Sept. 21, 1876] 



NA TURE 



455 



in expansion. Mr. Coleman's paper could not well be understood 

 without the sketch which accompanied it. A lengthy paper by 

 Mr. W. Ramsay followed, u^on Fkoline. The author described 

 many new salts of picoline, especially those formed by the action 

 of the halogens, which he showed might be classed as— 



1. Picoline + 2 atoms of halogen. 



2. Picoline + i molecule of haloid acid. 



3. Picoline + i molecule of haloid acid + 2 atoms of halogen. 

 By the action of chlorine on picoline an oily body may be also 

 produced, from which, by the addition of water, a solid is ob- 

 tained, which is probably a hypochlorite derivative. Various 

 other salts of picoline were described. The author thought that 

 discussions concerning the constitutional formula of picoline were 

 as yet premature ; his investigations, however, appear to show 

 that this base is not a nitrile nor carbamine, and that it does not 

 contain the methyl group. On ©xidation it yields Dewar's 

 pyridene dicarbonic acid. 



The last paper read was by Mr. J. Stoddard, On the Zitic 

 Desilverising Process. It was of purely technical interest. 



On Friday the Section had its hands full of sewage, the result, 

 as might have been anticipated, being unsatisfactory. The 

 papers read on the sewage question were : — Report of Coni' 

 mittee ; Experimental Researches on the Chemical Treatment 

 of Town Excreta, by Mr. J. Coleman ; and Sewage Puri- 

 fication and Utilisation, by Mr. J. Banks. The committee's 

 report was confined to operations conducted at Romford 

 Farm on irrigation. During the time of experiment it ap- 

 peared that the nitrogen retained by the crops amounted to 

 30-34 per cent, of that received in the sewage ; the yield of rye 

 grass was good. The committee did not ask meanwhile to be 

 reappointed. Mr. Coleman advocated the use of charcoal, 

 large quantities of which might be obtained in the form of the 

 residue removed from the retorts in the distillation of shale oil. 

 Mr Banks recommended filtration through large beds of wood 

 or peat charcoal, placed in wire cages, with subsequent aeration 

 by exposing the sewage in the form of a thin cascade, to the 

 action of the atmosphere. In the discussion it was admitted 

 that the operations at Romford were carried on at a loss ; Mr. 

 Allen congratulated the advocates of irrigation on their acknow- 

 ledgment of this fact, saying that the sooner they got rid of the 

 idea of making this matter pay, the better. Dr. Fergus traced 

 all the woes of humanity to the v/ater system now in vogue in 

 large towns ; Mr. Spence believed in precipitation, while Dr. 

 Gilbert manfully upheld irrigation and filtration. 



As usual, when dealing with sewage, everyone held by his 

 own opinion, and no two people agreed as to what was to be 

 done. 



In Mr. Allen's report of the work of the committee appointed to 

 investigate the accuracy of the various methods adopted for analys- 

 ing " Commercial Phosphates and Potash Salts,'' the latter part 

 of the problem was alone dealt with. The committee approved 

 of Tatlock's method somewhat modified ; that is, they thought 

 that soda salts are best removed by washing with a strong solu- 

 tion of plalinic chloride, followed by washing with alcohol ; but 

 they recommended that in the presence of much sulphates, the 

 method should be modified by getting rid of the greater part of 

 such sulphates by means of barium chloride before adding pla- 

 tinic chloride. Mr. Alien, who read the report, personally did 

 not approve of the plan of adding sodium chloride in order to 

 convert the potassium sulphate into chloride, because in the pre- 

 sence of large quantities of soda salts he always found the results 

 come out rather low ; washing with platinic chloride appearing 

 under these circumstances to remove, along with the soda salts, 

 a portion of potassium salt likewise. 



In a short paper On the Physiological Action of Pyro- Mita- 

 and Ortho- Phosphoric Acids, Dr. Gamgee, F.R.S., showed 

 that while the ortho acid is physiologically inert, the pyro acid 

 is very poisonous, and the meta acid is intermediate in its action. 



A paper by Mr. F. H. T. Allan, On a Safe and Rapid Evapo- 

 rating Pan, concluded the day's proceedings. 



On Monday morning the Section was summoned to hear 

 Prof. Thorpe's Report on the Specific Volumes of Liquids, but 

 owing to the absence of the author the paper was taken as 

 read. 



The committee appointed for the purpose of collecting and 

 suggesting subjects for chemical researches, after obtaining the 

 opinions of various well-known chemists, did not recommend a 

 continuation of their labours. 



A number of papers were then read. Dr. Emerson Reynolds 

 described experiments on the specific heat of beryllium, which 

 went to prove that the atomic weight of that metal is 9*2 ; the 



atomic heat deduced from Dr. Reynolds's experiments being, on 

 this assumption, equal to 5-91. Incidentally Dr. Reynolds 

 showed that the modification of Bunsen's calorimeter used by 

 him might be employed in class experiments, and the accuracy of 

 the law of Dulong and Petit in certain instances thereby demon- 

 strated to students. 



Mr. Johnstone Stoney, F.R.S., amused and interested the 

 Section by a number of drawings of tetrahedra, octahedra, 

 &c., on to which he dexterously stuck representations^of oxygen 

 atoms, chlorine atoms, and so on. His general ''endeavour 

 seemed to be to convince his auditors that in most basic salts 

 oxygen is divalent, being in direct combination with the acidify- 

 ing constituent of the molecule, but that when oxygen is not so 

 directly related to this constituent in basic salts, it is tetravalent. 

 Dr. Macvicar, of Moffat, brought forward some of his peculiar 

 views as to the constitution of matter, in a paper entitled On the 

 Pessible Genesis of the Chemical Elements out of a Homogeneous 

 Cosmic Gas or Common Vapour of Matter. 



Mr. E. H. Biggs described a new form of voltaic battery. 

 The positive pole consists of a perforated carbon plate, which 

 divides the jar into two divisions ; the perforations are closed by 

 means of earthenware plugs. The negative pole consists of a 

 zinc plate. Dilute sulphuric acid is poured into the zinc com- 

 partment, and a good oxidising agent into the other. The 

 current is intense, and the result a good constant battery. 



The president described a few new derivations of anthracene, 

 remarkable for their instability. Mr. J. T. Brown communi- 

 cated a note On Anthracene-testing. 



A modification of the sodium sulphide process for the manu- 

 facture of soda ash was described by Mr. W. Welden, under the 

 title of A Means of Suppressing Alkali Waste. The sodic sul- 

 phate and carbonaceous matter are separately heated, and then 

 brought into contact in a furnace lined with carbon. The 

 sulphuretted hydrogen evolved in the conversion of the sodic 

 sulphide into carbonate is conducted into water containing very 

 finely divided oxide of iron or of manganese ; the metallic sul- 

 phide so produced is subjected to the action of air, whereby 

 sulphur is thrown down ; fresh quantities of sulphuretted hydro- 

 gen are then passed in, aeration is again carried out, and so on 

 until about 85 per cent, of sulphur to 15 per cent, of metallic 

 oxide is present. This mixture is dried, and used in the manu- 

 facture of sulphuric acid. 



Dr. C. R. A. Bright gave a description of some new deriva- 

 tives of cotarnine, and Mr. Kingzett described briefiy his later 

 researches on the Oxidation of Terpencs : he stated that the 

 liquid obtained by the oxidation of turpentine was possessed of 

 marked antiseptic properties, which were to be traced to the 

 presence of camphoric acid and peroxide of hydrogen in the 

 liquid. 



So many papers relating to technical chemistry were brought 

 forward on Tuesday that it was thought better to sub-divide the 

 Section, allotting the more purely scientific subjects to a sub- 

 section. In this sub-section Dr. Letts described experiments 

 which gave some countenance to the ides, that a hydrocarbon 

 having the formula CioHj^ really existed. His experiments, 

 were not, however, of so exact a nature as to carry convictiop to 

 the minds of many of the members. Mr. J. Buchanan described 

 a modified hydrometer used on board the Challenger, and also an 

 instrument for registering pressure and temperature at consider- 

 able depths. 



Papers were read by Dr. Gladstone On the Copper Zin^ 

 Couple, and by Mr. W. N. Hartley On Liquid Carbonic Acidi 

 Minerals. 



Mr. R. Da Silva described the general action of hydriodic acia 

 on mixed ethers, having the formula C^^H^^ , jOCH^, and Dr. 

 Cameron called attention to " Amnionic Selenio-cyanide." Of 

 those papers which dealt with applied chemistry, the most inter- 

 esting was one by Mr. J. A. R. Newlands, in which he de- 

 scribed the Alum Process in Sugar Refining. The object of 

 this process is to remove potash salts by the addition of ammo- 

 nium sulphate in quantity sufficient to form alum, which is 

 precipitated. The residual acid liquors are neutralised by means 

 of lime. The other technical papers were chiefly occupied with 

 sketches of the various chemical industries of Glasgow and the 

 neighbourhood. Mr. F. Ward described a method for pre- 

 paring the paper used for cheques, which prevents fraudulent 

 alterations being made in the writing of the cheques. 



On Wednesday morning the section met for a short time, when 

 Mr. Pattison Muir read two papers On Bismuth Compounds, 

 and On the Action of Dilute Saline Solution upon Lead.—Vroi. 

 Dewar described some experiments by which he has been able 



