Seventeenth Annual Meeting. 87 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD DAY. 



WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1884. 



The President, Dr. Brown, in the chair. The following papers were then read. 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSION ON CHEMISTRY UPON THE YEAR'S 



PROGRESS. 



I. Organic and Physiological Chemistry.— By Prof. E. H. S. 

 Bailey, State University. 



In organic chemistry the field is a broad one, and it is only necessary to call attention 

 to a few of the many discoveries of the year. Among these we note that M. A. Pohl has 

 discovered a new putrefaction alkaloid from decayed flesh, having the composition 

 C 5 H n N. G. Johnson recommends picric acid as a test for albumen in urine. A coag- 

 ulum is formed when it is present. Use the solid or a saturated solution. This test is 

 said to be more delicate than HNO s . In the presence of KHO the solution changes 

 from a deep yellow to a red. It is advisable to use equal volumes in all cases. The 

 latest authorities on boric acid and borax as food preservatives, claim its use to be rather 

 questionable. Their tendency is to decrease the amount of bile and of albuminous matter 

 secreted. Hydric peroxide is coming into use as a disinfectant. A 3 per cent, solution 

 in water is now made on a commercial scale. Hydric peroxide is very useful as an 

 oxidizing agent in the place of nitric acid or bromine. It is particularly useful in the 

 quantitative determination of sulphides and sulphites. Steps toward the artificial pro- 

 duction of sinapic acid have heen made by Remsen and Cole: the process is not yet 

 completed. V. Meyer has shown that benzine obtained from coal tar, and that from ben- 

 zoic acid, have different properties. From coal tar benzine a compound called theophane, 

 containing sulphur, can be made, while this cannot be made from the other variety. 

 Ethyl orange is one of the very best test solutions to distinguish between an acid and an 

 alkali. From an alkali to an acid the change of color is from orange to rose. Nicol 

 has brought forward a new hypothesis in regard to solution. He assumes that the solu- 

 tion of a salt in water is in consequence of the attraction of the molecule of water for a 

 molecule of the salt exceeding that of the molecules of the salt for each other. At 

 saturation the attraction of dissimilar molecules is counterhalanced by that of similar 

 molecules. 



From elaborate investigations, Fleischer has ascertained that sulphuric acid is a much 

 better drying substance to use in a desiccator than calcic chloride. Solomon has made 

 an investigation on the action of acids on starch. Musculus thought that by diastase, 

 as well as by sulphuric acid, starch split up into one molecule of dextrine and one of 

 sugar, and afterwards the acid slowly acted on the dextrine. Payen opposed this view, 

 and showed that no such breaking up of the molecule took place, but that there was a 

 gradual change. Opinions have been divided on the question, but Solomon shows that 

 the change by acids is more rapid as the acid is stronger; it is in proportion to the time 

 of action, but slower towards the end. Oxalic acid changes starch readily to sugar in 

 three hours. The starch group is composed of x molecules of C 6 II 10 5 , and is changed 

 by the action into a simpler soluble starch, and this latter to dextrine. This final change 

 is rapid. Sulphuric acid unites with a certain quantity of the dextrine and hydrates it, 

 to give it up again to unite with a new quantity of dextrine, and change the latter to 



