

ee ee ae 
Nov. 17, 1870] : 
NATURE 
59 

-Ethnological Society, Nov. 8.—Dr. A, Campbell, Vice- 
president, inthe chair. The following new members were 
announced :—The Earl of Antrim, Mr. W. Bragge, Mr. IH. 
Rivett Carnac, and Mr. J. .,Lee.—A carved wooden imple- 
ment found beneath 27 feet of guano in the Island of South 
Guanape, was exhibited and described by Mr. Josiah Harris, 
Col. A. Lane Fox exhibited a rudely worked stone implement 
from Borneo, being the first which has reached this country from 
that locality.— A note was read from Mr. C, R. Markham rela- 
tive to the term Aymara. He maintained that the people in- 
habiting the basin of Lake Titicaca were known, at the time of 
the Spanish conquest, as Collas and not as Aymaras. An elabo- 
ate reply to this communication was made by Mr. David Forbes, 
F.R.S., who showed that the term Colla is merely a geographical 
expression.—A paper was then read ‘* On the Kimmerian and 
Atlantean Races,” by Mr. Hector McLean. ‘The author de- 
scribed the Atlanteans as a dark race, forming a considerable in- 
gredient in the population of Spain, southern and central France, 
South Wales, and the south and west of Ireland and Scotland ; 
whilst the Kimmerians were a fair people, often of tall stature, 
with gaunt features, ruddy complexion, grey eyes, and red or 
yellow hair, These Kimmerians occupied the british Isles, and 
mixed with the Atlanteans previously to the arrival of the Scan- 
dinavians and Teutons. By means of the names of places, the 
author traced them in their migrations westwards trom their 
original home between the Don and the Volga. They were 
known as the Galli or Galata, names signifying w/ze people. 
‘The author concluded that the present population of England is 
more truly British or Kimmerian than the Welsh, and that our 
language is not the direct descendant of the language of the Saxon 
conquerors, but the descendant of both that of the conquerors 
and a kindred native language. 
by Mr. J. F. Campbell (of Islay), Dr. O’Callaghan, Mr. Hyde 
Clarke, Mr. Pusey, and Dr. Nicholas, 
Chemical Society, Noy. 3.— Yrof. Williamson, F.R.S., in 
the chau. ‘The following gentlemen were elected as fellows :—D. 
Howard, T. Muter, C. W. Siemens, F.R.S. On opening this first 
meeting in the new session, the President alluded in a few earnest 
words to the loss the Society had recently sustained Uirough the 
death of two of the most distinguished of iis members. The 
following papers were read :—‘* On the Production.of the Sul- 
phates of the Alcohol Kadicles {rom the Nitrites by the action 
of Sulphurous Acid,” by E. T. Chapman, When sulphurous 
acid gas is passed into nitrite of amyl it is rapidly absorbed. 
‘The nitrite chanyes in colour from yellow to green, irom green 
to blue ; it then begins to effervesce, and at the same time be- 
comes hot and boils violently. Nitric oxide is evolved in 
abundance, and a yellow liquid product remains. This liquid 
cannot be distilled without decompusition. It contains no nitro- 
gen, When an attempt is made to distil it along with water, 
the oily liquid found in the distillate consists principally of 
amylic alcohol. When the liquid is distilled Zer se it Liackens, 
gives off sulphurous acid, and yields a complex distillate which 
contains, amongst other things, valerianate of amyl. Thuis cir- 
cumstarice stood in the way of any attempt to obtain an insight 
into the nature of this reaction. Mr, Chapman resolved, there- 
fore toattack the question quantitatively. Wath this object he 
determined the nature and amount of the gas evolved by the 
action of excess of sulphurous acid on a known weight of the 
nitnte. The result proved that the gas evolved consisted of pure 
nitric oxide, and that the whole of the nitrogen present in the 
nitrate escaped in this form. The amount of sulphurous avid 
necessary to decompose a given quantity of nitrate was also deter- 
mined by observing the quantity of sulphurous acid which dis- 
appeared when an excess of sulphurous acid acted on a known 
quantity of nitrite. It was then ascertained with sufficient 
accuracy that one atom of sulphurous acid acted upon two atoms 
of nitrite of amyl and liberated two atoms of nitric oxide. 
Lastly, the alteration of weight which nitrite of amyl undergoes 
by. the reaction was determined. ‘The 1result confirmed the 
suppesilion that the reaction consisted in the replacement of 
two atoms of nitric oxide by one of sulphurous acid. 
C; Hy, O. N O| Pei C: inten 
Sesto toy gar mat 5 25) 
The resulting liquid compound had therefore the composition of 
neutral sulphate of amyl, It readily breaks up into amylic alcohol 
and sulphuric acid by boiling with water and by long standing 
even with cold water ; treated with strong hydriodie acid it yields 
sulphuretted hydrogen, water, iodine; and amylic iodide ; potas- 
SO.4 2N0 

The discussion was sustained: 


sic bichromate and sulphuric acid cause it to yield valerianic acid, 
It is to be observed that it is necessary gently to warm the retort 
in which the nitrite is exposed to the action of a stream of dry 
sulphurous acid ; if this is not done, the S O, is absorbed for some 
time without any reaction occurring, but when the reaction does 
start it is with almost explosive violence ; whereas, if gentle heat- 
ing has been applied from the beginning, the reaction starts at 
once and goes on regularly. It is also desirable to pass through 
the apparatus carbonic acid or hydrogen before the § O, has been 
passed into the nitrite, and to do this also afterwards, for the pur- 
pose of excluding air, the oxygen of which would unite with the 
NO, and the SO, would then be expelled. Sulphurous acid 
and butylic nitrite react upon one another in a manner analogous 
to that of S O, or amylic nitrite, but the resulting product is even 
more unstable, Sulphurous acid and nitrite of ethyl do not 
readily act upon each other, at least not at the common tempera- 
ture. Mr. Chapman then proceeded to the theoretical con- 
siderations which are suggested by the above facts. Are these 
compounds, properly speaking, sulphates of alcohol radicles, or 
only bodies isomeric with them? ‘The reaction of the amyl com- 
pound with water is very different from that of sulphate of ethyl 
under similar circumstances ; it does not, when boiled with water, 
form an acid analogous to isethionie acid, but splits up into sul- 
phuric acid and amylic alcohol. This would suggest a different 
linking of the molecules ; most probably in the common amylic 
sulphate the two organic radicles are linked to oxygen directly, 
and by oxygen to sulphur ; in the amyl compound obtained from 
the nitrite, one of the radicles is attached directly to sulphur and 
the other indirectly through the oxygen. Mr. Chapman then 
described the apparatus by which the nature of the reaction of 
sulphurous acid on amylic nitrite has been determined. The 
evolved nitric oxide was transformed into nitric acid, and this 
treated with barytic carbonate. In the discussion following this 
paper, Dr, Debus and Mr, Harcourt expressed their apprehension 
that along with the barytic nitrate also some barytic nitrite may 
have formed. Mr. Chapman replied that he had taken great 
care to ensure the complete transformation into nitric acid ; that 
to this end he had passed great quantities of oxygen into the 
collecting cylinder, let the mixture stand for twenty-four hours 
over the water in the cylinder, and lastly applied gentle heat to 
it. As for the possibility of the water acting as a base and re- 
ducing the formed nitrous acid, there was the counteracting 
presence of SOx, which had passed unabsorbed through the 
amylic nitrite into the collecting cylinder, and part of which must 
have been oxydised to sulphuric acid. Regarding Mr, Chapman’s 
C, H; 
Gi He 
dent thought that it is the same as that of SO, with H, O, that 
the two C, H,; are linked to S Og by the oxygen, just like the two 
Hare in hydric sulphate.—Mr. Vacher read a paper by Mr. 
Elliott ‘* On the determination of Sulphur in cast-iron.” This de- 
termination consists in the liberation of the sulphur in the form of 
sulphuretted hydrogen, absorption of the latter by solution of 
soda and estimation of the H,S in the acidified soda solution by 
means of a standard solution of iodine. In the course of his ex- 
periments, Mr. Elliott noticed that a portion of the iron was not 
attacked by HCl, and that this insoluble residue yielded on 
fusing with pure caustic soda (prepared from sodium) sodic sul- 
phate. From this Mr, Elliott draws the conclusion that cast- 
lron contains sulphuric acid as well as sulphur. In somewhat 
similar manner the presence of phosphoric acid in cast-iron was 
ascertained. Dr. Debus doubted the probability of the occurrence 
of sulphuric acid in iron which had once been in a molten state. 
Mr, Church remarked that he had noticed in dissolving natural 
pyrites in H Cl, that very often an insoluble sulphide and phos- 
phide remained. At the same time, he considered the fusion of 
those residues with caustic alkalis as a sure means of conyerting 
the sulphur and the phosphorus into the respective acids, the 
alkalis being under such circumstances very powerful oxydising 
agents. Mr. Harcourt expressed his concurrence with Mr. 
Church’s remarks about the oxydising action in this case of 
caustic soda, Mr. Vacher did not wish to support Mr. Elliott's 
view about the presence of sulphuric acid in cast-iron, but there 
was the fact of one portion of the sulphur not being liberated by 
HCl, and this forces to the conclusion that cast-iron contains 
sulphur in another form than in that of the ordinary suiphide. 
—E. A, Letts, ‘* On the Composition of Hyposulphites.” Though 
the salts of the hyposulphurous acid have been comparatively 
well studied, much difference exists as to their chemical constitu- 
theoretical views of the union of S O, and \ O, the Presi- 
