May 31, 1917] 



NATURE 



271 



with the State. The work of the institution is divided 

 broadly into (i) tests and standardisation work for the 

 public, (2) researches. The tests, etc., cover the check- 

 ing of all kinds- of electrical instruments. Among 

 these may be mentioned the tests_undertaken for the 

 Marine Ministry on new types of storage battery for 

 use in submarines, and standard tests on electric lamps 

 used in the Navy. Investigations have been made for 

 the War Ministry on meters, etc., used in gunpowder 

 factories, also check tests on standard meters used by 

 the Army in its own specification tests. The labora- 

 tory undertakes for the Ministry of Public Instruction 

 and Fine Arts the verification of lightning arrester 

 installations on public buildings. On the research 

 side may be mentioned the important researches pub- 

 lished by M. Ch. David on the various grades of 

 carbons used for dynamo brushes ; M. Jouaust's re- 

 searches on the magnetic properties of iron, its mag- 

 netic viscosity, and its permeability at high frequencies ; 

 and MM. Laporte and de la Gorce's researches on the 

 dielectric strength of insulating materials under con- 

 tinuous and alternating tensions and at varying fre- 

 quencies. In 1914 the laboratory had in hand re- 

 searches (which will be continued) on the VioUe plati- 

 num light standard. MM. Broca and Laporte have 

 undertaken experiments on the action on the human 

 eye of various artificial sources of light, while Dr. 

 Weiss and M. David have studied the mechanism of 

 death from high-tension alternating currents. The 

 Laboratoire Central represented France at the inter- 

 national experimental work carried out at Washington 

 in iqio, as the result of the- International Conference 

 on Electrical Units and Standards held in London in 

 1908, and has published paf>ers on the subject. 



Mr. a. Ch.^ston Ch.apm.^n's lecture on "Some Main 

 Lines of Advance in the Domain of Modern Analytical 

 Chemistry," delivered before the Chemical Society in 

 March, has been reproduced in the Journal (vol. iii., 

 pp. 203-20). Attention is directed to the increasmg 

 use of physico-chemical methods, the spectroscope and 

 polarimeter being now supplemented by the refracto- 

 meter, the electrometer, and a wide range of electro- 

 chemical apparatus. In the same way the use of de- 

 rivatives of hydrazme as qualitative and quantitative 

 reagents in organic chemistry has been extended by 

 using phloroglucinol to precipitate furfural in estimat- 

 ing pentoses and pentosans, of digitonin to estimate 

 cholesterol, and of picric and picrolonic acids in identi- 

 fying such bases as arginine, histidine, lysine, and 

 guanidine Organic compounds have also been intro- 

 duced as reagents in inorganic chemistry, notably in 

 the colorimetric estimation of nitrates and nitrites. 

 Actual precipitation occurs, however, when benzidine 

 hydrochloride is used to precipitate sulphates, or 

 "nitron" to precipitate nitrates, the latter reagent 

 furnishing for the first time a method for the gravi- 

 metric estimation of nitric acid. The separation of 

 nickel from_ cobalt by means of dimethylglyoxime is 

 characteristic of a considerable group of separations 

 which can now be effected with remarkable ease and 

 efficiency by making use of complex organic com- 

 pounds. Biological processes, such as the selective 

 fermentation of sugars by diflferent species of y6asts, 

 and the use of the "precipitin" reaction to distinguish 

 between albumins from different sources, have also 

 proved of great value in the analysis of foodstuffs. 

 In conclusion, the lecturer urges the desirability of 

 providing in this country professorships of analvtical 

 chemistry, similar to those which exist alreadv on the 

 Continent and in America. 



Messrs. J. Wheldon and Co., 38 Great Queen 

 Street, W.C.2, have just issued a catalogue (New 

 NO. 2483, VOL. 99] 



Series, No. 79, "Books and Papers on Microscopical 

 Science in all its Branches") which should be of in- 

 terest to many of our readers. It is conveniently 

 arranged under the headings : — Bacteriology, Para- 

 sitology, etc.. Diatoms, Entomostraca, Foraminifera, 

 Fresh-water Algae and Desmids, Infusoria, Micro- 

 Entomology, Micro-Fungi, Petrography, Crystallo- 

 graphy, etc.. Protozoa, Rotifera, Zoophytes, Biology, 

 Histologj', Physiologv. and General Works on the 

 Microscope. Many of the works catalogued, being 

 published in enemy countries, are difficult to obtain 

 at the present time. The list is to be had upon 

 written application. 



The following works are in preparation for appear- 

 ance in the "Cambridge Public Health Series" \Cam~ 

 bridge University Press) : — "Ticks as Carriers of 

 Disease," Prof. G- H. F. Nuttall ; "Serum 

 Diagnoses," Dr. C. Browning; "The Purification of 

 Water in Sedimentation, Filtration, and Precipita- 

 tion," Dr. A. C. Houston; "The Purification of Water 

 by Ozone and Chlorine; and Domestic Filters," Prof. 

 G. Sims W'oodhead; "The Principles and Practice of 

 the Dilution Method of Sewage Disposal," Dr. W. E. 

 Adenev ; " Disinfection," Dr. C. W. Ponder ; " Hous- 

 ing in Relation to Public Health," Dr. C. J. Cole- 

 man; "School Hygiene," Dr. E. T. Roberts; "Soils, 

 Subsoils, and Climate in Relation to- Health," G. 

 Walker; "Meat Inspection," Dr. W. J. Howarth and 

 T. D. Young; "Vital Statistics," R. Dudfield and 

 G. U. Yule ; and " Foods, Sound and Unsound," Dr. 

 H. C. Haslam. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Comet 1917& (Schaum.asse). — From observations of 

 this comet made on April 28, April 29, and May 4, the 

 following elements and ephemeris for Greenwich mid- 

 night have been calculated by J, Braae and J. Fischer- 

 Petersen : — 



T=i9i7 May 18-2946 G.M.T. 



il= 9° 37' 25-1917 

 / = I58' 42'-87j 

 log ^ = 9-88304 



Decl. 



Log r 



Los: A 



May 31 

 June 



FiREB.ALLS IN June. — Mr. Denning writes : — The 

 twilight prevailing during the nights of the month of 

 June is not favourable for meteoric work, but fireballs 

 are often numerous and easily seen. During the first 

 week of June many large meteors have appeared from a 

 radiant in Scorpio at about 252°— 22°, and they have 

 had unduly long flights and slow motions. There are 

 other striking radiants in Ophiuchus and Antinous. 

 This year a special effort will be made by observers 

 near the end of the month, with the object of ascer- 

 taining whether there is any repetition of the rich 

 shower which occurred on June 28, 19 16, and was 

 presumably connected with the periodical comet of 

 Pons-Winnecke. On that date the rich cluster of 

 meteors through which the ^arth passed must have 

 been more than 600 millions of miles from the 

 cometary nucleus, «;o that the metecws are distributed 

 along a very considerable section of the orbit, if 

 indeed they do not form a complete elliptical stream. 



