76 



CHEMISTRY. 



estimated at 9,720 square miles, and the white 

 population in 1891 was 578 and the native 218,324. 

 European settlement is prohibited. The live 

 stock consisted of 302,934 cattle and 81,194 

 horses. The territory, which was formerly the 

 scene of perennial warfare between the native 

 chiefs, is now peaceful and prosperous. The ex- 

 ports in 1891 amounted to about 250,000, and 

 consisted chiefly of grain, cattle, and wool. In 

 1891 Basutoland entered the Customs Union, and 

 in 1892 was connected by telegraph with the 

 Orange Free State. The revenue in 1891 was 

 41,784 and the expenditure 40,825, and there 

 is no public debt. 



Bechuanaland. The Crown colony of Bech- 

 uanaland, which is under the direct adminis- 

 tration of the Governor of Cape Colony, as High 

 Commissioner for South Africa, who is repre- 

 sented by an administrator, Sir Sydney G. A. 

 Shippard, has an area of 51,000 square miles, with 

 a white population of 12.726 and a native popu- 

 lation estimated at 60,000. There is in addition 

 a protectorate of 119,000 square miles. Maize, 

 wool, hides, cattle, and wood are exported. The 

 revenue in 1891, including a parliamentary grant 

 of 115,991, was 161,303, the expenditure 

 159,545. 



British Zambesia. The charter of the Brit- 

 ish South Africa Company was extended in the 

 early part of 1891, so as to include all the terri- 

 tory under British influence north of the Zam- 

 besi river except Nyassaland, which was pro- 

 claimed under the protectorate of Great Britain 

 on May 14, 1891, and Mr. H. H. Johnson was ap- 

 pointed imperial commissioner and was per- 

 mitted to act, in addition, as representative of the 

 company in its territory north of the Zambesi. 

 The area of the company may be estimated at 

 over 500,000 square miles. 



CHEMISTRY. Chemical Theory. The 

 theory and properties of the metallic carbonyls 

 have been discussed by Ludwig Mond in a lec- 

 ture before the Royal Institution. Carbonyl 

 proper is carbonic oxide, CO, but the name is 

 also applied to the peculiar compounds which 

 that substance forms with metals. The first of 

 these substances discovered was a compound of 

 carbonic oxide and potassium, which Liebig de- 

 scribed in 1834, and from his experiments with 

 which he concluded that carbonic oxide was a 

 radical, or a compound having the characteris- 

 tics of a simple body, and capable of combining 

 with, replacing, and being replaced by other 

 simple bodies ; and he predicted that remark- 

 able results would attend the further pursuit of 

 his idea. His prediction has been verified. Car- 

 bonyl differs from other compound radicals in 

 that it is the only one that exists in the free 

 state as a single atom, while all the others only 

 exist as molecules composed of two atoms the 

 free valences of which neutralize each other. 

 Later experiments with potassium carbonyl 

 show it to be a compound of the benzole series, 

 in which all the hydrogen is replaced by potas- 

 sium. By treatment with an acid it can be con- 

 verted into hexhydroxylbenzole, and from this 

 substance it is possible to produce the whole 

 wide range of the benzole compounds. While it 

 had been found that sodium did not combine 

 with carbonic oxide, and lithium and calcium 

 acted similarly with potassium, systematic ex- 



periments to obtain carbonyls with the other 

 metals have only been made within a few years. 

 The liquid nickel-carbonyl, already mentioned 

 in the ''Annual Cyclopaedia," was the first of the 

 new substances of this class to be produced. It 

 acts chemically in an entirely different manner 

 from potassium carbonyl, and does not lead, as 

 the other does, by easy methods to complicated 

 organic compounds. It is, in fact, unlike all 

 other substances in chemical properties. It has 

 also remarkable physical qualities, which are 

 fully described in Prof. Mond's paper. The 

 compound with iron ferro-carbonyl, also liquid 

 bears much resemblance in properties to the 

 nickel compound, but has a different structural 

 composition. The red deposit which sometimes 

 forms in ordinary steatite gas burners is sup- 

 posed by Sir Henry Roscoe to be due to the 

 presence of this substance in illuminating gas; 

 and it has been observed by Dr. Thorne in com- 

 pressed gas used for lime lights. While carbonyl 

 acts so readily upon nickel, it is inert with re- 

 spect to some of the metals, such as cobalt, which 

 are usually associated with it ; and this pecul- 

 iarity has been utilized by Prof. Mond with 

 success in experiments for the complete separa- 

 tion of nickel from cobalt, and by means of an 

 apparatus constructed by Dr. Langer he has 

 succeeded in extracting the nickel from a vari- 

 ety of ores. The process is adapted to the pro- 

 duction and deposition of pure nickel imme- 

 diately in any definite form. The idea of the 

 possibilities dormant in carbonyl, enunciated by 

 Liebig fifty-eight years ago, has thus been elab- 

 orated and developed, till it has led to results of 

 the highest scientific importance and probably 

 of great practical utility. 



An exposition of a theory that the chemical 

 elements have been evolved from hydrogen by a 

 process of nebular condensation, and that their 

 evolution follows an order corresponding with 

 that of Bode's law in the planetary system, has 

 been published in London by Henry Wilde. 

 The exposition encounters the difficulty hither- 

 to insuperable, that the atomic weights of only 

 a very few elements appear to be multiples of 

 that of hydrogen. This he meets by admitting, 

 as Prout did, that hydrogen may itself " have 

 been evolved from an ethereal substance of much 

 greater tenuity." The author proposes a new 

 system of classification of the elements, under 

 seven stages of condensation, comprised from 

 H n to H 7n , and arranges them in a tabular 

 form, with gaps left for unknown elements, and 

 correcting the atomic weights where necessary, 

 so as to make them accord with the hypothesis. 

 He rejects the periodic system as having "no 

 more relation to chemical science than the law 

 of increase of population, or the laws of varia- 

 tion and inheritance in organic species." 



In his vice-presidential address before the 

 chemical section of the British Association, 

 Prof. Herbert McLeod spoke of the many in- 

 stances known of the influence which small 

 quantities of substances have upon chemical 

 reactions. These influences may be more com- 

 mon than is generally supposed. The presence 

 of a third body is frequently helpful in the 

 combination of elements with one another. Thus 

 dry chlorine will not attack melted sodium or 

 finely divided copper ; an electric spark will 



