igi2] General i95 



Professor W. H. Perkin delivered a lecture on " The polymeriza- 

 tion of butadiene and isoprene," before the Sections on Organic 

 Chemistry and India Rubber. Prof. Perkin outlined bis original 

 method of making synthetic rubber,^ and then described the follow- 

 ing new method : Take ethyl alcohol, which may be easily oxidized 

 to acetaldehyde. This is Condensed by means of potassium carbon- 

 ate to aldol and the aldol can be quantitatively converted into butyl- 

 idine gycol. All the yields of these reactions are practically quan- 

 titative. The butylidine glycol is then converted into a chlorid and 

 passed over soda-lime, when practically the same product is pro- 

 duced as the isoprene from isoamyl chlorid and, when treated with 

 sodium, gives even better rubber than isoprene. Professor Perkin 

 exhibited samples of what he called the first synthetic rubber ever 

 made (the product of Tilden). 



A general review of the proceedings of the Congress will appear 

 in the October issue of the Journal of Industrial and Engineering 

 Chemistry (pages 706-719). The proceedings of the biochemical 

 section are reported at page 150 of this issue of the Biochemical 

 Bulletin. 



The eighty-second annual meeting of the British Association for 

 the Advancement of Science, which opened at Dundee on Septem- 

 ber 4, had a registration of 2,504 members, which is considerably 

 larger than the average. At the opening session the President, 

 Prof. E. A. Schäfer, delivered a notable address on the "Nature, 

 origin and maintenance of life," which has been published in Nature 

 (90: 7-19) and Science (36: 289-312). It was announced that 

 Dr. J. K. Caird, of Dundee, had given £10,000 to the funds of the 

 association. A general account of each sectional meeting will ap- 

 pear in Science (36 : 446-452). 



The Royal Society recently celebrated its 25oth anniversary. 



The I4th meeting of the Australasian Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science will be held in Melbourne in January, 19 13. 



Buildings and general equipment. The work of the Herriman 

 Dispensary of the Brooklyn Hospital was inaugurated on July 17. 

 The dispensary will be open daily. It is a two and one-half story 



* Biochemical Bulletin, 1912, i, p. 566. 



