12 



NA TURE 



[January i, 1903 



ift fitr Elektrochemie, however, this method of heating glass 

 furnaces has not only been the subject of practical experiments in 

 Germany, but two glass works are now in operation, working 

 upon this principle. Two Cologne engineers, MM. Becker 

 and Yolker, are the patentees of the more valuable and practical 

 electric furnaces of this type, and after numerous laboratory 

 experiments they have been able to achieve the realisation of 

 their ideas upon an industrial scale. The first " Electric Glass 

 Factory" was built at Plettenberg on the Lenne, where a power 

 station of 2000 E. II. P. was available for the supply of the 

 requisite electric energy. The results first obtained here were not 

 very satisfactory from the economic point of view, but improve- 

 ments were introduced in the process which are considered to 

 render it a commercial success, where cheap power is available. 

 A new company has therefore been floated, the " Aktiengesell- 

 schaft f. Elektrokeramic," and a second electric glass works 

 has been built at Deutsch-Matrei, where electric power can be 

 obtained at a cost of 5 pfg. per E.H.P. hpur at the terminals of 

 the furnaces. This works was to commence manufacturing 

 operations in the summer of this year, and further details of the 

 results obtained will be awaited with interest. 



Messrs. Foerster and Miiller, who have devoted much 

 time to the elucidation of the chemistry of the electrolytic 

 chlorate cell, contribute to the Zcitschrift f. Elektrochanic 

 of August 28 and September 4 detsils of an extended labora- 

 tory investigation relating to the changes which occur when 

 hypochlorite solutions are electrolysed under various conditions. 

 Sodium hydrate, sodium hypochlorite and sodium chloride 

 solutions were used as electrolytes in their experiments, and the 

 results show that chlorate was formed at the anode both by 

 primary and secondary reactions under the conditions obtaining 

 during their tests. The primary formation of chlorate is re- 

 presented by the following equation : — 



CIO' + 20 = cio 3 . 



This reaction, however, demands the presence of CIO' ions 

 with anodic free oxygen and an E.M.F. at the anode above 

 ri volts. It occurs under normal conditions only to a slight 

 extent. Secondary chlorate formation occurs at the anode, not 

 only in solutions containing free hypochlorous acid, but also in 

 neutral and alkaline solutions, and may be represented by the 

 following equation : — 



6C10 + 3H.,0 = 2HC10 3 + 4IICI + 31 ». 



The formation of chlorate by this secondary reaction is, how- 

 ever, most active when the conditions admit of the existence 

 of free hypochlorous acid in the electrolyte, i.e. when the 

 electrolyte is maintained in an acid condition during the 

 electrolysis. In this connection, it is interesting to note that 

 a recent French patent in the name of Lederlin, relates to an 

 improvement in the usual electrolytic chlorate procedure, the 

 improvement being the continuous addition of dilute hydrochloric 

 acid to the electrolyte in the cell. 



The use of ozonised air for the purification of drinking water 

 is again attracting considerable attention. Some years ago, 

 experimental trials were carried out at Paris and other places 

 with processes of this character, but the trials appear to have 

 been unsuccessful (probably on economic grounds), and for two 

 or three years little has been heard of ozone in connection with 

 the water supply of large towns. During the present year, the 

 East London Water Company has, however, been carrying out 

 trials at Lea Bridge with an ozone process of purification, and 

 according to one of our electrical contemporaries, these trials have 

 been fairly successful. Prof, van 't Hoff also gave details at this 

 year's meeting of the German Electrochemical Society of experi- 

 mental trials recently made with the Vosmaer-Lebret process in 

 Holland, and his paper is fully reported in a recent issue of the 

 Zcitschrift f. Elektrochemic. I he Vosmaer-Lebret form of 

 ozoniser differs from most of those previously invented in the 

 absence of glass as a dielectric. The silent discharges which pro- 

 duce the ozone in the air passing through the apparatus take place 

 between the walls of the metallic tubes which form, its essential 

 feature. An E.M.F. of 10,000 volts with one pole earthed is 

 used, and no artificial cooling is employed. The chemical 

 and bacteriological examination of the water before and after 

 treatment with the ozonised air showed that the reduction in 

 organic matter and in the number of colonies was equal to the 

 best yet obtained by any other process, and Prof, van 't Hoft 

 is of opinion that the Vosmaer-Lebret process may solve the 

 problem of a pure-water supply for large towns and cities. 



NO. 1731, VOL. 67] 



Experimental trials of the process are shortly to be carried out 

 in Rotterdam, in connection with the town water-works. 



The electrolytic separation of antimony from polysulphide 

 solutions of sodium and the metal is a difficult operation, for, 

 owing to the separation of sulphur at the anode and its re-solu- 

 tion in the electrolyte, the metal deposited at the kathode has 

 a strong tendency to enter again into solution. Izart and 

 Thomas have recently been investigating this phenomenon, and 

 have found that the difficulty can be overcome by using a 

 diaphragm type of cell. Some details of their experiments are 

 given in the Zeits. f. Elektrochemic of September II. The 

 solution of polysulphide is placed in the kathode compartment, 

 and a solution of sodium hydrate is used in the anode 

 compartment of the cell. The conductivity of the electrolyte 

 can be increased by the addition of ammonium salts. On pass- 

 ing an electric current through such a cell, sulphur separates at 

 the anode, but dissolves in the sodium hydrate solution with 

 liberation of oxygen. At the kathode, antimony is deposited, 

 and there would appear to be no limit to the thickness of the 

 deposit which can be obtained under these conditions. The 

 process is about to be trieil upon an industrial scale at Cassagnac, 

 in France, and the results obtained will be awaited with 

 interest. Up to the present time, the only electrolytic process 

 for the separation of antimony which has been worked upon a 

 large scale is that of Siemens and Halske, but no details of 

 the plant at Banya, in Hungary, have been published, and it is 

 possible that the results have been less satisfactory than the 

 patentees hoped. 



T I 



A NEW JOURNAL FOR GENERAL 

 PHYSIOLOGY} 

 HE multiplication of journals devoted to particular aspects 

 of the various branches of a science, although indicating 

 the vigorous growth of the last decade, is not without its dis- 

 advantages ; it tends to accentuate those subdivisions of the 

 subject which specialisation must of necessity bring about. In 

 this respect it is refreshing to realise that the particular 

 periodical now under review aims rather at the consolidation 

 than at the further separation of the different aspects of physio- 

 logical knowledge. In this and in other respects it is a new 

 departure and as such merits special recognition. This will be 

 apparent to anyone who reads the excellent introduction with 

 which the editor, Prof. Verworn, has prefaced the first number 

 of the new venture and which, apart from its delightful literary 

 style, is well worth perusal since it is more comprehensive than 

 the majority of such utterances ; it forms, indeed, in itself a 

 noteworthy and suggestive contribution to contemporary 

 physiological literature. Of the many different points which 

 are dealt with in this editorial, only those can be referred to here 

 which have a direct bearing upon the scope and conduct of the 

 Zeitschrift fur allgemeine Physiologic, The phrase " General 

 Physiology" has been made familiar through Prof. Verworn's 

 masterly treatise upon the subject, but as this very treatise 

 appears to have given rise to some misconceptions as to the mean- 

 ing of the terms, the editor now defines the position with more 

 precision. General physiology is regarded by Prof. Verworn to be 

 the science which deals with the objective phenomena of living 

 things in so far as they are common to all or to large groups ot 

 organisms. It is noteworthy that the qualification indicated by 

 the word " objective " has been introduced ; the reason for this 

 introduction appears to be the desire of the editor to make it 

 clear that in his opinion physical and chemical changes are the 

 only data which can be properly considered to constitute the 

 subject-matter of physiology. His affirmation of this view is 

 particularly salutary at the present time owing to the confusion 

 which exists as to the relation of physiology to psychology, 

 and the modern tendency to blur our sharpness of view in 

 regard to the former subject by reviving the vitalistic views of 

 the past. Prof. Verworn regards with disfavour the intrusion 

 of such idealistic conceptions as have been made familiar by 

 the exponents of " neovitalism," and accordingly he limits the 

 subject-matter of general physiology. He also advocates a 

 more exact phraseology in connection with physiological pro- 

 cesses which have been hitherto described by a terminology 

 belonging to psychology. The use of such terms is undoubtedly 



1 Zeitschiift f&r allgetneiHt Physiologic. Herausgegeben von Dr. Max 

 Verworn. Erster Band, Erstes Heft. Pp. 128 + 28. (Jena : Gustav 

 Fischer, 1902.) Preis Mk. 24. 



