September 14, 1893] 



NATURE 



48: 



The Calendar of the University College, Bristol, for th* 

 session 1S93-94 has j ust been issued through Mr. Arrowsmith, 

 of Bristol. 



Prof. KiNXEf, of the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, 

 has just issued a report of some of his field experiments for 

 1892 and 1893. 



Mr. W. F. Stanley, of Great Turnstile, Holborn, hassent 

 us the new edition of his catalogue of mathematical instru- 

 ments made and sold by him. It is excellently printed upon 

 good paper, and is very admirably classified. 



The U.S.Departmentof Agriculture, division of Entomology, 

 has lately brought out Vol. v., No. 5, of " Insect Life." 



We are informed by a correspondent that the Rev. L. Blome- 

 field, whose death we recorded in last week's Nature, was 

 in his ninety-fourth year, and not, as stated by us, in his ninety- 

 first. 



Further infoiniaticn concerning hydrazine, NjHj, and its 

 compounds is contained in an inaugural dissertation by one of 

 Prof. Curtius's assistants at Kiel, Herr Franz Schrader, and a 

 brief account of it will be found in the current Chemiker Zeitimg. 

 A considerable time has now elapsed since the first preparation 

 of hydrazine, which was announced by Prof. Curtius in June, 

 1887, and it is almost three years since full details were pub- 

 lished concerning the isolation of the pure hydrate, a liquid of 

 the composition N2!r4.H20 which boils at 119°. It was then 

 slated (vide Nature, vol. 43, p. 205) that in closed vessels this 

 hydrate may be preserved unaltered for any length of time. 

 The experience of the last three years, however, necessitates a 

 Kodificatitn of that statement, and Herr Schrader now informs 

 us that the liquid stored in sealed tubes decomposes sooner or 

 later, the principal product of decomposition being ammonium 

 hydrate. No gas appears to be generated during the process, so 

 that tubes containing it do not become dangerous from accumu- 

 lation of pressure. The reactions between the hydrate and a 

 I arge number of metallic oxides are described, in which the 

 strong reducing proclivities of hydrazine are very markedly ex- 

 hibited, the reaction being frequently of an explosive character. 

 Herr Schrader further describes a series of double sulphates con- 

 taining hydrazine sulphate and the sulphate of a metal. Their 

 general foimula is R"S04. (NjH^) jHjSOj where R" may re- 

 present copper, nickel, cobalt, iron, manganese, zinc and cad- 

 mium. These double sulphates, which contain no water of 

 crystallisation, and are further distinguished from the double 

 sulphates containing ammonium by their difiicnlt solubility, are 

 readily prepared by the admixture of solutions of the con- 

 stituent simple sulphates. The constitution of the salts is 

 probably expressed by the formula, 



NH,— NH3— Ov 

 R"< 



SO, 



NHj— NHs— 0/ 



Considerable difficulty was found in preparing double chlorides 

 of fixed composition containing hydrazine-chloride. Good 

 Crystals of very soluble double chlorides are easily obtained, but 

 »o many appear capable of existence that the conditions for the 

 formation of salts of definite constitution have not yet been ascer- 

 tained. Two entirely new compounds of hydrazine are described 

 by Herr Schrader. By saturating hydrazine hydrate with sulpho- 

 cyanic acid, or by decomposing hydrazine sulphate with barium 

 •ulphocyanate, hydrazine sulphocyanate, NjH^.HSCN, is 

 NO. I 246, VOL. 48] 



obtained as a deliquescent solid substance which melts a 

 80°. When this hydrazine sulpho cyanate is heated, or when 

 molecular proportions of hydrazine dichloride NoHj „H CI and 

 ammoniumsulpho cyanate in aqueous solution are heated for 

 four or five hours in a sealed tube to 100°, a second new sub- 

 stance of urea-like constitution, 



,NH, 

 CS< 



\nh 



CS. 



nh 



"^NHj 



is formed. This second substance, hydrazine sulphocarbamide 

 crystallises well from solution in hot water and melts at 

 214—215°. Its properties are somewhat remarkable, inasmuch 

 as it appears to possess fairly strong acid properties, its solution 

 yielding very characteristic precipitates with solutions of most 

 metallic salts. The dissertation of Herr Schrader likewise re- 

 views most of the work which has been carried out in the Kiel 

 laboratories in connection with hydrazine, and adds many little 

 details of importance in the practical manipulation of the sub- 

 stance and its compounds. 



Notes from the Marine Biological Station, Plymouth. — Last 

 week's captures include the Actinian Zoanthus Couchii and the 

 Archiannelid Histriobdella Homari. In the floating fauna 

 Noctiluca, Obelia medusse,Cirrhipede Natiplii and Caridid larvx 

 were plentiful ; Sagitta, OikopUura and the tubicolous larva; of 

 Terebella were fairly numerous. Specimens were also taken of 

 the Leptomedusse Willia slellata and Eticopiutn qtiady-atum, al 

 young stages of Geryonia, of Doliolum Tritonis and Ascidian 

 larvse, and of the larvae of the Gephyrean Thalassema. The 

 Nemertine Amphiporus pilcher and the Mollusc Gouiodoris 

 castanea are now breeding. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during 

 the past week include a Sooty Mangabey {Cercocebtts fulig- 

 inosus, ? ) from West Africa, presented by Miss Grimston ; two 

 Brazilian Cariamas {Cariama cristala) from Brazil, presented 

 by Mr. Lindsay C. Scott ; a Melodious Jay Thrush (Leucodi- 

 optron canorum) from China, presented by Mr. B. H. Jones, 

 F.Z.S. ; a Wall Lizard (Lacerla muralis var. taliguerta) from 

 Triest, presented by Mr. A. W. Arrowsmith ; a Chilian Teal 

 {Querquedula creccoides) from Antarctic America, a Little Tern 

 {Sterna hirundd) from Brit. Isles, an Axis Yi^^i (Cervtis axis, i ) 

 from India, and a St. Thomas's Conure {Conurus pertinax) 

 from West Indies, purchased. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Mr. Tebbutt's Observatory. — We have received from 

 Mr. Tebbutt the report of the work that has been done during 

 the year 1892 at his observatory. In addition to meridian 

 observations a great many extra- meridian observations were 

 made, among which we may name the following : — Forty-five 

 phases of occuhations of stars by the moon, several observa- 

 tions of the phenomena of Jupiter's satellites, twenty good com- 

 parisons of the planet Mars, when in conjunction with Iota 

 Aquarii, with that star, by means of the filar micrometer on the 

 8 inch equatorial, numerous observations of the comets visible 

 in that year, about fideen double-star measures and the varia- 

 ble star observations, including a few comjarisons of 7) Argus 

 and R. Carina: with neighbouring stars. The meteorological 

 observations have been regularly taken. Under the heading 

 "Personal Establishment," an idea of the energy and zeal 

 which Mr. Tebbutt shows for this science can be gathered from 

 the fact that all the astronomical, and nearly all the meteoro- 

 logical ol servaiion- are made by himself. Occasionally his son 

 takes the mettorulo^ical readings during his absence from 

 home, while the assistance of a computer is sometimes made 

 use of. Although Mr. Tebbutt has received from several as- 



