Chase.] -^^8 [April 21, 



are greater for the hj-drocarbons than for the alcohols, aldehydes, acids, 

 etc., derived from them. 



193. Subsidiary Phyllotaxy. 



Gerber {Les Mondes, [3] i, 145), after referring to the accuracy with 

 which the atomic weights of nearly one-half of the chemical elements have 

 been determined, says : — " Un pareil degre de rigueur ne saurait gtre atteint 

 dans I'application des lois d' Avogadro, de Dulong et Petit, dc Mitscherlich. 

 Celles-ci, comme il a ete dit, sont des lois de conditions, dont nous ne pos- 

 sedons qu' une formule provisoire." The phyllotactic approximations are 

 so much closer than those Avhich are here spoken of, that we may well 

 hope for some important results from their subsidiary employment in stoi- 

 chiometry. 



193. Gludnum. 



Gerber {I. c. pp. 146-9), thinks that the law of Dulong and Petit accords 

 better with the atomic weight which Nilson and Petersson assign to Glu- 

 cinum, 13.65, than with the one which is adopted by Mayer and Mendele- 

 jeff, 9.1. The same thing may be said of the phyllotactic and the approxi- 

 mately phyllotactic divisors, for 13.65 = 11 X 1-245 — .045 = 11 X 1-247 

 —.067, while 9.1 = 7 X 1-245 + .385 == 7 X 1-247 + .371, the residuals 

 being, respectively, 8.5 and 5.5 times as great in the latter case as in the 

 former. This single change would increase the superiority in relative 

 probability, of the phyllotactic divisors over the hydrogen divisor, more 

 than twelve fold. 



194. "The Principles of Magnetism." 



Charles Morris {Jour, of Sci., [3] iv, 71) objects to the magnetic theories 

 of Ampere and Weber, as follows : "The Amperian theory is constantly 

 and gravely repeated in text-books, to the present day^ without a hint 

 being given of the indisputable fact that it is quite at variance with the 

 principles of energy, as now understood. It is easy to imagine a constant 

 current of electricity, and niake it answer a definite purpose, but the truth 

 is that no such thing exists as a constant current of electricity, in the Am- 

 perian sense." He goes on to speak of the currents of static electricity as 

 bfiing instantaneous, while those of galvanic and thermo-electricity consist 

 of instantaneous components and cease when the chemical or thermal 

 equilibrium is restored. But is the equilibrium in the terrestrial thermal 

 and gravitating currents ever restored? In 1864 {Proc. A. P.. S., ix, 357, 

 foot-note) I showed that the opposing forces of rotation, elasticity and 

 gravitation must produce oscillations. In various preceding and subse- 

 quent papers I showed that those oscillations must produce constant cur- 

 rents of such 'descriptions as Ampere supposed. 



195. Dogmatism. 



Many modern investigators, who pride themselves on their freedom 

 from the dreams of metaphysics, continually fall into ways which they 



