268 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



Schmidt has discovered that by the action of aqueous am- 

 monia upon carbonyl sulphide, urea is produced. For this 

 reaction it is only necessary to pass the carbonyl sulphide 

 gas through a concentrated aqueous solution of ammonia. 

 The solution becomes yellow, and on spontaneous evapora- 

 tion evolves ammonium sulphide and carbonate, and leaves 

 a residue of urea. Pushing the saturation further, there is 

 formed a compound by direct union. 



North has made an elaborate research on the effect of 

 starvation, with and without severe labor, on the excretion 

 of nitrogen by the human body, and finds that the increase 

 of nitrogen excreted is very small, and comes solely from re- 

 serve nitrogenous material. The results of Flint, obtained 

 in experiments upon Weston, he thinks are due to the fact 

 that before his walk Weston had accumulated a large nitrog- 

 enous reserve, from which, and not from his muscles, came 

 the nitrogen excreted. 



Jaffe has examined the results of the ingestion of benzoic 



acid in birds, with a view to determine the form in which it 



is excreted. In the mammalia, benzoic acid when taken into 



the organism, as is well known, is excreted as hippuric acid. 



But Jaffe finds that no hippuric acid is formed by birds, the 



benzoic acid forming a new conjugated acid which he calls 



ornithinic acid. 



TECHNICAL. 



Frankland and Thorne have studied the luminosity of 

 benzene when burned with non-luminous combustible gases. 

 After many unsuccessful attempts to burn benzene with a 

 smokeless flame, the authors determined the luminosity of 

 benzene vapor after dilution with hydrogen, carbonous ox- 

 ide, and marsh gas. These gases were passed through a 

 carburetter containing benzene, kept at a constant tempera- 

 ture, and were burned from a fish-tail burner. The results 

 were as follows : One pound avoirdupois of benzene gives, 

 when burned with hydrogen, the light yielded by 5.192 

 pounds of spermaceti; with carbonous oxide, that of 6.1 

 pounds of spermaceti; and with marsh gas, that of 7.7 

 pounds of spermaceti. The authors point out that this dif- 

 ference is probably due in part to the different pyrometrical 

 effects of the gaseous mixtures. 



Muir has discussed at considerable length the use of gas 



