HITTITES IN AFRICA. 4O9 



Phoenician traders on the coast, but that finally, unable to stem 

 the tide of Bantu invasion, they were driven from the country to 

 the south and west, and systematic gold mining- in Rhodesia 

 came to an end ; and one is tempted to suggest that, unsettled 

 and kept on the move by their Bantu enemies, they reverted to 

 the nomadic habits of remote ancestors in Central Asia. 



This paper is far less complete than I could have wished it to 

 be ; but I hope that it is not altogether without interest, and even 

 that it may be of some use, if only in the way of stimulating the 

 discussion of the problems suggested to us by the presence in 

 South Africa of, on the one hand, what we may term a derelict 

 race, and on the other, of the forsaken outposts of the forgotten 

 civilization. 



RANDOM NOTES BY A SCHOOLMASTER. 



By A. S. Lang LEY. 



(Not prmted.) 



CHEMICALLY ACTIVE NITROGEN.— Strutt, in a 



recent communication to the Royal Society (Proc. Roy. Soc, 

 191 1, pp. 219-229), states that pure nitrogen, subjected to an 

 electric discharge from a Leyden jar, in an exhausted tube, is so 

 modified that it acquires a glow which persists for some time 

 after cessation of the discharge. This modified nitrogen, which 

 has a characteristic band spectrum, loses its luminosity when 

 heated, but recovers it on cooling. A temperature approaching 

 to that of liquid air causes an increase of brilliancy, but when 

 that temperature is actually reached all luminosity is lost. The 

 modified nitrogen reacts violently on mere contact with ordinary 

 phosphorus, altering the latter into the red form. Iodine 

 causes the yellow glow of the nitrogen to be replaced by a light 

 blue, accompanied by a slight rise of temperature. The new 

 modification of nitrogen, if gently heated with sodium or mercury, 

 enters into combination, forming in the latter case an explosive 

 compound. With organic halogen compounds this form of nitro- 

 gen reacts in such a way as to set free the halogen, itself com- 

 bining with the carbon to form cyanogen. It acts on Nitric 

 dioxide forming the tetroxide, the reaction being accomoanied 

 bv a green flame. The luminosity of the new modification of 

 nitrogen is destroyed by ammonia, by cupric oxide, and by man- 

 ganese dioxide, but is not affected by either water or carbon 

 dioxide. 



