CHEMICAL NEWS, Dec. 16 1910 Chemical Notices from Foreign Sources. SOURCES. 305 NOTE.-All degrees of temperature are Centigrade unless otherwise expressed. Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académić des Sciences. Vol. cli., No. 17, October 24, 1910. Constituents of Coco Essence.-A. Haller and A. Lassieur.-The investigation of essence of coco shows that, apart from the acids separated by alkalis, which may result from the saponification of fatty substances, the following compounds are present: (i.) Methylheptyl, methylnony!, and methylundecyl ketones, the second of these constituting about 75 per cent of the mixture. (ii.) Dextro-methylheptyl and methylnonyl carbinols, i.e, the optical inverses of the alcohols found in essence of rue. (iii.) An unknown aldehyde. of Mr. Butler Burke was associated so prominently five | CHEMICAL NOTICES FROM FOREIGN years ago, and said that Burke's term "radiobe" might be adopted to describe the phenomena obtained by Leduc and himself. The growths which resulted from osmotic pressure were mineral radiobes. They were mineral productions growing without the stimulus of germs or even of radio-activity. A typical means of production, which he showed by way of experiment at the meeting, was to place a lump of calcium chloride freshly fused from the furnace, and free from any trace of life or germ or organic matter, and drop it into a solution of silicate of soda which had also been sterilised by heating. Within a few moments the calcium chloride would be observed to grow, and it would grow in such a manner as to suggest irresistibly an organic growth, although, of course, greatly quickened in its process. It would put forth a stem having a structure very like that of a tree, and this would grow up, not gradually but in a series of jerks and pushes, until on reaching a layer of the solution which was somewhat less dense than that through which it had passed, it would send out branches again very like those of a tree. By varying the minerals and solutions employed, an extraordinary variety of growths could be obtained, many of them simulating natural organisms. Nitrate in solution always gave a curious spiny projection. In Dr. Butcher's view, when the chloride of calcium was dropped into the sodium silicate solution, the water tore apart some of the molecules of the former, and the ions being set free to roam through the gas-he called it gas because osmotic pressure showed the same volume and temperature relationships as gaseous pressure, had the same absolute value, and was indeed gaseous pressure in disguise-they formed a precipitate with the ions of the silicate. According to Leduc, the field of liquid diffusion was very like an electric field in that it had positive and negative centres of diffusion and concentration. By taking advantage of these phenomena, and dropping certain chemical substances into the solution-nothing, however, that was not found in the organic structure it was hoped to simulate these when broken up by the two poles of diffusion would give markings and colours corresponding in a remarkable manner to those of a butterfly's wing or a peacock's tail or the plumage of a humming-bird. Hematin, again, in certain solutions would produce shapes not unlike the corpuscles of the blood. As to the bearing which the phenomena seen under osmotic pressure had upon the question of the mechanism of life, Dr. Butcher said that he did not suggest that osmotic growths were living organisms. Nor did he think that the question of life need enter into the matter at all. But in the osmotic growth they had a picture of the machinery which Nature employed in her growing or productive processes. Osmotic pressures were substantially the same force as that which lifted the sap in the tree or forced the plant through the soil. In his theory the dust from which the living being drew its energy, and to which it returned it, was more vitally concerned in the activity we called life than we had yet realised. We talked of germs, but the function of the germ was only to play Prince to the Sleeping Beauty, and to waken and re-awaken the life that lay dormant in the mineral dust. Huxley's piece of chalk which had once, through the myriad of micro-organisms that now lay frozen within it, enjoyed a carnival of life might live again. And what they saw when that piece of chalk was turned into calcium chloride, and on being placed in a sodium silicate solution grew before their eyes, was, in his judgment, a rapid and rough illustration of the method employed by Nature in the continual renewal of the vitality that lay, supposedly dead and inert, in the dust of the earth. Hydration of Metaphosphoric Acid.-D. Balareff.When metaphosphoric acid is hydrated in aqueous solution at different temperatures and concentrations it passes directly into the ortho-acid, no trace of pyro-acid being detected by analytical methods.-Zeit. Anorg. Chem., No. 3. Nitrous Ethers of Cellulose.-Paul Nicolardot and Georges Chertier.-To prepare nitrous ethers of cellulose it is best to allow nitrous vapours to act upon it in a nitric medium. With dilute acid a large quantity of nitrous ethers mixed with nitric ethers containing only a little nitrogen is obtained. With stronger nitric acid a smaller yield of nitrous and nitric ethers is obtained. These nitrous ethers can be separated from the nitrites by dissolving in acetone in which only the former are soluble. The nitrous ethers are easily saponified by water at the ordinary temperature. Concentrated acids, except acetic acid, saponify them in the cold. Zeitschrift für Anorganische Chemie. Purification of Colloids by Dialysis.-R. Zsigmondy and R. Heyer.- In experiments in which the suitability of different membranes (parchment, collodion, fish-bladder, &c.) for dialysis was tested it was found that fish-bladder purification of colloidal silicic acid was tested from time is superior to the other membranes. The progress of the to time, and it was found that by dialysis with frequent few days. The experiments were repeated in dialysers in change of water chlor-ions can be practically removed in a which the water was continually changed, and the same results were obtained. A new dialyser was constructed in which the large water holder of the ordinary form was replaced by a cylindrical vessel of large sectional area and small altitude, and the layer of water was rapidly replaced by a current of fresh water. This new form of apparatus enables colloids to be purified by dialysis much more rapidly than in the old form. Binary Systems of Calcium Metasilicate with Calcium Fluoride and Calcium Chloride.-B. Karandeeff.-Calcium metasilicate and fluoride do not form a compound with one another. The eutectic corresponds to about 48 mol. per cent of calcium fluoride or 38.2 parts by weight per cent of calcium fluoride; the eutectic temperature is 1130°, and the eutectic consists of calcium fluoride and wollastonite. Calcium metasilicate and calcium chloride do not form any compound. The eutectic contains only very little CaSiO3, and the eutectic temperature. lies about 8° below the melting-point of calcium chloride (7720). Between 30 and 40 mol. per cent CaF2 (about 1200°) and between 50 and 60 mol. per cent CaCl2 (about 1150°) there is a sharp change in the structure of the con glomerate, which is probably due to the transformation of pseudowollastonite into wollastonite. Silver-cadmium Alloys.-G. Bruni and E. Quercigh. From the melting-point curves of silver-cadmium alloys the authors have found that mixed crystals exist containing from 0-80 and from 87-100 atoms per cent Cd. Two compounds exist, viz., AgCd and AgCd4. Alloys of 80-87 atoms per cent Cd in the solid state form an agglomerate of AgCd4 and mixed crystals. New Metal Carbonyls. - Ludwig Mond, Heinrich Hirtz, and Matthewman Dalton Cowap.-When carbon monoxide acts on nickel, cobalt, iron, and molybdenum at high pressures the following metallic carbonyls are formed: _Ni(CO)4. Co(CO)4, C5(CO)3, Fe(CO)5, Fez(CO)g. Fe(CO)4, Mo(CO)6. Ruthenium also forms a compound. These carbonyls bear a strong resemblance to one another chemically. They decompose into carbon monoxide and the metal on heating, the metal being precipitated in the form of a bright metallic mirror. Acids which do not oxidise do not attack them, but oxidising acids rapidly dissolve them; the aqueous solutions of the halogens act on them very quickly with evolution of carbon monoxide. At least one carbonyl of each metal can be volatilised without undergoing decomposition, and can be purified by distillation or sublimation. They are all more or less soluble in the ordinary organic solvents, such as ether, alcohol, benzene, &c., and insoluble in water. As regards physical properties the carbonyls are very different; thus nickel tetracarbonyl (a liquid which evaporates very quickly) has a specific gravity 132, while diferroenneacarbonyl has a specific gravity 2.085. Some carbonyls can be obtained in the gaseous, liquid, or solid state, others only in the solid and gaseous states, and others only as solids. It is exceedingly difficult to find a general chemical formula for these compounds. It cannot be assumed that all the carbonyls are directly bound to the iron, as then the valencies of cobalt would be 8 and 6, and those of iron 8, 9, and 10. A cyclic formula does not explain all their properties, for if, for example, both nickel and cobalt tetracarbonylCO-CO CO-CO CO-CO are supposed to have the same constitution, it is difficult to understand why the cobalt compound should have the double molecular weight in benzene solution, and why one of its carbonyl groups can be split off more easily than the others. Moreover, the compound Fe2(CO), cannot belong to the same series as the others. It appears probable that the compounds have a molecular rather than an atomic composition, the carbonyl taking the place of water of crystallisation, or of hydration, but this assumption is contradicted by the fact that the gaseous compounds have the normal gas densities. Heat Evolved by the Decomposition of Ozone.Anton Kailan and Stephan Jahn.-The heat evolved when ozone is decomposed at constant volume is 34.500 calories per grm.-molecule, this result being accurate to per The experiments were performed using soda-lime as a catalyser. With other catalysers, e.g., platinum black, rather higher values were obtained. cent. Researches on the Complexity of Tellurium.— W. R. Flint.-A large quantity of tellurium of atomic weight 127.5 was prepared. After ten hydrolytic fractionations with hot water of a solution of this preparation in hydrochloric acid, a product was obtained which consisted of the dioxide. The atomic weight of the tellurium of the tenth fraction was 124 3. Atomic weight determinations with the intermediate fractions gave 126.6 and 125'4, and thus a progressive lowering of the atomic weight occurs. Thus 124 3 appears to be the nearest approximation yet reached to the atomic weight of elementary tellurium. Fractionation by the hydrolysis of the nitrate was next attempted, but it is impossible to say from the results at present obtained whether this method is more rapid than the hydrolysis of the chlorine. The reactions of the less easily hydrolysed part agree with those of tellurium except in one particular. Gravimetric Determination of Vanadium as Silver Vanadate.-Philip E. Browning and Howard E. Palmer. -Vanadium can be determined as silver vanadate if to a neutral solution of ammonium vanadate nitric acid is added, and then ammonium hydroxide, and the solution is then boiled to expel the ammonia. Silver nitrate is then added in excess to the boiling solution. MISCELLANEOUS. The Physical Society's Annual Exhibition. This Exhibition, which is to be held on Tuesday, the 20th inst., will be opened in both the afternoon (from 3 to 6 p.m.) and in the evening (from 7 to 10 p.m.). Prof. J. A. Fleming, F.R.S., will give a discourse at 4.15, and again at 8 p.m., on "Some Improvements in Transmitters and Receivers for Wireless Telegraphy"; and Mr. R. W. Paul will give a number of cinematrograph demonstrations of some "Physical Phenomena." The following firms will be exhibiting:-R. and J. Beck, Ltd.; British Radio-Telegraph and Telephone Co., Ltd.; Cambridge Scientific Instrument Co.; Casella and Co.; A. C. Cossor, Ltd.; H. W. Cox and Co., Ltd.; Crompton and Co., Ltd.; J. H. Dallmeyer, Ltd.; Elliott Bros.; Everett, Edgcumbe, and Co.; Gallenkamp and Co.; Gambrell Bros.; J. J. Griffin and Sons; Hicks and Co.; A. Hilger, Ltd.; Indiarubber, Guttapercha, and Telegraph Works, Ltd.; Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Co.; Leslie Miller; Muirhead and Co.; Nalder Bros. and Thompson; Negretti and Zambra; Newton and Co.; R. W. Paul; W. G. Pye and Co.; Strange and Graham; H. Tinsley; Townson and Mercer; Weston Electrical Instrument Co.; Wright and Co.; Carl Zeiss. We understand that invitations have been given to the Institution of Electrical Engineers, the Faraday Society, the Optical Society, and the Röntgen Society. Admission in all cases will be by ticket only, and therefore members of the Societies just mentioned (including also the Physical Society) desiring to attend the Exhibition should apply to the Secretary of the Society to which they belong. The Franklin Institute. Award of Medals. - Recom mendations to the Science and Arts Committee of the Franklin Institute of its Special Committee on the Award of the Elliott Cresson Medal to Distinguish Scientists and Technologists : For distinguished leading and directive work in electrical discovery and in the advancement of electrical application," to Edward Weston, Esq., D.Sc., LL.D., Newark, N.J. For "distinguished leading and directive work in the advancement of our knowledge of the physical sciences," to Joseph John Thomson, D.Sc., LL.D., Knight, Cavendish Professor of Experimental Physics, Cambridge University, England. For "distinguished leading and directive work in the advancement of our knowledge of metallurgical science," to Robert A. Hadfield. D.Sc., LL.D., Knight. For "distinguished leading and directive work in the fields of agricultural and physiological chemistry." to Harvey W. Wiley, Esq., M.D., Ph.D., LL.D., Chief Chemist to the Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. For "distinguished leading and directive work in the development of the iron and steel industries," to John Fritz, Esq., Bethlehem, Pa. For "distinguished leading and directive work in the production and perfection of instruments for astronomical research," to John A. Brashear, Sc.D.,, LL.D., of Pittsburgh, Pa. MEETINGS FOR THE WEEK. TUESDAY, 20th.-Physical, 3 and 7. Exhibition of Electrical, Optical, and other Physical Apparatus at the Imperial College of Science. Experimental Discourse on Detonators, by Dr. J. A. Fleming. WEDNESDAY, 23rd.-Microscopical, 8. "Modern Methods of Research on a Scientific Cruiser" (illustrated by Lantern Slides), by A. Earland. The above Index includes Fifty Years, or One Hundred complete Volumes, of the CHEMICAL NEWS, and therefore will be of the greatest importance in searching for any Article or Abstract, as it will obviate the necessity of going through each separate Half-yearly Index. } The price will be £2, but Subscribers who order before the date of publication will be supplied with a copy for £1 15s. (Carriage extra). Orders should be sent to "General Index," CHEMICAL NEWS Office. ADVERTISERS can obtain particulars of terms on application to the Advert sement Manager, CHEMICAL NEWS Office, 16, Newcastle Street, Farringdon St eet, London, E.C. 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