A or. i 



1884] 



NA TURE 



47 



found in a head-stream of the Red River, Wichita County, 

 Texas, by J. W. Mallet. The analysis yielded iron over 90 per 

 cent., nickel over 8, a little cobalt, tin, phosphorus, copper, 

 sulphur, graphitic carbon, silica, and a trace of manganese. — 

 The life and work of Jean-Baptiste-Andre Durnas, by J. P. 

 Cooke. — Account of a new meteorite discovered in Grand 

 Rapids Michigan, on May 15, 1S83, by J. R. Eastman. The 

 analysis of the fragment now in the Smithsonian Institute 

 yielded : iron 94'543, nickel 3-815, cobalt 0-369, insoluble 

 residue o*i 18. 



Rhiista Scientifico- Industrials, September 15-30. — Origin of 

 atmospheric electricity, of thunder-clouds and volcanic eruptions, 

 by Giovanni Luvini. — Description of an automatic and con- 

 tinuous registrator of electric energy transmitted at a given part 

 of a circuit, by Prof. Rinaldo Ferrini. — On the electric conducti- 

 vity of greatly diluted saline solutions, by Dr. Giuseppe Vicen- 

 tini. — On a system of electro-chronometric bells adapted to 

 private residences, by Giuseppe Bianchedi. — Note on the 

 Walker railway-carriage break, by Angiolo Villa. — On a new 

 system of simultaneous telegraphy and telephony, by M. Van 

 Rysselberghe. — Descriptive notes on the fauna of Sardinia, by 

 Prof. A. Costa. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 

 Chemical Society, November 6. — Dr. Perkin, F.R.S., 

 President, in the chair. — It was announced that a ballot for the 

 election of Fellows would take place at the next meeting of the 

 Society (November 20). — The following papers were read: — 

 On the action of aldehydes and ammonia upon benzil (continued), 

 by F. K. Japp and S. C. Hooker. In previous papers two 

 general reactions have been studied relating to the joint action 

 of aldehydes and ammonia upon similar bodies ; in addition, a 

 third totally distinct reaction occurs, which is investigated in the 



aper. The authors have studied the action of salicyl- 

 aldehyde and ammonia upon benzil. A condensation-product, 

 C.Il .,,N.,( *_,, was obtained, which proved to be dibenzoyldi- 

 hydroxystilbenediamine. By the action of dilute hydrochloric 

 acid, the hydrochloride of a new base, C ]4 H in N„0„, was formed; 

 its platinum salt, picrate, sulphate, diacetyl derivative, &c, were 

 prepared and examined. The authors have also studied the 

 action of furfuraldehyde and ammonia upon benzil. — Isomeric 

 modifications of sodium sulphate, by S. U. Pickering. The 

 author has determined the heat of dissolution of effloresced 

 sodium sulphate heated to various temperatures. He concludes 

 that there are two modifications : one formed by not heating 

 above 150°, the other being produced at temperatures from 150 

 to the fusing-point of the salt. — On some vanadates of the 

 amine-, by G. H. Bailey. The author has prepared and studied 

 a considerable number of these bodies, and has compared them 

 with the corresponding vanadates of the alkalies — Contributions 

 to our knowledge of acetoacetic ether, part 1, by J. W. James. 

 In ii' sium hydrosulphide solution and its use in chemico- 



legal case-; as a source of hydrogen sulphide, by E. Divers and 

 T. Shimidzu. The authors prepare this solution by passing 

 ordinary hydrogen sulphide into a flask containing magnesia 

 suspended in water. By heating the solution to 60°, a steady 

 stream of hydrogen sulphide free from hydrogen and from 

 hydrogen arsenide is obtained. — On the origin of calcium thio- 

 sulphate : an emendatory note to a paper on calcium hydro- 

 sulphide, by E. Divers. The author concludes that there is 

 essentially only one method of forming the thiosulphate, i.e. 

 by the union of sulphur with calcium sulphite. 



Physical Society, November 8. — Prof. Ayrton in the chair. 

 — Mr. Kavargee was elected a member of the Society. — Prof. 

 F. Guthrie read a paper on certain phenomena attending mix- 

 ture. In a previous paper Dr. Guthrie had noticed the increase 

 of volume attending the separation of triethylamine and water 

 effected by heat. The present paper is an account of a more 

 thorough examination of this and allied phenomena. Experi- 

 ments conducted with a number of different liquids showed that 

 mixtures can lie arranged in two distinct classes. Of the first a 

 mixture of water and ether is an example : when shaken up 

 together they mix, heat is evolved^ and a diminution of bulk 

 takes place. If any excess of ether present is poured off, and 

 the lower clear liquid heated in a sealed tube, it becomes turbid 

 owing to the separation of the ether. This is accompanied by 

 an increase of bulk and absorption of heat. Triethylamine and 



water and diethylamine and water are mixtures belonging to this 

 class ; the temperature of separation is a function of the ratio in 

 which the two liquids are present. A typical case of the second 

 class is a mixture of alcohol and bisulphide of carbon. These 

 mix with one another in all proportions above 0° C. with increas 

 of bulk and absorption of heat. Upon being cooled to aboul 

 - 17° C. they separate. The separation of a mixture of ether 

 and water and of a mixture of alcohol and the bisulphide was 

 shown. In these cases the action is regarded as a chemical one, 

 and generally an excess of one liquid or the other is present. To 

 determine the combining proportions two methods were used. 

 In the first a number of mixtures of the same two liquids in 

 different proprtions were taken, and the rise or fall of tempera- 

 ture produced by their mixture measured. When this was a 

 maximum, there might be assumed to be no "dead matter" 

 present. In the second method, which is more delicate, but 

 more laborious, and which was used when the approximate com- 

 bining proportion had been found by the first, the change oi 

 volume produced by mixture was noted ; wdien this increment is 

 a maximum, the liquids are present in their combining propor- 

 tion. These experiments gave very concordant and definite 

 results : for example, the molecular compound of ether and car- 

 bonic sulphide is represented by the formula CjHjuO^CS.,, 

 and that of chloroform and carbonic sulphide by CHC1 3 ,CS.~. 

 A striking confirmation of this view is afforded by the behaviour 

 of the vapour-tension of a mixture. The temperature being 

 constant, if the vapour-tension is plotted with the percentages 

 of the more volatile liquid as abscissae, the curve is, for a mix- 

 ture of two liquids which have no chemical action upon one 

 another, as the iodide and bromide of ethyl, a straight line. For 

 ordinary mixtures, however, this is not the case. A curve is 

 obtained in which there is observable at a certain point an 

 irregularity. The corresponding abscissa indicates the mole 

 cular combination found by the previous experiments. — Dr. 

 C. R. Alder Wright read a paper by himself and Mr. C. 

 Thompson, on voltaic and thermo-voltaic constants. In a 

 former paper the authors had stated that in a cell set up with 

 two metals immersed in pure solutions of their corresponding 

 salts, a given increment in the strength of the solution surround- 

 ing the metal acquiring the higher potential causes an increment 

 (a) in the E.M.F. set up (e), while an increment in the strength 

 of the other solution causes a decrement (/>) in the E.M.F. 

 This law is now substantiated ; it is, however, found that for 

 dilute acids, instead of metallic salts, (b) may be negative. The 

 authors also find that it is possible to represent the E.M.F. of a 

 cell by the difference of two quantities which they term the voltaic 

 constants. These are quantities, one relating to each plate and its 

 surrounding liquid. The voltaic constant of a metal and a liquid 

 is a function of the nature of the metal surface, the strength of 

 the solution, and the temperature, but is independent of the 

 opposed plate and its liquid ; it is practically defined as the 

 E.M.F. set up when opposed to a zinc plate in a solution of the 

 corresponding salt of the same molecular strength. The authors 

 further conclude that the E.M.F. of a given combination usually 

 stands in no simple relationship to the chemical action taking place 

 in the cell, but that it may be expressed by the sum of the 

 mechanical equivalent of the chemical action per electro-chemi- 

 cal equivalent, and the difference of two quantities, one being 

 related to each metal and its surrounding liquid, and being con- 

 stant for that metal and liquid termed thermo-voltaic constants. 

 This thermo-voltaic action may act with or against the chemical 

 action in producing E.M.F. In some cases, as in that of a cell 

 composed of iron in ferrous sulphate and cadmium in cadmic 

 sulphate solutions, the E.M.F. is against and greater than that 

 produced by chemical action ; consequently the cell works back- 

 wards with absorption of heat. At the close of the paper Prof. 

 Ayrton and Dr. Guthrie remarked upon the apparent exception 

 here shown to the second law of thermodynamics. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, November 3. — M. Rolland, Presi 

 dent, in the chair. — Observations of the new planet 244 made 

 on October 22 to 24 with the equatorial coudi, with remarks on 

 the efficiency of this instrument, by M. Lcewy. The author 

 gives a full account of the performance of this equatorial, which 

 has now been installed in the Paris Observatory for the last two 

 years. His opinion of its excellent qualities is supported by 

 the testimony of Dr. Gill and Mr. Norman Lockyer, the latter 

 of whom pronounces it one of the instruments of the future. — A 

 first study on the parallax of the sun, by M. Bouquet de la 



