proceedings: chemical society 85 



Mr. F. L. Lewton called attention to the discovery of the records of 

 the AVashington Botanical Club, a predecessor of this society from 

 1898-1902. He stated that these records were missing when the history 

 of the society was ^vritten up a few years ago, and also gave a brief 

 review of the club. 



The scientific program was as follows: 



Mr. Peter Bisset: The James River Hybrid Walnut. Lantern 

 slides were shown of a walnut tree on the Rowe Farm, on the James 

 River, opposite Lower Brandon, Va. The tree is 100 feet high, with a 

 spread of 123 feet, altho until a recent storm the spread was 134 feet. 

 At 4 feet from the ground the tree is 31 feet 3 inches in circumference, 

 and at 6 feet from the ground is over 25 feet in circumference. At 12 

 feet from the ground it divides into 4 large branches, three of which are 

 larger than any tree in the neighborhood. No one has any definite 

 knowledge of the age of the tree, but as the old farm house was built 

 about 200 years ago it is supposed that the seed was planted at that 

 time. Its growth was probably rapid, judged from seedlings which at- 

 tained a height of 5 feet 10 inches in one season, as compared with 3 

 feet in seedlings of Juglans nigra which grew beside them. A seedling 

 planted nearby about 1860 is now 2| feet in diameter and of the height 

 of the parent tree. The characters of the leaves and nuts are such as to 

 suggest a possible hybrid origin. The pubescence of the branches and 

 leaves agree with Juglans cinerea and the fruit and other leaf characters 

 suggest Juglans regia instead of /. nigra. The nuts are of low vitality 

 and very thick shell. 



Dr. G. G. Hedgcock: Smelter Injury in Southeastern Tennessee 

 (with lantern), published elsewhere in this Journal. 



Dr. D. N. Shoemaker: Some Chinese Horticultural Brassica Species 

 (with lantern). Horticultural Forms of Chinese Brassicas in the 

 Lnited States at present are : 



Three well marked varieties of Mustard, Brassica juncea. These are 

 well established in the American Seed Trade. 



Four types of non-pungent Brassicas, of uncertain specific relations : 



1 . The heading forms, Chinese name Pai Tsai. These make long heads 

 resting on the surface of the ground, and present many varieties. 2. A 

 form with long broad petioles, and long light green leaf blades, the veins 

 of which are quite prominent. 3. A form with very broad short flat 

 petioles, and dark green leaf blades. These usually send up swollen 

 seeding stems. 4. A very loose-leafed round-petioled form, used by the 

 Chinese as a summer vegetable. 



P. L. RicKER, Corresponding Secretary. 



THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY 



The 233d Meeting was held on Monday, December 22, 1913, at the Cos- 

 mos Club. Prof. Earle B. Phelps, of the Hygienic Laboratory, lectured on 

 Recent advances in sewage chemistry. The chemistry of sewage has been de- 

 veloped by a process of evolution from the older water chemistry, but with 

 our present conception of the purposes of sewage disposal and of the objec- 



