No. 1070, Vol. 42] 



NATURE 



have not been accepted without an examination. Thus it is 

 pointed out that the large proper motion given by Arago in his 

 " Popular Astronomy" for the star in Argus, No. 2151 B. A.C., 

 should be rejected, the comparison of Lacaille's observations 

 with those of Stone and Gould giving, in fact, a motion of 

 about o"*2 for this star. The magnitude, co-ordinates for iSgo'o, 

 proper motion in right ascension and declination, the resultant 

 motion, the direction of this motion, and the authority are given 

 for each star. 



OPTICAL ISOMERIDES OF INOSITOL. 



TOURING the last few months, whilst the brilliant researches 

 -*-^ of Prof. Emil Fischer on the synthetical production of the 

 glucoses have been attracting so much attention, some very 

 interesting work has been done on a compound which was 

 formerly supposed to belong to the glucose group, viz. inosite. 

 Maquenne, in 1887, showed that this compound, which is fairly 

 widely distributed throughout the animal and vegetable kingdoms, 

 is not a sugar, but a hexahydroxy-derivative of hexamethylene, 

 having the constitutional formula — 



It is an alcohol, and in accordance with the usual English 

 nomenclature the name inosite must therefore be altered to 

 inositol. 



M. Maquenne has recently examined a compound obtained 

 from the manna-like exudation of one of the Californian pines 

 (Pi)ius lamberliand), and termed ;3pinitol. He found that its 

 formula is CyHj^Og, and that on heating with hydriodic acid it 

 is resolved into methyl iodide and a substance which has the 

 same composition as inositol, and resembles it in most of its 

 properties, but melts at a higher temperature and rotates the 

 plane of polarization to the right ([o]n = 65), inositol being 

 inactive. It is therefore called dextro-inositol. Almost simul- 

 taneously, another French chemist, M. Tanret, obtained from 

 quebracho bark {A spidos per ma quebracho) a sugar-like compound 

 to which he has given the name quebrachitol. It has the same 

 fomiula as j8-pinitol, and on treatment with hydriodic acid yields 

 methyl iodide and an inositol which can only be distinguished 

 from the foregoing by its action on the plane of polarized light, 

 which it rotates to the left to the same extent as the first 

 compound does to the right, and must therefore represent the 

 hevo-inositol. Both these compounds crystallize with two 

 molecules of water in hemihedral crystals, and are very soluble 

 in water. 



MM. Maquenne and Tanret then jointly examined the effect 

 of mixing concentrated solutions of equal weights of the dextro- 

 and laevo-compound, and obtained an inactive inositol, which 

 is much less soluble in water than either of its constituents, 

 and melts at a higher temperature (253°), without previously 

 becoming plastic. From its mode of formation, its constitution 

 must resemble that of racemic acid, and the name racemo- 

 inositol has therefore been given to it. It is not identical with 

 the inactive inositol previously known, and the latter must 

 therefore have an analogous constitution to mesotartaric acid. 



We have therefore the interesting result that inositol, a 

 derivative of hexamethylene, exists in four different forms, 

 corresponding exactly to those of tartaric acid. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — Mr. Buchanan, the University Lecturer in 

 Geography, announces a course on " Oceanography," to begin 

 at 2.15 p.m. on Wednesdays. The subject will be " The Dis- 

 tribution of Land and Water on the Globe." 



The Council of the Senate have published a report in which 

 they withdraw their original proposal (October 22, 1888) to 

 suspend for 10 years from 1890 the augmentation of the con- 

 tributions of Colleges to the Common University Fund pre- 



scribed by the present statutes, by way of relief to the depressed 

 finances of some of the Colleges, They propose now to dis- 

 criminate between Colleges that are financially depressed and 

 those that are not. The latter will receive no relief under the 

 new plan, the former will be allowed to make up their University 

 contributions by devoting one or more Fellowships to University 

 purposes. This proposal seems to have been much more widely 

 approved than the former, and is signed by nearly all the 

 members of the Council of the Senate. 



The Special Boards for Physics and Chemistry, and for 

 Biology and Geology, propose a new departure in the conduct 

 of the second part of the Natural Sciences Tripos, with regard 

 to which there are likely to be differences of opinion. Hitherto 

 all the work considered by the examiners has been carried on 

 at the time of the examination under their supervision, and 

 under equal conditions for all candidates. The proposal now is 

 to give credit for work in practical chemistry carried on before 

 the examination in the University or College laboratories. The 

 regulations recommended are : — 



"In the second part of the examination, every candidate in 

 chemistry may present to the examiners, at the commencement 

 of the examination, a record of the chemical work which he 

 has carried out in the University laboratory, or in some one of 

 the College laboratories, in some one term. Such record shall 

 be the original notes made from day to day in the laboratory, 

 with the necessary calculations in full, and dated so as to show 

 the work of each day. 



" To the record shall be appended a certificate, signed by the 

 candidate and by the superintendent of the laboratory, stating 

 that all the manipulations involved in the work have been bond 

 Jide carried out by the candidate alone, and that the superin- 

 tendent has watched the progress of the work and believes the 

 record of it to be faithful, 



" In estimating the merits of the candidates, the examiners 

 shall give credit for such work. 



" This regulation shall be first applicable to the examination 

 for the Natural Sciences Tripos of the year 1892." 



The Report is signed by 12 members of the two Boards, the 

 total number of members being 31, The chemists whose names 

 appear are Prof. Liveing, Dr. Ruhemann, and Dr. Tilden. 



Mr. J, Pedrozo d' Albuquerque, B.A., Scholar of St. John's 

 College, First Class, Natural Sciences Tripos, 1887-88, has been 

 appointed Government Professor of Chemistry at Barbadoes. 



Applications for permission to occupy the University's tables 

 in the Zoological Station at Naples, and in the Marine Biological 

 Laboratory at Plymouth, are to be sent to Prof. Newton, Mag- 

 dalene College, Cambridge, on or before May 22. 



The Newall Telescope Syndicate have issued a further Report, 

 in which it appears that a means has been found for overcoming 

 the threatened financial difficulty. Mr. H, F, Newall, M.A., 

 of Trinity College, University Demonstrator of Experimental 

 Physics, and son of the donor of the telescope, has offered his 

 services as observer, without stipend, for five years, a sum of 

 ;if 500 for initial expenses, and a guarantee of ;^200 a year for 

 five years for maintenance, provided the University can furnish 

 the balance of the funds required. He also offers to build him- 

 self a private house near the new Observatory, if a suitable site 

 can be found. The Sheepshanks Fund is, moreover, able to 

 promise an additional sum of ;^loo a year after five years from 

 the present date. The outcome of these offers is that the Uni- 

 versity will only be required to find at present a capital sum of 

 ;^I25, and an annual Subsidy of £-^o. After five years, it 

 may have to build an observer's house at a cost of ;i^8oo, and 

 provide ;^I50 a year towards his stipend. Mr. Newall has 

 worthily seconded his father's munificence, and it is to be hoped 

 that no further obstacle will arise to the founding of an adequate 

 observatory of stellar physics in Cambridge, 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, March 13. — "The Nitrifying Process 

 and its Specific Ferment." By Percy F. Frankland, Ph.D., 

 B.Sc. (Lond.), A.R.S.M., &c.. Professor of Chemistry in 

 University College, Dundee, and Grace C. Frankland. Com- 

 municated by Prof. Thorpe, F.R.S. 



The authors have been engaged during the last three years in 

 endeavouring to isolate the nitrifying organism. 



Nitrification, having been in the first instance induced in a 



