CHEMISTRY. 



Ill 



science. The best way to obtain a name was 

 as the result of experiment, and then there 

 could be no ambiguity. Names intended to 

 indicate molecular constitution had better be 

 avoided, because investigations in this direc- 

 tion had not arrived at finality. The chemists 

 of fifty years ago were as confident as the 

 chemists of the present day in the matter of 

 nomenclature; and therefore the more they 

 could obtain names without ambiguity and 

 without liability to change in the future, the 

 more probable was it that such names would 

 stand and continue to be used. 



New Substances. Jannay, working under the 

 direction of Von Meyer, has produced, by the 

 action of hydroxylamine upon various ketones, 

 a new class of organic bodies which he calls 

 acetoxims. The term acetoxim is applied to 

 a body containing the group ONOH= com- 

 bined on both sides with carbon. If hydrogen 

 saturates on one side, a body is formed to which 

 Jannay gives the name aldoxim. The simplest 

 acetoxirn is dimethyl-acetoxim, CH 3 CNOH 

 CI:Is,or acetoxim proper, analogous to dimethyl- 

 ketone or acetone, and is produced by the action 

 of hydroxylamine upon acetone in the cold in 

 aqueous solution. It is easily soluble in water, 

 alcohol, and ether, fuses at 59 to 60, and 

 boils at 134-8. Petraczek has studied the 

 aldoxirns in the same laboratory, and describes 

 ethyl-aldoxim C 9 H,NO, or CH 3 -CNOH-H, 

 and others. They are formed by the action 

 of hydroxylamine upon the respective alde- 

 hydes. 



Von Lippmann has examined the incrusta- 

 tions formed upon the pans in which beet-juice 

 is evaporated. Besides finding in them citric, 

 aconitic, tricarballylic, and malonic acids, he 

 has isolated a new acid, which was obtained 

 by fractional solution in ether and evaporation. 

 The resulting sirup, after standing two years, 

 became a mass of needle-shaped crystals soluble 

 in water, alcohol, and ether, and having the 

 formula C 8 H 8 O 8 . The acid is tribasic, and 

 appears to be identical with the oxycitric acid 

 described by Pawolleck as obtained from chlor- 

 citric acid. 



Divers and Shimos6 have obtained a new 

 oxide of tellurium by heating in a vacuum the 

 compound of sulphur trioxide and tellurium 

 until it decomposes. It is a solid body which, 

 on heating, decomposes into tellurium dioxide 

 and free tellurium, and appears to have neither 

 acid nor basic properties. It is stable in ordi- 

 nary dry air, is black with a brown shade, has 

 a graphitic luster when pressed, is represented 

 by the formula TeO, or a multiple of it, is de- 

 composed by potassium hydrate on boiling, and 

 by hydrochloric and sulphuric acids in the cold, 

 is oxidized readily by nitric acid, and colors 

 sulphuric acid red as it dissolves it, the solution 

 giving a deposit of tellurous sulphate. The 

 same chemists have also obtained, by the action 

 of sulphur trioxide on tellurium, tellurium stil- 

 phoxide, as an amorphous solid, of a beautiful 

 red color, transparent in thin layers, which 



softens at about 30 without melting, and is 

 quite stable when kept in close tubes. Its com- 

 position is represented by the formula SOsTe, 

 and it is decomposed by water into tellurium, 

 tellurium monoxide, tellurous acid, sulphurous 

 and sulphuric acid. It appears to exist in two 

 modifications, as the red variety is at 90 con- 

 verted instantaneously into a brown substance 

 of identically the same composition. 



Victor Meyer was led by certain observa- 

 tions to the conclusion that some difference 

 existed between the benzene obtained from 

 coal-tar and that from benzoic acid. He con- 

 tinued his experiments, and succeeded in isolat- 

 ing from coal-tar benzene a peculiar substance 

 containing sulphur, which he calls thiophene. 

 It is a light, limpid, very mobile oil, with a 

 slight odor suggesting that of benzene. It does 

 not solidify in a mixture of ice and salt. It 

 dissolves in concentrated sulphuric acid, giving 

 a deep-brown solution. Its derivatives under 

 the action of various reagents resemble the 

 corresponding derivatives of benzene, and their 

 constitution is similar, except that they are de- 

 rived from a mother-substance containing sul- 

 phur. It is stable toward alkalies and even 

 toward the alkali metals. All commercial ben- 

 zene contains thiophene. 



Dr. Albert R. Leeds has formed from the 

 union of oenanthol with the aromatic bases 

 the oils of closely related physical properties, 

 cenantholaniline, a reddish mobile oil of pleas- 

 ant ethereal smell, cenantholxylidine and cenan- 

 tholnaphthylamine. The ethereal smell of the 

 latter oil is very pronounced and agreeable, and 

 resembles the odor of pineapple. The process- 

 es of the formation of these substances are ac- 

 companied by great energy and a remarkable 

 elevation of temperature. . The compounds are 

 permanent, and can be sublimed with only 

 partial decomposition. By the sublimation of 

 xylidinacrolein was obtained an oil with an 

 unpleasant smell and very bitter taste, which 

 forms crystalline salts with sulphuric, hydro- 

 chloric, and other acids. From the hydro- 

 chloric salt was obtained an oil of reddish 

 color and unpleasant smell, having the compo- 

 sition of cryptidine. This is the first attempt 

 to isolate this member of the pyridine series, 

 only its salts having been obtained before, and 

 it is of further interest as being accomplished 

 by a process of synthesis. 



New Processes. Dr. A. R. Leeds has described 

 an actinic method for the determination of 

 organic matter in potable water, which he 

 considers more accurate than any of the other 

 methods in common use. It depends upon 

 the fact that compounds of silver are not de- 

 composed by light when they are in solution 

 in water, unless organic matter is present in 

 the water also ; and upon the other fact that 

 stable organic bodies, like sugar, starch, gum, 

 etc., have very little influence, while decompos- 

 ing substances precipitate the silver very rap- 

 idly. The amount of silver thrown down can 

 be readily weighed, and the relative amounts of 



