In 1862 the Society attained its majority, when its Fellows had increased from the original 77 to 360. Hofmann, then President, was able to declare that "by the number of our body, by the value of its contributions to science, by the increasing interests which our proceedings elicit, we have secured a respectable position in the world. We may look with some degree of satisfaction upon the achievements of our youth, and from the result of the past derive encouragement for the future." (To be continued).

CHEMICAL NOTICES FROM FOREIGN
SOURCES.

NOTE.-All degrees of temperature are Centigrade unless otherwise expressed.

prove to be of medium quality when introduced into the soil. This is a result which has already been reached by practical men, especially with beetroot seed.

Modification of Method of Sterilising Drinking Water by Sodium Hypochlorite.-V. Ferrand.-To sterilise water by sodium hypochlorite the reagent is shaken with the water which is allowed to stand for at least an hour, and then the free chlorine is neutralised by sodium hyposulphite. When hydrogen peroxide is added to sodium hypochlorite the reaction which takes place is represented by the equation NaCIO + H2O2=CINa+ H2O+O2, and the author has found that hydrogen peroxide can conveniently be used to replace hyposulphite in the sterilisation of water. The destruction of microbes of the coli group is thus effected much more quickly than by the usual method.

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

Kelly's Directory of Chemists and Druggists. 13th Edition, 1916. London: Kelly's Directories, Ltd., 182, 183, 184, High Holborn, W.C. Price 258.

THIS valuable directory, just issued, has been corrected up to the latest date. It includes the names and addresses not only of chemists and druggists, but also of manufacturing chemists, wholesale druggists, drysalters, dentists, veterinary surgeons, hospitals, surgical instrument makers, photographers, photographic material makers, and all other trades connected therewith in England, Scotland, and Wales, and the principal towns in Ireland, the Isle of Man, and Channel Islands.

The work runs into nearly 800 pages, and the system of cross indexing enables the information to be gained with a minimum of labour.

At the present time, when the state of the chemical and allied industries is of such supreme importance, the directory is very welcome, and the publishers are to be congratulated at having overcome the abnormal difficulties connected with its issue during the war.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie
des Sciences. Vol. clxii. No. 12, March 20, 1916.
Influence of Hydrogen Peroxide on Germination.
-E. Demoussy.-Some chemical reagents appear to
possess the power of making the germinative power re-
appear in seeds which have lost it owing to age; chlorine,
water, and hydrogen peroxide have been mentioned as
being capable of producing this effect. The author has
studied the action of hydrogen peroxide on cress seeds
which were seven years old. These seeds when placed in
distilled water, but not submerged, would not germinate
at 27, usually a favourable temperature for their develop
ment. But in dilute hydrogen peroxide germination
began on the third day, and reached 30 per cent of the
grains after ten days. On further diluting the solution the
result was still better. Previous soaking, even for a very
long time, in H2O2 is not effectual, but the reagent has to
be actually present during the germination. Old seeds in
pure water at 27° are invaded by microbes, the develop-
ment of which is very rapid, beginning on the second or
third day. This does not occur in hydrogen peroxide.
At the temperature of the laboratory, varying from 10° to
14°, the results were not the same; all the seeds began to
germinate about the sixth day. Thus seeds which are
capable of germinating in the cold do not do so at 27°, a
temperature which is very favourable to the germination
of young seeds. At a low temperature the development of
microbes is very slow, only becoming apparent towards
the tenth day, after germination has begun. In old seeds MONDAY, 15th.-Royal Society of Arts, 4.30.
the germinative energy is greatly diminished, and the
development begins only after a relatively long time
together with that of their parasites. Thus there is a
struggle for oxygen, and the advantage rests with one or
the other according to the conditions. When the seeds
are placed in hydrogen peroxide this reagent opposes the
evolution of the microbes but not that of the seeds, so that

germination occurs at every temperature. The same
seeds which did not germinate in pure water at 27°
do germinate (in the proportion of 25 per cent) when
placed in damp sand; this is because the surface of
aeration is greater and the action of oxygen is facilitated.
Thus old seeds may have preserved their germinative
power and yet not germinate in conditions favourable
for young seeds, if these conditions are also favourable for
the development of parasitic micro-organisms which
asphyxiate them. The seeds germinate if their oxidation
is facilitated and if the evolution of the micro-organisms
is retarded. When seeds are tested for germinating power
in the laboratory some may be found to be bad which would

Our Notes and Queries column was opened for the purpose of giving and obtaining information likely to be of use to our readers generally. We cannot undertake to let this column be the means of transmitting merely private information, or such trade notices as should legitimately come in the advertisement columns.

Nitre Cake-As we are interested in the question of nitre cake as a substitute for sulphuric acid, we shall be greatly obliged for the names of the firms who are endeavouring to make this.-HARDING, RICHARDSON, RHODES, and Co., Ltd.

MEETINGS FOR THE WEEK.

(Cantor Lecture). Vibrations, Waves, and Resonance," by J. Erskine-Murray.

TUESDAY, 16th.-Royal Institution, 3. Unconscious Nerves-Their
Functions in Internal Life," by Prof. Charles S.
Sherrington.

WEDNESDAY,

Institution of Petroleum Technologists, 8. "Petroleum Refining," by A. Campbell.

17th.-Royal Society of Arts, 4.30. "Hindu Hand-painted Calicos of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, and their Influence on the Tinctorial Arts of Europe," by G. P. Baker. Microscopical, 8. "Some Suggestions regarding Visual Efficiency in the Use of the Microscope and other Optical Instruments," by J. W. Purkiss. "A Case of Apparent Intelligence exhibited by a Marine Tube-building Worm, Terebella conchilega," by A. T. Watson. "Alien Oligochaets in England-Dichogaster lageniformis, sp. n.," by Rev. H. Friend. THURSDAY, 18th.-Royal Institution, 3. "Flint and Flint Implements," by Sir Ray Lankester. FRIDAY, 19th -Royal Institution, 5.30. "The Movements of the SATURDAY, 20th.-Royal Institution, 3. "The Finance of the Great Earth's Pole," by Col. E. H. Hills. War-New Problems and New Solutions," by Prof. H. S. Foxwell.

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