530 



NA TURE 



[September 25, 1890 



crust, and are accompanied by magnetic currents which serve as 

 indices of their approach. 



Prof. E. W. Morley's report on the velocity of light in a 

 magnetic field shows an increase in velocity in such a field 

 amounting to seven parts in one thousand million. These 

 investigations are to be continued. 



Prof. Morley also read a paper on the determination of the 

 volumetric composition of water, and one on the ratio of the 

 density of oxygen and hydrogen. In twenty determinations the 

 minimum value of combination in water was 2 "0005, the maximum 

 was 2 "00047, mean 2'00023, with a probable error of otie part 

 in 30,000. The value two to one, which every schoolboy 

 learned is the ratio of hydrogen and oxygen in water, must be 

 increased about, one nine- thousandth. In two determinations of 

 density, Morley reaches the same result as Rayleigh, viz. 15,884, 

 giving 15,882 as the atomic weight of oxygen. Prof. W. A. 

 Noyes read a paper on the atomic weight of oxygen, giving the 

 results of four series of six determinations with apparatus devised 

 by himself. The value found is 15,896, or about seven one- 

 hundredths less than the usually accepted one. 



The series of papers on distribution of North American plants, 

 .prepared on topics assigned last year, was pronounced by the 

 presiding officer the most remarkable ever presented to the 

 biological section. They were on the distribution of the North 

 American umbelliferre, by John M. Coulter ; the distribution of 

 hepaticae of North America, by Lucien M. Underwood ; geo- 

 graphical distribution of North American grasses, by W. J. 

 Beal ; geographical distribution of North American cornacese, 

 by John M. Coulter ; and the general distribution of North 

 American plants, by N. L. Bulton. The following assignments 

 were made for next year : — The absorption of gases, J. C. 

 Arthur ; the aeration of aquatic plants, W. P. Wilson ; the 

 absorption of fluids, L. H. Pammel ; the movement of fluids in 

 plants, W. J. Beal ; transpiration, C. E. Bessey. 



The exhibition of apparatus included some delicate seismo- 

 scopes and seismometers. Prof. Mendenhall exhibited some of 

 the metric standards recently distributed by the International 

 Congress, in the manufacture of which to distribute to all nations, 

 two-thirds of all the iridium in the world was used. Prof. 

 W. A. Rogers exhibited a precision screw 8 feet long, with a 

 variation of only 1/8000 of an inch in its entire length. 



Officers elected for the Washington meeting were ; President, 

 Albert B. Prescott, of Ann Arbor, Mich. ; Vice-presidents, 

 Section A, E. W. Hyde, of Cincinnati, O. ; Section B, F. E. 

 Nipher, St. Louis, Mo. ; Section C, R. C. Kedzie, Agricultural 

 College, Mich. ; Section D, Thomas Gray, Oene Haute, Ind. ; 

 Section E, J. J. Stevenson, New York ; Section F, J. M. 

 •Coulter, Crawfordeville, Ind. ; Section H, Joseph Jastrow, 

 Madison, Wis. ; Section I, Edmund J. James, Philadelphia, 

 Pa. ; Permanent Secretary, F. W. Putnam, Cambridge, Mass. 

 (holds over) ; General Secretary, Harvey W. Wiley, Washing- 

 ton, D.C. ; Secretary of the Council, Amos W. Butler, Brook- 

 ville, Ind. ; Treasurer, William Lilly, Manch Chunk. Secre- 

 taries of the sections : Section A, E. D. Preston, Washington, 

 D.C. ; Section B, A. McFarlane, Austin, Texas ; Section C, 

 T. H. Norton, Cincinnati, O. ; Section D, William Kent, New 

 York ; Section E, W. J. McGee, Washington, D.C. ; Section 

 F, A. J. Cook, Agricultural College, Mich. ; Section H, 

 W. H. Holmes, Washington, D.C. ; Section I, B, E, Vernon, 

 Washington, D.C. 



This ticket was elected as reported from the nominating com- 

 mittee, except that a substitution was made in the Vice-President 

 for Section I, which is notable as the first instance in the history 

 of the Association in which any change was ever made in the 

 list of nominees reported. Wm. H. Hale. 



CHEMISTR Y AT THE BRITISH ASSOCIA TION 

 \J{ ANY of the papers read in Section B this year were of 

 considerable theoretical importance. Additional interest 

 was also given to the proceedings by the presence of several 

 distinguished foreign guests. 



After the President's Address, Prof. Dunstan read the third 

 Report of the Committee on the present methods of teaching 

 chemistry. During the past year the Committee has been 

 principally engaged in collecting and comparing the regulations 

 issued by the more important of the examining bodies in the 

 kingdom, in order to discover how far their requirements were 

 in harmony with such a course of instruction as that suggested 



NO. 109 1, VOL. 42] 



by the Committee in their second Report, presented at the New- 

 caslle-on-Tyne meeting. The Committee direct special attention 

 to the following points : — 



It is of great importance that natural science should be suffi- 

 ciently represented on the board which issues the regulations and 

 is responsible for the proper conduct of the examination. 



In addition to examinations, periodical inspection of the 

 teaching seems desirable, the reports of the inspectors as well as 

 the students' own record of work testified to by the teacher being 

 taken into account in awarding prizes, certificates and grants, in 

 addition to the results of an examination. 



With respect to the schedules and examination papers, for the 

 most part they do not aim at an educational training of the kind 

 suggested in the Committee's last report, being on the other 

 hand more suitable for those who wish to make a special and 

 detailed study of chemistry as a science. The obvious con- 

 clusion is that the necessary reforms can only be brought about 

 by the active co-operation of examiners and teachers. 



Sir Henry Roscoe introduced a discussion on recent legislation 

 for facilitating the teaching of science. He drew attention to 

 the powers given by the Technical Instruction Act of 1889, to 

 County Councils and other local authorities, and assured his» 

 hearers that the Education Department and the Science and Art 

 Department were extremely anxious to give local authorities a 

 free scope, and free choice of subjects. Referring to the action 

 of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which placed in the hands 

 of the County Councils this year the sum of ;if743,ooo to be 

 devoted, whole or in part, to the purpose of technical education, 

 he urged upon these bodies the importance of taking full advan- 

 tage of this grant. In the discussion which followed hopes 

 were expressed that the money would not go simply towards the 

 relief of the rates. It was also remarked that for the success of 

 these provisions it is necessary that more attention should be 

 given to primary education. 



Dr. J. H. Gladstone and G. Gladstone read a paper on the 

 refraction and dispersion of fluorbenzene and allied compounds. 

 Fluorine behaves quite differently to chlorine, bromine, and 

 iodine, as it exerts scarcely any refractive action upon the light 

 rays, and it has the property of reversing the dispersion produced 

 by other substances. 



Dr. G. H. Bailey and J. C. Cain gave a paper on a method 

 of quantitative analysis by weighing precipitates suspended in 

 liquids. The object of the method is to do away with the 

 operations of filtering and washing. The specific gravity of the 

 precipitate having been determined once for all, it is weighed 

 together with the supernatent liquid in a specially constructed 

 measuring flask. The specific gravity of the supernatent liquid 

 can be readily determined, and hence the weight of the pre- 

 cipitate calculated. The method is found to be rapid, and to 

 give results of sufficient accuracy for many technical purposes. 



Dr. G. H. Bailey and A. A. Read gave a paper on the 

 behaviour of different metallic oxides when exposed to high 

 temperatures. This is a continuation of work previously pub- 

 lished in the Journ. Chem. Soc. on oxide of copper. The fol- 

 lowing oxides were subjected to high temperatures in an oxidizing 

 atmosphere i—SnO^, Bi^Og, VoO,,, PbO WO3, M0O3. The 

 following results were obtained : — VgOg was converted into V^Og, 

 SnO.2 lost weight slightly, and M0O3 lost oxygen, and was 

 transformed into the blue oxide of molybdenum, the others 

 were unchanged. It was suggested that some li;^ht might be 

 thrown by the experiments on the formation of minerals in 

 nature. 



A paper was then read by Dr. G. H. Bailey on the spectrum 

 of the haloid salts of didymium. The influence of dilution 

 and of various reagents on the intensity of the different bands 

 was studied. It was found that the addition of nitric acid to 

 the solution of didymium chloride influenced some bands quite 

 differently to others. Again the variation of the halogen element, ; 

 in combination with the didymium, brought about differences in 

 the relative positions of the bands. In addition to these, 

 observations were also made on the effect of polarised light. 

 Each of these different conditions influenced the bands some- 

 times in intensity, sometimes in position, and this in a selective 

 manner. The connection was pointed out between these results 

 and the experiments of Welsbach on the fractionation of 

 didymium. 



Prof. Armstrong read the fifth Report of the Committee on 

 isomeric naphthalene derivatives. A complete set of reference 

 compounds has now been prepai-ed in the disubstituted series, i 

 It is found that although 13 dichlor naphthalenes have beeni 



