May 1 8, 19 16] 



NATURE 



245 



at the Collie de France. In the following- year 

 he was elected a member of the Paris Academy of 

 Sciences, where he took the place vacated by 

 M. Ditte. 



His numerous contributions to organic chemistry 

 include the study of the chlorine and nitro- 

 derivatives of benzene and aniline, of which 

 he prepared a large number ; but, not con- 

 tent with the mere preparation of new 

 compounds, he sought to discover the relation 

 existing between their physical properties and 

 constitution. He succeeded in showing that 

 there exists a definite relation between the num- 

 ber of substituting atoms and their melting points, 

 boiling points, density, and molecular weight. 

 These results ser\'ed to some extent as the basis 

 of Kekule's theory. 



Another series of memoirs was devoted to the 

 examination of substances exhibiting molecular 

 asymmetry, and Jungfleisch was able to show that 

 the different forms of tartaric acid discovered by 

 Pasteur, when heated with water, are transformed 

 into one another, yielding an equilibrium mixture 

 varying with the conditions of the experiment. 

 For these researches he was awarded, in 1872, 

 the Jecker prize of the Academy of Sciences. Up 

 to this time no compound possessing molecular 

 asymmetry had been prepared artificially, and it 

 appeared that the intervention of a vital force, 

 as Pasteur held, was necessary to produce it. 

 Perkin and Duppa had succeeded in converting 

 natural succinic acid into racemic acid. Jung- 

 fleisch completed the synthesis by converting 

 ethylene, according to the method of Maxwell 

 Simpson, into succinic acid. He also showed that 

 camphoric acid exists in four isomeric forms, the 

 so-called dextro- and laevo-camphoric and iso- 

 camphoric acids which he isolated. Following up 

 a similar line of research, he succeeded in resolv- 

 ing inactive malic and lactic acids into their active 

 forms. 



Among his other numerous memoirs may be 

 mentioned his work on acetylene chlorides, a new 

 paethod of reduction of organic compounds by tin 

 salts, a research on derivatives of thymol, on 

 laevulose, which he prepared in the crystalline 

 state, on inulin, chloral hydrate, phenylphospboric 

 ether, etc. 



Jungfleisch collaborated with Berthelot in the 

 study of the partition coefficient of a substance in 

 presence of several solvents ; he assisted Lecoq 

 de Boisbaudran in isolating gallium in quantity, 

 and applied similar methods to the preparation of 

 indium. 



One of his latest contributions to chemistry was 

 the study of gutta-percha, which resulted in the 

 valuable discovery that the leaves of the plant 

 can be used as a source of the material more 

 economically and less destructively than the stem. 



Of his literary contributions to the science men- 

 tion should be made of the Journal de Pharmacte et 

 de Chimie, to which he contributed for twenty- 

 two years a review of foreign researches and pub- 

 lications, and successive editions of his weU-known 

 " Traite de Chimie Organique." 



J. B. C. 



NO. 2429, VOL. 97] 



NOTES. 



The Government has appointed a Committee to 

 recommend the steps to be taken for the relief of Sir 

 Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition. The 

 chairman is .-Vdmiral Sir Lewis Beaumont, G.C.B. ; 

 the other members are the hydrographer of the Navy, 

 Major Leonard Darwin (representing the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society), Sir Douglas Mawson, Dr. W. S. 

 Bruce (who has intimate personal knowledge of the 

 Weddell Sea area), and representatives of the 

 Treasury, Board of Trade, and of Sir Ernest Shackle- 

 ton. The Committee has already begun its meetings. 



Universal sympathy will be felt with Sir William 

 Crookes, who has suflered the heaviest of all bereave- 

 ments by the death of his wife on May 10. Lady 

 Crookes, whose maiden name was Ellen Humphrey, 

 was bom on January 31, 1836, and was therefore in 

 her eighty-first year. She was married to Sir William 

 on April 10, 1856, and from the earliest times took 

 the liveliest interest in his scientific work, helping 

 him, amongst other things, in delicate chemical weigh- 

 ings and the working out of the calculations connected 

 therewith. Her devotion to, and interest in, his work 

 formed a great incentive, and in no small degree 

 contributed to his successful efforts in research. Theirs 

 was the first private house in England in which 

 electric light was introduced, and Lady Crookes helped 

 her husband greatly in carrying out the installation 

 and designing the ornamental work. She was a 

 familiar and ever- welcome figure at scientific gather- 

 ings, to which she frequently accompanied her husband, 

 and was able to be present wuth him at the reception 

 given after his election as president of the Royal 

 Society in the year 1913. Sir William and Lady 

 Crookes celebrated their golden w-edding in 1906, when 

 they were able to welcome a large number of their 

 friends and acquaintances, and were also the recipients 

 of letters and telegrams of congratulation from all 

 parts of the world. Lady Crookes was spared to cele- 

 brate quietly with her husband last month the almost 

 unique event of a diamond wedding, but she was then 

 in failing health, and passed au-av peacefully on 

 May 10. Several sons and a daughter survive her. 



The first meeting of the Standing Committee on 

 Metallurgy appointed by the Advisor}- Council for 

 Scientific and Industrial Research was held on Mon- 

 day, May 8, at the offices of the Board of 

 Education. The committee consists as to one- 

 half of members nominated by the professional 

 societies concerned, the other half being ap- 

 pointed direct by the Advisory Council, and 

 it has been constituted w-ith a view to the representa- 

 tion of both the scientific and the industrial sides of 

 the industries. It consists of the following mem- 

 bers : — Prof. J. O. Arnold, Mr. Arthur Balfour, Prof. 

 H. C. H. Carpenter, Dr. C. H. Desch, Sir Robert 

 Hadfield, Mr. F. W. Harbord, Mr. J. Rossiter Hoyle, 

 Prof. Huntington, Mr. W. Murray Morrison, Sir 

 Gerard Muntz, Bt., Mr. G. Ritchie, Dr. J. E. Stead, Mr. 

 H. L. Sulman, and Mr. F. Tomlinson. Sir Gerard Muntz 

 is the chairman of the full committee and of the 

 Non-ferrous Sub-Committee, and Sir Robert Hadfield 

 is the chairman of the Ferrous Sub-Committee. The 

 committee was welcomed by Sir William M'Cormick, 

 administrative chairman of the Advison,- Council, and 

 Dr. Heath, administrative secretarv- to the Council. 

 Sir A. Selby-Bigge also attended, and gave an account 

 of the genesis of the movement, and emphasised the 

 importance which the Government attaches to the 

 establishment of close relations between education, re- 

 search, and industry'. The committee then proceeded 

 to consider various matters of fundamental importance 



