Chemistry 625 



mentioned because of its chemical character, for it is essen- 

 tially a description of a series of experiments that show 

 how a weak solution of oxalic acid is oxydized by the in- 

 fluence of the chemical rays of sunlight, and hence that such 

 a solution can be used as an actinometric measure. 



A paper entitled "The Air of Towns," presented by Doctor 

 J. B. Cohen, of Yorkshire, England, likewise received honor- 

 able mention. It consists of four popular lectures on " Close 

 Rooms," "Smoke," "Town Fog," and "Germs of the Air"; 

 and these were of such practical character that they were 

 deemed worthy of prompt publication. 



In the oriofinal circular concerninof the Hodcrkins Fund 

 prizes it says that " special grants of money may be made 

 to specialists engaged in original inv^estigation upon atmos- 

 pheric air and its properties." In accordance with this pro- 

 vision a grant of $500 was made to Doctor Otto Lummer 

 and Doctor Ernst Pringsheim of Berlin, Germany, for re- 

 searches on the determination of an exact measure of the 

 cooling of gases while expanding, with a view to revising the 

 value of that most important constant which is technically 

 termed " gamma " function. This grant was made on recom- 

 mendation of Professor von Helmholtz. In the same year a 

 second grant, amounting to $1000, was placed at the dis- 

 posal of Doctor John S, Billings, of Washington City, and 

 of Doctor S. Weir Mitchell, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 

 for an investigation into the nature of the peculiar sub- 

 stances of organic origin contained in the air expired by 

 human beings, with a specific reference to the application of 

 the results obtained to the problem of ventilation for inhabited 

 rooms. The investigation undertaken by these scientists was 

 carried on in the Laboratory of Hygiene in the University of 

 Pennsylvania, largely by Doctor David H. Bergey. and un- 

 der their joint names the Smithsonian Institution in Novem- 



