RECENT ORIGINAL WORK AT HARVARD. 487 



nose of the visitor, and in the laboratories spectral shapes flit hack- 

 ward and forward behind clouds of vapor, occasionally lit up by lurid 

 flames. These are the students ; but in their private laboratories the 

 professors pursue their own researches. Professor Cooke has been 

 dealing with that unprincipled element, antimony, which has obdu- 

 rately persisted in claiming two atomic weights, until he has success- 

 fully limited it to one. In connection with his laboratory-work, Pro- 

 fessor Cooke is preparing a new edition of his " Chemical Philosophy." 

 The results of his inorganic work have appeared from time to time in 

 the publications of the Academy of Arts and Sciences. 



Since the " Organic Laboratory " was established, in 1875, Pro- 

 fessors Hill and Jackson have published twenty-five papers giving the 

 results of their work, and have discovered one hundred new com- 

 pounds. The discovery of new compounds, however, possesses as a 

 rule no special importance, and is rather incidental to, than the result 

 of, the main work. Two examples will indicate somewhat the char- 

 acter and object of organic investigations. The composition of uric 

 acid has been long known to be C B H 4 N 4 3 , but its constitution the 

 exact arrangement of the atoms has been uncertain. Chemists all 

 over the world had endeavored to settle the question, but their fail- 

 ures resulted in eleven different formula? for this one substance. Pro- 

 fessor Hill, taking this uric acid, C 6 H 4 N 4 3 , marked one part by re- 

 placing H by CH 3 (methyl) ; then treating the acid so as to split it up, 

 he determined to which part the methyl was attached, and, by con- 

 tinuing his treatment, was enabled to reduce the possible formula? from 

 eleven to three, with strong probabilities in favor of one. This pos- 

 sesses a practical value, inasmuch as it will lead to a knowledge of the 

 method of formation of uric acid in the animal body. Professor Hill's 

 work on " Fur-f errol," found in the products of the distillation of wood, 

 is interesting, as chlorophyll can probably be obtained from it. 



An example of the curious subtilties of science is afforded by Pro- 

 fessor Jackson's investigations of anthracene, which is obtained from 

 coal-tar, and yields alizarine (madder-dye), used in dyeing pink and 

 purple calicoes, Turkey reds, etc. Anthracene was known to consist of 

 two hexagons of carbon with hydrogen-atoms attached, united by two 

 other carbon-atoms. Professor Jackson proved, by making anthracene 

 artificially, that these two carbon-atoms are united to adjacent corners 

 in each hexagon, thus : 



l-l c C H 



These are but stray examples of the researches that are constantly 

 being made by Professors Hill, Jackson, and their assistants. Brom- 

 benzylbromides, parachlorbenzyls, and benzaldehyds, however, fasci- 



