472 



NA TURE 



[March 17, 1892 



the protoplasm which surrounds it, that fuses with the nucleus 

 of the oosphere in the archegone. The other small cell becomes 

 entirely disorganized. 



It sometimes happens that peat bogs swell and burst, giving 

 out a stream of dark mud. Herr Klinge has made a study of 

 • this rare phenomenon {Bot. Jahrb. ), of which he has found only 

 nine instances, in Europe, between 1745 and 1883 (seven of these 

 being in Ireland). Heavy rains generally occur before the phe- 

 nomenon, and detonations and earth vibrations precede and 

 accompany it. The muddy stream which issues, of various 

 fluidity, rolls along lumps of peat, and moves now more quickly, 

 now more slowly. After the outbreak, the mud quickly hardens, 

 and the bog sinks at the place it appeared, forming a funnel- 

 shaped pool. The bogs considered by Herr Klinge have been 

 almost all on high ground, not in valleys. He rejects the idea 

 that the effects are due to excessive absorption of water by the 

 bog. The peat layers, which often vary much in consistency, 

 have each a certain power of imbibition, and the water absorbed 

 does not exceed this limit. Excessive rain affects chiefly the 

 upper layer not yet turned into peat and the cover of live vege- 

 tation, which get saturated like a sponge, after which the water 

 collects in pools, and runs off in streams. The theory of gas 

 explosions is also rejected ; and the author considers the real 

 cause to lie in land-slips, collapses, &c., of ground under the 

 bog, permitting water or liquid mud to enter. This breaks up 

 the bog mechanically, mixes with it and fluidifies it, and an out- 

 burst at the surface is the result. The limestone formations in 

 Ireland, with their large caverns and masses of water, are 

 naturally subject to those collapses, which, with the vibrations 

 they induce, are more frequent in Vet years. The heavy rains 

 preceding the bog eruptions are thus to be regarded as only an 

 indirect cause of these. Herr Klinge supposes that similar erup- 

 tions occurred in past geological periods, e.g. the Carboniferous, 

 in some cases where fossil tree-stems are found in upright 

 position. 



The geographical position of Mount St. Elias is of consider- 

 able popular interest in connection with the boundaries of 

 Alaska. Mr. Israel C. Russell refers to the subject in a report 

 published in the new number of the American National Geo- 

 graphic Magazine. In the convention between Great Britain 

 and Russia, wherein the boundaries of Alaska are supposed to 

 be defined, it is stated that the boundary, beginning at the south, 

 after leaving Portland Channel, shall follow the summit of the 

 mountains situated parallel to the coast as far as the i4Tst meri- 

 dian, and from there northward the said meridian shall be the 

 boundary to the Arctic Ocean. Whenever the summit of the 

 mountains between Portland Channel and the 141st meridian 

 " shall prove to be at the distance of more than ten marine 

 leagues from the ocean, the limit between the British possessions 

 and the line of coast which is to belong to Russia, above men- 

 tioned, shall be formed by a line parallel to the windings of the 

 coast, and which shall never exceed the distance of ten marine 

 leagues therefrom." As Mount St. Elias is approximately in 

 longitude 140° 55' 30" west from Greenwich, it is therefore only 

 4' 30" of longitude,, or 2\ statute miles, east of the boundary of 

 the main portion of Alaska. Its distance from the nearest 

 point on the coast is 33 statute miles. There is no coast range 

 in South-Eastern Alaska parallel with tlie coast within the limits 

 specified by the treaty, and the boundary must therefore be con- 

 sidered as a line parallel with the coast, and ten marine leagues, 

 or 34^ statute miles, inland. The mountain is thus i| 

 miles south of the boundary, and within the territory of 

 the United States. Its position is so near the junction of the 

 boundary separating South-Eastern Alaska from the North-West 

 Territory with the 141st meridian, that it is practically a corner 

 monument of the American national domain. 



NO. II 68, VOL. 45] 



A NEW and very simple mode of synthesizing tartaric acid 

 has been discovered by M. Genvresse, and is described by him 

 in the current number of the Comptes rendm. It will doubtless 

 be remembered that, some years ago. Dr. Perkin and Mr. 

 Duppa prepared tartaric acid artificially by treating di-brom- 

 succinic acid with hydrated oxide of silver, and this operation 

 became the final stage of a complete synthesis from the element- 

 ary constituents, when, a short time afterwards. Prof. Maxwell 

 Simpson succeeded in preparing succinic acid by the action of 

 caustic potash upon the di-cyanide of ethylene. M. Genvresse 

 now shows that tartaric acid may be directly synthesized by the 

 action of nascent hydrogen upon glyoxylic acid, CHO — COOH, 

 the curious compound, half aldehyde, half acid, derived from 

 glycol, and hence directly from ethylene. If we double the formula 

 of this acid, and add two atoms of hydrogen, we arrive at tar- 

 taric acid, COOH— CHOH—CHOH— COOH, and this is found 

 to be capable of realization by reacting upon glyoxylic acid with 

 nascent hydrogen liberated in its midst by the action of acetic acid 

 upon zinc dust. A mixture of glyoxylic and acetic acids, the latter 

 diluted with an equal weight of water, ia the proportion of one 

 molecule of glyoxylic to three molecules of acetic acid, was 

 treated in small quantities at a time with zinc dust, at first at 

 the ordinary temperature, and finally over the water-bath. The 

 liquid was then filtered, and the zinc in solution removed by 

 means of potassium carbonate. The clear liquid was then 

 mixed with calcium chloride solution, and after removal of any 

 calcium carbonate precipitate, a white crystalline precipitate com- 

 menced to separate. This precipitate was found to yield all the re- 

 actions of a tartrate, such as silvering glass when gently warmed 

 with ammonia and silver nitrate. Its analysis gave numbers 

 indicating the formula C4H4Ca06 -t- 4H2O, which is the com- 

 position of ordinary tartrate of lime. By treating this salt 

 with the calculated quantity of sulphuric acid diluted with 

 twenty times its volume of water, filtering off the preci- 

 pitated calcium sulphate and evaporating the filtrate over oil 

 of vitriol, the acid itself was obtained in large crystals. It is 

 interesting to find that the tartaric acid obtained by this mode 

 of synthesis is the optically inactive variety known as racemic 

 acid, there being apparently equal numbers of molecules of both 

 the dextro and laevo varieties produced. The crystals conse- 

 quently do not show hemihedral faces ; the angles observed 

 corresponded with those observed by Provostaye and by Ram- 

 melsberg in the case of racemic acid. It may be remarked that, 

 as the product of the synthesis of Dr. Perkin and Mr. Duppa, a 

 mixture of racemic acid with the truly inactive tartaric acid, in 

 which neutralization within the molecitles themselves occurs, 

 was obtained. This new synthesis of tartaric acid from gly- 

 oxylic acid would appear to throw some light upon the natural 

 formation of tartaric acid. For, remembering the close relation- 

 ship between glyoxylic and oxalic acids, which latter we knOw 

 to be one most readily formed in vegetable tissues, and the re- 

 ducing agencies which appear to be connected with chlorophyll, 

 we have all the means at hand to account, in view of the 

 work of M. Genvresse, for the natural synthesis of tartaric 

 acid. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Common Squirrel {Sciurus vulgaris), 

 British, presented by Mrs. Crick; a Merlin {Falco (Esalon), 

 European, presented by Mr. T. A. Cotton ; a Blue Titmouse 

 {Parus cceruleus), British, presented by Captain Salvin ; two 

 Blossom-headed Parrakeets {Palaornis cyanocephalus) from India, 

 presented by La Comtesse Cottrell ; a Green Monkey (C^;Yi7- 



pithecus callitrichus <J ) from West Africa, deposited ; a 



Hawk {Astiirina sp. inc.) from South America, purchased; 

 four Yellow-bellied Liothrix {Liothrix luteus) from India, re- 

 ceived in exchange ; sixteen Puff Adders ( Vipera arietans), born 

 in the Gardens. 



