ASSOCIATIONS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OP SCIENCE. (BRITISH.) 



zinc are found to smell alike ; the copper group 

 also smell alike, and the iron and steel give rise to 

 the characteristic ' iron ' smell, which, in this case, 

 can be detected some feet away. Now, it is known 

 that when hydrogen is evolved by the action of 

 sulphuric acid on iron, the gas has a very unpleas- 

 ant smell, and this is due to the presence of hydro- 

 carbons, and especially of paraffin. I have been 

 therefore led to think that the smell of iron or 

 steel when held in the hand is really due to the 

 hydrocarbons to which the operation gives rise; 

 and it is probable that no metallic particles, even 

 in the form of vapor, reach the nose or even leave 

 the metal. Hence, although smell may not, like 

 sound, be propagated by vibration, it seems prob- 

 able that particles of the metal with which we have 

 been accustomed to associate the particular smell 

 may no more come in contact with the olfactory 

 nerves than a sounding musical instrument strikes 

 against the drum of the ear." His experiments 

 made for the purpose of determining the diffusion 

 of smell were then presented, as well as some tests 

 on the power 4 different substances to absorb vari- 

 ous scents from the air. In conclusion he said : 

 "In presenting this brief introduction to the phys- 

 ics of smell I have aimed at indicating the vast 

 territory that waits to be explored. That it will be 

 found to contain mines of theoretical wealth there 

 can be no doubt, while it is probable that a luxuri- 

 ant growth of technical application would spring up 

 later on. To conclude, I may say that one of my 

 fondest hopes is that an inquiiy into the physics of 

 smell may add another to the list of wide regions 

 of knowledge opened up by the theoretical physicist 

 in his search for answers to the questions of the 

 technical man." 



Subsequently the following-named papers were 

 read and discussed before the section: " Lenses not of 

 Glass," by J. W. Gifford ; " Conservation of Energy 

 in the Human Body," by Wilbur 0. Atwater and Ed- 

 ward B. Rosa, of Wesleyan University, Middletown, 

 Conn. ; " Articulation and Acoustics of the Spirate 

 Fricative Consonants," by R. J. Lloyd ; " Pneu- 

 matic Analogue of Potentiometer" and "Dalton's 

 Law," by W T . N. Shaw ; " On a Comparison between 

 charging a Secondary Cell at Constant Potential 

 and at Constant Current, more especially as re- 

 gards Efficiency," by A. A. Cohen and J. M. Don- 

 aldson ; " A Magnifying or Bellowing Telephone," 

 by Oliver Lodge ; " An Elaborate Apparatus for 

 the Measurement of Small Differences in Resist- 

 ance," by E. H. Griffiths ; " The Dynamical Theory 

 of Refraction and Anomalous Dispersion " and 

 "Continuity of Undulatory Theory for Sound, Elas- 

 tic Solid, Light, and Electric Waves," by Lord Kel- 

 vin ; "Hc.'it of Combination of Metals' in the For- 

 mation of Alloys," by A. Gait ; " An Instrument 

 for measuring Electric Pressure or Current by 

 Means of the Increase of Resistance of a Fine 

 Platinum Wire," by Hugh L. Callendar; "The 

 Dissipation of Energy in the Dielectric of a Con- 

 denser," by Edward "B. Rosa and A. W. Smith, of 

 Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn.; "Total 

 Immersion Hydrometers," by A. W. Warrington ; 

 " Experiments in Radiation from a Source of Light 

 in a Magnetic Field," by Thomas Preston ; " Stream 

 Line Motion with Viscous Fluids in Two Dimen- 

 sions and in Three Dimensions," by H. S. Hele- 

 Shaw ; " Analogies between the Yearly Ranges of 

 some Meteorological and Magnetic Phenomenon," 

 by Dr. Van Rijckerorsel ; "Exploration of the 

 Upper Air by Means of Kites at Blue Hill Observa- 

 tory, Massachusetts, U. S. A.," by A. Lawrence Rotch, 

 Boston, Mass.; "The Classification of Polydiurnal 

 Weather Types in Relation to the Prolongation of 

 the Daily Forecast in Western Europe," by Douglas 

 Archibald ; " Rainfall of the Southwestern Coun- 





ties of England," by John Hopkinson ; " Discus- 

 sion of Results of the Recent Solar Eclipse Expedi- 

 tion," by II. H. Turner and Sir Norman Lockyer; 

 " Velocity of Electricity in the Elect He Wind," by 

 A. P. Chattock ; " Carbon-Consuming Cell of 

 Jaques," by S. Skinner. 



Also a " Report of the Committee on comparing 

 and reducing Magnetic Observations," a " Report 

 of the Committee on Ben Nevis Observatory," a 

 " Report of the Committee on MeteorologicalPho- 

 tography," a " Report of the Committee on Seismo- 

 logical Investigations," a " Report of the Committee 

 on the Establishment of a Meteorological Observa- 

 tory on Mount Royal, Montreal," and a " Report of 

 the Committee on Electrolysis," were presented and 

 discussed. 



During the meeting the International Conference 

 on Terrestrial Magnetism, under the presidency of 

 Prof. Arthur W. Riicker, held sessions, at which 

 subjects connected with earth currents and effect of 

 altitude on the terrestrial magnetic elements were 

 discussed. On Sept. 13 the section on mechanical 

 science met conjointly with Section A and the In- 

 ternational Conference, when the subject of " Mag- 

 netic and Electrolytic Actions of Electric Railways" 

 was discussed. This discussion brought out the 

 facts that several magnetic observatories, including 

 two in the United States (Cambridge and Washing- 

 ton), had been rendered useless by the disturbance 

 caused by electric railways in their neighborhood. 



B. Chemistry, " Stereochemistry and Vitalism " 

 was the subject of the address of the vice-president 

 of the section, Prof. Francis R. Japp, who fills the 

 chair of Chemistry in the University of Aberdeen. 

 At the outset he said that certain portions of the 

 earlier works of Pasteur furnished "a reply to the 

 most fundamental question that physiology can 

 propose to itself namely, whether the phenomena 

 of life are wholly explicable in terms of chemistry 

 and physics ; in other words, whether they are re- 

 ducible to problems of the kinetics of atoms, or 

 whether, on the contrary, there are certain residual 

 phenomena inexplicable by such means, pointing 

 to the existence of a directive force which enters 

 upon the scene with life itself, and which, while in 

 no way violating the laws of the kinetics of atoms 

 while, indeed, acting through these laws deter- 

 mines the course of their operation within the living 

 organism. I shall confine myself to a single class 

 of chemical facts rendered accessible by Pasteur's 

 researches on optically active compounds, and, con- 

 sidering these facts in the light of our present views 

 regarding the constitution of organic compounds, I 

 shall endeavor to show that living matter is con- 

 stantly performing a certain geometrical feat which 

 dead matter, unless indeed it happens to belong to 

 a particular class of products of the living organism, 

 and to be thus ultimately referable to living matter, 

 is incapable not even conceivably capable of per- 

 forming. In order to make clear the bearing of the 

 results of stereochemical research on this physio- 

 logical problem, it will' be necessary to give a brief 

 sketch of the stereochemistry of optically active 

 organic compounds, as founded by Pasteur, and as 

 further developed by later investigators." Follow- 

 ing this he spoke of Kekule's celebrated paper " On 

 the Constitution and Metamorphoses of Chemical 

 Compounds and the Chemical Nature of Carbon," 

 concerning which he claimed that it " was from 

 this union of Pasteur's theory with that of Kekule 

 that modern stereochemistry sprang." Continuing 

 his discussion, he showed that " whenever we pre- 

 pare artificially, starting either with the elements 

 or with symmetric compounds, any organic com- 

 pound which, when it occurs as a natural product 

 of the living organism, is optically active, the pri- 

 mary product of our laboratory reactions, however 



