. SOILS FERTILIZERS. 535 



<l;iy. 'I'lio rnto of ovolnlion was 1.27-!) f,'in. of CO. i)or f^rnni of dry matter in the 

 bacterial mass, in 24 Iioiirs, a rate much liiijlier tliau that found in the case 

 of Hdclcri mil lidrllchi ((».() fim.) and Clostridiiiiii (/chitiiiosiiiii (0.48 .gni.). 



The author found carbon dioxid, Iiydroiion, alcohol, and lactic, acetic, uud 

 formic acids to be produced by the l)reakin,i; down of the mannite or glucose of 

 the media and he believes that these changes are brought about in presence of 

 an abuiuhuice of oxygen by the action of a glycolytic enzym which he has 

 isolated from cultures of lidctcrhiiii lidrtlehi. 



The fixation of atmospheric nitrogen {Hngiiicvr [London], 102 (100(1), 

 yo. 2GJf7, pp. 285, 286). — A summary is here given of papers and a discussion by 

 Nernst, Foerster, Le Blanc, Klaudy, Frank, Brode, and otlier electro-chemists 

 at the thirteenth annual meeting of the German Bunsen Societ}% held at Dresden 

 May 20 to 23, 1900, the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen being the special sul).ject 

 selected for discussion at this meeting. 



The principal papers presented and discussed were as follows: Two papers on 

 the general subject of the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen, by Foerster and Le 

 Blanc; the ecjuilibrium and reaction velocity ratios for nitric oxid formation, by 

 Nernst ; technical methods for carrying out the coml)ustion of nitrogen, by F. 

 Foerster; and technical methods for converting the nitrous gases into nitric 

 acid and its salts, by Klaudy. 



Researches on the direct synthesis of nitric acid and of nitrates from 

 their elements at ordinary temperature, M. Berthelot (Compt. Rend. Acud. 

 Sci. [Paris], l',.> (1906), \o. 25, pp. 1361-1319; Ann. Chim. et Pliyn., 8. hci:, '.) 

 {1906), Oct., pp. I.'i5-1(!3; uhs. in Jour. Soc. Chem. Indus., 25 (1906), No. V,, p. 

 695; CJicni. Ahs., 1 (1901), Xo. 1, p. 22; Bui. Soc. Chim. Paris, 3. ser., 35 (1906), 

 Xo. 23, pp. 1221, 1222). — The author reports studies of the effect of silent dis- 

 charges of the induction coil on mi.xtures of nitrogen and oxygen in presence of 

 water or alkali hydroxid operating on a stream of gas passing through the appa- 

 ratus and also on a fixed contained voliime of gas. 



" The primary current was 12 amperes at (> volts, and- the poles of the coil 

 were 20 mm. apart. The coil was used both with and without a condenser. It 

 was found that the high tension of the coil was necessary (no effect was produced 

 by connecting the apparatus directly with the pul)lic alternating supply at 100 

 volts), but that the condenser was practically without influence. In the circula- 

 tion exi)eriments, 0.0192 gm. of nitric acid per hour was produced from half 

 a liter of air, or about 14 per cent of the total amount possible. No effect was 

 produced by substituting alkali h.vdroxid for water in the apparatus. Neither 

 ammonia nor nitrous acid was produced. In the constant volume experiments, 

 whether the gases were mixed in the proportions No -.O^ or there was excess of 

 nitrogen, reaction occurred to tlie (practically) complete disappearance of oxy- 

 gen; and here, also, no other reaction than the direct formation of nitric acid 

 took place. In these experiments, measilrements of pressure and time showed 

 an acceleration of the reaction after the beginning, followed by a gradual retard- 

 ation as the pressure (and hence the concentrations of the reacting gases) 

 diminished, so that the theoretical coujpletion of the reaction would occur only 

 after infinite time. It is to be romeini^ered that the reactions here concerned — 



N.+0,-fH„0+Ari=2IIN03 dilute; or, 

 N,+0,+H,0 gas=2HN03 gas ; 



are exothermic, and differ in this from the formation in the arc of nitric oxid ()r 

 nitrogen peroxid from their elements." 



The industrial utilization of the nitrogen of the air, C. Fuschini ■(Rivista. 

 .',. scr.. 12 (1906). Xo. 19, pp. ',.?.7-i',/).— This is a review of a reptTrt by O. N. 

 Witt wliich has already lieen noted (E. S. li., 17, p. 74(5). 



