SOCIETY OF CHEMICAL INDUSTRY. (LONDON SECTION). Ordinary Meeting, June 3rd, 1912. Mr. E. GRANT HOOPER in the Chair. THE following papers were read and discussed :— "Nature of the Process of Oxidation " (With demonstrations). By H. E. ARMSTRONG and R. T. COLGATE. The view advocated is that in all cases oxidation takes place in a system in which the oxidising agent and the oxidised substance are linked together by an electrolyte, present it may be in minute proportion but necessarily active in the process, as in the formation of water; example, from hydrogen and oxygen : H + H [HO(HX)H] + O HOH O HOH = + HX + for HO HX HO Hydrogen peroxide, therefore, is a necessary product of the initial process when oxygen is the oxidising agent, but may easily escape notice either because it in turn becomes the oxidising agent or because it is decomposed. According to this view the peroxides that are sometimes obtained are secondary products formed through the agency of hydrogen peroxide. No other interpretation of the process appears to be possible if it be regarded from an electrolytic point of view -the only point of view from which chemical phenomena can be considered that has any philosophical or rational foundation. Attention is drawn to the numerous instances in which it has been shown that hydrogen peroxide is a primary product of change when oxygen is absorbed, and to the evidence that the use of other oxidising agents is attended with the like result. Thus oxygen is evolved when either hydrogen or carbonic oxide is oxidised by permanganate (Victor Meyer). Cases are discussed which appear to be exceptions to the rule put forward, among others those afforded by the behaviour of copper towards acids in presence of oxidising agents. Copper, it is well known, is dissolved even by weak acids in presence of gaseous oxygen, therefore it is to be expected that oxidising agents will condition the dissolution of the metal. Veley, however, has shown that hydrogen peroxide actually protects copper from dissolution by nitric acid. The conclusion this chemist has drawn that copper is dissolved only by nitrous acid, not by nitric, cannot be accepted. It is not to be expected that copper would dissolve directly in nitric acid, as its dissolution would involve an absorption of energy, but action should take place if a suitable oxidising agent were present, such as hydrogen peroxide. It is impossible to place nitric acid in a category apart from all other acids. Some explanation must be sought. Reasons are given for supposing that in presence of certain oxidising agents the copper becomes protected by a film, presumably of peroxide. The possible value of impurities in the copper is discussed in connection with this conclusion. Oxidation by ozone is then considered. "Some Present Day Aspects of the Match Industry." By E. G. CLAYTON. White phosphorus matches and match-workers' necrosis are in Great Britain memories only. In most countries where white phosphorus matches can still be made, increasingly stringent regulations safeguard the operatives; and it may be expected that universal prohibition will eventually be reached. In the United States of America, owing to the popularity of "double-dip " matches, the tips of which contain from 14 to over 20 per cent of white phosphorus, and to climatic conditions, the conditions of work are increasingly dangerous, although serious attempts have been made to grapple with the evil; and the President of the United States recommended the discouragement of the manufacture of white phosphorus matches by the im position of "a heavy Federal tax." The Diamond Match Company, owners of the letters patent for the use of phosphorus sesquisulphide in America, on January 27th, 1911, voluntarily surrendered these for cancellation, so that now any match manufacturer in the United States can freely use that compound. This will probably assist in hastening the end of the use of white phosphorus in America. There is free from the risks accompanying the employment of is a consensus of opinion that phosphorus sesquisulphide white phosphorus. The chief match-producing countries are Sweden and Norway, America, Great Britain, Germany and Austria, China and Japan. In France the industry is a state monopoly. There has been a gradual shrinkage in our foreign export trade. The paper included a statement of British imports from foreign countries, particulars relating to some of the more important British and foreign match-works, an account of the modern automatic and continuous match-machinery and methods of manufacture, with an epitome of the older processes by way of contrast, references to various substances besides tetra-phosphorus trisulphide which are used, or have been suggested, as substitutes for phosphorus, and a brief description of the principal sorts of wood-stemmed, wax stemme 1, and cardboard-stemmed matches at present made. OBITUARY. M. LECOQ DE BOISBAUDRAN. IT is with much regret that we announce the death of M. François Lecoq de Boisbaudran, which has recently taken place in the 74th year of his age. In the special sphere to which M. Lecoq de Boisbaudran devoted himself he won great renown, and his contributions to chemical knowledge were numerous and of firstrate importance. His earliest researches dealt with the supersaturation of aqueous solutions, and the results were published in 1866. He then turned his attention more particularly to spectroscopical work, and it was in this region that his most important discoveries were made. In 1875, during the examination of the spectrum of specimens of zinc blende from the Pyrenees, he observed characteristic and hitherto unknown lines in the violet, and was hence led to the discovery of the new element gallium, the existence of which, under the name "eka-aluminium," had already been foretold by Mendeléeff, basing his prediction upon the Periodic Table. M. Lecoq de Boisbaudran made a thorough study of his new element, describing its chemical reactions and compounds as well as its spectrum. He subsequently, in 1886, discovered the element dysprosium as one of the constituents of Soret's X, or holmium, and described its characteric absorption spectrum, The spectroscopy of the rare earths was a subject to which he devoted much attention, and his publications included papers on terbium, gadolinium, samarium, &c. In 1885 he announced the discovery of the spectra to which he gave the name "Reversion Spectra," and showed that spectra which are usually obtained in vacuo can also be obtained from solutions. He was the author of a valuable work entitled "Spectres Lumineux," which appeared in 1874. In this book the spectra of all the then known elements were described in detail and tabulated, and an Atlas of the Spectra was included. The book received a cordial welcome from workers on spectroscopy, and was looked upon as a valuable work of reference by the pioneers in this region. M. Lecoq de Boisbaudran was a distinguished and active member of many scientific societies, and was the recipient of the Davy Medal of the Royal Society, in recognition of his valuable services to spectroscopy. CHEMICAL NEWS, Chemical Notices from Foreign Sources. 287 The Carnegie Institution of Washington. Washington: THIS short record of the Carnegie Institute of Washington A Dictionary of Applied Chemistry. By Sir EDWARD THORPE, C.B., LL.D., F.R.S. Volume II.; Revised and Enlarged Edition. London, New York, Bombay, and Calcutta: Longmans, Green, and Co. 1912. THE second volume of this valuable dictionary covers the letters C HI to GO. It is perhaps unnecessary to say that it is a model of accuracy and comprehensiveness, and even in the most minute details the standard set in the long and authoritative articles by chemists whose names and work are known all over the civilised world is fully maintained. The longer articles include those on Explosives, Feeding Stuffs, Fertilisers, Dyeing, Fuel, Coal, Gas, &c. The dictionary must be regarded as the CHEMICAL NOTICES FROM FOREIGN standard work in the English language on applied chemistry, interpreting the word in its widest sense. Volumetric Analysis. By CHARLES H. HAMPSHIRE, 1912. THIS book has been written chiefly for the use of students of pharmaceutical chemistry, and gives a detailed course of volumetric analysis, covering all the work that it is desirable for them to do. The requirements of the British Pharmacopoeia are specially considered, and all the methods recommended therein are included. The preparation of standard solutions is described, and the uses and advantages of the different indicators are discussed in outline. Chapters on acidimetry and alkalimetry then follow. It seems probable that it might be advisable to make some modifications in the order in which the practical work is taken up, for the early determinations are considerably more difficult and intricate than those which come later. A good chapter at the end of the book contains some miscellaneous exercises, and gives typical methods of attacking the volumetric analysis of mixtures in which the constituents to a certain extent interfere with one another's reactions. Lectures on Cement. By BERTRAM BLOUNT, F.I.C. The History of Fire-making. By E. BIDWELL. London: THIS illustrated catalogue contains short descriptions of SOURCES. NOTE. All degrees of temperaturs are Centigrade unless otherwise expressed. Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie Rôle of Valency in the Stability of Binary Metallic Combinations.-Camille Matignon.-If q1, 92, and 93 represent the heats of reaction when an atom of metal unites with hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen respectively, we have M+H2=MH2 + 91, 2M+ O2 = 2MO +292, 3M + N2 = M3N2 + 393. The stabilities of these three compounds will be comparable if the quantities q1, 292, and 393 are of the same order of magnitude, provided, of course, that the metal and the compound remain solid at the moment of dissociation. Hence the gaseous metalloid elements form with the metals compounds of comparable stability when, in uniting with the same weight of metal, they disengage quantities of heat which are inversely proportional to their valencies. Preparation of Iodic Acid.-Maurice Nicloux.-The determination of carbon monoxide by means of iodic acid, iodine being set free, gives accurate results only when the iodic acid is pure. Stas's method of preparing iodic acid is very tedious, and gives a poor yield, but the author has found that the oxidation of iodine with nitric acid presents no difficulty, and gives good yields if the nitric acid employed is of the right concentration (d = 1.515 to 1'520). Catalysis of Cyclanols. Preparation of Cyclenes. J. B. Senderens.-The cyclanols can readily be dehydrated by means of sulphuric acid, cyclenes being the final products. The author has thus prepared cyclohexene and methylcyclohexenes. Menthol can similarly be converted into menthene. Potassium bisulphate and boric acid are also dehydrating catalysers for menthol, but they are much less strong than H2SO4. Anhydrous aluminium sulphate, which catalyses menthol very well in the dry way, gives only insignificant quantities of menthene in the wet way. New Classes of Oxyluminescent Compounds.Marcel Delépine.-The author has suggested that oxyluminescence is exhibited by organic compounds containing sulphur, in which the latter is in the half-combined state, and which, owing to the nature of the rest of the molecule, emit vapour at the ordinary temperature. Compounds in which the carbon is replaced by phosphorus, i.e., the group S-C<by S-P are also phosphorescent, e.g., S = PC13. SPF3 is very luminescent, and the active element is the sulphur and not the phosphorus, for triethyl phosphine, P(C2H5)3, oxidises without luminescence in the conditions in which the sulphophosphorus compounds emit light. Acyclic Acid Aldehydes.-E. Carrière.-Succinic acid aldehyde can be prepared by saponifying formyl succinic ether in aqueous solution by means of oxalic acid. When the ethereal solution is allowed to stand a polymer crystallises out. This polymer, which is a trimer, gives on distillation in vacuo succinic acid aldehyde and a crystalline product resulting from the condensation of two molecules of the acid aldehyde with elimination of one molecule of water. Since the etherification of the acid aldehyde gives only ether aldehyde and ether acetal, its formula must be CH2–CHO CH2–CO,H oxylactone. ; i.e., it is a true acid aldehyde, and not an Aci-nitro Derivative of Tetramethylketofurfane.Georges Dupont.-When the calculated quantity of fuming nitric acid is added slowly to tetramethylketofurane and the mixture is left for some days at a temperature below 20° 8'-nitro-a-a'-tetramethyl-B-ketohydrofurane crystallises out. It is a decidedly acid compound, giving well defined salts. It is nitrated in the a-position with regard to the ketone function. It is decomposed when heated at the ordinary pressure according to the following reaction:2C8H1304N= C8H12O3+2CH3-CO-CH3+2CO + N2+ H2O. MISCELLANEOUS. 2 Royal Society of Arts Albert Medal.-The Albert Medal of the Society for the current year has been awarded by the Council, with the approval of the President, H.R.H. The Duke of Connaught, to the Right Hon. Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal, G.C.M.G., G.C.V.O., LL.D., D.C.L., F.R.S., for his services in improving the railway communications, developing the resources, and promoting the commerce and industry of Canada and other parts of the British Empire. Meeting of Scientific and Technical Societies in Cornwall, July 16th to 20th.-A Committee has issued an invitation to the members of Council and Officers of a number of Scientific and Technical Societies to visit Cornwall, and Mr. George T. Holloway has been asked to act as Honorary Secretary in London. Although joint meetings of Societies have been held before, this is the first time that a small representative gathering of men selected from a large number of Societies has been organised. Such meetings are generally organised on so large a scale as to almost defeat their object, but in this case the number will be limited to 100. It will include men from the Chemical Society, Institute of Metals, Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Electrical Engineers, Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, Iron and Steel Institute, and the Society of Chemical Industry. The Royal Society cannot be officially represented, as their 250th Anniversary Meeting will be held during the same week, and only a few geologists will be present, as the Geological Societies will be invited to a special meeting two years hence to celebrate the centenary of the Royal Cornwall Geological Society. The official dates are from Tuesday, July 16th, NEWS to Saturday, the 20th, inclusive, and the programme includes visits to tin-mines, dressing floors, china-clay, engineering, and other works, and places of interest to the geologist, together with certain other functions of less scientific or technical importance but of a more social nature. Among these may be mentioned a visit to St. Michael's Mount by invitation of Lord St. Levan, and to the Royal Institution of Cornwall at Truro, and the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall at Penzance. Although the invitation is not issued directly by any of the Cornwall Societies, the Committee includes members of Council from each, and the valuable work done by the members of these Societies will receive full recognition from their confrères who represent the Societies which have been invited. Cornwall has reason to be proud of its Societies. They are all "Royal," and can claim both age and good work, and the names of many on the Committee which is arranging the present function are the same as were on the Committee which founded them. Such names as Davy, Watt, and a host of others, might be cited to show how important has been the work of Cornwall in the advance of both pure and applied science. The Royal Cornwall Geological Society was founded in 1814, the Royal Institution of Cornwall in 1818, and the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society-for which the word "polytechnic " is said to have been first coined-in 1833. The work which these Societies have done in the cause of education, and especially of mining and metallurgical education, and for There is no geology and mineralogy, is well known. mining camp or metallurgical centre where the Cornishman is not found, and the engineering profession is no less indebted to the men who were born and worked in the Duchy. MEETINGS FOR THE WEEK. MONDAY, 17th.-Society of Chemical Industry, 8. "Production and Polymerisation of Isoprene and its Homologues," by W. H. Perkin. "A Hand Photometer," by W. Dibdin. "Oxidation of the Drying Oils," by J. N. Friend and W. J. Davison. WEDNESDAY, 19th.-Microscopical, 8. "Notes on Pollen," by The Rt. Hon. Lord Avebury. "Demonstration of a Method of obtaining Frozen Sections after Embedding in Gelatin," by J. F. Gaskell. "On some New Astrorhizida and their Structure," by Mr. Heron-Allen and A. Earland. THURSDAY, 20th.-Royal Society. "An Investigation into the Lifehistory of Cladothrix dichotoma (Cohn)," by D. Ellis. "Relation of Secretory and Capillary Pressure-I., The Salivary Secretion," by L. Hill and M. Flack. "Origin and Destiny of Cholesterol in the Animal Organism-Part IX., Cholesterol Content of the Tissues other than Liver of Rabbits under various Diets and during Inanition," by G. W. Ellis and J. A. Gardner. "Note on the Protozoa from Sick Soils, with some Account of the Life-cycle of a Flagellate Monad," by C. H. Martin. "Variability of Streptococci in relation to certain Fermentation Tests, together with some Considerations bearing on its possible Meaning," by E. W. A. Walker. "Chemical Action on Glucose of a variety of B. coli communis (Escherich) obtained by Cultivation in presence of a Chloroacetate," by A. Harden and W. J. Penfold. "Action of Enzymes on Hexosephosphate," by V. J. Harding. "Oxydases of Cytisus Adami,” by F. W. Keeble and E. F. Armstrong. Chemical, 8.30. "Formation of Neon as a Product of Radio-active Change," by Sir W. Ramsay. "Colour Intensity of Copper Salts," by S. U. Pickering. "Nitrites of the Mercurialkyl- and Mercurialkylaryl-ammonium Series," by P. C. Ray, N. Dhar, and T. De. "Analysis of the Waters of the Thermal Springs of Bath," by I. Masson and Sir W. Ramsay. "Studies on certain Aliphatic Hydroxy-acids," by H. J. H. Fenton and W. A. R. Wilks. "Formation of Seven- and Eight-membered Rings from 2: 2'-Ditolyl," by J. Kenner. "Studies of Dynamic Isomerism-Part XIII., Camphocarboxamide and Camphocarboxypiperidide, an illustration of Barlow and Pope's Hypothesis; Part XIV., Successive Isomeric Changes in Camphocarboxamide and Camphocarboxypiperidide," by W. H. Glover and T. M. Lowry. Contributions to the Chemistry of the Terpenes-Part XIII, The Preparation of Pure Bornylene," by G. G. Henderson and W. Caw. F. E. BECKER & CO., 17-27, HATTON WALL, E.C. L. OERTLING, MANUFACTURER OF BALANCES. Maker to H.M. Govt. (Standards Dept., the Government Laboratory, Royal Mint, India and Colonial Offices); the National Physical Laboratory; the Bank of England; Standards Bureau, Washington; &c. Chemical Balance. No. 30. NOTICES. 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