628 



NATURE 



[Oct. 24, 1889 



Messrs. Gurney and Jackson have in the press " A Hand- 

 book of European Birds," by James Backhouse, Jun. The 

 author explains that, having frequently experienced the need of 

 a handy reference volume on European bird?, he has been at 

 great pains to meet this wai)t, by endeavouring to produce a 

 complete series of short general descriptions, in a convenient 

 form either for the portmanteau or the pocket. The work will 

 be published by subscription during the autumn or early spring. 



The last published number (31) of Excursions et Recon- 

 naissances, the official scientific and learned journal of the French 

 possessions in Indo-China, contains the first of a series of articles, 

 by M. Aymonier, the well-known scholar, on the writing, dialects, 

 history, manners, and customs of the Chams, the ancient mas- 

 ters of Annam proper. The present instalment deals with the 

 grammar, and is illustrated by some lithographs of their writing 

 and their curious cursive alphabets. These are followed by a 

 portion of a Romanized version, with a translation, in French 

 prose, of an Annamite rhymed tragedy, 



In our abstract of the chemical papers at the British Associa- 

 tion (p. 587) we gave an account of the paper on alloys read by 

 Messrs. Heycock and Neville. These gentlemen send us the fol- 

 lowing expansion of our statement : — *' (i) Our experiments lead 

 us to the conclusion that the molecule of aluminium when insohi- 

 iion in tin is Al^ — 54, and not, as stated, that its atomic weight is 

 different from the accepted value. (2) We stated that the mere 

 application of Raoult's method to alloys does not decide the 

 molecular weight of metals in solution, because we have no 

 standard molecule, of which the molecular complexity in solu- 

 tion is certainly known, to take as unity. By applying Van 

 't Hoff's theory of solution to alloys of tin, we calculate a number 

 for the fall in the freezing-point produced by one molecule of 

 metal in 100 molecules of tin which is almost identical with the 

 constant fall found in our experiments for cue atom of metal in 

 100 of tin. Hence we conclude that, with the exception of 

 aluminium, and possibly indium, all the seventeen metals we 

 have examined have single atom molecules when in solution in 

 tin. Our experiments, therefore, in the main, confirm Prof. 

 Ramsay's results obtained by another method , and E. Tamman's 

 results with amalgam." 

 Methyl HYDRAZINE, CH3— NH — NH,, the simplest deriva- 



NH2 

 tive of hydrazine or amidogen, | , has been isolated by Dr. 



NH2 

 Gustav von Briining in the Chemical Laboratory of the Uni- 

 versity of Wurzburg (Liebigs Annalen). It is a clear and very 

 mobile liquid, boiling at 87° C, and possessing a most violent 

 affinity for water, resembling in this respect the recently-isolated 

 hydrazine itself. Its odour is very similar to that of methylamine, 

 and the vapour produces a white cloud in the air due to absorp- 

 tion of moisture to form minute drops of the liquid hydrate. 

 Brought in contact with water, it instantly dissolv es with evolu- 

 tion of great heat. It reduces Fehling's solution in the cold, 

 and decomposes nitrous acid with copious evolution of free nitro- 

 gen. Its hygroscopic character is so pronounced that it attacks 

 the skin in a most painful manner, and rapidly destroys corks or 

 caoutchouc stoppers. The mode of preparation finally adopted by 

 Dr. von Briining is in reality very simple, the only difficult opera- 

 tions being those involving its separation from water. It consists in 

 first converting the mono-methyl derivative of urea, CH3 — NH — 

 CO— NH2, into the nitroso-compound, CHj— N(NO)— CO— 

 NH2 ; this, upon reduction with zinc dust and glacial acetic acid, 

 yields the corresponding hydrazine urea, which in turn is broken up 

 by boiling with hydrochloric acid into carbonic anhydride, ammo- 

 nia, and methyl hydrazine. In practice, 50 grams of nitrate 

 of methyl urea are dissolved in warm water, and the solution 

 cooled until crystals begin to form. Crushed ice is then added 

 to keep the temperature as low as possible during the addition 



of the calculated quantity of solid sodium nitrite ; the moment 

 the nitrite is added, the nitroso-compound commences to separate 

 in small yellow lamellae, and may be obtained recrystallized 

 from ether in much larger slightly yellow tables. The reduction 

 of this nitroso body is then effected by suspending it in water 

 and adding glacial acetic acid and zinc dust, the latter in small 

 portions at a time, with constant agitation. The cold solution, 

 filtered from excess of zinc dust, is then saturated with hydro- 

 chloric acid, and afterwards evaporated to a syrupy consistency. 

 The syrup is next boiled for some hours with a concentrated 

 solution of hydrochloric acid in a flask connected with an inverted 

 condenser, after which the liquid is neutralized with a strong soda 

 solution at a low temperature, and sufficient excess of soda added 

 to redissolve the precipitated zinc hydrate. The alkaline solution 

 is then distilled in steam, when the base rapidly and completely 

 passes over, ammonia and methylamine escaping as gases. After 

 removal of most of the dissolved ammonia and methylamine by 

 boiling in the flask supplied with inverted condenser, the base is 

 converted to its acid sulphate, CH3— NH— NH,. H2SO4, and 

 the crystals of this salt are distilled with a concentrated solution 

 of soda containing pieces of solid sodium hydrate. The last trace 

 of ammonia escapes, wh ile the methyl hydrazine condenses in 

 the cooled receiver. A fter allowing the distillate to remain in 

 contact with solid soda for twenty-four hours, and then re-sub- 

 jecting it to distillation, it is still found to contain water. It 

 was, however, finally freed from water by heating to 100° C. in 

 a sealed tube with anhydrous barium oxide. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Pigtailed Monkey [Macacus nemestrinns i ) 

 from Java, presented by Mrs. Cosh ; three Common Hedge- 

 hogs [Erinacetis europceus), British, presented by Mr. H. Pel- 

 ham Curtis ; two Cayenne Aracaris {Pteroglossus aracari) from 

 Macey, Brazil, presented by Mr. Thomas Watson Permain ; a 

 Red and Blue Macaw {Ara macao) from Central America, pre- 

 sented by Mr. Robert Romer, Q.C. ; a Hawk {Asiurina 



sp. inc.) from Brazil, presented by Mr. J. E. Wolfe; a Well- 

 marked Tortoise {Homopus signatus), a Rufescent Snake {Lepto- 

 dira rufescens), three Smooth-bellied Snakes {Homalosoma 

 tutrix), a Many-spotted Snake (Coronella multimaculata), a 

 Cape Adder ( Vipera atropos) from South Africa, presented by 

 the Rev. G. H. R. Fisk, C.M.Z.S. ; two Macaque Monkeys^ 

 (^Macacus cynomolgus <J ? ) from India, deposited ; six Indian 

 Pythons {Python mohirus), an Indian Cobra {Naia tripudians) 

 from India, purchased. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 

 WEEK 1889 OCTOBER 2^— NOVEMBER 2. 



/"pOR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 

 ^ Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, 



is here employed.) 



At Greenwich on October 27 

 Sun rises, 6h. 48m. ; souths, iih. 43 m. 55 "gs. ; daily decrease of 



southing, 4"9s. ; sets, i6h. 40m, : right asc. on meridian, 



I4h. 8-om. ; decl. 12° 57' S. Sidereal Time at Sunset, 



I9h. 5m. 

 Moon (at First Quarter October 31, gh.) rises, loh. 12m. ; 



souths, I4h. 29m. ; sets, i8h. 39m. : right asc. on meridian, 



l6h. 54 'om. ; decl. 20° 49' S. 



Right asc. and declination 

 Planet. Rises. Souths. Sets. on meridian. 



h. m. h. m. h. m. h. m. a , 



Mercury.. 5 2 ... 10 40 ... 16 18 ... 13 4-4 ... 4 56 S. 



Venus 4 6 ... 10 4 ... 16 2 ... 12 28*0 ... i 16 S. 



Mars 2 38 ... 9 6 ... 15 34 ... 11 29*5 ... 4 46 N. 



Jupiter.... 12 o ... 15 53 ... 19 46 ... 18 18*3 ... 23 29 S. 

 Saturn.... o 48 ... 7 54 ... 15 o ... 10 17*4 ... 12 3 N. 

 Uranus... 5 41 ... 11 2 ... 16 23 ... 13 26-4 ... 8 28 S. 

 Neptune.. 17 58*... i 47 ... 9 36 .. 4 9'i ... 19 17 N, 

 * Indicates that the rising is that of the preceding evening. 



