efficacious. His father was content to suffer toothache; the son sends an order to the nearest chemist for some patent "pain-killer," taking care to explain that an imported article of European manufacture is required. In this connection, the downto-date native has a supreme contempt for "country-made" concoctions. He imagines that the ingredients are of an inferior quality, and that though the medicine costs less, it cannot have the same effect as (what he is pleased to term) "Europe Goods." When writing his requirements, the educated native ften expresses himself in an extraordinary ma iner, as will be seen from the following example, the original of which was written by a Mahometan schoolmaster in Lucknow ::

"Sir, Please to send me instanter by the fellow who brings this letter a little phial of the headache pillules as you supply to the European ladies and gentlemen of the station they must be Europe Goods I am not liking native trash so please note I think they have for name phenactin bayer and the proportions must be as per accustomed thing I will pay you the cash system if you will make me the due discount and for this I will ever pray for your prosperity, and present and future off spring. Yours sincerely, Lucknow.

B.A. of Calcutta University

and etc. Native Establishments. Although the import business is chiefly confined to India's European chemists, there are a number of Parsee and native concerns which devote a department to drugs. Such establishments are to be found all over the country, and a fair proportion of them, especially the Parsee firm's, can be trusted by the manufacturer to meet their obligations in an honourable manner. The small native concerns are less satisfactory, for the proprietors are continually in financial difficulties; their profits are cut; the outstandings are far in advance of the collections; and the only good customers in the place fight shy of them. As to the Eurasian chemists, they are practically hopeless. Starting business without the necessary amount of capital, they are too lazy and stupid to conduct their affairs in a sensible manner; and they fail to command the confidence of the English and native community, or even that of their fellow half-castes. These people are best left to the big Calcutta and Bombay wholesale chemists; being on the spot, they can satisfy themselves as to the standing of the would-be customer and arrange accordingly. But an effort might be made to do business direct with the large Parsee, Mahometan, and Hindoo chemists and general shopkeepers, who either purchase in India or indent on an East India merchant or agent-who charges them a commission. The native is a keen man of business, and readily appreciates any economy in buying.

The majority of the lines which meet with a sale at home are popular in India. Bromo seltzer, phenacetin, and caffeine tabloids, menthol, and other remedies for headaches which arise from worry, are always in demand. Beecham's Pills are as well known, and as greatly appreciated, as anywhere in Christendom; embrocation is used in eight out of ten Anglo-Indian stables; emulsion is prescribed for many a white man and woman who is the worse for a "hot weather"; and chlorodyne,

liver pills, and other equally well-established remedies have a large sale. But there is no need to add to the list; it is sufficient to say that the existing demand is a large one, and that it gives every promise of increasing year by year. Value for Money.

The manufacturer must remember that both Anglo-Indians and natives strongly resent any (supposed) attempt on the part of a chemist to get the better of them. If they buy an "instantaneous headache cure" they expect to lose the headache in five minutes! They are not satisfied with the printed instructions which provide for "another dose if necessary in half-an-hour"; they argue that the medicine professes to rid them of the headache at once, and that the chemist has "done" them. Nor is this the worst, for (having little to do and plenty of time in which to do it) they babble to their acquaintances of their woes, and do their best to give the remedy a bad name. In a few days nearly eveyone in the "station" knows that the "instantaneous headache cure" or "toothache cure," as the case may be, does not fulfil its promisewith the result that the unfortunate chemist is left with so much dead stock on his hands. This damage done by ill-chosen names and carelessly worded instructions is far greater than the reader probably imagines; it may deprive a supplier of a valuable account and seriously interfere with the sale of the article all over India.

There is also a satisfactory demand for japanned tin medicine chests, tin being preferable to leather on account of the dampness of the rainy seasons. These must be as compact and portable as possible, and should contain, say, a carefullychosen assortment of patent medicines suitable for a country in which intermittent fever, ague, cholera, and headache are rife. Particular care must be taken to make both the medicine chest and the phials as near air-tight as possible.

It is not only in India that enquiries for patent medicines are on the increase. In Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said, Aden, Colombo, Penang, Singapore, throughout Burmah, and in fact, everywhere in the East, they have an excellent sale.

This more particularly applies to the wellestablished articles already mentioned. But conservative though the European and native chemists are, they often recognise that the new article which they can sell at a high rate of profit is well worth the pushing necessary to make it as successful as the better-known line with which it competes.

10 Rue Châteaubriand, Paris, VIIIe.

SOCIETE DES INGENIEURS CIVILS DE FRANCE.A Summer Meeting of the British Section will be held in France between June 18 and 24 next. Members of the Faraday Society desirous of taking part in this meeting are invited to communicate at once with Mr. H. Sloog, 45, Great Marlborough Street, London, W.1, from whom full_particulars may be obtained.

VISIT ΤΟ THE ROTHAMSTED EXPERIMENTAL STATION. In connection with the General Discussion on Chemico-Physical Problems relating to the Soil at the Faraday Society, members and their friends are invited by the Director to visit the Rothamsted Experimental Station on June 1. A train leaves St. Pancras for Harpenden at 8.30

ROYAL SOCIETY.

Ordinary Meeting, May 12, 1921.

PROF. C. S. SHERRINGTON, President, in the Chair.

THE following papers were read :

"The Problem of Finite Focal Depth revealed by Seisometers." By G. W. WALKER, F.R.S.

Observations of the emergence angle of P waves at Pulkovo suggest that the depth of focus is of order one-fifth of the earth's radius. It is shown that important modifications would have to be made in the interpretation of seismograms and in the attempt to determine how speed of propagation depends on depth. It is further shown that an important test of the accuracy of the Pulkovo values can be made by a careful scrutiny of seismograms for distances > 11,000 kilometres. Further progress cannot be made until this research has been carried out, and until we have corresponding measures of the angle of emergence of S waves by means of three component seiso

meters.

"A Liquid Oxygen Vaporiser." By E. A. GRIFFITHS.

a

The liquid oxygen is contained in metal vacuum vessel. The emission of gas is governed by bringing a flexible portion of the outer wall into contact with the inner: the degree of contact determining the rate of transmission of heat across. The bottom of the outer vessel is a corrugated plate of silver, to the centre of which is soldered a copper block shaped to fit the contour of the inner vessel. The displacement of the diaphragm is controlled by a screw. Any desired rate of gas evolution can be obtained up to 10 litres per minute, and the delivery remains constant with any particular setting for several hours. The apparatus was designed in the course of experiments carried out with the Tyndall Mining Research Studentship of the Royal Society.

"Some Experiments on the Catalytic Reduction of Ethylene to Ethane." By DOROTHY M. PALMER and W. G. PALMER.

The hydrogenation of ethylene in the presence of nickel has been quantitatively examined. The mixture of ethylene and hydrogen under investigation was brought into contact with the nickel in an electrically-heated tube, so arranged that the catalyst was in constant motion through the gas. The rate of hydrogenation was measured by the rate at which the mixture of ethylene and hydrogen in equal proportions by volume had to be passed into the tube to maintain the gas therein at constant pressure.

The effect of varying the proportions of the two gases at constant reaction temperatures, and of varying the temperature for a reacting mixture of constant proportions were separately elucidated.

The curves showing rate of reaction against time from the beginning of the experiment show "induction" periods (during which no hydrogenation took place) varying in duration from a few seconds to many hours according to the conditions of the experiment.

At the end of this period the rate of reaction increases rapidly to a sharp maximum, and then decreases less rapidly to a lower value, which only

A theory is advanced

slowly decreases with time. to account for these effects. "The Catalytic Activity of Copper."-Part II. By W. G. PALMER.

The apparatus used in the experiments and some preliminary results for which hydrogen was used to prepare the catalyst from cupric oxide were described in Proc. Roy. Soc., A, lxxxix., 13.

actants:

In the present paper the activity of the catalyst when prepared from oxide by reduction with carbon monoxide and methyl alcohol vapour is described and discussed. In addition to anhydrous ethyl alcohol, constant-boiling mixtures of the following alcohols with water were used as re- ethyl alcohol, iso-propyl alcohol, normal-propyl alcohol. It is shown that water acts as a positive auxiliary catalyst, and hydogen as a negative auxiliary catalyst, when adsorbed on the copper. Water may be retained on the catalyst either by absorption from a reacting alcohol-water mixture, or as the result of preparing the catalyst from oxide with hydrogen or methyl-alcohol vapour.

The activity-temperature curves for a catalyst prepared by carbon monoxide are shown to obey a simple exponential law.

Between 270° and 280° C. the activity curves (except those for iso-propyl alcohol as reactant) undergo a sudden change of direction corresponding to a great reduction of the temperature coefficient. This is attributed to the diminution in the thickness of the adsorbed alcohol layer to at most two molecular diameters.

The activity of the catalyst does not increase continuously, as the temperature of its preparation from oxide is lowered. This result is discussed on the basis of a theory put forward in the previous paper.

"The Total Heat of Liquid Carbonic Acid." By Prof. C. F. JENKIN and D. N. SHORTHOSE.

The paper describes the measurements, carried out for the Engineering Committee of the Food Investigation Board, of the total heat of carbonic acid between temperatures of +10° C. and +100° C. and between pressures of 900 and 1800lb. per square inch. A full table is given of the values for every 5° C. and 100lb. per square inch. The results of these measurements show that the values hitherto accepted, which are based on the assumption that the specific heat at constant volume does not change over this range, require some correction, but not to any large extent.

"The Viscosity and Molecular Dimensions of Gaseous Cyanogen." By A. O. RANKINE, D.Sc.

I. The viscosity of gaseous cyanogen has been measured at two temperatures, 15° C. and 100° C., the values obtained being, respectively, o'896 × 10- and 1.264 × 10- C.G.S. units. Assuming Sutherland's law of temperature variation, these data have been used to calculate Sutherland's constant (C. =280) and the viscosity at o C. (%=0*935 × 10- C.G.S. units).

15

2. The mean collision area of the molecule of cyanogen has been deduced, -131× 10-1 cm. 2, which proves to be practically the same as that of a bromide molecule 128 × 10-15 cm.2. This is consistent with the evidence so far available from crystal examination, for the molecular volumes of KBr and KCN are nearly equal, -431 and 4:28 respectively.

3. If X-ray crystal examination should prove what is usually stated, viz., that KCN and KBr are strictly isomorphous, the results here obtained are consistent with the Lewis-Langmuir view that the cyanogen molecule has a size and shape nearly the same as two nitrogen molecules linked together by sharing one pair of outer electrons.

MANCHESTER LITERARY AND

PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

AT the Annual General Meeting of the Society, held on April 26, 1921, the following officers and Members of Council for the session 1921-22 were elected :

President--T. A. Coward, F.Z.S., F.E.S. Vice-Presidents-R. L. Taylor, F.C.S., F.I.C.; William Thomson, F.R.S.E., F.I.C.; Sir Henry A. Miers, M.A., D.Sc., F.R S.; W. Henry Todd. Secretaries-H. F. Coward, D.Sc., F.I.C.; T. H. Pear, M.A., B.Sc. Treasurer-R. H. Clayton, B.Sc. Librarians-C. L. Barnes, M.A.; Wilfrid Robinson, D.Sc. Curator-W. W. Haldane Gee, B.Sc., M.Sc. Tech. Other Members of the Council -Arthur Lapworth, D.Sc., F.R.S., F.I.C.; C. E. Stromeyer, O.B.E., M. Inst. C. E., M. Inst. M. E.; W. M. Tattersall, D.Sc., Leonard E. Vlies, F.C S., F.I.C.; F. W. Atack, M.Sc. Tech., B.Sc., F.I.C.; F. E. Weiss, D.Sc., F.R.S., F.L S.; Francis Jones, M.Sc., F.R.S.E., F.C.S.; Laura Start, M.A.; Sydney Chapman, M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S.; and ex-officio the Chairman and the Secretary of the Chemical Section.

The Annual General Meeting of the Chemical Section of the Society, held on Friday, May 6, elected the following:

Chairman-Leonard E. Vlies, F.C.S., F.I.C. Vice-Chairman-J. H. Lester, M.Sc., F.I.C. Hon. Secretary-David Cardwell, M.Sc., F.I.C. Committee-r. W. Atack, B.Sc., M.Sc. Tech., F.I.C.; W. H. Bentley, D.Sc., F.C.S.; Harold Moore, M.Sc. Tech., F.C.S., A.I.C.; Rona Robinson, M.Sc., A.I.C.; T. Roland Wollaston, M. Inst. Mech. E.; Edward Ardern, D.Sc., F.I.C.; R. H. Clayton, B.Sc.; J. E. Myers, O.B.E., D.Sc.; and D. M. Paul, B.Sc., A.I.C.

CORRESPONDENCE.

WATER AND ICE.

To the Editor of the Chemical News. SIR, I have been reading the articles on "Water and Ice" with interest. I have noticed in the Eastern Mediterranean that the shadow of the vessel on the water which in direct sunlight is a beautiful blue, is of a dark purple colour. This is due, no doubt, to slanting rays from the illuminated body, and forms part of the absorption spectrum.

As regards the colour of the sky, it seems by its purity to be due to particles which are molecular or sub-molecular in size-electrons in association with oxygen, cp., the blue of ozone.

Physical properties like molecular refractions cannot give us any information regarding the degree of complexity of the water molecules for the following reason:

0/

H2

Unsubstituted oxygen possesses an atomic refractivity of 224; substituted oxygen one of 1.76. The positive hydrogen seen to absorb the unsaturation of the doubly tinted oxygen or cause a refraction of the oxygen electrons. These are the hydrones, according to H. E. Armstrong. The hydrols contain singly-linked tetravalent oxygen with an atomic refractivity of 176, cp., the ozonides of Harries.

The hexacyclic formulæ for water, &c., and the conditions in hydrated copper salts, &c., also, in my opinion, exclude full tetravalent function for oxygen. According to Rooseboom's theory and observations, the various molecules of water come away in groups, the members of one group all at one temperature, which is thus like a boilingpoint depending upon loose molecular association or particles under constant pressures.

These conditions resemble those for molecular associations, but not combinations, and are those the manifestation of absorption spectra

for

As is well-known, dissociation of true chemical complexes like N,O,, acetic acid, take place over a wide range of temperature, due, of course, to the balancing action of dissociated molecules. This balancing action does not exist in dehydrating copper sulphate, owing to the water molecules passing outside the range. In water and ice this is not possible.

It thus seems probable that the oxygen molecules are separated from each other by a shell of dielectric, and the valencies are activated, but not united, or only very loosely. It would be interest

ing to find out how many degrees of association there may be without combination. In any case, what is the exact connotation of this term?

It is, however, evident that in copper and other salts all the water molecules are not in equal degree of association with the metallic extra valencies, thus showing the existence at different distances from the metallic centres.-I am, &c., GERVAISE LE BAS. P.S.-A study of the dielectric constants, refractivities of some of the compounds mentioned might prove of value.

6, Springfield Crescent,

St. Heliers, Jersey.

SALARY OF CHEMISTS.

To the Editor of the Chemical News. SIR,-With reference to the article which appeared in your issue of May 6, entitled "The Present Position of Chemistry and Chemists," by Prof. Wilsmore, I have written to him pointing out an error in his Address. The statement that the Research Department, Woolwich, advertised for chemists with the qualifications and at the salary mentioned in his Address is incorrect. No such advertisement was issued by that Department, which at that time was offering for chemists a much larger salary. As is well known, it has since been successful in obtaining a scale of pay for chemists which is considered satisfactory by chemists themselves.-I am, &c.,

29, Charlton Road,

Blackheath, S.E.2.

R. ROBERTSON

PAPERS RECEIVED.

"Atomic Energy and Radiation." By F. H. LORING. Received May 17, 1921.

"A. Method for the Rough Estimation of Iron and Manganese in Systematic Qualitative Analysis." By L. J. CURTMAN and N. H. HECHT. The new method which is proposed in this paper for the rough determination of iron, is based on the fact discovered by one of us (L.J.C.) that ferric thiocyanate may be bleached by a solution of SnCl. In volumetric methods for the determination of iron, the usual procedure is first to reduce the iron and then to oxidise it with a standard solution of an oxidising agent. Our method follows the reverse order: the iron, if not already in the ferric condition is first oxidised, treated with KCNS, and then reduced with a standard SnCl solution. The results obtained by this method were so surprisingly accurate that we undertook a special study of the procedure to determine whether or not it could be used as a substitute for the standard volumetric methods. The details of this procedure, together with data showing how the new method compares with the old standard procedures will shortly be reported in another communication. In the rough estimation of manganese, the latter is oxidised by sodium bismuthate in a nitric acid solution to permanganic acid, which is then estimated volumetrically by means of a standard solution of hydrogen peroxide.

NOTES.

THEORY OF RELATIVITY.-A Lecture will be given at King's College on Thursday, June 9, at 5.15 p m. by Professor Einstein on "The Development and Present Position of the Theory of Relativity.” The Chair will be taken by Viscount Haldane. A charge of 2s. 6d. will be made for admission, and the proceeds will be given to the Imperial War Relief Fund. The Lecture will be delivered in German. Tickets can be obtained on application to the Lecture Secretary.

ROYAL INSTITUTION.-On Tuesday next, May 31, at 3 o'clock, Sir James Frazer delivers the first of two lectures at the Royal Institution on (1) "Roman Life in the Time of Pliny the Younger," and (2) "London Life in the Time of Addison." On Thursday, June 2, Sir Alexander Mackenzie begins a course of two lectures on "Beethoven" (with musical illustrations), and on Saturdy, June 4, Mr. R. S. Rait gives the first of two lectures on (1) "Scotland and France" and (2) "Scott and Shakespeare." The Friday Evening Discourse on June 3 will be delivered by Dr. Leonard Huxley, Editor of the Cornhill Magazine, on “Chronicles of the Cornhill," and on June 10 by Dr. A. G. Webster on "Absolute Measurement of Sound." An extra Discourse will be delivered on June 17 by Sir J. J. Thomson on "Chemical Combination and the Structure of the Molecule."

a. m.

THE BRITISH ENGINEERS' ASSOCIATION.-The Annual General Meeting of the British Engineers' Association took place at 32, Victoria Street, London, S. W. 1, on Thursday, May 12. At a meeting of the Council of the Association that followed, Mr. Nevile Gwynne, late Chairman of the Executive Committee, was elected President of the Association, in place of the retiring President, Col. O. C. Armstrong, D.S.O., who had occupied the position of President for three years, and to whom a very hearty vote of thanks was accorded. Mr. E. W. Petter was elected Chairman of the Executive Committee in succession to Mr. Nevile Gwynne.

New Patents.

THIS List is specially compiled for the Chemical News by Messrs. Rayner & Co, Registered Patent Agents, of 5, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.2., from whom all information relating to Patents,

Trade Marks and Designs can be obtained gratuitously.

Latest Patent Applications.

12901-Aluminium Industrie Akt.-Ges.-Process for manufacture of nitrate of calcium. May 5th. 13004-Blagden, J. W-Manufacture of amino derivatives of hydro-genated cinchona alkaloids and their derivatives. May 6th. 12984-Frischer, H.-Apparatus for carrying out chemical and physical processes. May 6th.

Specifications published this Week.

162314-Pease, E. C.-Extraction of ammonia from gases. 138129-American Coke and Chemical Co.-Ammonia saturators. 162578-Friederick, W.-Process for the mannfacture of trinitrors <rcine.

Abstract Published this Week.

Synthetic Resins.-Messrs. Vicker and The loco Rubber & Waterproofing Co., of Anniesland, Glasgow, has obtained a Patent No. 160258 for some improvements in the preparation of Phenol