Oct. 31, 1889] 



NATURE 



655 



Advancement of Science, held at Cleveland in August 1888. 

 The volume, we need scarcely say, contains addresses, reports, 

 and papers of great interest. The Presidential address, delivered 

 by Prof. S. P. Langley, is on the history of our present views 

 about radiant energy. 



The latest issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society of 

 Edinburgh (Session 1888-89) includes pp. 257-320 of vol. xvi. 

 The following are the contents : — On the relation among the 

 line, surface, and volume integrals, by Prof. Tail ; the develop- 

 ment of diarthrodial joints in birds and mammals, by David 

 Hepburn ; electrification of air by flame, by Sir Wm. Thomson ; 

 on the placentation of the halicore dugong, by Prof. Sir 

 William Turner ; on the geographical distribution of some 

 tropical diseases, and their relation to physical phenomena, by 

 R. W. Felkin (with 16 plates) ; quaternion note on a geo- 

 metrical problem, by Prof. Tait ; the solubility of carbonate of 

 lime in fresh and sea water, by W, S. Anderson. 



The thirteenth part of Cassell's excellent "New Popular 

 Educator " has been issued. It includes a good coloured plate 

 representing the Rosegg glacier. 



The Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College has 

 issued its Calendar for the year 1889-90. We have received 

 also the new Calendar of the University College of Wales, 

 Aberystwith. 



An interesting paper on Japanese lacquer, read lately by 

 Mr. R. Hitchcock before the Chemical Society of Washington, 

 has been printed in the Proceedings of the United States National 

 Museum. Japanese lacquer is the product of a tree, the Rlnis 

 vcniicifera, D.C., which grows throughout the main island of 

 Japan. It attains a large size, the trunks sometimes measuring 

 a metre in diameter. It is said the tree will live for forty years, 

 but only comparatively young trees are valued for the production 

 of lacquer. Having yielded for several years they are cut 

 down, the lacquer extracted from the branches, and young 

 trees take their places. Having given an account of the chemical 

 composition of lacquer, and described the uses to which it is 

 applied, Mr. Hitchcock urges that it should receive more atten- 

 tion than has hitherto been devoted to it by manufacturers in 

 America. " It gives a surface to wood," he says, " much harder 

 than our best copal varnish, without brittleness. It takes a 

 polish not to be excelled, which lasts for centuries, as we may see 

 in the old treasures of Japan. It is proof against boiling water, 

 alcohol, and, indeed, it seems to be insoluble in every agent 

 known. It is the best possible application for laboratory tables. 

 I have a set of photographer's developing trays that have been 

 in use for more than a year, and I find them excellent and cheap. 

 In Japan it is used for many household articles." Unfortunately, 

 lacquer poisoning from the fresh material is a serious danger. 

 According to Rein, the poison is a volatile acid, and Mr. Hitch- 

 cock suggests that it might be removed by a heat that would 

 leave the lacquer uninjured. 



An igomer of camphor, CioHj^O, has been prepared by Drs 

 Wallach and Otto in the chemical laboratory of the University, 

 of Bonn [Liebig's Annalcn). This new substance is a liquid, to 

 which the name pinol is provisionally given, possessing a very 

 strong camphor-like odour. It is obtained by the action of 

 hydrochloric acid upon a well-cooled mixture of turpentine oil, 

 glacial acetic acid, and ethyl nitrite. The hydrochloric acid is 

 gradually added in the form of a concentrated solution, and its addi- 

 tion is followed by the separation of crystals of the nitroso-chloride 

 of pinene, one of the terpenes, and the formation in the solution 

 of pinol, the new camphor. The whole is allowed to stand for 

 about twelve hours at a low temperature to complete the precipi- 

 tation of the first-named body, after which the crystals are 

 filtered off, and the filtrate is subsequently distilled in steam. 

 A rapid evolution of gas occurs at the commsncement of the 



distillation, after which the pinol is quietly conveyed over in the 

 steam. The distillate separates into two distinct layers, and the 

 aqueous layer is readily separated by means of a funnel. The 

 dried distillate is then freed from acetic ether by fractional 

 distillation, and the higher boiling portion again distilled in 

 steam. This redistilled product is similarly separated from 

 water, dried, and finally itself subjected to fractional distilla- 

 tion : when the principal fraction, consisting of pinol with 

 a small quantity of impurity, passes over between 182° and 

 188° C. The liquid thus obtained is found to possess in a very 

 marked degree the odour of camphor, and it can be freed from 

 the last traces of impurity by taking advantage of the action of 

 bromine upon it. Bromine yields with pinol a beautifully crys- 

 talline dibromide, CioHioOBrg. On diluting the distillate, 

 therefore, with twice its volume of glacial acetic acid, and 

 running in a thin stream or drops of liquid bromine, the colour 

 of the latter rapidly disappears, and, on evaporating, splendid 

 rhombic crystals of this dibromide are obtained. In order to 

 recover the pinol in a pure state from the recrystallized dibro- 

 mide, about a hundred grams of the latter are boiled with excess 

 of alcoholic potash for a whole day, and the product distilled fri- 

 steam, separated from water, dried with solid potash, and re- 

 peatedly fractionally distilled. Finally, pure pinol is obtained, 

 boiling constantly at 183-84°. Analyses of this product con- 

 clusively point to the formula CioHjgO, the same as that oL 

 ordinary camphor. Its constitution is proved to differ, however, 

 from the latter body by the nature of its oxidation products- 

 Both potassium permanganate and dilute nitric acid oxidize it to- 

 carbonic anhydride, oxalic acid, and terebic acid, C7Hio04. The 

 only possible constitution compatible with these facts is 

 CH2-/CH 

 C,H,— CH^ /O \c— CH3, 



CH — CH' 



while ordinary camphor is generally assumed on KekuleV 

 authority to possess the constitution 



/CHj— CO. 

 CjH.-CH/ >C-CH3. 



\CH2— CH^ 



An extremely interesting fact about pinol is that its nitroso- 

 chloride readily reacts with j8-naphthylamine to form a base of the 

 formula C20H24N2O.2, isomeric with quinine. This is the first 

 base of this empirical formula which has yet been artificially 

 prepared. Solutions of both the base and its salts present 

 similar fluorescent phenomena to those of quinine and its salts. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Gaur {Bos gaurus 6 ) from Pehang, Malay 

 Peninsula, presented by Sir Cecil C. Smith, K.C.M.G. ; three 

 Blue-crowned Hanging Parrakeets {Loriculus galgalus) from 

 Malacca, presented by Mr. A. Baker ; a Short-tailed Capromys 

 {Capromys brachyurus) from Cuba ; two Reed Buntings 

 {Emberiza schceniclus), British, purchased ; three Dingo Dogs 

 {Cards dingo <J c5 ? ), a White Goshawk {AsturnffVir-hollandice), 

 a Berigora Hawk {Hieracidea berigora), a Brush Turkey 

 {TaUgalla lathami ? ), an Australian Thicknee {(Edicnemus 

 grallarius) from Australia, received in exchange. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



The Natal Observatory. — The Report of this Observatory 

 for 1888, which has recently come to hand, is a somewhat 

 meagre one, and is chiefly occupied with the routine daily 

 meteorological observations. The small record of astronomical 

 work achieved may perhaps be explained by the circumstance 

 that the Superintendent, Mr. Nevill, has recently been appointed 

 Government Chemist and Official Assayer for Natal, that a labora- 

 tory was erected for him in the early part of the year, and that 

 he has already commenced his official duties in his new capacity. 



Of direct astronomical work the Report only records the 



