་ 1. The effect of manuring a crop persisted in the seed and was visible in the next crop when the seed was sown in a soil of moderate fertility. 2. A manured crop gave a seed with a better cropping value than an unmanured crop. 3. A crop manured with cattle manure gave a seed with a better cropping value than that from a crop manured with mineral manure or not manured at all. 4. A crop manured with mineral manure gave a seed with a better cropping value than that from an unmanured crop. But the superiority of "Mineral manure seed " 66 No manure seed " varied with the nature of the crop. over 99 or 5. The results of animal nutrition experiments by Lieut.-Col. R. McCarrison with the same grains as those used in plant experiments show that the "Cattle manure seed " "No was more nutritious than manure seed "Mineral manure seed." 6. The grain from a crop manured with mineral manure possessed better nutritive value than the grain from an unmanured crop. As in the case of experiments with plants the superiority of " Mineral manure seed " over "No manure seed " varied with the nature of the crop. 66 was 7. Fermented farmyard manure found to possess better manurial value than fresh farmyard manure. 8. Synthetic farmyard manure prepared by fermenting grass and stubble had as good a manurial value as fermented natural farmyard manure. 9. The water and alcoholic extracts of fermented farmyard manure and the residue were found to have almost equal manurial value. 10. The water extract of fresh farmyard manure was superior in its manurial value to the residue, but the manurial value of the water extract of fresh farmyard manure was distinctly inferior to the water extract from fermented farmyard manure. 11. A small quantity of yeast stimulated a crop and in comparison with fermented farmyard manure gave nearly one a half times the yield. 12. A minute amount of yeast stimulated to a marked extent the growth of crop even after the nitrogen and phosphoric acid content of the yeast were compensated for by the addition of inorganic nitrogen and phosphoric acid. 13. Evidence and -arguments are advanced to show that organic manures besides improving the physical condition of the soil and being sources of ordinary food for plants also supply some agents like "Auximones 99 .. or Vitamins" which contribute greatly to the growth and reproduction of the plant and through the plant and its seed supply more food to animals and plants. 14. Evidence and arguments are advanced to show that in addition to their biochemical activity the micro-biological population of the soil contribute directly to the plant some stimulant which is ultimately passed on to the animal. The similarity in the results of plant and animal experiments would point to the direction that Bottomley's "Auximones " for plants and "Vitamins " for animals are probably the same, or if different, exist together and are interdependent, functioning in different ways according to the organism in which they are introduced and the conditions under which they operate. The results are of great interest and importance and if confirmed generally in other places would be of far reaching value. The mutual support and corroboration that exists between the independently conducted experiments with plants and animals lend strong support to the view that manuring alters the character of the seed. It may be that in the instances considered the results were of an accentuated character as the seed experimented with came from plots that had been under intensive cultivation for a number of years and where the differential manurial effect nature. was of an emphasised It may also be that in a soil with a good supply of organic matter or with silt brought down by rivers flowing through forest areas, the disparity in the cropping capacity and the nutritive value of the seed from differently manured crops may not be as evident as in the present instance or may entirely disappear. Nevertheless, the results direct pointed attention to certain fundamental aspects of the problem of manuring and plant nutrition. Apart from their scientific interest, the findings of the investigators are of immediate practical value to South Indian Agriculture. It is clearly shown that a crop should be manured firstly to obtained increased yields; secondly to obtain a seed with a good to The experimental evidence emphasises the importance of organic manures South Indian soils which are very deficient in organic matter and indicate in no unmistakable terms the manurial policy to be followed in the future. A basal dressing of a bulky organic manure, supplemented where necessary by artificial manures or a judicious combination of both in which the organic manure preponderates seems to be the best system of manuring. The inadequacy of the available farmyard manure and other organic manures to meet the needs of the arable area is well known, This being so, the situation calls for immediate action in husbanding our resources of organic manures by : (1) the prohibition or restriction of export of oil seeds, cakes and bones, (2) the utilisation of all waste organic materials for manurial purposes, (3) the utilisation of sewage by the activated sludge process. (4) The utilisation of night so by soil poudrette manufacture or trenching. We have great pleasure in giving the results of this important investigation in the Chemical Neres and wish to congratulate the authors on the complete nature of their work, which ought to prove of great value, directly to agriculturists, and indirectly to the whole community. Incidentally, it might be mentioned that all evidence shews that proper cultivation and adequate manuring always increases the productiveness of the soil. It is stated that Russia where both cultivation and manuring are neglected, produces 5 to 7 bushels of wheat per acre, as compared with the Netherlands and Denmark, where intensive cultivation is practised, with about 47 bushels per acre. THE CARBON ATOM MODEL AND THE STRUCTURE OF DIAMOND. By R. B. LINDSAY. Abstract from the Physical Review, U.S.A. Electron orbits in the neutral carbon atom.--The atomic model of carbon used is assumed to have four 2, orbits. The dimensions of these orbits are computed by a method outlined in a previous paper using various assumptions as to screening, viz. : (a) spherical distribution of charge about the nucleus; (b) orientation in orbital planes with randon phase relations; (c) orientation in orbital planes with definitely assigned phase relations. All the methods yeld a value of the aphelion distance in the close vicinity of 2.000,, where a = .532A, agreeing well with the radius as obtained from the atomic volume,i.e., 2.06a,. The orbital energies, however, vary from 0.36 ea, to 0.76 e/a, according to the screening assumption used, the largest value being obtained under hypothesis (c). 66 Approximate calculation of the lattice energy of diamond. The atom models as computed under assumption (c) are distributed in the diamond lattice, and the field on any electron due to the rest of its own atom and to neighbouring atoms is calculated as a function of the distance from the nucleus assuming that: (1) the orbital plane of the electron is oriented in a certain symmetrical way relative to the lines joining its nucleus to those of the neighbouring atoms; (2) for a first approximation only the four nearest atoms need be considered as effective; (3) the effect of the electrons in the neighbouring atoms is that of a time distribution of their charges in their orbita. planes, disregarding refinite phase relations such as have been assumed by previous writers. An approximate expression for the increase in energy of the electron due to the neighbouring atoms is developed, and the calculation of the lattice energy per electron for various values of a, the lattice constant, is carried out. It is found that a has an upper limit of 3.00a,. In particular the lattice energy for a 2.74a, comes out to be 0.55 Rh, and the corresponding heat of sublimation is 171 k. cal. per mol. The experimental value for a is 2.90a, and for the heat of sublimation from 168 to 177 k. cal. per mol. The limitations of the method employed are emphasised. OCTOBER 14, 1927. THE CHEMICAL NEWS. THE SOCIETY OF CHEMICAL INDUSTRY'S ANNUAL MEETING AT EDINBURGH. The following papers were communi cated : Intermediary Carbohydrate Metabolism. By C. G. LAMBIE, M.C., M.D. Much light has been shed upon the problem of intermediary metabolism by a study of what happens in diabetes. In this disease, which is due to a lack of the hormone insulin, there occurs a far-reaching disturbance of metabolism, affecting all three great classes of foodstuffs--carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. In the case of carbohydrates, there is an inability to oxidise dextrose and to synthesise glycogen while the fall in organic blood phosphate which normally follows the ingestion of carbohydrate is absent. The fats become more rapidly catabolised as they do when, from any cause, insufficient carbohydrate is being oxidised in the organism. The glycerol fraction of fat is ultimately converted into dextrose, while the fatty acids fail to undergo the final stages of their oxidation sufficiently rapidly, so that B-hydroxybutyric acid and other products of incomplete fat combustion accumulate in the tissues and cause acidosis. The proteins, likewise, undergo more rapid catabolism, some of their amino-acids forming dextrose, others acetoacetic and B-hydroxybutyric acids. Any explanation of the way in which insulin acts must, however, account not merely for the increased oxidation of dextrose, but for glycogen formation and the changes which occur in protein and fat metabolism. A step towards a solution of the problem would be made by finding among the possible decomposition products of dextrose some substance which not only could be more rapidly oxidised than dextrose but could form glycogen more readily and be capable of entering into equilibrium with the intermediaries of fat and protein metabolism at some point where their metabolic paths meet. The substance in question should also be at least as efficient as dextrose in inhibiting the excessive catabolism and inadequate oxidation of fatty acids, and (by way of accounting for the disappearance of inorganic phosphate from the blood under insulin) it may be supposed either to be itself an ester of phosphoric acid or to form such an ester more readily than dextrose. If it could be shown that these properties were exhibited in the diabetic under circumstances in which they were not exhibited by dextrose itself, the claim of such a substance to be among the proximate cate that, whereas dihydroxyacetone can be suria in diabetics in proportion to the severity of the disease. Dihydroxyacetone has been found to be very efficient in preventing the excessive formation of Bhydroxybutric acid and acetoacetic acid in diabetics, and Rabinowitch has caused recovery from diabetic coma by its use, unaided by insulin. Its efficiency n this respect diminishes, however, in proportion to the severity of the diabetes. Further properties exhibited by dihydroxyacetone are as follows:-It forms glycogen more readily than dextrose, it causes recovery from insulin hypoglcæmia as rapidly and efficiently as dextrose, and it is fermented by organsims which also ferment dextrose. The products of metabolism to which it gives rise-d-lactic acid, dextrose, glycerol, carbon, dioxide, and waterare substances normally met with in the animal body, and the substance itself is nontoxic. It was formerly believed that fatty acid was synthesised in the animal body by pro cesses of condensation followed by oxidation, reduction, and dehydration, from pyruvic acid and acetaldehyde. This did not explain, however, why fat can be formed so much more readily from carbohydrate than from protein. Recently Maclean and Hoffert have brought forward evidence that in yeast stearic acid is formed by condensation of three dextrose molecules. Should this hold for the animal body, then if insulin prevents the conversion of dihydroxyacetone into dextrose, and dihydroxyacetone is intermediary between protein and dextrose, a reason would be furnished for the difficulty of forming fat from protein save indirectly through glycogen. Fats having an odd number of carbon atoms are foreign to the animal body, but they are broken down by B-oxidation to propionic acid, which yields dextrose quantitatively in the diabetic organism, probably through its conversion into methylglyoxal. When dextrose is being metabolised there occurs a fall in the inorganic phosphate of the blood, probably owing to the formation of intermediary metabolites containing phosphorus in organic combination, but whether these organic ecters are concerned with glycogen synthesis or with the splitting or oxidation of the dextrose molecule is unknown. Hexosediphosphate, which is formed during alcoholic fermentation, has been supposed to be of physiological importance, especially since the finding by Embden of a similar compound in muscle, although there appears to be some doubt as to whether the muscle compound is really a mono- or di-phosphate. During fermentation, however, the concentration of hexcsediphosphate is at its height when the fermentation slackens, so that it is unlikely to be the precursor of substances destined for immediate catabolism. The synthesis of glycogen from hexosedipnosphate presents difficulties from a stereochemical point of view owing to the consideration that hexosediphosphate yields a lævorotatory hexose on hydrolysis, whereas glycogen yields dextrose. Similar objections apply to lævulose as an immediate precursor of glycogen. There appears to be no difference between the glycogen formed from dextrose and that obtained from lævulose, and this would seem to indicate that both dextrose and lævulose form glycogen from a common substance. If we suppose that lævulose being closely related to dihydroxyacetone, is split into the latter, without the aid of insulin, many of the physiological properties of this hexose notably the fact of its being a better glycogen former than dextrose and more readily oxidised by the diabetic as well as being largely converted into dextrose by the latter would be explained. The old controversy as to whether the essential feature of diabetes is an overproduction of sugar in the body or an inadequate combustion and storage of sugar would be happily resolved if the scheme of intermediary metabolism and the hypothesis of insulin action above outlined be correct. Both views would contain part of the truth-the overproduction and deficient oxidation of carbo-hydrate would have a common cause, to wit, the conversion of the readily oxidisable common intermediary of protein, fat, and carbohydrate metabolism dihydroxyacetone into dextrose, which is resistant to oxidation. Notes on the Cleaning of Coal with Special Reference to Pneumatic Separation. By C. W. H. HOLMES, M.Met. From the very earliest times water has been used in the dressing of minerals and in the more humble operation of coal washing. It has, however, been used only as a means to an end, the end in view being a sharp separation of heavy particles from lighter ones. If, then, this end can be attained by some other means, such as air, the necessity for water disappears. Other considerations, such as the possibility of dressing minerals in waterless districts, the cleaning of coal at temperatures below freezing point, and the separation of materials lighter than water encouraged the development of pneumatic as opposed to hydraulic separtion. The earliest types of pneumatic separator OCTOBER 14, 1927. THE CHEMICAL NEWS. followed the lines of the hydraulic jig, and operated more or less successfully at low capacity in connection with ore dressing. At the beginning of the present century a pneumatic separator, working a thin bed on a continuous a pervious riffled deck with current of low-pressure air, was patented by Messrs. Sutton, Steele, and Steele, of Texas. This separator was operated by a head motion very similar to that actuating the well-known Wilfley table; that is to say, means were provided for accelerating the return stroke in order to accentuate the traverse of the heavier particles across the surface of the deck. In the light of present-day practice the separator at this stage of its development would appear to have been somewhat difficult to operate, very sensitive to variations in the character of the feed or to any overload, and to have required very delicate adjustment in order to obtain a separation. 66 a In order to overcome these difficulties, the inventors erected a barrier along the concentrate side of the deck against which was obtained by banking of concentrates virtue of the action of the head motion upon the heavier particles. This banking bar is as essential to the efficiency of a pneumatic separator as the condensing plant is to the efficiency of a steam turbine. By means of this banking bar it is possible to separate simultaneously two products of considerable purity, whilst the separation is practically independent of reasonable variations in the character and volume of the raw feed, and the capacity of the separator is considerably increased. From this stage the application of the Sutton-Steel pneumatic separator to the cleaning of coal only was discussed. Some Recent Developments in the Cellulose Industries. By C. J. J. Fox and L. HALL. Cellulose plays its part in industry largely by virtue of its physical structure and its The stability as a chemical compound. technical applications of cellulose have been until recently, almost wholly dependent upon the skill of engineers and craftsmen and the prescience of business men; latterly the chemist has been playing an ever-increasing part, and the future is going to be very largely dependent upon his efforts. Artificial silk is now produced in enormous and ever-increasing quantities; its applications are probably still in their infancy, and the limits of their future possibilities cannot be foreseen. Its use in combination with other textile materials has necessitated modified methods of weaving, dyeing, finish ing, etc., which, in turn, have reacted on some of the related industries. The viscose process dominates this situation by reason of the cheapness of its raw materials and because of certain advantages it has over other kinds of artificial silk. Thus, 8 per cent. caustic soda solution dissolves 80 per cent. of nitrate silk and saponifies acetate silk, whereas it dissolves on 10-20 per cent. of viscose silk; hence viscose silk is much more resistant to finishing processes, and can be woven together with unbleached cotton before the bleaching stage, and then dyed in the piece. as Derivatives of cellulose are being put to new uses every year; practically, the nitrate, xanthate, and acetate are the derivatives mainly concerned. The true ethers have hardly come into industrial processes as yet, on any appreciable scale, owing to their great cost. The problems raised by the industrial applications of these substances are frequently accompanied by special problems of solvents, softeners, and mechanical contrivances. In general terms it may be said that the outstanding defects of the nitrate are its great inflammability and instability towards chemical agents such as alkalis, sulphides, etc., and 100° and towards temperatures such upwards. The acetate is more difficult and costly to manufacture, it is easily hydrolysed, and not absolutely stable to water. But it is on the whole more stable than the nitrate, more resistant to the action light, and practically non-inflammable. It has presented some dyeing problems peculiar to itself which have greatly handicapped its use for silk,but which now seem to have been solved in a satisfactory way. In the early days of its use the acetate was hydrolysed and the free cellulose dyed in the ordinary way, the special merits of the acetate being wholly sacrificed. The first step that the the discovery forward was -methylsulphonic acids of aminoazo compounds possess the special property of liberating their colour bases for general abAnother sorption into the acetate fibre. of step forward was the discovery that colloidal solutions in Turkey-red oil, of azo and anthraquinone dyes, containing no sulphonic groups, give clear solutions in water, and are readily absorbed by acetate silk. A large range of colours based on this principle is now available, and the previous methods of dyeing have been entirely abandoned. The dyes known as cellutyl, ionamine, celatine, etc., are dyes of this kind. The xanthate as such is not encountered by the user: its outstandng advantages are the cheapness of |