November 14, 1907] 



NATURE 



47 



Chemical Society, October 24.— Sir Willi im Ramsay, 

 K.C.B., F.R.S., president, in the chair. — The constitution 

 of phun'ol- and quinol-phthalein salts : a contribution to the 

 quinonoid theory of colour : A. G. Green and P. E. 

 King'. The authors have succeeded in preparing the 

 coloured carboxylic esters of the phthaleins and of their 

 mono- and di-methyl esters. These esters are orange to 

 red, are extremely unstable, being readily saponified, not 

 only by weak acids or alkalis, but even by water. The 

 facts observed disclose an exact parallelism between the 

 esters and salts of these phthaleins and those of fluorescein, 

 and place the quinonoid structure of these substances 

 almost beyond question. — Keten : N. T. M. Wilsmore. 

 The gaseous substance keten, produced by the action of 

 a hot" platinum wire on acetic anhydride, which was dis- 

 covered by Dr. A. W. Stewart and the author {Nature, 

 1907, vol. Ix.xv., p. 510), has been further examined. It 

 has the formula C^H^Oj, and reacts with primary amines 

 to form the corresponding acetyl derivatives. — Derivatives 

 of the multiple keten group : J. N. Collie. The group 

 — CH,.CO — (which the author proposes to call the 

 ■" keten " group) can be made to yield by the simplest 

 reactions a very large number of compounds of types 

 largelv obtained from plants. Illustrations of this were 

 given from the various published papers of the author. — 

 Production of orcinol compounds by the action of heat 

 on the sodium salt of ethyl acetoacetate : J. N. Collie and 

 E. R. Chrystall. — .\ simple gas generator for analytical 

 operations : J. McC. Sanders. A simple constant supply 

 apparatus for hydrogen sulphide was described which is 

 suitable for use in schools and in commercial laboratories. 

 — .Some double ferrocyanides of calcium, potassium, and 

 ammonium : J. C. Brown. Inter alia, the conditions for 

 the use of ammonium chloride and potassium ferrocyanide 

 as a qualitative test for calcium were given. — Determin- 

 ation of halogen in organic substances : J. Moir. The 

 new method described last vear by the author has been 

 improved by adopting the \'olhard method of back-titration 

 with standard . thiocyanate. — Racemisation by alkali as 

 applied to the resolution of r-mandelic acid into its optically 

 active isomerides : A. McKenzie and H. A. Muller. 

 X'arious methods of effecting the changes (i) r-mandelic 

 acid — -r-niaDdelic acid and !-mandelic acid, and (2) 

 r-mandelic acid — -r-mandelic acid and d-mandelic acid were 

 indicated. — The optical activity of cyclic ammonium com- 

 pounds : F. Buckney and II. O. Jones. Out of four- 

 teen compounds of this type examined, only one — allyl- 

 kairolinium-d-bromocamphorsulphonate — gave conclusive 



evidence of the existence of optical activity. — The action 

 of phosphorus pentachloride on hydroxytrimethylsuccinic 

 ester. i : 2-Dimethyli-yi/iipropane-i : 2-dicarbo.xylic acid 

 (i : 2-dimethyltrimethylenp-i : 2-dicarboxylic acid): H. 

 Henstock and Miss B. E. Woolley. — The condensation of 

 acetaldehyde and its relation to the biochemical synthesis 

 of fattv acids : H. S. Raper. It has been suggested that 

 the formation of fatty acids in animals depends, firstly, on 

 the breakdown of the carbohydrate to acetaldehyde, and, 

 secondlv, on the condensation of this with the formation 

 of the higher fatty acids. This hypothesis is confirmed 

 in part, since it has been found that /3-hydroxybutyralde- 

 tivde, the first product of the condensation of acetalde- 

 hvde, on further condensation yields an aldehyde containing 

 eight carbon atoms united in a straight chain. — The in- 

 fluence of solvents on the rotation of optically active com- 

 pounds, part X., effect of the configuration and degree of 

 saturation of the solvent : T. S. Patterson, A. Hender- 

 son, and F. W. Fairlie. — />iifiiToluidine monohydrate : 

 J. Walker, and H. H. Beveridgre. — Hydrates of some 

 quaternary bases : D. C. Crichton. — Two volumetric 

 methods for the determination of chromium : A. W. 

 Gregory and J. McCallum. The authors describe (i') a 

 modified form of the persulphate method for the estim- 

 ation of chromium in iron and steel, and (2) a method 

 depending on the oxidation of the chromium with sodium 

 bismuthate. 



Faraday Society, October 20 —Mr. N. T. M. Wilsmore in 

 the chair.— ^The electrolvsis of salt solutions in liquefied 

 sulphur dioxide : Dr. Bertram D. Steele. Electrodes of 

 various metals were used, and the changes at anode and 

 kathode studied. With platinum and mercury a rapid 



NO. I9S5, VOL. 77] 



diminution of current took place, when solutions of sulphur 

 dioxide were electrolysed, possibly due to the formation 

 of sulphur films. With electrodes of silver, copper, and 

 iron of large area, constant currents were maintained. 

 Iodine was liberated at anode, but no metallic potassium 

 was obtained at kathode. The author concludes that 

 sulphur cations exist in solution. — The action of aluminium 

 powder on silica and boric anhydride : F. E. Weston and 

 H. Russell Ellis. The authors show that it is possible 

 to obtain silicon and boron by reduction of the respective 

 oxides with extremely finely divided aluminium powder, 

 the oxide being also excessively finely powdered. Great 

 difllculty, however, is experienced in removing the alumina 

 from the metalloids.— The reduction of metallic oxides 

 with calcium hydride and calcium : Dr. F. M. Perkin 

 and L. Pratt. ' A mixture of copper oxide and calcium 

 hydride reacts with great ease according to the equation 

 2CuO-(-CaH, = 2Cu-hCaO-l-H,0, the ignition taking place 

 by means of" a match. Pyrolusite, tinstone, and haematite 

 also react readily, but require to be heated in a furnace or 

 the reaction started by means of a fuse. Zinc oxide appears 

 not to be reduced. Wolframite and rutile react only with 

 difficulty. Lead sulphide and antimony sulphide also 

 react vigorously. Boron can also be produced from boric 

 anhydride or borax, and silicon (in small quantities) from 

 silica. Dr. Perkin has already shown the extreme ease 

 with which metallic oxides react with metallic calcium. 

 The authors now show that the reaction with wolframite 

 is particularly energetic, the tungsten being obtained as 

 a fused regul'us. Calcium will also replace strontiiim and 

 barium from their chlorides and hydroxides. It likewise 

 replaces all the alkali metals from their chlorides and 

 hydroxides, the reactions being extremely violent. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, November 4.— M. II. Becquerel in 

 the chair.— Comparative study of the phenols as partheno- 

 genetic agents : Yves Delage and P. de Beauchamp. 

 The successful results obtained with tannic acid, described 

 in a previous paper, suggested the trial of other allied sub- 

 stances, the phenols and phenolic acids. Experiments have 

 been niade with phenol and the three dihydroxybenzenes, 

 resorcinol being the only active substance of the three 

 latter. Of the trihydroxy'benzenes, phloroglucinol is nearly 

 equal in activity to resorcinol, pyrogallol and the un- 

 symmetrical isomer being much inferior. Difficulties of 

 solubility prevented much work being done with the 

 hydroxy-acids. Salicylic and vanillic acids gave poor 

 results, about the same order as phenol ; protocatechuic, 

 and especially gallic, acid gave better and more constant 

 results. The suggestion is put forward that the activity 

 of the phenols in parthenogenesis may be proportional to 

 their affinity for oxygen.— Contribution to the therapeutics 

 of trypanosomes : A. Laveran and A. Thiroux. -After 

 reviewing the remedies that have been suggested, arsenious 

 oxide, atoxyl, and mixtures of these with mercury salts, 

 and describing their own experimental results on these 

 substances, the authors propose the injection alternately 

 of atoxyl and arsenic trisulphide. This treatment _ has 

 given very good results in the cure of rats and guinea- 

 pigs artificially infected with surra. —The sugar in the 

 blood plasma : R. Uepine and M. Boulud. The authors 

 lay stress on the large errors introduced into the deter- 

 mination of the amount of sugar in the blood plasma by 

 neglecting the glycolysis which goes on during the separ- 

 ation of the blood 'corpuscles. They detail the methods 

 by which they in part surmount this difficulty, but con- 

 clude that the estimation of the sugar in the_ blood can 

 only give, at the best, a rough approximation to the 

 amount of sugar carried to the tissues.— Observations of 

 the sun made at the Observatorv of Lyons during the 

 second quarter of 1907 : J. Guillaume. Observations 

 were possible on forty-eight days, and the results are 

 expressed in tabular form showing the spots, their dis- 

 tribution in latitude, and the distribution of the faculas m 

 latitude.— Hvperelliptic surfaces : G. Bagrnera and M. 

 de Franch'is.— The adjoint functions of M. Buhl : C. 

 Popovici.— Some properties of integral equations : E. 



Goursat The free path and number of electrons in 



metals : L. Bloch. — The influence of pressure on the 

 absorption spectra of vapours : A. Dufour. An experi- 



