230 Chronicles of Science. [April, 
Mr. Wm. Herapath, F.C.S., died at Bristol on the 13th of 
February, in his 73rd year. Although a sound general chemist, 
he was best known as a toxicologist, having been brought into 
notoriety by the celebrated Burdock case, some thirty years ago. 
He was one of the founders of the Chemical Society, and Lecturer 
on Chemistry at the Bristol Medical School. 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CHEMICAL Society. 
The first meeting we have to notice was held on December 19. 
On that evening Mr. A. Tribe read a paper “On the Freezing of 
Water and Bismuth.” Bismuth, it has been said, is a body which, 
like water, expands near the point of solidification. The author’s 
experiments prove that although the metal does increase in bulk at 
the moment of solidification, there is no evidence to show that any 
expansion takes place before the solidification. 
At the meeting on January 16, a paper by Mr. Pedler “On 
Tsomeric Forms of Valeric Acid” was read, in which the author 
showed that the acid prepared from inactive amylic alcohol—z.e., 
the alcohol which does not affect the plane of polarization, is also 
inactive towards a polarized ray, while that prepared from the 
active alcohol rotates the ray 43° to the nght. 
After this, Dr. Debus made a verbal communication “On Thio- 
formic Acid,” an acid produced when formiate of lead is treated 
with sulphuretted hydrogen. The views expressed were of a hypo- 
thetical nature; but the speaker promised some investigations on 
the subject. 
Dr. Frankland then delivered a lecture “On Water Analysis.” 
In this lecture, the author first gave a critical review of the methods 
commonly employed for the determination—1, Of the total solids ; 
2, the organic and volatile matters; 3, the amount of oxygen re- 
quired to oxidize the organic matter; 4, the nitrites and nitrates ; 
and 5, the ammonia. 
1. To estimate the total solid constituents, it is usual to evapo- 
rate a measured quantity of the water with the addition of a known 
amount of carbonate of soda, and to dry the residue at from 120° 
to 130° C., until the weight is constant.* In this process the 
lecturer pointed out two sources of error. In the first place, if 
salts of ammonia are present, they are changed into carbonate, 
which is volatilized; and, in the second place, urea will also be 
decomposed, and some of its products dissipated. An experiment 
* Dr. Frankland was in error in ascribing the first employment of carbonate of 
soda to Messrs. Hofmann and Blyth. The method was adopted by those gentlemen 
in the examination of the London waters (1856); but was first employed by Mr. 
Edwin Schweitzer. 
