Annual Report of the Council. xli 



then first definitely established. Then followed the important 

 work on the reactions of ethyl sodaceto-acetate, which has become 

 so fruitful in organic syntheses. A vast number of new com- 

 pounds have been formed from acetic ether by Frankland's 

 method. 



While at Owens College Frankland greatly improved the 

 apparatus designed by Bunsen for gas analysis, by combining 

 with it Regnault's method of gas measurement. In Frankland's 

 apparatus the determinations of gaseous volumes are independent 

 of the temperature and pressure of the external atmosphere. 

 With this apparatus Frankland made many analyses of the air, 

 including samples collected at the summit of Mont Blanc, which 

 he ascended with Tyndall in 1859. 



Frankland began his long series of researches on the analysis 

 and purification of water when he succeeded Hofmann, in 1865, 

 at the Royal School of Mines. Hofmann had undertaken to 

 analyse monthly and to report to the Registrar-General on the 

 waters supplied to the metropolis, and Frankland was asked 

 to continue these reports. He Avas thus led to examine the 

 various methods of water analysis then in use, which he found 

 untrustworthy. For two years he worked on this difficult 

 problem, in attacking which he had the advantage of the skill 

 and devotion of his pupil, H. E. Armstrong. In 1868 Frankland 

 was appointed a member of the Royal Commission to enquire 

 into the pollution of rivers and the domestic water supply of 

 Great Britain. The chemical investigations arising out of this 

 enquiry occupied Frankland for many years, and although they 

 took him away from the pursuit of pure chemistry, their 

 importance to the country can hardly be exaggerated. 



An experiment which Frankland made on the rate of com- 

 bustion of candles on the summit of Mont Blanc, led him to 

 undertake an elaborate investigation on the effect of pressure on 

 combustion. He proved that oil and candles burn as quickly 

 under reduced pressure but give less light, the loss of light not 

 being due to imperfect combustion. 



Frankland was elected a member of this Society in 185 1, on 



