556 



NATURE 



[October 6, 1898' 



the basis of therapeutics have been the consequence. Lord 

 Lister, whom I am proud to be able to greet as an old friend, is 

 already and always will be reckoned amongst the greatest bene- 

 factors of the human race. May he long be spared to remain at 

 the head of the movement which he called into existence. 



Artificial Immunisation. 



It remains for me to say a word concerning the other great 

 problem, the solution of which the whole world is awaiting with 

 anxious impatience. I refer tO the problem of immunity and its 

 practical corollary, artificial immunisation. It has already 

 happened once that an Englishman has succeeded in applying 

 this to the definite destruction of at least one of the most deadly 

 infectious diseases. Jenner's noble discovery has stood its trial 

 as successiully, except in popular fancy, as he hoped. Vaccine 

 is in all hands ; vaccination is, with the aid of Governments, 

 spreading continually. Pasteur also laboured with determin- 

 ation ; others have followed him, and the new doctrine of anti- 

 toxins is continually acquiring more adherents. But it has not 

 yet emerged from the c mflict of opinions, and still less is the 

 secret of immunity itself revealed. We must become well ac- 

 customed to the thought that only the next century can bring 

 light and certainty on this point. Prof. Virchow, having re- 

 ferred with pride to the influence of cellular pathology in modern 

 treatment, entailing, as it does, the principle of destroying the 

 focus of disease by early operation, concluded his lecture in these 

 words :— May the Medical School of Charing-cross Hospital 

 continue upon the newly-opened path with zeal and good fortune. 

 But may its students at the same time never forget that neither 

 the physician nor the naturalist dares to dispense with a cool 

 head and a calm spirit, with practical observation and critical 

 judgment. 



CHEMISTRY AT THE BRITISH 

 ASSOCIATION. 

 A LTHOUGH no epoch-making discoveries can be recorded 

 ■^^ amongst the contributions to the Chemical Section this 

 year, the work of the Section was full of interest and attraction. 

 A very wide range of subjects was included in the programme, 

 and the presence of many past- presidents of the Section added 

 very considerably to the success of the meeting. The announce- 

 ment of the discovery of two new elements, Moniuin and 

 Xenon, must constitute a record for the first two days of the 

 meeting, although new elements, especially amongst the rarer 

 earths and gases, hardly excite the interest that similar dis- 

 coveries did some years back. Monium is described in Sir 

 William Crookes' address. It is an added element culled 

 "from the waste heaps of the mineral elements," characterised 

 by a group of distinctive lines in the ultra-violet end of the 

 spectrum, and having an atomic weight of about Ii8, between 

 those accepted for yttrium and lanthanum respectively. 

 " Xenon " was described by Prof Ramsay and Dr. Travers in 

 their paper on " The extraction from air of the companions of 

 Argon and on Neon." It accompanies krypton and metargon 

 in the last fractions of liquefied argon, and is easily separated 

 from the latter on account of its higher boiling point. It re- 

 mains behind after the other two gases have evaporated, and is 

 the heaviest of the three gases. Xenon, "the stranger," shows 

 an analogous spectrum to argon, but differing entirely in 

 the position of the lines. With the ordinary discharge 

 the gas shows three lines in the red, and about five very brilliant 

 lines in the blue ; while with the jar and spark-gap these lines 

 disappear, and are replaced by four brilliant lines in the green, 

 intermediate in position between the two groups of argon lines. 

 The remainder of the paper dealt with the successful issue of 

 the search for "an undiscovered gas" — the subject of Prof. 

 Ramsay's presidential address to the Section at Toronto. This 

 gas should have an atomic weight higher than that of helium by 

 about 16 units, and lower than that of argon by about 20. The 

 determination of the atomic weight of neon gave the figure I9"2 ; 

 it would therefore follow fluorine, and precede sodium in the 

 periodic table. Like argon and helium it is monatomic ; it 

 is present in the air in the proportion of about i part in 40,000. 

 Prof. Emerson Reynolds added a note on the position of helium, 

 argon, krypton and neon in his diagrammatic representation of 

 the relations of the elements, and pointed out that their atomic 

 weights as yet determined were well in accord with his repre- 



NO. I 5 10, VOL. 58] 



sentation oi the periodic law. Amongst other papers or» 

 inorganic chemistry, Pl-of. F. Clowes gave an account of his 

 \york on the action of magnesium on cupric sulphate solu- 

 tions, under the title of " Equivalent replacement of metals." 

 The reaction was studied with both hot and cold solutions, 

 and under various conditions of concentration. In all cases 

 cuprous oxide is formed, and hydrogen is evolved side by 

 side with the deposition of the copper. This evolution of 

 hydrogen is attributed in part, but not wholly, to the pre- 

 sence of free sulphuric add formed by hydrolysis of the 

 cupric sulphate and accompanie«l by the separation of a 

 basic salt. Prof. Hodgkinson and Mr. Coote, in a paper 

 on "Alkaline chlorates and sulphates of the heavy metals," 

 pointed out that many soHd sulphates, whether containing water 

 of crystallisation or anhydrous, give off chlorine in addition to 

 oxygen when gently heated with potassium or sodium chlorate. 

 A residue of the alkaline sulphate and chloride and the oxide 

 and chloride of the metal is left behind. The evolution of 

 chlorine and oxygen occurs at temperatures very little above 

 100° C. Mr. R. G, Durrant described a series of " Green 

 cobaltic compounds" he had obtained by oxidising potassium 

 cobaltous oxalate with hydrogen peroxide ; similar results follow 

 the oxidation of cobaltous salts in presence of glycollates, 

 citrates, malates, lactates or succinates of the alkali metals. 



In another branch of the science, physical chemistry. Prof.. 

 Sydney Young contributed a most lucid and interesting account 

 of his researches on the "Thermal properties of gases and 

 liquids," The subject is one which has engaged Prof Young's 

 attention for the past eleven years, and his descriptive summary 

 of his labours was therefore received with special interest. One 

 chief aim of these investigations has been to ascertain whether 

 the generalisations of Van der Waals regarding the relations of 

 pressure, temperature and volume for both gases and liquids, 

 are really true, and if not, whether the observed deviations would 

 throw any light on the modifications which must be made in 

 Van der Waals's fundamental formula in order to bring it 

 into accurate agreement with the experimentally determined 

 isothermals for liquids and gases. The vapour pressures and 

 specific volumes of a number of substances were therefore 

 determined, both as liquid and as saturated vapour, from low 

 temperatures to their critical points. Twenty-six substances 

 have been examined altogether, including paraffins, benzene and 

 its haloid derivatives, esters, alcohols and acetic acid, and the 

 data obtained allow of a simple classification in respect to their 

 physical constants. Amongst other points of interest the results 

 show that the molecules of the alcohols at moderate temperatures 

 are polymerised in the liquid, but not in the gaseous state, 

 whilst there is polymerisation in both states in the case of acetic 

 acid ; also, that the molecules of the alcohols and acetic acid 

 appear to be polymerised to a considerable extent at the critical 

 point. Prof. Young also described his methods for the determina- 

 tion of the critical constants and of the specific volvimes of both 

 liquid and saturated vapour. Ample proof was obtained 

 in the course of these investigations that the views of 

 Andrews regarding the behaviour of a substance in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the critical point are correct, and also that the 

 vapour pressure of a pure substance is quite independent of the 

 relative volumes of liquid and vapour. The method of fractional 

 distillation of liquids adopted for the preparation of pure sub- 

 stances was described, and the apparatus was exhibited at work ; 

 it has thus been found quite feasible to separate perfectly pure 

 normal and iso-pentane from American petroleum. The Earl of 

 Berkeley described the methods he has adopted for the more 

 exact determination of the densities of crystals, in which special 

 precautions are taken to eliminate errors in the measurement of 

 temperature, volume and mass, occlusion of mother liquor, and 

 absorption of moisture. The determinations recorded were 

 made in carbon tetrachloride, a maximum divergence of 0*04 

 per cent, being shown as the result of four determinations of the 

 density of potassium carbonate crystals. Under the head of phys- 

 ical chemistry the joint-meeting with Section A on the " Results 

 of the recent Eclipse expeditions," has been referred to in con- 

 nection with the doings of the Physical Section. The modern ' 

 photographic plate as a sensitive medium for the recording of 

 chemical action was the subject of several interesting communi- 

 cations, notably that of Dr. W. J. Russell on "The action 

 exerted by certain metals and other organic substances on a 

 photographic plate." Some account of these researches has 

 already been given in Nature. Dr. Russell showed a series 

 of slides illustrating the action of printer's ink, wood, dry 



