I50 



NATURE 



{Dec. 20, 1877 



remarks that the scientific zeal and liberality of M. 

 Bischoffsheim "inaugurates in France a path long fol- 

 lowed in England by wealthy amateurs of astronomy." 



The Meteorite of June 14, 1877.— M. Gruey has 

 calculated the orbit of this meteorite with the assistance 

 of the Observatory of the Puy-de-D6me, and accounts 

 obtained through the press of Clermont, where he observed 

 it at 8h. 55m. P.M. local time. Observations made at 

 Bordeaux and at Angouleme were combined with those at 

 Clermont. He obtained for the velocity of the rneteor 

 relatively to the sun 93 kilometres in a second, in the 

 direction - hehocentric longitude 15° 17', latitude - 17° 3', 

 and neglecting the insignificant effect of the earth's at- 

 traction upon a velocity so great, and the unknown effect 

 of atmospheric resistance, he found for the heliocentric 

 motion of the meteor the following elements of a hyper- 

 bolic orbit. Eccentricity, 7079, semi-axis, 0-I37. As- 

 cending node, 83° 49', inclination, 18° 14', perihelion from 

 node, 286° 50', longitude at appearance, 263° 49' ; the 

 meteor approaching its perihelion was thus distant 23° 

 from it. 



This adds another case to several previous ones in 

 which hyperbolic orbits have been obtained for meteorites 

 by Petit, Galle, Tissot, &c. 



Prof. Newcomb. — At the meeting of the Royal 

 Society on Thursday last, the distinguished mathematical 

 astronomer, Prof. Simon Newcomb, of Washington, was 

 elected one of its foreign members. There was previously 

 on the list only a single American, viz.. Prof Asa Gray. 

 Prof Newcomb's important contributions to astronomical 

 science will be admitted to have richly entitled him to an 

 acknowledgment at the hands of our leading society. 



CHEMICAL NOTES 



Mineral Oil in a Lava of Mount Etna.— In the 

 basaltic zone which reaches from the foot of Mount Etna 

 in a south-south-easterly direction, near the village of 

 Paterno there is a prehistoric doleritic lava containing 

 olivine, which surrounds the clay deposits of a mud 

 volcano and which has been examined by Sig. Orazio 

 Silvestri. Under the microscope the lava shows an 

 augitic principal mass with a quantity of olivine and 

 many white transparent crystals of labradorite. The 

 lava contains numerous round or irregular cavities which 

 are coated with arragonite and which are filled with 

 mineral oil. This oil, of which there is about i per cent, 

 by weight in the whole mass, was taken from one of the 

 cavities at 24° C. At about 17° C. it begins to solidify 

 and is of a yellowish green tint by transmitted light, 

 while by reflected light it is opalescent and light green. 

 Chemical analysis of the liquid proved it to contain : — 



Liquid hydrocarbons (boiling point 79°*28) ... 17 "97 per cent. 

 Hydrocarbons solidifying under 0° (b. p. 280°- 



400°) 31-95 „ „ 



Paraffine, melting point 52°-57 ... ... 4279 ,, ,, 



Asphalt (leaving 12 per cent, of ashes) ... 290 „ ,, 



Sulphur 4-32 „ „ 



99 "93 

 Formation of certain Bodies at Temperatures 



ABOVE THAT OF THEIR DECOMPOSITION.— MM. Troost 



and Hautefeuille have lately demonstrated that under 

 certain circumstances it is incorrect to suppose that 

 bodies undergoing decomposition or rather dissociation 

 at a low temperature may not exist as definite compounds 

 at higher temperatures. Their arguments are founded on 

 the decomposition of silicon sesquichloride (SijClg) at 

 800°, which may be represented as — 



2SisCl6 = 3SiCl4 + Si, 

 if, however, the reaction be carried on at a temperature 

 above 1200° the following change takes place — 



SSiCl^ + Si 2SijCl6. 



If the tube in which this reaction takes place be cooled 

 suddenly the sesquichloride is found, but if cooled slowly 

 it undergoes gradual decomposition. They also find that 

 although ozone is converted into oxygen at 250°, if a silver 

 tube inclosed in a porcelain tube be kept at about 1300° 

 a deposit of dioxide of silver is produced due to the forma- 

 tion of ozone. They state that the ozone can be recognised 

 by the usual tests if the gas be rapidly drawn off and 

 quickly cooled. They have also examined certain similar 

 phenomena in the production of oxide of silver at 1400°. 



lODATES OF CORALT AND NiCKEL. — Prof. F. W. 



Clarke describes these salts, which were prepared by 

 dissolving the carbonates in aqueous iodic acid, and 

 allowing the solution to evaporate spontaneously when 

 salts of the composition Col20(5.6H20 and Nil20Q.6H20 

 crystallise out. If the solution of the carbonate of 

 cobalt in iodic acid is evaporated rapidly, then the iodate 

 of Rammelsberg, containing i^ molecules of water may 

 be obtained, but not otherwise. The cobalt iodate loses 

 four molecules of water at 100°, but the remaining two 

 molecules cannot be driven off without partial decompo- 

 sition of the salt. The specific gravities of the two salts 

 are almost identical, the cobalt iodate at 21° being 3"6893, 

 the nickel iodate at 22° being 3*6954. No numbers of the 

 solubilities of the two salts are given by Prof. Clarke, 

 but these, when obtained, will be of some interest. 



Origin and Formation of Boracic Acid. — M. 

 Dieulafait {Comp. Rend, Ixxxv. 605) finds that under 

 certain conditions by spectrum analysis TtrclfTjuTr grammes 

 of boron, and by the colour imparted to a hydrogen 

 flame n)-;r5Tn)(T grammes may be detected. He considers 

 boracic acid to be a normal constituent of sea- water and 

 salt marshes lying above beds of carnallite. M. Dieulafait 

 finds that this acid may be recognised in a drop of sea- 

 water weighing about 0*0378 grammes, and that the 

 minimum quantity found in the Mediterranean is two 

 decigrammes per cubic metre of water. He arrives by 

 geological reasoning at conclusions differing from those of 

 Dumas and others with regard to the origin of this body 

 in the lagoons of Tuscany, and thinks that the source of 

 boracic acid in this district may be found in a relatively 

 modern formation. 



New Modes of forming Ethylen Oxide.— In the 

 Comptes Rendus, Ixxxv. 624, Mr. H. Greene mentions the 

 results of experiments on the action of certain metallic 

 oxides on the bromide, iodide, and chlcriodide of ethy- 

 lene. Oxide of silver has a rapid action on ethylen 

 iodide at a temperature of 150°, forming ethylen oxide ; 

 its action on ethylen bromide produces the same result 

 but requires a higher temperature. Ethylen bromide and 

 chloriodide both act upon sodium oxide at 180°, the latter 

 of the ethylene compounds being the one found most 

 advantageous by the author in preparing ethylen oxide. 

 He has also studied the action of these substances on 

 the oxides of the diatomic metals barium and lead. 

 These oxides do not give ethylen oxide when heated with 

 bromide or chloriodide of ethylene. These experiments 

 show, on the one hand, the analogy between the silver 

 and sodium oxides confirmed by the isomorphism of their 

 anhydrous sulphates and chlorides, and on the other their 

 difference from the group of diatomic oxides. 



The Action of certain Antiseptic Vapours on 

 THE Ripening of P'ruits. — MM. Lechartier and Bel- 

 lamy give an account in the Comptes Rendus, Ixxxiv. 

 1,035, of some experiments they made on the fermenta- 

 tion of apples when inclosed in vapours such as carbolic 

 acid, camphor, and potassium cyanide. From their 

 results it appears that no fermenting action took place 

 in the apples surrounded by vapour of carbolic or hydro- 

 cyanic acids, and a slight act'on only in the one sur- 

 rounded by camphor vapour. The camphor vapour, in 

 fact, diminishes without entirely destroying the vitality of 

 the cells. In this journal, also, there is an account of 



