most other eleAll attempts to obtain pure crystalline boron have been unsuccessful. The author is engaged with an investigation of the purity of amorphous boron as prepared by the method previously employed. ments. Contributions to the Theory of Luminous Flames. Dr. Karl Heumann. In this part of his treatise the author arrives at important results, both theoretical and practical. He shows that the carbon in the flame exists as a solid body, and not, as Frankland assumes, in the state of vapour. He finds that gas-jets of steatite are decidedly preferable to those of iron, since they consume less gas for an equal strength of light. Metallic jets, in general, notably enfeeble the light. He refers to the result obtained by the Commission of the English Board of Trade who reported, in opposition to the view of Vogel, that a refrigeration of the gas does not decrease the amount of light, and considers that they must have experimented with a kind of gas poor in hydrocabons capable of condensation. outflowing current of gas are both strongly heated the On the contrary, he finds that if the jet and the luminous effect is increased to an extraordinary degree. Presence of Guanin in the Urine of Swine.upon bran alone, and was evidently suffering from gout. Domenico Pecile.-The swine in question had been fed The author is endeavouring to ascertain the presence or absence of guanin in the urine of healthy swine. MISCELLANEOUS. University of London.-The following is a list of the candidates who have passed the recent B.Sc. examinations:-Pass List.-First Division. John Henry Best, University College; Thomas Capper, Trinity College, Cambridge; John Kent Crow, Owens College; William Hewitt, Royal School of Mines; William Wansbrough Jones, Magdalen College, Oxford; John Frederic Main, Trinity College, Cambridge; Hermann Ludwig Theodor Sack, B.A., private study; Ambrose Robinson Willis, Royal School of Mines. Second Division. Reginald Hargreaves Bulley, Owens College; William Fisher, B.A., King's College; Cecil Reeves Harrison, University College; John Stephenson Jellie, private study; Archibald Prentice Ledward, Owens College: Archibald McAlpine, Royal College of Science, Dublin; George William Mackie, B.A., private study; Henry Major, B.A., private study; James Monckman, Yorkshire College of Science; James Isaac Paddle, B.A., University College; Walter Pearce, St. Mary's Hospital and Royal School of Mines; Bernard Joseph Snell, B.A., New College; Edward Holdsworth Sugden, B.A., Owens and Headingley Colleges; Albert Edward Tovey, private study. Compounds of Phthalic Acid with the Phenols.Adolf Bayer. The first part of a long but interesting memoir. The author treats of fluorescein, its history, preparation, properties, and salts; of diacetyl-fluorescein, dibenzoyl-fluorescein, monoethyl-fluorescein, diethylfluorescein, and chloride of fluorescein. He shows that fluorescein can take up a molecule of water without decomposition, and that two molecules of resorcin can be successively withdrawn from it. He then proceeds to the reduction-product of fluorescein, known as fluorescin, and examines the behaviour of the former body with different reagents, and its substitution-products, including dinitro- Science Scholarships.-In the Dublin Daily Express, fluorescein, diacetyl-dinitro-fluorescein, the hydrate of Professor Galloway calls attention to a paper on dinitro-fluorescein, and tetra-nitro-fluorescein. He then "Technical Education," read at a recent meeting of the treats of the action of bromine upon fluorescein, and the Iron and Steel Institute by the secretary, Mr. Jones. In production of mono-brom-fluorescein, dibrom-fluorescein, this paper the author said that the Commissioners of the diacetyl-dibrom-fluorescein, and tetra-brom-fluorescein International Exhibition of 1851 have still a surplus of (better known as eosin), the salts of eosin, and erythrin £186,000, and that it had been proposed to expend with its salts. The second chapter of the treatise is de-100,000 of this on a scientific library and on science voted to orcinphthalein, and is taken from an inaugural scholarships to be attached to the Science School at dissertation by E. Fischer. South Kensington. He proposed that it should be distributed amongst the different science colleges and institutions in England. Professor Galloway asks Irish members of Parliament to get this distribution extended to Ireland. He hopes, at least, that a chemical scholarship will be obtained for the College of Science, Dub lin On Boron.-Dr. W. Hampe.—The author shows that the supposed crystalline boron obtained by Wöhler and Sainte-Claire Deville by fusing aluminium with amorphous boron or with boracic acid is not pure boron, but compounds. To the black crystals he assigns the fomula |