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Volumes Bound in Cloth Cases, Lettered and Number ( at 2s. 6d. per volume CHEMICAL NEWS OFFICE. 16, NEWCASTLE ST. FARRINGDON ST.. FC PORCELAIN ), HATTON WALL, LONDON. SECOND EDITION. With Illustrations. Price 28. net (post free 2s. 1 d.) Mdme. CURIE'S Thesis ON RADIO-ACTIVE SUBSTANCES. REPRINTED from the CHEMICAL NEWS. CONTENTS. Introduction.-Historical.-Chap. I. Radio-activity of Uranium and Thorium; Radio-active Minerals.-Chap. II. Method of Research.-Chap. III. Radiation of the New Radio-active Substances.-Chap. IV. Communication of Radio-activity to Substances Initially nactive.-Nature and Cause of the Phenomena of Radio-activity. CHEMICAL NEWS OFFICE, 16, NEWCASTLE ST., FARRINGDON ST., E C. HALDENWANGER Can be obtained from all businesses which deal in Chemical Apparatus. London: Printed and Published for the Proprietor by EDWIN JOHN DAVEY, at the Office, 16, Newcastle Street, Farringdon Street, E.C. April 29, 1910 THE Published Weekly. Annual Subscription, free by post. £ Entered at the New York Post Office as Second Class Mail matter Vol 101.-No. 2632. [Copyrigh Friday, May 6, 1910. reserved Assistant (19) requires Post in Analyst's or Works Laboratory. Extensive experience in analysis of Food, Water, and Gas. Senior Oxford and Board of Education Certificates. First-class references. Low salary. Address, "Obliging." CHEMICAL NEWS Office, 16, Newcastle Street, Farringdon Street, London, E.C. Junior Chemist for Works Must be a well-trained man. State age, qualifications, and salary required. Address, Box T., CHEMICAL NEWS Office, 16, Newcastle Street, Farringdon Street, London, E.C. Manager (Business or Technical) Chem st, educated in England, subsequently Research and Metallurgical and other courses in America, desires a change to a Position where rapid advancement is possible. Has an all-round experience, including both works and office and sales management. Full particulars on request.-Address, H., Box 15, care of Chas. Tayler's Advertisement Offices, 30, Fleet Street, London, E.C. Wanted a Laboratory Assistant for London; one with a knowledge of Assaying and handy with tools preferred. State experience, age, pay, &c. - Address, "Laboratory," CHEMICAL NEWS Office, 16, Newcastle Street, Farringdon Street, London, E.C. ABSOLUTE ALCOHOL, BROTHERTON & CO., Ltd, AMMONIA INSTITUTE of CHEMISTRY LARGEST DISTILLERS IN THE WORLD. OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. The next INTERMEDIATE EXAMINA TION will commence on TUESDAY, the 5th day of JULY, 1910. FINAL EXAMINATIONS in- (a) Mineral Chemistry, (b) Metallurgical Chemistry, () Physical Chemistry, (d) Organic Chemistry, and (e) the Chemistry of Food and Drugs, &c., will commence on MONDAY, the 4th, or on MONDAY, the 11th day of JULY, 1910. Forms of application and further particulars can be obtained from the REGISTRAR, Institute of Chemistry, 30, Bloomsbury Square, London, W.C. "The REGULATIONS for the Admission of Students, Associates, and Fellows." With past Examination Papers. Is. (post free Is. Id.). "A LIST OF OFFICIAL CHEMICAL APPOINTMENTS." Third Edition, 1910. Now Ready. 2s. (post free 25. 3d.). GRIFFIN KINGSWAY, LONDON, W.C. LABORATORY EQUIPMENT. PURE CHEMICALS. KAHLBAUM'S PRICE LIST OF PURE CHEMICALS. New Edition Now Ready. ROYAL & CIVIL ENGINEERING, UNIVS., &c. Mr. r. J. HAWKSWORTH COLLINS, BA (Hons, Camb. and Lond.), late Army Form Master of Cranbrook School and Eltham College), PREPARES BOYS for above. Besides the usual Chemical, Physical, and Carpentering Laboratories, there is one for Instructive Amusement, containing Gas, Steam, and Electric Engines, Wireless Telegraph, X-ray Apparatus, Dynamos, &c. The amount of knowledge now required for a boy to be successful in the above professions is very great, and can only be acquired by his taking a regular course from an early age. At the age of sixteen he must be ready to start Differential Calculus, and in Science he must have had large facilities for doing practical work. Only six boys received, ages twelve to eighteen. 128, OLIVE ROAD, CRICKLEWOOD, N.W. (1). Atomic weights of Zr, Cu, and Al are co'6, 63'57, and 27 1. Those f Zr and Al are given only to the first decimal place; therefore the values for Zr, Cu, and Al may be 90'63, 63'57, and, 27 06, or 90 64, 63'57, and 27'07. (2). If the values for the atomic weights of Na, Ca, and Al be taken viz., 23:00, 4000, and 271, the value for Zr becomes 90'19. (3). The atomic weight of Zr must approximate to an even whole number, as it is a tetrad, and those of Cu and Al to odd whole numbers (see Obs. 2, Chem News, Oct. 11, 1907). Also the atomic weights are generally too large (see Obs. 3 and Ded. 2, (Chem News, Oct. 11, 1907) Therefore the atomic weights of Zr, Cu, and Al are 90, 63, and 27. (4). Cu is a triad, as explained, and Al is a triad; therefore they can combine to form a tetrad. (5). Zr can act as a non-metal, owing to the free H-H3 (see Ded. 3, Chem. News, Oct. 11, 1907). (6). Zr is especially found with Na, Ca, and Al; for instance, the mineral Catapleiite Si and Zr of Na, Ca, Fe, and Al. (7). Its constitution is analogous to that of the similar tetrad Si (hem. News, March 18, 1910). (8). The properties of Zr are observed to lie between those of Si and Al, because it is a tetrad like Si, and contains Al as a constituent part. HAWKSWORTH COLLINS. OLD PLATINUM IN ANY FORM PURCHASED FOR CASH. ROBERT PRINGLE and SONS, Gold and Silver Refiners, &c., 40 and 42, ClerkenweLL ROAD, E.C. Photographic Residues Reduced and Purchased PLATINUM Utensils. We supply all forms and sizes of Platinum Utensils and Apparatus for Chemical and Physical purposes. All our utensils are hammered to shape, tested, and finished in the best manner. All kinds of Platinum scrap bought for cash or taken in exchange for new. - DERBY and CO., Ltd., 44, Clerkenwell Road, London, E.C. SULPHUROUS ACID and SULPHITES. Liquid SO, in Syphons, for Lectures, &c. PHOSPHORIC ACID and PHOSPHATES. JUST PUBLISHED. May 6, 1910 PURE CULTIVATION OF YEAST. Courses for Beginners, as well as for Advanced Students, in Physiology and Technology of Fermentations. Biological Analysis of Yeast. The Laboratory possesses a numerous collection of Yeasts (Brewers', Distillers', Wine, Disease Yeasts), Moulds, and Bacteria. Manuals: A. FRED JÖRGENSEN, "Micro-organisms and Fermentation" (London) and "The Practical Management of Pure Yeast" (London, "The Brewing Trade Review "). The Laboratory supplies for direct use Pure Cultures of Yeast for Breweries, Distilleries,, Wine Manufactories, &c., and performs Analyses of Yeasts, &c. Further particulars on application to the Director The ALFRED JÖRGENSEN, The Laboratory, Copenhagen Y., Denmark. he Owner of BRITISH PATENTS Nos. for the Oxidation of the Nitrogen of the Air for the purpose of ob5852 of 1906, entitled "Improvements in or relating to Apparatus taining Nitric Acid," and 5901 of 1906, entitled "Process for the Utilisation of the Nitrogen of the Air by the Oxidation of the same and of the conversion of the Product into Nitric Acid or the Salts of Nitric Acid," granted to O. H. U. BRÜNLER, is desirous of Disposing of the Patents or entering into a working arrangement under License with firms likely to be interested in the same. In the alternative, the Owner would be open to consider proposals to manufacture the Apparatus and to carry out the Process to fill any requirements of the market in Great Britain on terms to be arranged. The Patents cover inventions interesting to Nitric Acid producers and to manufacturers of Chemical Apparatus. Detailed information as to the inventions will be found in the Patent Specifications, of which copies will be supplied to any interested party on request. Full particulars can be obtained from and offers made (for transmission to the Owner) to MARKS and CLERK, 57 & 58, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C. The Owners of BRITISH PATENT No. 9636 of 1907, entitled "A Process for Recovering Chromic Acid from Solutions of Sulphate of Chromium in an Electrolytical Manner," granted to The Chemische Fabrik Buckau, are desirous of disposing of the Patent or entering into a working arrangement under License with firms likely to be interested in the same. In the alternative, the Owners would be open to consider proposals to carry out the process to fill any requirements of the market in Great Britain on terms to be arranged. The Patent covers an invention interesting to Manufacturing Chemists. Detailed information as to the invention will be found in the Patent Specification, of which a copy will be supplied to any interested party on request. Full particulars can be obtained and offers made (for transmission to the Owners) to MARKS and CLERK, 57 and 58, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C. The he Owners of BRITISH PATENT No. 9637 of 1907, entitled "A Process for Increasing the Durability of Carbon and Graphite Electrodes in Aqueous Solutions," granted to The Chemische Fabrik Buckau, are desirous of disposing of the Patent or entering into a working arrangement under License with firms likely to be interested in the same. In the alternative, the Owners would be open to consider proposals to carry out the process to fill any CARAMELS & COLORINGS requirements of the market in Great Britain on terms to be arranged. for all purposes. A. BOAKE, ROBERTS, & CO. (LIMITED), Stratford, London, E. The Patent covers an invention interesting to the Electro-Chemical industry. Detailed information as to the invention will be found in the Patent Specification, of which a copy will be supplied to any interested party on request. Full particulars can be obtained from and offers made (for transmission to the Owners) to MARKS and CLERK, 57 and 58, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C. CHEMICAL NEWS, May 6, 1910 205 read : 3 = = BACTERIAL ACTIVITY AS A CORROSIVE By RICHARD H. GAINES. ONE of the many subjects presented for study in connection icosa x H 1.00777 (H2 : O max., &c.) with the construction of the Catskill Aqueduct was the corrosion of iron and steel. In a communication to the American Electrochemical icosa x H3 1.00762 (gravimetric mean) Society, in 1908 (Trans. Am. Electrochem. Soc., xiii., 55 = icosa x H 1·00761 (H2 : O mean) et seq.), the writer discussed at some length two inherent causes for corrosion of steel, namely, irregularity of structure and segregation of impurity. Experience has shown that metals which are non-homogeneous in character are far more subject to deterioration than those which have = icosa1× H 100765 (H2 : H2O mean) the same composition and structure throughout. (2) These are the fractional indices in the several equations of the space symmetry ratios; the counterbalancing volution of energy by which one spacial inequidistance is converted into another, e.g., 47 37×5 2 X 57 32 × 4 = = 212 (1·5) ¦ = (H × icosa)? = H x icosa), the difference of 0.00016 being the plus range of H2: O. Conclusions reached from the study referred to were like steel may be conditioned by impurity, the operation of that although the cumulative decomposition of materials this cause would be negligible if the process were not vastly hastened by some external impulse. Moreover, since it is probably impossible to modify greatly the composition of steel and retain the physical properties that render it useful, the solution of the corrosion problem would be found in controlling the ascertained accelerating influences. A great deal has been published relating to the corrosion of iron and steel during the last few years, with of Whitney, on this side the Atlantic, while in Europe much importance attached to the electrochemical theory attention has been chiefly concentrated on the effect of the presence or absence of carbon dioxide. direct attention to actual phenomena rather than to be inOn taking up the present work it was deemed best to fluenced by preconceived opinion and to base theoretical conception only on observed facts. Due examination had corrosion account sufficiently for some of the observed led to the conclusion that none of the existing theories of phenomena. Only a phase of the research at the laboratory of the Board of Water Supply will be touched upon here. In connection with the series of studies in progress, analyses were recently made of about twenty-five samples of rust, collected from pits in the outside and tubercles on the inside of steel conduits located in different parts of the country. The analyses showed, within certain limits, a remarkable difference in the character of the samples of rust, varying according to the underground conditions of Other formulæ in similar terms follow the ranges of other exposure to which the iron or steel may have been subtests. The seventh and twelfth roots will be noted injected. The results appeared to indicate the operation of connection with the combinable group and series numbers. hitherto unconsidered influences accelerating the corrosion If, as from many reasons it is believed-instance the process. wide ranges of bismuth and antimony-these deviations are an affair of entropy, then atomic weight is qualified like Boyle's Law, and from the same cause. It is, then, more probable that the flexible weight is that of oxygen, not hydrogen. The same formulæ apply, the fractions which is also Kiesler's mean from H: O. And so with 206 Bacterial Activity as a Corrosive Influence in the Soil. rust collected from different steel conduits (names must be omitted) in which combined sulphur calculated as sulphuric anhydride was found as follows: Tubercles from interior of Conduit No. 1 No. 2 No. 3 SO, per cent. 1:41 2625 2:98 Rust from "pits" in exterior of Conduit No. 4 151 No. 5 3'95 No. 6 6:50 The very high sulphur content shown in the last of these examples was perhaps in part due to the peculiar soil conditions surrounding the corroded conduit, and was, no doubt, an exceptional case. The soil backfilled about this pipe gave a loss on ignition of 85 per cent, and consisted largely of decomposed organic matter. Whereas the samples of rust collected from several steel conduits gave an average of nearly 3 per cent of sulphuric anhydride, analyses of pieces of steel cut from the same conduits showed only 0.05 per cent or less of sulphur. In contrast with these figures, tubercles artificially formed (by connecting with a gravity cell, steel plates immersed in a solution of sodium chloride) gave on analysis less than 015 per cent sulphuric anhydride. As is well known, finished steel of the character used in conduits never contains more than a minute fraction of I per cent of sulphur, which is present as manganese sulphide, ferrous sulphide only appearing when the quantity of manganese is insufficient. The proportion of manganese in the samples of rust did not correspond with what would be expected if manganese sulphate were the first oxidation product. On the contrary, the percentage of manganese found in the rust was no greater than in the steel, and generally less than 0.35 per cent. We know that iron has a tendency to form compounds with sulphur just as it has with oxygen. It is not, there fore, the mere presence of sulphur, but the occurrence of its compounds in such quantity in connection with the rusting of iron that is significant. It was believed that a satisfactory explanation of this phenomenon would shed new light on the rapid deterioration of underground iron and steel structures by corrosion. In casting around for a theory to account for the singular presence of sulphur or its compounds in the quantities found associated with the rust materials, early considera tion was given to the possible role played by bacteria. Many decompositions hitherto unsuspected, and chemical changes chiefly destructive in character, are no doubt accomplished by these organisms. In certain prototrophic forms a process goes on comparable to respiration, but consisting in the oxidation of inorganic compounds. Belonging to this class, some of the thiobacteria possess the unique power in organic creation of breaking up sul phur compounds and assimilating into the cells of their protoplasm pure sulphur, which is subsequently oxidised into sulphuric acid. Leaving aside tempting speculation concerning the mode in which life interacts or is associated with matter, the data at hand seemed to warrant the belief that an important connection existed between bacterial activity and underground corrosion. Whatever produces acid conditions in the soil must contribute in no small manner to the corrosive influences present. That acid compounds are formed in abundance as the result of vital activity is easily demonstrated. Important recent advances in our knowledge of bacteria are those having reference to the agency of these organisms in the circulation of certain elements in nature. The functions of nitrogen and iron bacteria in this connection have long been known. Definite anaerobic forms also xist which have the power of fixing carbon and sulphur as well as nitrogen from inorganic sources. Owing to the peculiarities in the modes of nutrition and respiration of these bacteria (vide infra) they require neither free oxygen nor organic food materials for vital activity. It is now well known that a whole series of sulphur bacteria exist of the genera thiothrix, chromatium, spirillum, CHEMICAL NEWS May 6, 1910 and monas, which play important parts both in the circulation and concentration of sulphur in nature. There exist, moreover, in the mud of marshes anaerobic bacteria which decompose cellulose, probably hydrolysing it first and then splitting the products into carbon dioxide and marsh-gas. When calcium sulphate is present, the nascent methane set free by the cellulose bacteria reduces the sulphate with the formation of calcium carbonate, sulphuretted hydrogen, and water. This is the explanation of the occurrence of marsh-gas and sulphuretted hydrogen in bogs, and such conditions afford favourable media for sulphur bacteria which multiply by oxidising the sulphuretted hydrogen and storing the sulphur in their own protoplasm. Processes resulting from the bacterial decomposition of vegetable mud only take place at certain depths, and the zone of physiological activity rises and falls with the variations of partial pressures of gases due to the rate of evolution of sulphuretted hydrogen. In the deeper parts of this zone the partially anaerobic bacteria absorb the sulphuretted hydrogen, and as this rises and meets atmospheric oxygen other bacteria oxidise it and store up the sulphur; then ascending into planes more highly oxygenated other bacteria further oxidise the sulphur to sulphuric acid, which combines with any calcium carbonate present to form sulphate again. These bacteria, therefore, employ sulphuretted hydrogen as their source of energy much as higher organisms employ carbohydratesinstead of liberating energy as heat by the combustion of sugars, they do it by oxidising hydrogen sulphide. One of the anaerobic forms (Spirillum disulphuricans) attacks and reduces sulphates, thus undoing the work of sulphur bacteria just as certain denitrifying bacteria reverse the operations of nitro-bacteria. Again, we have sulphur taken into the higher plants as sulphates, built up into proteins, decomposed by putrefactive bacteria. and yielding sulphuretted hydrogen which the sulphur bacteria oxidise; the resulting sulphur is then oxidised to sulphuric acid and again combined with calcium to gypsum, the cycle being thus complete. The well-known part played by iron bacteria affords an analogy to the circulation and chemical changes just described wrought by the life processes of sulphur bacteria in the widely distributed sulphur compounds in nature. Pools and marshes near iron mines abound in bacteria, some of which belong to the remarkable genera crenothrix, cladothrix, and heptothrix, and contain ferric oxide in their cell walls. This iron deposit is not merely mechanical, but is due to the physiological activity of the organism which liberates energy by oxidising ferrous oxide in its protoplasm. The iron must be in certain soluble conditions, and the soluble carbonate of the protoxide seems most favourable. The hydrocarbonate absorbed by the cells is oxidised probably thus: 2FeCO3+3H2O+0 = Fe2(OH)6 + 2CO2. The ferric hydroxide accumulates in the sheath, and gradually passes into the more insoluble ferric oxide. These actions are of great importance in nature, as their continuation results in the enormous deposits of bog iron ore. The writer has recently been informed of a serious case of corrosion in the West, in which the evidence is apparently conclusive that the damage was due to specific bacteria. During repair work on the foundation structure of a bridge across Lake Hauser, in Montana, the attention of the engineer in charge was attracted to protuberances which occurred with more or less regularity on the steel work of the supporting tubes. The steel construction men designated this "shell rust," and said that it was often seen on steel which had been under water for some time. Mr. Wilton G. Brown. a Montana naturalist, made a careful examination of the protuberances, and found that this was not a case of common rust action, but under the centre of each individual an irregular pit was eaten into the steel. An inspection of some of the rust material under the microscope soon led to the conviction that some organism had played a part in the destructive corrosion. The phenomena were reported to Prof. Beck, of Freiburg, |