CHEMISTRY. (CHEMICAL THEORY.) 



147 



molecule. This theory of valence makes it clear 

 why it should vary toward the same element 

 under different conditions. It is also clear that 

 it might vary toward different elements, as these 

 are very possibly possessed of different motions. 

 It is further evident that it is in accord with the 

 conclusion that valence is not an inherent prop- 

 erty of the individual atom, but is the resultant 

 of the influence upon each other of the combin- 

 ing atoms." In accounting for the elements of 

 the same group in the periodical system having 

 practically the same valence, the author supposes 

 that they are all possessed of the same phase or 

 kind of motion. These are, in large measure, 

 independent of the atomic weights. 



The chemical processes involved in the sac- 

 charification of starch by malt diastase were dis- 

 cussed in the British Association by Dr. A. Fern- 

 bach, of the Institut Pasteur, and Dr. G. H. Mor- 

 ris. Dr. Fernbach detailed his observations on 

 the influence of acids and of some salts on sac- 

 charification, which had led him to the conclu- 

 sion that the slightest trace of any free acid 

 retards the action of diastase on gelatinized as 

 well as on soluble starch, provided both the 

 starch and the diastase are free from salts on 

 which the added acid may act; but if the addi- 

 tion contains salts, such as secondary phos- 

 phates, which are distinctly unfavorable to dia- 

 static action, the addition of acid is favorable 

 as long as there is no excess of primary phos- 

 phates. The president of the chemical section 

 (Dr. Horace T. Brown) regarded these results as 

 opposed to his own observations on the subject, 

 and considered further details of the experiments 

 necessary to justify the conclusions. The paper 

 of Dr. G. H. Morris bore more especially on the 

 combined action of diastase and yeast on starch 

 granules, and showed that ungelatinized intact 

 starch granules, when submitted to the joint 

 action of diastase and yeast, are fermented to 

 a large extent, the maltose first formed being 

 converted into alcohol. The addition of a small 

 quantity of yeast to a cold-water malt extract 

 more than doubles the percentage of starch that 

 is changed. This increased action is not due 

 to any greater activity of the diastase that might 

 result from the removal of the soluble product 

 formed (maltose). For the increased action to 

 occur it appears necessary to have the diastase 

 and the yeast present together in a condition 

 capable of exercising their respective functions. 

 Dr. Morris also discussed the action of acids on 

 starch, and showed that maltose is always ob- 

 tained as a product of hydrolysis, together with 

 dextrine and dextrose. This is contrary to H. 

 Johnson's statement that the two latter com- 

 pounds are the sole products of the action. 



In reference to the simultaneous occurrence of 

 phenomena of oxidation and hydration at the 

 expense of organic substances, experiments were 

 carried out by M. Berthelot on the slow oxida- 

 tion of ether in presence of water and air or of 

 hydrogen peroxide. After five months' exposure 

 to light in a sealed tube, the air remaining over 

 the ether contained no trace of oxygen, but some 

 aldehyde, acetic acid, and alcohol were found in 

 the ether. A little methane is formed at the 

 same time. Two chemical reactions were thus 

 shown to be going on together a hydration and 

 an oxidation. The author considered that simi- 

 lar reactions are going on in Nature, such sub- 

 stances as the sugars, carbohydrates, glycerides, 

 etc., undergoing the two processes simultaneously. 



M. Gerber, of Marseilles, who has been study- 

 ing the formation of the substances found in 

 plants, communicated to the French Associa- 



tion for the Advancement of Sciences in 1808 the 

 results of his researches on the formation of olive 

 oil and castor oil. He has since extended the 

 investigation to a large number of other vege- 

 table fats. From them he concludes that these 

 substances are produced at the expense of carbo- 

 hydrates and sugars, and that the phenomenon 

 is accompanied by a respiratory quotient supe- 

 rior to unity. The biological chemistry of plants, 

 therefore, seems to be identical with that of ani- 

 mals. M. Gerber has further undertaken new 

 researches to determine whether the formation 

 of fats is due to an alcoholic fermentation, by 

 which he means one in which absorbed oxygen 

 is derived from the combustion of a part of the 

 sugar. The result of these experiments rather 

 gives probability to the hypothesis that the 

 hydrocarbons and the sugars in their transforma- 

 tion into fats take oxygen from the atmosphere, 

 returning to it a considerably larger volume of 

 carbonic-acid gas. As this gas contains its vol- 

 ume of oxygen, there seems to be a departure of 

 more oxygen than is absorbed. The process is 

 therefore one of deoxidation. 



In speaking of the recent discovery by M. and 

 Mme. Curie of the new radio-active substances 

 polonium and radium, Sir William Crookes said 

 that the radiant activity of those substances 

 needs neither the excitation of light nor the 

 stimulus of electricity, but, as in uranium, it 

 draws its energy from some constantly regenerat- 

 ing and hitherto unsuspected store, exhaustless 

 in amount. It can be conceived that uranium, 

 polonium, and radium bodies of densest atoms 

 have a structure that enables them to throw off 

 the slow-moving molecules of the atmosphere, 

 while the quick-moving molecules, smashing on 

 the surface, have their energy much reduced, with 

 a corresponding increase in the energy of the 

 body. The energy thus gained seems to be em- 

 ployed partly in dissociating some of the mole- 

 cules of the gas, and partly in originating an 

 undulation through the ether, which, as it takes 

 its rise in phenomena so disconnected as the im- 

 pacts of the molecules of the air, must furnish 

 a large contingent of light waves of short wave 

 length. The shortness in the case of these Becque- 

 rel rays appears to approach, without attain- 

 ing, the extreme shortness of ordinary Rontgen 

 rays. The reduction of the speed of the quick- 

 moving molecules would cool the layer of air 

 to which they belong, but this cooling would be 

 rapidly compensated by radiation and conduction 

 from the surrounding atmosphere. 



The subject of symbiosis, or the associated 

 living of organisms, has recently been discussed 

 by Prof. Marshall Ward from the physiological, 

 and by Prof. H. E. Armstrong from the chem- 

 ical, point of view. Prof. Armstrong regarded 

 it as open to question whether symbiotic re- 

 lationship involves more than a subdivision of 

 labor. There is an absence of positive evidence 

 tending to show that the one member of a pair 

 of symbiotic organisms or agents does more than 

 prepare the way for the other by effecting a 

 change which the second is incapable of inducing, 

 leaving it to the second to carry on changes in 

 which the initiating organism plays no part. It 

 may be a function of the one organism to remove 

 from the sphere of action, as it arises, a product 

 which would tend either to inhibit the change 

 by which it is formed or to promote its reversal. 

 Or the one organism may produce a change which, 

 although minute, is sufficient to place the com- 

 panion organism under the most favorable con- 

 ditions; or, again, the one organism may become 

 associated with the hydrolyte, and thus shield or 



