380 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



spectra of the uranyl salts when subjected to the exciting action of 

 X-rays. The identity of these spectra with those obtained by photo- 

 excitation was estabhshed, but it was found that these substances, 

 which when excited by hght show no luminous after-effect of appreci- 

 able duration, are strongly phosphorescent under X-rays, with a decaj^ 

 unusually rapid at first but followed by a faint glow of long duration. 



Mr. C. E. Power has completed his study of the phosphorescence of 

 certain of the Lenard and Klatt sulphides, at temperatures up to the 

 point of final extinction, and his data are nearly ready for publication. 



Dr. R. C. Gibbs and Mr. K. S. Gibson have further extended their 

 long-continued series of measurements of the absorption of light by 

 various colored glasses for temperatures between 400° C. and —180° C. 

 They have also investigated in detail the fluorescence and absorption 

 of synthetic ruby throughout the same range of temperature and have 

 studied the fluorescence and absorption of a series of organic compounds 

 recently prepared and studied from the chemical standpoint by Pro- 

 fessor Orndorff , of Cornell University. 



These substances, ten in number, which were obtained by loading 

 the molecule of a, 13, and y orcinol-phthalein with chlorine or bromine, 

 show consistent and systematic shift of the absorption bands, and, in 

 the case of the y group, of the fluorescence bands also, towards the 

 longer wave-lengths as the load is increased. 



Mr. H. E. Howe has been working upon the same group of sub- 

 stances, using the quartz-spectrograph, and has discovered and mapped 

 a set of absorption bands in the ultra-violet which extends as far as 

 0.20^t. The effects of change in the arrangement and composition of 

 the molecule are found to be similar to those observed in the visible 

 spectrum. 



Dr. C. C. Bidwell's measurements of the radiation from metal sur- 

 faces and his studies of the thermo-electromotive properties of various 

 metallic oxides have been published since the appearance of Year Book 

 No. 12 (Physical Review, second series, vol. in, pp. 204, 439, and 450). 

 He is continuing his investigation of the properties of these interesting 

 compounds. „ 



An account of Dr. A. K. Angstrom's observations on the selective 

 reflection from solutions in the infra-red has been given in the Physical 

 Review (second series, vol. iii, p. 47). He finds: 



(1) That the reflection maximum of water at 3.20ai is shifted to the longer 

 wave-lengths when the strongly hydrated salts CaCl2 and SrCl2 are present. 



(2) That no appreciable shift is produced by the solution of NaCl, Na2S04, 

 KNO3, or CUSO4. 



(3) That the reflection maximum is considerably shifted towards the longer 

 wave-lengths when a true hydrate NaOH, KOH is in solution. 



(4) That concentrated sulphuric acid shows the reflection maximum char- 

 acteristic of the OH group. 



(5) That this maximum tends to vanish when the molecule is broken down 

 through dissociation. 



