ASSOCIATIONS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OP SCIENCE. (BRITISH.) 



review of the progress of chemistry mention was 

 made of the artificial production of the diamond 

 form of carbon ; also of the researches of Perkins 

 on electro-magnetic relation ; of Rayleigh 011 the' 

 relative density of gases ; of Dewar on chemical 

 relations at extremelylow temperatures; of Clowes 

 on exact measurements of flame-cap indications 

 afforded by miners' testing lamps ; of Horace 

 Brown and Morris on the chemistry and physi- 

 ology of foliage leaves ; but the work accom- 

 plished is too important to be lightly treated, 

 hence, to paraphrase an ancient formula, "Are 

 they not written in the books of the chronicles 

 we term'Jahresberichte,' 'Annales,' or 'Transac- 

 tions and Abstracts,' according to our national- 

 ity?" The need of a means of getting at the vast 

 store of facts laid up in records was discussed, 

 and the statement made that the Chemical Soci- 

 ety of London had in view the compilation of a 

 subject-matter index. His own work on the de- 

 rivatives of thiourea showed the existence of over 

 600 substances, the knowledge of many of which 

 had been forgotten, testified to the value of such 

 subject indexes. Various physico-chemical prob- 

 lems were referred to, notably the recent discus- 

 sion between Armstrong and Hartley. The re- 

 mainder of the address was devoted to " com- 

 parative chemistry." The many analogous 

 compounds of the two tetral elements carbon 

 and silicon were pointed out, and the researches 

 of Priedel, Crafts, and Ladenburg discussed. 

 Until recently no well-defined compounds of sili- 

 con were known to include nitrogen, but at pres- 

 ent many of these have been discovered. The 

 relation borne by silicon in minerals was dis- 

 cussed and the structure of the natural silicates re- 

 ferred to, in which mention was made of the work 

 of Prof. P. W. Clarke, of the United States Geo- 

 logical Survey. In conclusion he indicated the 

 relation existing between silicon, aluminum, and 

 oxygen in mineral compounds as possibly fore- 

 shadowing the relation existing between carbon, 

 nitrogen, and hydrogen in living organism at a 

 later stage of the earth's history. " Thus while 

 the sedimentary strata contain remains which 

 come down to us from the very dawn of life on 

 this globe, the rocks from whose partial disinte- 

 gration the preserving strata resulted contain 

 mineral records which carry us still further back, 

 even to Nature's earliest efforts in building up 

 compounds similar to those suited for the pur- 

 pose of organic development." 



The following papers were presented before 

 the section : " On the Preparation and Properties 

 of Nitride of Iron," by G. J. Fowler ; " Speci- 

 mens of Cyano-Nitride of Titanium obtained 

 from Ferro-Manganese." by T. W. Hogg ; " The 

 Iodine Value of Sunlight in the High Alps," by 

 S. Rideal ; " The Expansion of Chlorine and 

 Bromine under the Influence of Light," by A. 

 Richardson ; " The Present Position of Bacteri- 

 ology, more especially in its Relation to Chemical 

 Science," by Percy Frankland ; " Remarks on 

 the Chemistry of Bacteria," by R. Warington ; 

 " Fermentation in Connection with the Feather 

 Industry," by J. T. Wood ; "Explosions in Mines 

 with Special Reference to the Dust Theory," 

 by H. B. Dixon ; " On the Red Coloration of 

 Phenol," by C. A. Kohn ; "On Ethylbutane 

 Tetracarboxylate and its Derivatives," by Sevan 

 Lean ; and " Apparatus for Extraction of or 



Analysis of Gases dissolved in Water," by Edgar 

 B. Truman. Among the reports presented were 

 the report of the Committee for obtaining an 

 International Standard for the Analysis of Iron 

 and Steel ; report of the Committee for Inves- 

 tigating the Action of Light upon Dyed Colors ; 

 report of the Committee on the Action of Light 

 on the Hydracids of the Halogens in the Pres- 

 ence of Oxygen ; and report of the Committee 

 on Isomeric Naphthalene Derivatives. An in- 

 teresting feature of the meeting of this section 

 was an exhibition of the complicated and ex- 

 pensive apparatus used by the French chemist 

 Moissan in his successful effort in isolating the 

 element fluorine. The exhibition was made by 

 his chief assistant, M. Meslans. 



C. Geology. Mr. J. J. H. Teall, M. A., F. R. 

 S., Secretary of the Geological Society, presided 

 over this section, and his address dealt mainly 

 with the theories relating to the origin of rocks 

 with a leaning toward the uniformitarian view. 

 He said although enormous progress has been 

 made in petrographical sciences during the last 

 hundred years, there has been comparatively 

 little advance so far as broad, general theories 

 relating to the origin of rocks is concerned. He 

 referred to the views of Hutton published in 

 1788, claiming that igneous action was the cause 

 of the formation of certain rocks, which held 

 their own for many years against the views of the 

 Wernerian school, who argued in favor of aqueous 

 action, but with the lapse of time there has 

 come a tendency " to hark back to a modified 

 form of Wernerism. This tendency can be largely 

 traced to the recognition of evolution as a factor 

 in biology and physical science." There is no 

 a priori reason why we should believe that any 

 of the rocks we now see were formed during the 

 earlier stages of planetary evolution. He then 

 considered whether the present state of petro- 

 graphical science renders uniformity untenable 

 as a working hypothesis, and showed by numer- 

 ous illustrations the feasibility of uniformity, 

 notably by the statement of the recent discovery 

 of olenellus high in the stratified rocks that un- 

 conformably overlie the Torridon sandstone has 

 placed its pre-Cambrian age beyond all doubt. 

 Concerning the igneous rocks, he referred to the 

 work by Samuel Allport, who proved the essential 

 identity of ancient and modern volcanic rocks 

 by the application of precise petrographic 

 methods. His conclusions have prevailed, al- 

 though when presented there was a very general 

 belief that the Tertiary and pre-Tertiary rocks 

 were radically distinct. Mr. Teall also sketched 

 in broad outline the. theories of thermal and 

 dynamic metamorphism which are attracting so 

 much attention at the present day. He also in- 

 dicated as the most promising lines of investiga- 

 tion in this department of geology, crystal- 

 line schists and gneisses. In studying the 

 crystalline schists, nothing, perhaps, he said, 

 strikes one more forcibly than the evidence 

 of crystal -building in sold rocks. Chatolite, 

 staurolite, andalusite, garnet, albite, cordierite, 

 micas of various kinds, and many other minerals, 

 have clearly been developed without anything like 

 fusion having taken place. Besides other facts 

 cited he said that it was highly probable that by 

 studying the metamorphic action surrounding 

 plutonic masses, we may gain an insight into 



