CHEMICAL NEWS, Melting-points of Chemical Elements. = 129 At high temperatures some of the values are quite uncertain; thus, while the melting-point of platinum may be considered accurately known to 10° C., that of tungsten Temperatures is possibly uncertain by 50° C. or more. centigrade are rounded off, and the exact Fahrenheit equivalents are usually given. Melting-points of the Chemical Elements. Element. C. F. <-271 - 456 -259 -434 -253 ? -423 -223 -369 -218 - 360 -210 -346 -188 July 28th, 1915, was to delegate to independent experts, exactly_by_taking_c2=14 350 in the formula for Wien's the duty of devising the methods by which scientific and law (U.S. Bureau of Standards Circular No. 7, or Scientific industrial research should be encouraged and developed. Paper No. 11) connecting I^, monochron atic luminous The Advisory Council, as we shall see, have carried this intensity of wave-length λ, and T, absolute temperature :— principle_through in all the proposals which they have made. The Government had reached the conclusion, I c A-5 e' AT. For all purposes, except the most before they issued the Order in Council establishing the accurate investigations, the thermodynamic scale is new organisation, that action was needed in three main identical with any of the gas scales. directions. In the first place research was needed in a number of directions hitherto neglected; secondly, it would be necessary to establish new institutions or to develop existing institutions for the scientific study of problems affecting particular industries and trades. And finally it was clear that the number of trained research workers in the country was inadequate to our needs. The information possessed by the Board of Education was clear on this point, and had led the President, Mr. Joseph Pease (now Lord Gainford), to urge the establishment of the new organisation which your Lordship later set up as an independent department. All these three main lines of action were mentioned in the original Order in Council, and proposals in regard to them stood referred to the Advisory Council. How did the Council proceed? They began as an interim measure by recommending the Minister to assist a number of researches conducted by scientific and professional societies which were languishing as a result of the war, and they also recommended grants to the National Physical Laboratory for an urgent research into the methods of manufacturing optical glass, and to a committtee at the Central School of Pottery at Stoke-onTrent for research into the manufacture of hard porcelain This research has had most from British materials. successful and promising results. Meantime the Council have gradually and steadily worked out, in consultation with university professors and teachers in technical schools, with the leaders in many of our principal industries, and with each of the Government Departments, a systematic procedure along the whole front, which has not only commended itself to the responsible Minister and to the Government of the day, but has been adopted or is being adopted by each of the self-governing Dominions with variations suited to local conditions, and by three at least of our Allies (America, France, and Japan). I will divide the field of work into the three main divisions already indicated and will deal with them, for convenience, in the following order: (i.) The encouragement of research workers; (ii.) The organisation of research by industries, and (iii.) The organisation of national research. Helium Rubidium.. Sulphur Indium - 169 -306 - 272 -220 - 150'7 -37'97 +189 79 86 MELTING POINTS OF CHEMICAL ELEMENTS | Praseodymium REVISED, JULY 15, 1918. THIS table of melting-points of the chemical elements is issued in answer to numerous requests for this information. The values of the melting-points used by the Bureau of Standards as standard temperatures for the calibration of thermometers and pyrometers are indicated in capitals. The other values have been assigned after a careful survey of all the available data. As nearly as may be, all values, in particular the standard points, have been reduced to a common scale, the thermodynamic scale. For high temperatures, and for use with optical pyrometers, this scale is satisfied very GOLD 940 1724 Germanium 958 1756 SILVER.. 960'5 1760 9 PALLADIUM 1549 2820 ZINC Variation with pressure (pressure in mm. of Hg). C°-1830+001258 (p-760) -0.0000079 (760). C° = −78·5+0 01595 (p −760) – -0.0000111 (p − 760)2. C° = 100+0·03670 (p—760) −0·00002046 (p − 760)'. =217 96+0058 (p-760). '=305·9+0·063 (p −760). (f) C°-444·6+0·0908 (p −760) −0·000047 (p − 760)2. U.S. Bureau of Standards Circular No. 35, 3rd Edition. THE Government have placed a fund of a million sterling at the disposal of the Research Department to enable it to encourage the industries to undertake research, and the Advisory Council for Scientific and Industrial Research have recommended, after consultation with manufacturers and others, that this new fund should be expended on a co-operative basis in the form of liberal contributions by the Department towards the income raised by voluntary associations of manufacturers established for the purpose of research. By this method the systematic development of research and the co-operation of science with industry will be carried out under the direct control of the industries themselves. The fund for each industry will be expended by a Committee or Board appointed by the contributing firms in the industry, and the results obtained will be available for the benefit of the contributing firms. It is anticipated that each firm subscribing to a research organisation will have the following privileges :— (i.) It will have the right to put technical questions and. to have them answered as fully as possible within the scope of the research organisation and its allied associa tions. (ii.) It will have the right to recommend specific subjects. for research, and if the Committee or Board of the research organisation of that industry consider the recommendation of sufficient general interest and importance, the research will be carried out without further cost to the firm making the recommendation, and the results will be available to all the firms in the organisation. (iii.) It will have the right to the use of any patents or secret processes resulting from all researches undertaken without payment for licences, or at any rate on only nominal payment as compared with firms outside the organisation. (iv.) It will have the right to ask for a specific piece of research to be undertaken for its sole benefit at cost price, and, if the Governing Committee or Board approve, the research will be undertaken. No firm outside the organisation will have any of these rights. It will often be advisable for a Research Associa tion to set up a Bureau of Information which will give to each of its members technical information relating to the ORDERS OF THE MINISTRY OF MUNITIONS. industry. If this is done each firm will have the following orders as follows: 1. The operation of the said Order is hereby suspended on and after the date hereof (March 4) until further notice. 2. Such suspension shall not affect the previous operation of the said Order or the validity of any action taken thereunder, or the liability to any penalty or punishment in respect of any contravention or failure to comply with the said Order prior to such suspension, or any proceedings or remedy in respect of any such penalty or punishment. 3. This Order may be cited as the Converter Plant Control (Suspension) Order, 1919. as follows: 1. The operation of the said Order is hereby suspended on and after May 1, 1919, until further notice. 2. Such suspension shall not affect the previous operation of the said Order or the validity of any action taken thereunder, or the liability to any penalty or punishment in respect of any contravention or failure to comply with the said Order prior to such suspension, or any proceeding or remedy in respect of such penalty or punishment. 3. This Order may be cited as the Rosin Control uspension) Order, 1919. privileges: (i) It will receive a regular service of summarised technical information which will keep it abreast of the technical developments in the industry at home and abroad. (ii.) It will be able to obtain a translated copy of any foreign article in which it may be specially interested and to which its attention will have been drawn by the periodical bulletin. The method of assessing the subscription of each firm will have to be determined in negotiation with each industry or section of an industry which may agree to combine for the purposes of research, but the intention is that firms should contribute on a basis proportionate to their size. The Department is advised that the best machinery for the purpose in view is the establishment of Research companies limited by guarantee of a nominal sum, e.g., £1 and working without profit, i.e., without the division of profits among the members in the form of dividends. Any such Association will be qualified to apply for grants towards its income from the Research Department under stated conditions, and when necessary a Government grant will be given for a period of years to be agreed upon. The whole of the results of researches conducted by any Research Association will belong to the Association itself, which will hold them in trust for the benefit of its members, but the Government will keep in its own bands two powers-the right of veto in case any proposal is CHEMICAL NEWS, March 14, 1919 Pressure upon the Poles of the Electric Arc. 131 made by a Research Association to communicate any results of research to a foreign person, or to a foreign corporation, and the right, after consultation with the Association concerned, of communicating the results of discoveries to other industries for their use on suitable terms. The Department will not, however, make any results obtained by a Research Association available to firms or individuals who are eligible for membership of❘tion would proceed regularly in one direction with rise of that Association but have not joined it. Thus the policy of the Research Department is to delegate the prosecution of industrial research on a co-operative basis to the industries themselves, working through voluntary associations of firms engaged in producing similar articles or using the same materials. It is hoped and anticipated that these Associations will co-operate with each other in the solution of problems of common interest, and the Department intends to do its utmost to encourage such alliances. It is also anticipated that the Associations will make every possible use of existing facilities for scientific research whether at the Universities and Technical Colleges, or at such central institutions as the National Physical Laboratory. There will be ample scope for all these agencies as well as for any special research institutes which the Research Associations may establish in future for their own purposes. PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. ROYAL SOCIETY. THE following papers were read : "Scattering of Light by Solid Substances." By Hon. R. J. STRUTT, F.R.S. Giasses of all kinds show a strong internal scattering of light. The beam viewed laterally is strongly, but not completely, polarised. Yellow and smoky quartz also show a strong scattering. One specimen gave a polarisation so nearly complete that an analysis set for minimum intensity transmitted only o7 of 1 per cent of the scattered light. If a polarised beam is passed along the axis of such a quartz crystal, there are for a given wave-length maxima and minima of scattered light along the length of the beam. This is due to the rotatory property. Owing to rotatory dispersion the period is different for different wave-lengths, and coloured bands result. The clearest and whitest quartz has some scattering power, though much less than that of glass or liquids. In one case examined the intensity was about eight times that due to dust-free air at atmospheric pressure. This small scattering is considered to be due to inclusions, as in the case of visibly smoky or yellow quar z. The regular atomic structure, which has a period small compared with the wave-length of ordinary light, should give no scattering. For very short wave-lengths (X-rays) the well-known diffraction effects of crystals come in. "Constitution of Sulphur Vapour." By Sir JAMES DOBBIE, F.R.S., and J. J. Fox, D.Sc. after which it decreases as the temperature rises until 900° C. is reached, above which no further change occurs. The changes in absorptive power cannot be explained on the view that the more complex molecules which exist near the boiling-point gradually break down into diatomic molecules without the formation of molecules of intermediate complexity, for in that case the change of absorptemperature. The fact that it first increases to a maximum at 650° C. and then decreases points to the existence at that temperature of molecules more highly absorbent than either the octatomic or the diatomic molecules." The density of sulphur vapour at 650° C. corresponds closely with the molecular formula S3. It seems probable, therefore, that the highly absorbent sulphur molecules existing at that temperature have a constitution analogous to that of ozone, and it is noteworthy in this connection that the absorptive power of ozone is very much greater than that of ordinary oxygen. "Pressure upon the Poles of the Electric Arc." By W. G. DUFFIELD, D.Sc., T. H. BURNHAM, and A. H. DAVIS. For many reasons the projection of electrons from the cathode of an electric arc is to be expected, and the mechanism of the arc appears to require it. If this projection exists. it is likely to occasion a mechanical recoil upon the cathode. A pressure was looked for in 1912 and discovered. It remained to determine if the magnitude was such as to be accounted for by electronic projection. Numerous sets of observations upon anode and cathode were taken with varying current and arc length and different dispositions of apparatus. This generally consisted of an arm suspended by a torsion fibre and having a carbon pole fixed at right angles at one end, the arc being formed between this and a fixed carbon rod. Corrections were made for the torque due to the magnetic field of the earth and the rest of the circuit, and the outstanding pressure found to be about o 17 dyne per ampere, or when convection current effects were eliminated as far as possible, o 22 dyne per ampere. The effect does not appear to be due to radiometer action, and is about 200 times too small to be referred to the expulsion of carbon atoms at the boiling-point of that The ratio em may be calculated, since element. 2Pmnv, where P is the observed pressure over a hemispherical pole and n the number of carriers leaving the pole per second with velocity v; further the current c=ne, and if the potential drop across the pole face is V, we have Ve= mv. It follows that Using Duddell's datum for V we find e/m=6·4 × 10" and v-28 x 10 cm./sec. Making additional assumptions, of which the chief is that half the current is atom-borne, em 16 x 107 and 14x108 cm./sec. Such evidence as has been obtained thus favours the recoil being due to the projection of electrons. This conclusion is stated with some reserve, but there can be no doubt as to the existence of the pressure. The paper discusses the relation between this phenomenon and photoelectric and thermionic effects and the production of polar lines in arc spectra of metals. Investigations based on the determination of the vapour density leave the question of the existence of Royal Institution.-Next Tuesday, March 18, at sulphur molecules intermediate in complexity between 3 o'clock, Prof. A. Keith will deliver the first of a course S8 and S2 unsettled. The present paper contains an of four lectures at the Royal Institution on "British account of an attempt to solve the problem by the study Ethnology-the People of Scotland." On Thursday, of the absorptive power of the vapour of sulphur for light March 20, Prof. C. H. Lees will give the first of two under various conditions of temperature. When light lectures on "Fire Cracks and the Forces Producing them." from a suitable source is passed through the vapour and The Friday discourse on March 21, at 5.30, will be deexamined with the spectroscope at successively higher tem-livered by Prof. W. W. Watts on "Fossil Landscapes"; peratures it is found that the amount of absorption caused on March 28 the Right Hon. Sir J. H. A. Macdonald on by the vapour gradually increases up to about 650° C., "The Air Road." NOTICES OF BOOKS. Petroleum Refining. By ANDREW CAMPBELL. London: Charles Griffin and Co., Ltd. 1918. Pp. xv+297. Price 258. net. Up to the present there has been no book in the English language devoted exclusively to the subject of petroleum refining, but this gap In our literature is now well filled by this very useful treatise, in which the ordinary methods of treatment, not including "cracking," are excellently described. The examination of the crude oil is fistently cussed in perhaps rather unnecessary detail; for example, there ought to be no need to explain to the technologist how to convert temperatures from the Fahrenheit to the Centigrade scale. Full directions are given for the per formance of flash-point determinations, and an extensive account is provided of the Lovibond tintometer and its use in colour determination. The second chapter is devoted to a description of the equivalent and arrange ment of the refinery, and then the methods employed are discussed in turn, many diagrams and plans being provided as well as illustrations, sometimes not specially instructive, of machinery and plant. A short account is given of candle-making. Detailed engineering specificatious are provided, and a particularly full list of references to the literature of petroleum refining, in which all articles, &c., in the English language, which are likely to be useful to the refiner, are included. BOOKS Received. "Osmotic Pressure." BY ALEXANDER FINDLAY, M.A., D.Sc., F.I.C. Second Edition. London, New York, Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras: Longmans, Green, and Co. 1919. Pp. xi+116. Price 6s. net. "Chimica delle Sostanze Esplosive." By MICHELE ssistant Analyst (Woman), four years' experience in General Analytical Laboratory (Foods, Brewingsugars and Malts, Chemicals, &c.), desires London permanency. Matriculated with Chemistry. Salary £150.-Address, V. A. H., London, E.C. 4. CHEMICAL NEWS Office, 16, Newcastle Street, Farringdon Street, Assistant, aged 21 to 24 years, required in Analyst's Laboratory.--Write, giving particulars of experience, | &c., to O. A., care of Street's, 30, Cornhill, E.C. 3. Chemist, aged 24, seeks permanent Position in Laboratory in or near London. Seven years' experience in analysis of Oils, Fats, Waxes, Soaps, Glycerin. Knowledge of Street, Farringdon Street, London. E.C. 4. French.-Address, "C. 24," CHEMICAL Nxws Office, 16, Newcastle Dem emobilised Cadet (19) requires Situation in One year's previous experience.- Address, J. C. H., 23, Westcott Street, Hull. Passed Inter. B.Sc. French Young Man, aged 20 (French Bacca laureate Sc. Phil.), requires Employment in Chemical Works or Laboratory.-Address, J. M. Lerpette, 22, Rue des Guetteries, Tours (T. es L.), France. The Council of the INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTRY are proceeding to the appointment of an ASSISTANT SECRETARY, at an initial salary of £450 per annum. -Candidates, who must be Members of the Institute, are invited to communicate at once with the REGISTRAR, Institute of Chemistry, 30, Russell Square, London, W.C. 1. One Works Analytical Chemist required. Agricultural and Horticultural Preparations. State full particulars conversant with Soap Manufacture, Nicotine Extractions, and and salary required.--Address, W. A., CHEMICAL NEWS Office, Newcastle Street, Farringdon Street, London, E.C. 4. GIUA. Milan: Ulrico Hoepli. 1919. Pp. xvi+556. Experienced Research Chemist and Analyst, Price L.28. MISCELLANEOUS. Motor Owners Further Action.-The National Council of the Commercial Motor Users Association (Incorporated) has been informed that the Government with excellent Laboratory facilities in City, is now free to undertake RESEARCHES connected with the manufacture o CHEMICALS, INTERMEDIATES, DYES, &c.; also the Utilisation of WASTE PRODUCTS and all classes of ANALYSIS."Laboratory," 7, 8, & 9, Bolt Court, Fleet Street, London. SWANSEA TECHNICAL COLLEGE. will shortly require employers to join a suitable FederaWanted, a STEWARD for the CHEMICAL tion in order to regularise dealings with Labour. The Council has accordingly entered into an arrangement with the Motor Transport Employers Federation under which the new condilions can be met by haulage contractors and other owners of commercial motor wagons or Captain F. G. Bristow, who is Secretary to the two vans. LABORATORY. Good wages to a competent man. Apply in writing, stating experience, to the PRINCIPAL. T. J. REES. Education Offices, Swansea. bodies, can be addressed at 83, Pall Mall, London, S.W., HERIOT-WATT COLLEGE, EDINBURGH. for fuller information. MEETINGS FOR THE WEEK. MONDAY, 17th.-Royal Society of Arts, 4 30. (Cantor Lectures). "Coal THURSDAY, 20th.-Royal Institution, 3. "Fire Cracks and the Forces producing them," by Prof. C. H. Lees. Chemical Society, 8. "Rotatory Dispersive Power of Organic Compounds-Part IX., Simple Rotatory Dispersion in the Terpene Series." by T. M. Lowry and H. H. Abram. FRIDAY, 21st.-Royal Institution, 5.30 "Fossil Landscapes," by Prof. W. W. Watts. SATURDAY, 22nd.-Roval Institution, 3. "Spectrum Analysis and its Application to Atomic Structure," by Prof. Sir J. J. Thomson, O.M. Principal-A. P. LAURIE, M.A., D.Sc. PECIAL FIRST, SECOND, and THIRD SPE YEAR INTENSIVE COURSES for Students demobilised from the Forces will commence on APRIL 15 next and continue till JULY 25, in the subjects of MECHANICAL ENGINEERING, These Courses will be suitable for Students de ing to refresh their knowledge, or who wish to qualify for the Diploma of the College, and will count as equivalent to one year of the usual Three Years' Course for the Diploma, either in the First, Second, or Third Years. Fee, 12 125.; Matriculation Fee, ss.. APPLIED CHEMISTRY. Similar Courses in Applied Chemistry can also be obtained. The attention of Demobilised Students is directed to the arrangements made by the Government for Payment of Fees and Maintenance of approved applicants. Students desiring to enrol must apply, stating full particulars as to their pre-war University or Technical College training to the Interim Principal. Chemical Laboratory of Marvard College CHEMICAL NEWS AND JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL SCIENCE Proprietor and Editor, Sir Wm. Crookes, O.M., F.R.S.] (WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE "CHEMICAL GAZETTE"). Established. Published Weekly. Annual Subscription, free by post Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Class Mail Matter. Transmissible through the Post-United Kingdom, at Newspaper rate; Canada and Newfoundland, at Magazine rate. Friday, March 21, 1919. PAGE 133 ...... 134 The Case for a Ring Electron, by H. S. Allen ...... ............................. 137 Handy Factors, by Elton A Nash 139 Volumetric Determination of Reducing Sugars, by W. B. Clark. 140 Orders of the Ministry of Munitions 142 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES CHEMICAL SOCIETY .. OBITUARY.-Prof. Edward Charles Pickering .... 143 CH MICAL NOTICES FROM FORBIOR SOURCES............... 143 MEETINGS FOR THE WEEK...... ........... 144 Registered as PRICE 4d. EDITED BY W. P. DREAPER, F.I.C. CATALYTIC HYDROGENATION and REDUCTION. MOLECULAR PHYSICS. By J. A. CROWTHER, M.A. CHEMICAL ENGINEERING. Notes on Grinding, Sifting Separating, and Transporting Solide. By J. W. 2s. 6d. net, NOTES on CHEMICAL RESEARCH. By W. P. NOW READY. NEW (3RD) EDITION. 60 Illustrations and many OSTWALD'S COLLOID CHEMISTRY. The Recognition of Colloids, Theory of Colloids, and their Translated into English by Dr. MARTIN FISCHER, Professor of With 207 Diagrams. 21s. net, postage 6d. CHEMICAL COMBINATION AMONG METALS. MOLINARI'S INO CANIC CHEMISTRY, INDUSTRIAL. Translated by E. FYLEMAN, B.Sc., Ph.D., F.C.S. TOGNOLI'S REAGENTS AND REACTIONS. Translated by C. AINSWORTH MITCHELL, B. A., F.I.C. CHEMICAL APPARATUS Pure Chemicals for Research Work. JOHN J. CRIFFIN & SONS, LTD., KINGSWAY, LONDON, W.C |