528 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1882. 



lines are obtained whenever the presence of the conducting carbon per- 

 mits the passage of electricity. 



Hydrogen generated at the negative pole may be employed instead 

 of zinc, ferrous sulphate, glucose, hydrosulphite, and the other common 

 agents, to reduce baths of indigo, of aniline black, «Ssc. A feeble contin- 

 uous current gives the best results. The two electrodes must be sep- 

 arated completely. Dr. Goppelsroeder expresses the hope that his ex- 

 periments may eventually become of industrial importance. (Reprinted 

 from I? Ulectricien, and communicated by the author.) 



Method and Apparatus for Testing Inflammahle Oils. — In accordance 

 with the instructions of the New York State Board of Health to its san- 

 itary committee, and in response to an order of said committee, Arthur 

 H. Elliott has made an exhaustive report on the methods and apparatus 

 for testing inflammable oils, with special reference to dangerous kero- 

 sene. The investigations were made with the ultimate intention of es- 

 tablishiug a standard for testing petroleum in New York State. Mr. 

 Elliott examined thirteen kinds of testers, including three open testers, 

 and some electric testers, and experimented with four different samples 

 of oil ou each apparatus. His tests show that it is very important to 

 know which apparatus has been used when an oil is said to have a given 

 flashing point. One of the oils showed a range of temperature from 95° 

 to 130° F. The general conclusions to which Mr. Elliott comes are briefly 

 as follows : Of all the 13 apparatuses not one can be called perfectly 

 satisfactory ; open testers are entirely untrustworthy for determining 

 the safety of kerosene oil ; of the closed testers the Wisconsin State 

 tester, with a few alterations suggested by the author, gives the most 

 reliable results. The electric testers are troublesome to keep in order. 

 {Second Annual Report of the State Board of Health of New York, Albany, 

 1882, p. 449.) 



'•'' BenzoV or ^^ Benzene, ^^ a Question in Nomenclature. — Attention is 

 being directed to the necessity of greater uniformity in nomenclature, 

 especially as regards the important hydrocarbons CeHe and CioHs. Ger- 

 man, French, and most American chemists designate Ce He by the name 

 benzol (sometimes spelled with a superfluous final e), while English chem- 

 ists use the term benzene; in like manner continental chemists name 

 CioHg naphthalin, and Englishmen call it naphthalene. 



A few years ago the London Chemical Society issued a six-page pam- 

 phlet* to its corps of abstractors giving rules of nomenclature and nota- 

 tion, and this has materially aided in securing uniformity. In preparing a 

 paper for the Berichte der deutschen chemischen Gesellschaft, on the "Laws 

 of Substitution in the Nai)hthalene Series," Prof. Henry E. Armstrong, 

 of the London Institution, employed the customary English terms, and 

 desired the publication committee to refrain from changing them. This 

 led to correspondence which is published in the Berichte (vol. xv, p. 



Reprinted in Chemical News (1883), vol. xlvii, p. 15. 



