Oct. 1 8, 1888] 



NA TV RE 



599 



formed the subject of the successful researches of Messrs. 

 Ornclorff and Jessel. The first stage of the reaction is found to 

 consist in the formation of methyl chloral, CH ; , . CO . CC1 3 , 

 which is subsequently acted upon by the hydrate of calcium 

 formed at the same time, with production of chloroform and 

 calcium acetate. The changes are expressed by the following 

 equations : — 



2CH3 . CO . CII3 + 6CaOCl., = 2CH3 . CO . CC1 3 



+ 3Ca(OH) 2 + 3CaCl 2 ; 



2CH3 . CO . CCI3 + Ca(OH), = 2CHCI S + Ca(C 2 H 3 0,),. 



Calculated from these equations, the yield of chloroform should 

 be 206 per cent, of the weight of acetone employed. As a 

 matter of fact, the process has now reached such a state of 

 perfection that as much as 188 per cent, is actually obtained in 

 the best manufactories. 



Another rich yield of new organic compounds has been ob- 

 tained by M. Paul Adam by an application of the famous 

 aluminium chloride reaction to the hydrocarbon diphenyl, 

 C 6 H 5 . C (i H 5 . The number of new substances which have been 

 synthesized by use of this reaction since its introduction by 

 Messrs. Friedel and Crafts must now be enormous, and its value 

 in assisting the completion of the fabric of descriptive organic 

 chemistry cannot be over-estimated. The method of treatment 

 consists in mixing the substance to be acted upon, in this case 

 diphenyl, with aluminium chloride in a flask connected with an 

 inverted condenser, to the end of which is attached a bent tube 

 arranged so as to dip beneath the surface of mercury. If 

 necessary, just sufficient heat is applied in order to keep the 

 mixture in the liquid state ; when this is effected the haloid com- 

 pound of the radical to be introduced is allowed to slowly enter 

 from a dropping funnel. Hydrochloric or hydrobromic acid is 

 at once disengaged, the gas coming off steadily and readily in- 

 dicating the progress of the reaction, which results in the sub- 

 stitution of the radical for hydrogen of the original substance. 

 On completion of the reaction it is only necessary to place the 

 mass in water, so as to decompose the aluminium chloride, when 

 the black liquid becomes decolorized and the new substance 

 separates as a colourless liquid or crystalline solid. When methyl 

 chloride, CH 3 C1, is allowed to act in this way upon diphenyl in 

 presence of aluminium chloride, M. Adam finds that the chief 

 product is methyl-diphenyl, C 6 H 6 . C 6 H 4 . CH 3 , in which the 

 methyl group occupies the meta position. This new body is a 

 highly refractive colourless liquid, boiling about 2Ji°-2'jf C, 

 and remaining liquid as low as -21°. It is isomeric with Dr. 

 Carnelley's para-compound, the only one hitherto known. The 

 ethyl and methyl ethers were readily obtained by the usual 

 methods, and from the latter yellow syrupy substance, 

 C 6 H 5 — C fi H 4 — CH,-— OCH3, was obtained by the action of 

 gaseous hydriodic acid, a highly interesting body, C 6 H 5 — 

 C 6 H 4 — CH 2 — OH, the alcohol of the series, phenyl-benzyl 

 alcohol, a very viscid liquid which eventually crystallized. The 

 mono-methyl derivative, however, was not the only product of 

 the primitive reaction, for M. Adam also succeeded in iso- 

 lating a dimethyl phenyl, C 12 H 8 (CH 3 ) 2 , boiling at 2840-290°. 

 Moreover, a similar series of derivatives were next obtained 

 containing ethyl instead of methyl ; and finally the synthesis of 



the 



C 6 H 4 v 



hydrocarbon fluorene, | yCH 2 , discovered by Berthelot 

 C 6 H 4 



in coal-tar, was effected by acting in a similar manner with 

 methylene dichloride, CH 2 C1 2 , upon diphenyl in presence of the 

 accommodating aluminium chloride. 



An interesting discussion on "Bird Pests of the Farm" is 

 printed in the current number of the Zoologist, All the writer s 

 who take part in the discussion agree that the habits of rooks 

 have for some time been undergoing a remarkable change. 

 Formerly, rooks lived chiefly on grubs and worms. Their supply of 

 this kind of food has been greatly diminished by better farming, 



draining, and other improvements ; and at the same time the 

 birds have largely increased in numbers. Consequently they 

 have been obliged to look for new sources of food-supply. They 

 do very serious injury to cultivated crops, and devour enormous 

 quantities of the eggs of game-birds. Mr. II. II. Scott says 

 that during nesting-time, in districts where there are large 

 rookeries, the heather on the moors and the fences in the fields 

 are searched by rooks, yard by yard, for these eggs. Mr. Gilbert 

 Millar, head-keeper to Mr. Creswell, of Harehope Hall, Aln- 

 wick, testifies that twenty-five or thirty years ago rooks were 

 rarely known to take eggs ; " but," he adds, " they have turned 

 gradually worse every year since then, and now they have become 

 a perfect pest and take all the early nests. Not one out of every 

 twenty early nests that I have known of, these last few years, has 

 escaped them." Pheasants' nests are sometimes built in rookeries, 

 but, oddly enough, they are safer there than outside, as rooks 

 never seem to look for them under their own nests. 



At the general meeting of the Council of the French 

 Meteorological Office, Admiral Cloue, Vice-President, stated 

 that the service of weather forecasts during the past year had 

 reached 90 per cent, of successes, a figure never before surpassed. 

 The number of climatological stations from which reparts are 

 regularly received is 143. Among the foreign stations we 

 observe that two are being established in Madagascar. As an 

 encouragement to observers on board ship, sixteen gold medals 

 were presented during the year, for the best log-books received. 

 Telegrams from America are regularly received, and include 

 reports of storms, &c, met by ships in the Atlantic. M. Mascart 

 stated that the work of the Departmental Commissions continued 

 to improve each year, and that now there were only six depart- 

 ments which had not special Commissions. M. Vaussenat gave 

 an interesting account of the observation of thunderstorms and 

 of the photography of clouds and lightning on the Pic-du-Midi, 

 and M. Janssen urged the importance of cloud photography at 

 regular intervals, and of a systematic study of cloud formations 

 and modifications. 



The Meteorological Report of the Straits Settlements for the 

 year 1887 contains, in addition to the usual monthly and annual 

 summaries at the four principal Observatories : (1) a tabular 

 statement of the mean annual and monthly rainfall at Singapore 

 from 1869 to 1887 ; and (2) charts showing the mean annual 

 range of various elements at Singapore from 1870 to 1887. The 

 year 1887 has presented little that is striking or anomalous. 

 The rainfall of the colony, which is represented by thirty-nine 

 stations, has been more than in the previous year. 



THE Royal Society of Tasmania has issued its Papers and 

 Proceedings for 1887. Among the papers we may note the 

 following : description of new rare Tasmanian Hepaticie, by 

 B. Carrington and W. H. Pearson ; on the acclimatization of 

 the salmon {Sal/no salar) in Tasmanian waters, by W. Saville- 

 Kent ; a first list of the birds of Maria Island, by Colonel W. 

 V. Legge ; observations with respect' to the nature and classi- 

 fication of the rocks of the Tertiary period, more particularly 

 relating to Tasmania, by R. M. Johnson. 



Messrs. Macmili.an and Co. have just published the third 

 edition of Lock's "Arithmetic for Schools." Simultaneously 

 with this edition, a key to the work, by the Rev. R. G. Watson, 

 has been issued. Mr. Lock explains that the solutions have 

 been very carefully worked under his superintendence. 



The " L Hand-book of Jamaica" for 1S88-89, by A. C. Sinclair 

 and L. R. Fyfe, has been issued. It is compiled from official 

 and other trustworthy sources, and includes ample historical, 

 statistical, and general information concerning the island. 



A guide to the Caucasus, by E. Weidenbaum, has been 

 published at Tiflis by order of the Governor-General. It 

 contains much archaeological information. 



