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A RETROSPECT.

WITH the present number the CHEMICAL NEWS begins the fifty-first year of its existence. It made its first appearance December 10th, 1859. A brief recapitulation of the objects and aims it was intended to fulfil, and some account of its career, will probably interest those subscribers who have not followed its fortunes from the beginning.

In 1859 most of the present day scientific periodicals did not exist, and the spread of chemical knowledge was slow and restricted. Thus the Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft is quite the younger brother of the CHEMICAL NEWs, and the German Chemical Society of Berlin was not founded till 1868. In the early fifties there was no weekly English newspaper to record the rapid advances of chemical science either in this country or on the Continent. The Journal of the Chemical Society was then as now a valuable record of the work of English Chemists; it was not until much later that it began to publish abstracts of Papers from Continental chemical journals. These extracts were recognised as of extreme importance, and by their aid English Chemists were easily placed au courant of the latest researches and discoveries of their foreign fellow workers.

The great chemists and physicists of those days contributed many priceless Papers to the early volumes of the CHEMICAL NEWs. Frankland, Kolbe, Graham, Liebig, Faraday, Tyndall were all eagerly researching, probing, verifying, and building-up the new knowledge; while Mendeleeff and Kekulé, Kirchoff and Bunsen had far from exhausted their amazing hypotheses and discoveries. The first announcement of the discovery of the element Thallium was given to the world in our third voluine. In addition many of the brilliant eager younger men were coming to the front, and it is to the CHEMICAL NEWS they looked to spread the knowledge of their hitherto unrecognised work. Many of these early contributors are still amongst us, and time has proved that the CHEMICAL NEWS showed judgment and sagacity in publishing their first researches. Faraday's famous lectures before the Royal Institution on "Various Forces of Matter" and on the "Chemical History of a Candle" were

reproduced verbatim in the first volume. Tyndall's Lectures were also fully reported. Frankland's remarkably lucid discourses on "Inorganic Chemistry," which summarised practically all that was then known of the subject, are still worth reading, and clearly show how the way was paved for subsequent discoveries.

Turning over the pages of the early volumes one cannot but be struck with the thought how much was known, and again how much was not known, in the last half of the nineteenth century. Thus, organic chemistry and the doctrine of the atom were already sturdy developments of the earlier decades. The period of the discovery of fresh elements must be put a little earlier, though announcements of great importance upon this subject followed rapidly. Spectral and microscopic analysis were both in their infancy, although the germ of the modern doctrine of valency had practically been contained in Frankland's work on the organo-metallic derivatives. Photographic chemistry was in some respects well advanced, and technical chemistry was growing with unparalleled rapidity. On the other hand, many important undecided questions were freely discussed in the pages of the CHEMICAL NEWS. At the time of the appearance of the earlier numbers the formula of water was written HO, and that of potassium nitrate KNO6, isomerism and stereo-isomerism had not as yet found an explanation, the cathode rays had not been detected, and physical chemistry was practically unknown. The reaching of high temperatures was an achievement to be reported in a later volume, and low temperature research was of a still later date; while the sister science of radio-activity, with its powerful influence upon the whole trend of modern thought, was not even in the realm of dreams. Many important discoveries in technical chemistry, such as the application of scientific methods to manufacturing processes and to the solution of agricultural problems, &c., were later developments. The knowledge of chemistry possessed by the general public was infinitesimal, an ignorance due partly to lack of facilities. Above all it is strange to reflect that in 1859 the Periodic Law was unknown. This great generalisa. tion which has thrown so much light upon the meaning of chemical phenomena had not yet been put before the scientific world. Newlands' "Law

Speaking generally, the period beginning 1859 was rather a period of the investigation of details both in organic and inorganic chemistry than an age of great generalisations; and the work of most original investigators consisted of the patient accumulation of information upon lines already well and clearly defined. Possibly we are now on the brink of the formulation of a new set of laws epitomising and bringing together what appear at present to be unrelated and isolated facts. The time seems ripe for fresh generalisations.

And how has the CHEMICAL NEWS fulfilled its aims? Looking back upon its career can it be said to have performed the two-fold task of the truly useful scientific paper-the giving of assistance in the advancement of knowledge by the specialist and the spreading of knowledge among the public? There is no question but that among its contributors have been numbered great minds, specially endowed, to whom it is given to discover, to invent, to devise, and to perfect. Many discoveries of astonishing import have been announced in its pages, and workers of all nations have acknowledged the CHEMICAL NEWs to be a source of inspiration, an incentive to fresh effort. Its pages have always been open to unknown writers, and new ideas and conceptions have been frankly welcomed. Revolutionary doctrines have been freely discussed, and Progress has ever been the watchword. In the early numbers of the CHEMICAL NEWS many semipopular expositions of scientific subjects were included, so that chemistry and physics might become less of a mystery to numbers who readily would have devoted themselves to the study of science, but whom circumstances debarred from following their true bent. Thanks to the spread of scientific education there is now little need to consider this class of readers. Practical men will still find in every issue helpful suggestions, and chemists, pre. vented by lack of linguistic talent from following the researches of workers of other nationalities, have also reason to be grateful for full abstracts from foreign periodicals.

The CHEMICAL NEWS has always been tolerant, open-minded, and impartial. Regardless of consequences it has pursued one great aim-the true furtherance of Science. Who can estimate the value of services rendered to the public in exposing the evils of food adulteration, pointing out the need for better methods of analysis, greater watchfulness, and greater skill on the part of those entrusted with the work? When methods of analysis of foods and drugs, for the detection of poisons and deleterious materials, were as yet imperfect, and the shortcomings of any method were freely admitted, no false esprit de corps silenced its voice in cases where possibly either faulty methods or want of knowledge had led experts to false conclusions. The earlier numbers contain many discussions on

Vast as have been the discoveries of the past, marvels are still unfolding. Great spirits have departed and left their mark-and "great spirits now on earth are sojourning."

RESEARCHES ON THE QUANTITATIVE DETERMINATION OF THE ACID EARTHS.* By LUDWIG WEISS and MAX LANDECKER.

I.

THE number of exhaustive researches on niobium and tantalum is only very small. Very little work has been done on methods of preparing the acids in the pure state, and the results obtained leave a great deal to be desired in many respects.

earths in technology, it has become necessary to find out In view of the growing use of the metals of the acid how to analyse minerals containing them more easily and accurately, and to obtain the acids themselves by a more

convenient method.

Thus tantalum is used for the filaments of electric lamps, for current rectifiers, for the construction of useful objects such as pens, &c. Titanium has recently been employed in the manufacture of steel, for it is said to communicate useful properties to iron (W. Venator, "Uber Eisenlegierungen und Metalle für die Stahlindustrie," Stahl und Eisen, 1908, Nos. 2, 3, 5, and 8). As yet no technical use is known for niobium.

covering methods for the quantitative determination of the The experimental investigation therefore aimed at disacid earths and their preparation in the pure state.

In the description of the different experiments it will be best to discuss, first, the preparation of the pure acid earths, and to show how they are separated from one another and from the metallic impurities accompanying them; then the quantitative determination of the individual acid earths will be described, and the separation of them from one another.

Finally, some analyses will be given of such tantalum, niobium, and titanium minerals as are worked up technically.

In conclusion, we shall endeavour to give a comprehensive survey, based on the knowledge obtained, of the properties of the acid earths from an analytical point of view.

We had at our disposal nearly 3 kgrms. of impure material containing niobic acid; it had been prepared in the course of earlier experiments in this laboratory.

The impurities present in this niobic acid were titanium, tin, iron, and ammonia, the last in all probability due to the fact that the material had been ignited with ammonium carbonate in order to remove the sulphuric acid present. It is known that it is a peculiarity of niobic acid if it is of it in spite of repeated washing, and not to give it up precipitated with sulphuric acid to retain the greater part even when very strongly heated.

* From the Zeitschrift für Anorganische Chemie, lxiv., 65.