5i« 



NATURE 



[OcrouKR 20, 1 9 10 



which glucose undergoes oxidation and the part played 

 by oxidases were all fully described. 



Mr. Blackman advocated the hypothesis that normal 

 respiration consists of two processes, a small " proto- 

 plasmic respiration " which cannot be suppressed without 

 death, and a larger " floating respiration " which depends 

 on the available sugar supply, and can be reduced or 

 abolished by starvation. 



A brief summary of the oxidative breakdown in animal 

 tissues was given by Mr. H. M. \"ernon, who described 

 some of his own work on the subject. 



Dr. E. F. .Armstrong summarised the existing know- 

 ledge with regard to the oxydases, and debated whether 

 they are to be regarded as organic enzymes or as inorganic 

 catalysts in a colloidal substrate. The facts that o.xydase 

 solutions retain their activity after somewhat drastric 

 purification, that they invariably contain, even after the 

 most thorough purification, traces of manganese, iron, or 

 calcium salts, and that their action may be imitated by 

 colloidal suspensions of the salts of these metals, are all 

 in favour of the later view. On the other hand, there 

 is distinct evidence of the specific nature of o.\ydases and 

 of the existence of different oxydases. He further 

 descr'ibed the remarkable blackening of the leaf of Aucuba 

 japonica produced when this is exposed to toluene or 

 chloroform vapour, the change being attributed to an 

 oxidative effect produced by an oxydase. A systematic 

 investigation of what substances were able to cause this 

 blackening showed it to be produced by most organic 

 vapours, e.g. ethvl acetate, ether, benzene, &:c., by carbon 

 dioxide, and by such salts in aqueous solution as cadmium 

 iodide, mercuric chloride, and sodium and potassium 

 fluorides. .All these substances possess but little affinity 

 for water, and it is supposed that they are therefore able 

 to pass through the differential septa, enter the cell, and 

 set up osmotic disturbances whereby the cell contents 

 become diluted and hydrolysis sets in to restore equi- 

 librium. This brings the various cell enzymes into play, 

 and a general degradation takes place. Measurements of 

 the amount of sugar or starch or glucoside in the leaf 

 before and after stimulation confirm this view — a great 

 increase in the amount of reducing sugar is produced. 



The stimulative effect of chloroform on respiration 

 formed the subject of a paper by Mr. D. Thoday, whose 

 results appeared to harmonise very closely with those of 

 Dr. Armstrong ; this paper will be more appropriately 

 discussed under Section K. Prof. Armstrong, who 

 followed, made a critical examination of the mechanism of 

 the oxidative changes, and laid stress on the extremely 

 complicated nature of the respiratory phenomenon. 



The joint meeting with the Educational Section to 

 discuss the neglect of science by industry and commerce 

 attracted a large audience. Mr. Blair, who opened, spoke 

 at considerable length in detailing evidence which he had 

 collected from 150 past students of universities or institu- 

 tions of university rank — all belonging to a class for 

 whom the earning of a living was imperative. His paper 

 appeared in full in Nature of September 15. Following 

 a supplemental paper by Sir \Vm. Tilden, the subject 

 was debated in turn by Dr. H. T. Bovey, Principal 

 Griffiths, Dr. Beilby, Sir Wm. White, Mr. j. E. Stead, 

 and Prof. Armstrong. The general tone e.xpressed, both 

 in Mr. Blair's address and by subsequent speakers, was 

 one of hope, and if was agreed that England is not so 

 far behind other countries in the application of science to 

 commerce and industry as is often asserted. The main 

 fact emphasised was that it was, above all, necessary to 

 educate the public and bring home to them the advantages 

 of pure science, and, further, it was all-important to 

 establish some easy means to bring about a better under- 

 standing and more frequent communication bet\yeen those 

 who studied science and those concerned in its application. 



On Tuesday, September 6, it was necessary to divide 

 the section, the metallurgical and the organic chemistry 

 papers being' taken separately. The first paper, by Prof. 

 .F. O. .Arnold, dealt with a fourth recalescence in steel. 

 Steel in cooling contracts to a certain point, and then 

 suddenly expands. It is agreed that this takes place 

 three times ; but Prof. .Arnold, as the result of several 

 years' experience, considers there is a fourth recalescence 



due to constitutional segregation, namely, the falling out 

 between .Ar^ and .Ar, of the ferrite and hardenite from 

 their state of solid solution into microscopically visible 

 masses. Numerous photomicrographs and cooling curves 

 were shown to support this view. In the ensuing dis- 

 cussion Dr. C. H. Carpenter contended there was no 

 need to term the process a fourth recalescence, and inter- 

 preted it as a prolongation of the Arj and Ar, inversions. 

 He criticised adversely the apparatus employed by Prof. 

 .Arnold, advocating in its place the differential method of 

 registering recalescence. Prof. Arnold, in replying, stated 

 this method to be quite untrustworthy. Mr. Stead said 

 it is well known that in steels containing under the 

 eutectoid proportion of carbon, when cooling from Ar^ 

 to Ar,-,-,, the carbides and ferrite segregate. Prof. 

 .Arnold by his very careful research was the first to show 

 that this segregation is coincident with an evolution of 

 heat. 



Prof. H. M. Howe, in a brief paper on allotropv or 

 transmutation, took the view that changes such as that 

 from the diamond to lampblack in reality involve trans- 

 mutation, and the fact that but a single series of deriva- 

 tives is given by such compounds was explained as mean- 

 ing that the derivativeless element inevitably transmutes 

 whenever it enters into combination. 



A second paper dealt with the closing and welding of 

 blow-holes in steel ingots, in which the author supported 

 the practice of allowing blow-holes to form rather 

 abundantly, so as to prevent the formation of a pipe, and 

 then, relying on the ease with which such steel welds, 

 trying to get flawless metal by welding these blow-holes 

 up in the process of rolling the ingot out into its final 

 form. This procedure is of great economic importance in 

 that it enables the steel maker to avoid the serious dis- 

 carding which would be necessary in case his ingots were 

 free from blow-holes, and hence deeply piped. Many 

 metallurgists have condemned the practice on the ground 

 that the closing of blow-holes is impossible, because the 

 gas w'hich they contained must remain ever present 

 during the rolling, even though somewhat compressed. 

 Prof. Howe described in detail experiments show'ing that 

 the blow-hole gases had been reabsorbed by the metal to 

 a very great degree, and suggested prolonging the ex- 

 posure to a temperature above the welding point, so as 

 to complete the reabsorption of the gas while the metal 

 was still weldable. The welding of the blow'-holes should 

 be promoted rather by the practice of " reheating " than 

 bv that of "direct rolling." Following some remarks by 

 Prof. .Arnold and Mr. Hadfield, Mr. Stead described an 

 investigation carried out with Mr. F. M. Parkin on the 

 same subject, which proved conclusively that when two 

 metallic surfaces, quite free from oxide or any foreign 

 matter, are brought together and hammered at tempera- 

 tures from iioo°-ti5o° C, they weld up completely. The 

 question as to what becomes of the imprisoned gas re- 

 quires careful research ; when the cavities are large the 

 gases are enormously compressed, and must interfere with 

 efficient welding. .As a result, blisters occasionally appear 

 on finished sheets if afterwards reheated. The gases 

 extracted from a large blister in a soft steel slab gave 

 on analysis : — CO,, 23 per cent. ; CO, 50-5 per cent. ; 

 hydrogen, 17 per cent. ; marsh gas, 3-5 per cent. 



The next paper, on the provident use of coal, by Prof. 

 H. E. Armstrong, gave rise to a very considerable dis- 

 cussion. During the early stages of combustion a variety 

 of volatile inflammable substances are given off which 

 burn with a smoky flame. By first coking the coal at a 

 low temperature these may be removed and recovered, 

 and a fuel obtained which burns as readily as coal and 

 gives a hotter fire. The gas given off by the coking 

 process is very rich, and it was advocated that this be 

 substituted for the product now produced by carbonising 

 coal at very high temperatures, so as to obtain the 

 maximum possible yield. It is essential that the quality 

 of gas be improved ; since the sulphur clauses of the Gas 

 .Acts w^ere repealed there has been a steady deterioration. 

 There is no reason why the coal now used in the raw 

 state by the community should not be first coked at a low 

 temperature. The gas would be available as an illuminant 

 I and for heating; the residual coke could be burnt without 



NO. 2138, VOL. 84] 



