March 5, 1903] 



NA TURE 



425 



greater part of the constellation Orion, and of which the 

 brightest part corresponds, in position, with Herschel's 

 region No. 27. Of this region Dr. Roberts remarked 

 " skv clear, stars very few in number, large areas void of 

 stars, no nebulosity," yet the photograph shows a distinct 

 nebulosity in this region, and photographs obtained by two 

 independent observers, with three different photographic 

 telescopes, on several different occasions, confirm Herschel's 

 observations. 



Both Dr. Roberts's results and Prof. Barnard's comments 

 thereon appear in No. 1, vol. xvii. of the Astrophysical 

 Journal. 



A New Star Catalogue. — Volume viii. of the Annalen 

 of the Leyden Observatory, edited by Dr. H. G. van de 

 Sande Bakhuyzen, is a new catalogue of 10,239 stars 

 situated in the zone 29° 50' to 35° 10' north latitude, and 

 having magnitudes of g's or brighter. 



The observations have been made and reduced at Leyden, 

 in accordance with the programme of the Astronomischen 

 Gesellschaft, during the years 1870-1876 and 1880-189S, by 

 Messrs. W. Yalentiner, E. F. van de Sande Bakhuyzen, 

 E. Becker, J. H. Wilterdink and H. G. van de Sande 

 Bakhuyzen, and the observations of the former period have 

 been already published in vols. iv. and v. of the Annalen. 



The catalogue gives the position for 1875, the magnitude, 

 the precessional and secular variation in each coordinate, 

 the epoch and the B.D. number (where there is one) for 

 each star, and, in additional tables, these positions are com- 

 pared with those given in the Bessel, Argelander, Struve 

 and other' catalogues for the same objects. 



A 



RECENT SCIENCE IN AUSTRIA. 

 Chemistry. 

 PERUSAL of the Sitzungsberichte of the Vienna Academy 

 of Sciences indicates that a great deal of valuable chemical 

 research work is being carried out by Austrian investigators. 

 In the concluding section of vol. ex., J. Klimont gives an 

 account of experiments on the composition of oleum cacao 

 which indicate that this substance can no longer be regarded as 

 a mixture of tristearin, tripalmitin and triolein, but that it is 

 essentially a mixed glyceride containing the radicles of these 

 three acids united to one and the same glycerin radicle. Other 

 mixed glycerides containing oleic acid and fatty acids of smaller 

 molecular weight are also present in the fat. 



The action of acetylene as kathudic depolarising agent in the 

 electrolysis of acid and alkaline solutions has been investigated 

 by Dr. Billitzer, who finds that this substance readily acts as 

 depolariser with a kathode of platinum, and that the products of 

 its action are ethylene and ethane. Within certain limits of 

 potential, it is possible to obtain a quantitative yield of ethylene. 

 If the potential is gradually increased, mixtures of ethylene 

 and ethane are produced at the kathode, and later hydrogen 

 also makes its appearance. In sulphuric acid solution and with 

 a mercury kathode, small quantities of alcohol are also formed 

 from the acetylene. 



The nature of that physiologically most important substance, 

 chitin, has been further investigated by Drs. Frankel and Kelly. 

 The view advanced by Schmiedeberg that chitin is an o-acetyl- 

 acetoacetic acid compound of chitosamine of the formula 

 Ci 8 H.j N 2 Oj 2 can no longer be regarded as correct in the light 

 of this more recent work. This conception of the nature of 

 chitin was largely based on the production of chitosamine and 

 acetic acid by boiling with strong hydrochloric acid, but the 

 authors' experiments indicate that its constitution cannot 

 possibly be of such a simple character. 



In vol. cxi. , Dr. von Cordier describes a peculiar reaction 

 exhibited by iron and steel. If iron containing carbon and 

 nitrogen is treated with dilute acid and excess of ammonia added 

 to the solution, a distinct odour of carbamine is observable. 

 The author's experiments indicate that the reaction is only 

 obtained if both these elements are contained in the same sample 

 of iron. A mixture of two samples, one containing carbon but 

 no nitrogen, the other nitrogen but no carbon, does not evolve 

 any isonitrile. Investigation of the small quantity of gas given 

 off shows that it is ethylcatbamine. 



In a series of papers, Prof. Wegscheider discusses the ques- 

 tion of the influence of constitution on the affinity constants of 

 organic acids and gives the results of his experiments on the 



NO. 1740, VOL. 67] 



partial esterificaiion of unsymmetrical di- and poly-basic acids. 

 Special attention is devoted to the alteration produced in the 

 affinity constant by the substitution of hydrogen by ester groups 

 such as SO s CH3, CG 2 CH„ COX„H and by the carboxyl 

 group. A considerable addition to our knowledge of this 

 subject results from these investigations. The data obtained 

 are utilised by the author to determine the configuration of the 

 ester acids obtained by partial esterification of unsymmetrical 

 polybasic acids. 



Two other papers by Dr. Billitzer treat of the acid character 

 of acetylene and the formation of carbon ions in aqueous solu- 

 tion. In the first of these, the solubility of acetylene in solutions 

 of the alkalis has been studied. By suitable elimination ol the 

 physical action of the dissolved bases, it is shown that acetylene 

 undoubtedly forms salts in the alkaline solutions and that it 

 must be regarded as a very weak acid, its dissociation being 

 about i/4000th of that of carbonic acid. In the second paper, 

 the presence of carbon ions in solutions of silver and copper 

 acetylides is shown by electromotive measurements, and by 

 electrolysis of these solutions under suitable conditions a small 

 deposit of carbon has been obtained on the anode. By two 

 independent methods, the electrolytic dissociation of acetylene 

 has thus been demonstrated. 



Physics. 



In mathematics, attention should be directed to F. Mertenz's 

 proof of Galois' fundamental theorem of the groups of an 

 equation the coefficients of which belong to a given range of 

 rationality. A construction for the six normals from any point 

 to a conicoid, based on the methods of synthetic geometry 

 alone, is given by Prof. August Adler. 



In theoretical physics, perhaps the most extended mathe- 

 matical investigations are those by Dr. Josef Griinwald dealing 

 with the propagation of waves in uniaxal crystals when the 

 initial disturbances are given. Dr. Grtinwald finds for the 

 vector potential a series of waves partly "ordinary," partly 

 " extraordinary " and partly " intermediate " in character. A 

 formula is discussed by G. jaumann for the heat generated in 

 the motion of a viscous liquid. The expression involves 

 volume integrals of the squares of the curl, and divergence and 

 a surface integral ; in the case of an incompressible liquid, this 

 result agrees with the known formula: in which the oniy volume 

 integral is tint involving the square of the curl. The difficult 

 subject of astronomical aberration and its relation to the elher 

 is discussed by Dr. Egon v. Oppolzer, and in molecular physics. 

 Prof. O. Tumlirz's paper on the "cohesion pressure " term, in 

 Van der Waals's equation, H. Mache's discussion of the relative 

 magnitudes of molecules in a liquid and its vapour, and 

 Dr. G. Jager's investigation of the law of partition of energy 

 between the liquid and the vapour may be noticed. 



In spectroscopy, Dr. Edward Haschek has been working at the 

 relation between wave-length and quantitative composition, and 

 while the conclusions are on the whole remarkably consistent, it 

 appears that at present the method is unsuited generally lor 

 laboratory analysis. In collaboration with Prof. Exner, Dr. 

 Haschek has drawn up a list of the spectral lines of europium, 

 including 1 193 spark and 527 arc lines. The element europium 

 has also had its magnetic properties compared with gadolinium 

 and samarium by Dr. Stefan Meyer, the preparations of Eu.,0 3 

 having been obtained from Demarcay. 



The diathermanosity of water and certain solutions forms the 

 subject of a paper by Otto Dechant, who finds that as the 

 temperature increases the transparency for heat decreases ac- 

 cording to a formula approximately linear. Alum solution is 

 only 2 per cent, less diathermanous than water, but cobalt 

 chloride is belter, and its coefficient decreases more rapidly after 

 50 than between n "and 50". 



That the freezing points of aqueous solutions are lowered by 

 pressure to a greater extent than that of water is the conclusion 

 of A. Lam pa. 



In terrestrial physics, a long series of tables relating to 

 rainfall and inter alia its supposed connection with sun-spots is 

 drawn up by J. Hann, and Prof. B. W. Stankewitsch describes 

 magnetic measurements made with a " magnetic theodolite" in 

 Pamir during his travels in 1900. 



The series of papers on atmospheric electricity includes a 

 comparison of brush electrodes and flame electrodes by Dr. 

 Victor Conrad and a description of a self-registering atmo- 

 spheric electrometer by Dr. Hans Bensdorf. 



Electric discharges form the subject of papers by J. Nahl, in 



