54& 



NATURE 



[July 24, 191, 



solutions in chloroform behaved in a very irregular 

 and surprising way; the mutarotation in this solvent 

 seemed sometimes to "hang fire" until set going bv 

 some accidental stimulus. These observations were 

 evidently important as proving that isomeric change 

 was not spontaneous, even after the nitrocamphor 

 had been dissolved. But for ten years no explanation 

 was forthcoming to show why this phenomenon was 

 observed in chloroform and in chloroform only. About 

 five years ago, however, an arrest of isomeric change 

 was again observed in the case of chloroform solu- 

 tions to which a trace of acid had been added. These 

 solutions (the rotatory power of one of which "held 

 up" absolutely during twenty-four days) acquired a 

 pungent and horrible odour, and had evidently under- 

 gone marked decomposition. It was not long before 

 the odour was recognised as being due to 'carbonyl 

 chloride— a well-known and (in anaesthetic chloroform) 

 a dangerous impurity, formed bv oxidation of the 

 chloroform according to the equation — 



CHC1, + = C0CL + HC1. 



This substance has the property of attacking ammonia 

 and organic bases, such as piperidine, and" converting 

 them into neutral ureas, as shown by the equations : 



COCL + 2NH 3 = CO(NH0. + 2liri 

 COCL + 2NC 5 H 1 , = CO(NC„H 1 „), + 2HCl. 

 I lie _ next step was obviouslv to try to arrest the 

 isomeric change by the additio'n of carbonyl chloride 

 to a solvent which did not naturally contain it. This 

 was done with marked success. A solution of nitro- 

 camphor in purified ether showed a change of rotatory 

 power extending over about a day; by the addition 

 of carbonyl chloride the period was' increased to 

 eighteen days in a glass vessel, and to sixty-one days 

 when_ a silica vessel (free from alkali) was used to 

 contain the solution. In the case of benzene, to 

 which acetyl chloride was added, the period was in- 

 creased from sixteen days to sixty-four days in glass, 

 and to two years in a silica vessel. Finally, by the 

 addition of carbonyl chloride to a solution of nitro- 

 camphor in benzene contained in a silica vessel the 

 period was increased from sixteen days to six years. 



Action of Liglit. 



A convenient method of studying the effect of light 

 on isomeric change has recently been devised in which 

 the polarimeter plays a leading part. The solution 

 to be studied was enclosed in a silica tube, surrounded 

 by a silica water-jacket, and exposed to the light from 

 a silica mercury-lamp. In seven cases out of nine, 

 however, no acceleration whatever could be detected 

 as a result of this extremely powerful "insolation." 



I have attempted to give some account of a few 

 instances in which polarised light has been applied to 

 the solution of chemical and physical problems. In 

 each case the observations have taken the form of 

 measurements of rotatory polarisation. Measure- 

 ments such as these have supplied to the chemist a 

 key which has enabled him to unlock the strong- 

 room in which many of the secrets of molecular 

 structure were stored. The physicist, too, following 

 in the footsteps of Faraday, has found in rotatory 

 polarisation a link between the sciences of magnetism 

 and optics, and has obtained valuable hints as to the 

 way in which light is propagated through matter. 

 The hundred years which have elapsed since Biot 

 announced his great discovery have therefore served 

 only to enhance its brilliancy, and to reveal it as one 

 of the most illuminating disclosures even of the 

 splendid period in which it was made. 

 NO. 2282, VOL. 91] 



UNll'ERSITV AND EDL LATJONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 

 Cambridge. — At Emmanuel College the following 

 awards have been made for post-graduate research : — 

 Studentships : W. N. Benson (petrology), 75Z., for 

 half-year only; J. Macdonald (the development of 

 Plato's ethics), 120/.; G. Matthai (continuation of 

 research on the comparative anatomy of corals), 150Z. 

 Grants from the research studentship fund : R. T. 

 Beatty (the energy of Rontgen rays), 25/., for one 

 term only; J. H. Burn (biochemistry), 50/. 



Leeds. — Mr. E. L. Hummel has been appointed 

 professor of mining. Mr. Hummel is a son of the 

 late Prof. Hummel, and was educated at Leeds and 

 in Austria. He has had much practical experience 

 in the Yorkshire coalfield and in South Africa with 

 the Vereeiging Estates Company. 



Mr. Walter R. Crawford, of Tullyhogue, co. 

 Tyrone, Ireland, has been appointed live stock officer 

 for Yorkshire under the scheme for the improvement 

 of live stock which has been inaugurated by the 

 Board of Agriculture, with the aid of funds set' aside 

 by the Development Commissioners. Mr. Crawford 

 has been a chief inspector under the live stock im- 

 provement scheme of the Department of Agriculture 

 for Ireland, and is an authority on the breeding of 

 shorthorns and on the work of milk record associa- 

 tions. 



London. — An important correspondence between 

 the University authorities and Lord Haldane with 

 reference to the new site for Universitv headquarters 

 has been published. Lord Haldane, in a letter dated 

 June 6, states that he is willing to try again to in- 

 terest the donors who were prepared in March to 

 acquire the Bedford Estate (British Museum) site for 

 the University. In reply, the Vice-Chancellor raised 

 the questions ol the provision of funds for rates and 

 taxes, and for buildings, and of securing an option 

 for additional land in the neighbourhood for exten- 

 sions, lie also inquired whether it would be possible 

 to close the (-(.1111711 road between the buildings to 

 traffic. Lord Haldane, in a letter dated [ulv 13, was 

 able to give satisfactory assurances on these points. 

 The sites committee of the University have decided 

 to postpone further consideration until a conference 

 is arranged with the London County Coun.il. 



At the meeting of the Senate on July 16, the D Sc 

 degree was g, inted to Mr. J. C. Chapman (King's 

 College) for a thesis on secondary Rontgen radiation; 

 to Dr. G. C. McK. Mathison (University College) for 

 a thesis on the action of asphyxia upon nerve centres; 

 and to Mr. J. Johnstone for a thesis entitled "Tetral 

 rhynchus Erinaceus, van Beneden I.. Structure of the 

 Lai \ 1 and Adult Worm." 



Sir Harry Waechter has offered $ooZ. a year for 

 five years for a department for the treatment of 

 disease by vaccine th.-rain a i University College Hos- 

 pital. 



Grants amounting to 375Z. for 101,-14 have been 

 made to the following out of the Dixon Fund, for 

 the assistance of various researches :— The Brown 

 Animal Sanatory Institution, Prof. G Barger Mr 

 Morley Dainow, Mr. P. E. Lander, Mi«»s Constance 

 Leetham. Dr. M irtin Lowrv, Dr. Geoffrey Martin 

 Mr. J. W. McLeod, and Mr." J. A. Pick.-l." 



Prof John Laird, professor of logic in the Dal- 

 housie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, has been 

 appointed to the chair of logic and metaphysics in the 

 Queens University, Belfast, in succession "to the late 

 Prof. Park. 



