abstracts: chemistry 85 



steel tubes than in any of the others. This oil contained approximately 

 0.5 per cent fatty oil, while the other two were straight mineral oils. 



C. E. W. 



CHEMISTRY. — The determination of manganese in vanadium and 

 chrome-vanadium steels. J. R. Cain. Journal of Industrial and 

 Engineering Chemistry, July, 1911. 



The bismuthate method for manganese gives high results in vanadium 

 or chrome-vanadium steels because some of the chromium and all of 

 the vanadium are also oxidized and react with the ferrous solution used 

 to reduce the permanganic acid. The Ford-Williams method gives 

 high results because of occlusion of chromic acid by the precipitated 

 manganese dioxide. The present method eliminates those sources of 

 error by precipitating the chromium and vanadium out of a sulphuric 

 acid solution of the steel by cadmium carbonate' and determining man- 

 ganese in the filtrate by the bismuthate method after adding nitric acid. 



J.R.C. 



CHEMISTRY. — The determination of vanadium in vanadium and chrome- 

 vanadium steels. J. R. Cain. Bulletin Bureau of Standards, 7: 

 377, 1911; Journal Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, 3 : July, 

 1911. 



Various errors in the usual methods for determining vanadium in 

 steel are pointed out and in a few cases methods for correcting or elim- 

 inating these are indicated. A new method based on precipitation of the 

 vanadium by cadmium carbonate followed by electiolysis, reduction 

 and titration, is described. J. R. C. 



ELECTROCHEMISTRY.— The relation of surface action to electro- 

 chemistry. Harrison E. Patten, Bureau of Soils. Transactions 

 of the American Flectrochemioal Society, 19. 1911. 



A mathematical and illustrated treatment which may be summarized 

 as: (1) A definition of surface tension as the first derivative of surface 

 energy with respect to surface change. (2) A consideration of the gen- 

 eral equations of surface changes following the treatment given by J. 

 Willard GibLs. (3) An extension of these equations with the assistance 

 of a cyclic process to surfaces having an electric charge. (4) The appli- 



J Jour. Ind. and Eng. Chem., 3: July, 1911; also Bull. Bur. Standards, 7: 377. 

 1911. 



