64 



NA rURE 



[November i6, 1899 



N< 



speak, of its limbs ; thus | | represents the torso of diethyl- 



aniline, &c. 



In his paper on the mechanism of the passage of hydroxyl- 

 amines into amidophenoles, he described a new class of bodies, 

 quinoles, which only exist at a low temperature, and pass on 

 farming into more stable isomers ; thus he obtained a quinole 

 isomeric with hydroquinone : 



H OH 



OH 



quinole 



hydroquinone. 



k 



Prof. Lieben (Vienna) gave a general review of the properties 

 and formation of the aldoles, introducing a new classification of 

 these bodies, according to the ease with which they lose water — 

 the three classes being thus graphically represented : 



I. II. III. 



CH3— CH(OH)— R.CH2.CH(OH)— R2.CH— CH(OH)— . 



Aldoles belonging to the first class split off water with difficulty, 

 those belonging to the third class with ease. 



Prof. Ramsay's address on "The Newly-discovered Gases " 

 was delivered at a combined meeting of the Chemical and 

 Physical Sections, and, despite the early hour at which it was 

 given, attracted a large audience. 



As full accounts of these researches have appeared from time 

 to time in Nature, it will suffice to state that the lecture was 

 illustrated by Crookes' tubes, containing the gases, and to recall 

 the analogy in the periodic system between the group formed by 

 the new gases and the group formed by the halogens 



H=i F=i9 Cl = 35-5 Br = 8o 1=127 



Hehum=4 Neon = 20 Argon = 40 Krypton = 82 Xenon = 128 



The periodic system, indeed, furnished the subject-matter for 

 several papers in the Chemical Section, and, passing over a paper 

 on this subject, which caused much amusement, it is interesting 

 to note the conclusions arrived at by Prof. Brauner in his inves- 

 tigation of the position of the elements of the rarer earths in this 

 system. 



He considers that the position indicated by the fourth group 

 and the eighth series must be assigned to a group of three 

 elements. 



Cerium 140, Praseodidymium 140-8, Neodidymium 143 "6.1 



This conclusion is based in great measure on the study of the 

 higher oxides. Prof. Brauner considers that the oxides PrgO- 

 and Nd204 belong to the oxides of the PbOj or ozonic type- 

 that is to say that the metals in these oxides are tetravalent, 

 and the oxides correspond to Ce204. 



At first sight the oxides obtained by precipitation with hydrogen 

 peroxide should belong to the second, H.p„ or antozonic type 

 of oxide ; Prof. Brauner found that on repeating this experiment 

 at low temperatures the hydrates of true superoxides were 

 formed, possessing the formula PrgOg and Nd^Oj, and loosing 

 oxygen with great ease. 



Dr. Otto Bleier followed with a paper on " The Vapour 

 Density of Sulphur." 



The present methods for the determination of vapour 

 densities cannot be applied with exactitude in experiments 

 performed in order to determine the density of sulphur vapour 

 before the rnolecules have begun to dissociate. 



By a new method, which combines low pressures and low 

 temperatures, Dr. Bleier showed that, though it was impossible 

 to reach a combination of pressure and temperature at which no 

 dissociation of the sulphur molecule had taken place, yet at 214° 

 and at a pressure of 4 m.m. the density of the vapour was 7-88, 

 which corresponds to a molecule containing 7| atoms; it may 

 therefore be reasonably concluded that the molecule of undis- 

 sociated sulphur vapour may be represented by Sg, and not by 

 P6> as given in the text-books. 



^ '^^ German expressions Praseodym and Neodym are less 



Papers were also read by Dr. Staudenmeier on graphitic acid, 

 and by Prof. S. Ruhemann on the acetylene carboxylic acids. 



Dr. Nietzkigave the results of investigations undertaken with 

 his pupils on isopurpuric acid, and detailed the grounds on 

 which he assigned to the potassium salt of this acid the 

 formula : 



OK 



k 



NO. 1568, VOL. 61] 



NH^r 

 cnI 



JcN 



NO2 



Dr. Dulden gave an account of certain researches in the 

 camphor series. Starting with borneol, he obtained amido- 

 borneol, and converted this body by means of phosphorus 

 pentachloride into a substance which, with potash, split off 

 hydrochloric acid to yield camphenamine : 



/CH2 

 CsH, 4< I 



^CHOH 



Borneol. 



CsH, 



C»H, 



.CHNH2 

 CHCl 



/CHNH2 



I 

 ^CHOH 



C8H,4'; 



.CNH2 



^CH 



Camphenamine. 



This body shows a considerable analogy with vinylamine, 

 and is a tautomeric compound 



■ Enol " form 



C»H, 



Ketol" form ... C8Hi4< 



^C— NH2 



II 

 -CH 

 .C = NH 



I 



XcHo 



The investigator hopes to convert this base into an isomer of 

 camphor by replacing the NHj group byhydroxyl ; experiments 

 in this direction have led to the isolation of a su bstance which 

 appears to possess the formula : 



/C(OH) . 

 . CH2/ I \CH 



I C(CH3)2 II 



CHov I /CH 



\C(CH3)/ 



Dr. Brauns (Giessen), in a paper on the different modifications 

 of sulphur, described no less than seven distinct varieties. A 

 paper of considerable interest to English chemists described the 

 researches on colloid metals, conducted by Prof. E. von Meyer 

 and Dr. Lattermann, the first example of a metal in this con- 

 dition having been discovered by Carey Lea. 



Mercury, bismuth, copper and silver were obtained in a colloidal 

 condition by reduction of dilute solutions of their salts by means 

 of sub-salts of tin, and subsequent precipitation of the colloid 

 metals by ammonium citrate. Such solutions contained invari- 

 ably stannic acid in a colloidal condition, and it seems probable 

 that mercury, copper and bismuth can only exist in this state 

 when combined with stannic acid. Colloidal silver when treated 

 with a halogen yields a colloidal solution of the silver halide ; 

 true colloids, such as gelatine, increasegreatly the stability of the 

 above solutions, which, on the other hand, are immediately pre- 

 cipitated by electrolytes. 



The papers in this section were given in the original lecture 

 theatre which Liebig built and which bears his name, and 

 attracted an audience of 100 to 120 daily ; at the British 

 Association the morning devoted to organic chemistry did not 

 attract a tenth of this number. The papers began at 9 a.m. and 

 continued, with a pause of fifteen minutes, up to nearly i p.m. ; 

 the section resumed at 3 p.m. and sat again till 5.30 p.m. ; two 

 and a half days were occupied by the sessions of this section. 



Among the chemists attending the meeting were von Baeyer, 

 van 't Hoff, E. Fischer, Curtius, Kahlbaum, Bernsthen, Ramsay, 

 W. H. Perkin, jun. , R. Meyer, H. Stobbe, Bamberger, Brauner 

 (Prague), Hantzsch, Lieben, Einhorn, Ostwald, Werner, J. and 

 W. Wislicenus, Soxhlet, Staudenmeier. 



