May 23, 1907] 



NATURE 



95 



contained in the Newton Abbot district, the region east 

 of the Dart and south of the Teign. They are most nearly 

 related, both geologically and petrologically, to those of 

 south-west Devon, or the Plymouth district described by 

 Worth. 



Society of Chemical Industry, May 6. — Mr. R. J. 

 Friswell in the chair. — kr\ apparatus for the estimation of 

 carbonic acid : H. \V. Rowell. The sample of carbonate 

 is decomposed by a suitable acid and boiling, and the 

 carbon dioxide collected and weighed in potash bulbs. 

 The apparatus consists of a 70 c.c. flask with a ground- 

 glass stopper carrying a stoppered funnel, for admitting 

 acid and subsequently air, and a bulb water vapour trap. 

 An air washing tube, drying tubes, potash bulbs, and a 

 supporting stand and aspirator complete the apparatus. — 

 The works chemist as engineer : O. Gutttnann. All 

 chemical works have a large number of engineering 

 problems to solve, and, as a rule, the chemist will have 

 to look after them. The author explained in detail the 

 selection of a site, the disposition of buildings and plant, 

 the erection of buildings to standard sizes, materials, 

 plant. &c., in view of the products to be worked and any 

 special risks attached to them. The installation of a power- 

 house and the many engineering details which are of 

 advantage in the economy and control of the production 

 of power, smoke preventers, automatic stokers and special 

 grates, as well as water softeners and feed-water heaters, 

 w^ere dealt with. The author emphasised strongly that 

 " works operations were not simply laboratory operations 

 writ large." In his opinion it was useless to teach 

 chemical technology with the help of beakers and test- 

 tubes. To train a chemist properly, he ought to go to 

 college better prepared, and have at least four years of 

 study, with more mechanics and physics in the beginning 

 and a proper course of chemical technology in the end. 

 After that it is only necessary that manufacturers should 

 realise that a works chemist is not solely an analyst, but 

 a highly useful practical technologist, who, given a little 

 confidence, will in a short time repay his salary many 

 times over. The paper concluded with the sentence : — 

 " We have heard too much about the many chemists 

 engaged on research in the large colour works of Germany. 

 Highly valuable as they are and important as their dis- 

 coveries were, the German chemical industry is infinitely 

 more indebted to that far greater number of works 

 chemists, who patiently and thoroughly investigated the 

 manufacturing processes, who had the ability to devise 

 improvements and economies, and who found generous 

 manufacturers and their college-trained sons to give them 

 their confidence. It is on these lines that we must 

 progress." 



Paris. 



Acadeiny of Sciences, May 13. — M. A. Chauveau in the 

 chair. — .\ functional equation occurring in the theory of 

 certain equations on derived partials : f'.mile Picard. — 

 Theory of the speaking condenser of M. .\rgyropoulos : 

 Marcel Deprez. Explanation of the theory of the condenser 

 in the secondary coil of transformer of microphone de- 

 scribed by M. .\rgyropoulos on May 6. — The glucose 

 coming from the " potential sugar " {i.e. the glucosides) 

 of the blood : R. Lepine and M. Boulud. Experiments 

 on dogs showing the effect of invertin and fibrin on the 

 quantity of glucose w'hich is set free in defibrinated blood 

 from the glucosides present (compare Lupine and Boulud, 

 Comptes rendus, October 8, 1906). — The employment of 

 potassium permanganate to remove sodium thiosulphate 

 (so-called " hyposulphate ") in photography : .Albert 

 Grang:er. The author points out that the preservation of 

 photographic positives and negatives obtained by means of 

 silver salts depends upon the total elimination of the 

 thiosulphate (" hypo ") used for fixing them. Many 

 oxidising agents have been introduced to destroy the last 

 traces of thiosulphate, for example, the perborates and 

 persulphates. These salts are, however, very inconvenient. 

 They are expensive, and they tend to spoil either positives 

 or negatives if allowed to act beyond a certain time, li 

 is difficult to tell, too, when they have completed the 

 oxidation of the thiosulphate. Potassium permanganate 

 is free from these disadvantages, and the following method 

 of procedure is suggested for ordinary work. The positive 



NO. i960, VOL. 76] 



or negative, after rinsing two or three times for about a 

 minute with water, is placed in a porcelain or glass dish, 

 and for half-plate size 250 c.c. of dilute permanganate, 

 made by diluting 10 c.c. of a solution containing i gram 

 per litre, is added. If the solution turns brovvnish add 

 more permanganate until a pink tint remains. Then place 

 the print in a i per cent, oxalic acid solution to remove 

 any faint brown deposit. Wash with ordinary water until 

 clear. O.xalic acid gives a precipitate with ordinary water, 

 thus giving an indication when washing is completed. — 

 Observations of the new planet ZB made at the Marseilles 

 Observatory : M. Cogrgia. — The expedition to Turkestan 

 for the observation of the solar eclipse of January 14, 1907 : 

 Milan ^'tefanik. — Approximate convergence in mathe- 

 matical analysis : Ernst Fischer (compare M. Riesz, 

 Comptes rendus, March 18). — A general method for the 

 solution of Dirichlet's problem : S. Bernstein. — The 

 representation of equations of the fourth nomographic 

 order with three and four variables : Maurice d'Ocagne. 

 — The resistance of air to the movement of bodies : M. 

 Canovetti. — The rapidity of detonation of explosives : M. 

 Dautriche. This is a continuation of work already pub- 

 lished (cf. Comptes rendus, vol. cxliii., p. 641). — The 

 alteration of the absorption bands of crystals, and the law 

 of variation of delay of movement of electrons at different 

 temperatures : Jean Becquerel. — Ncrnst's theory and the 

 values of the differences of potential at the point of contact 

 of two electrolytes in solution : J. Guyot. — The liquefaction 

 of air : Georges Claude. — The phosphorescence of calcium 

 compounds containing manganese. — Influence of the con- 

 stitution and mass of the molecules on the wave-lengths of 

 the radiation emitted : 1.. Bruninghaus. — .\ction of 

 fluorine on selenium. Preparation of tetrafluoride of 

 selenium : Paul Lebeau. Working with metal vessels, so 

 as to prevent any chance of o.xyfluorides being obtained, 

 the author prepared tetrafluoride of selenium by direct 

 union, and found it to be a colourless liquid, boiling 

 about 100° C, and forming a white crystalline solid at 

 about —80° C. Brought into contact with water, the com- 

 pound decomposes with evolution of heat, giving a solution 

 containing selenious and hydrofluoric acids, 

 SeF,-t-2H,0=SeO,4-4HF. 

 The compound behaves as if saturated, so that the hexa- 

 fluoride of selenium mentioned by Prideaux (Chem. Soc, 

 vol. Ixxxix., p. 316) might require further investigation. — 

 Spontaneous oxidation of cobalt hydrate in alkaline solu- 

 tion : Andr^ Job. — The silicates of aluminium and calcium : 

 O. BoMdouard. — The constitution and properties of 

 samples of steel containing boron : L^on Guiilet. — Con- 

 densation of oxalic esters with tertiary aromatic amines : 

 A. Guyot. — Some caoutchouc-bearing plants of the south 

 of Madagascar : J. Constantin and H. Poisson. — 

 Observations on the constitution of the membrane of (he 

 P(5ridiniens : Louis Mangin. — The delimitation and re- 

 lations of the principal species of Illipees : Marcel 

 Dubard. — The influence of light on the assimilation of the 

 reserve organic matter of plants and bulbs by the plantules 

 in the course of their germination : W. Lubimenko. — 

 The function of sieve tubes (botanical) : M. Moliiard. 

 — The comparative elTect on the heart of different potassium 

 salts of the same molecular concentration : H. Busquet 

 and V. Pachon. — The occurrence of iron in animal and 

 vegetable tissues : A. Mouneyrat. The author states that 

 he has found iron in all tissues, and that, in fact, iron 

 seems to be a constant constituent of all living cells. — The 

 extraction of the pigments from batrachians •. A. Masrnan. 

 — The adipose tissue replacing the vibratory muscles of 

 the wings after the nuptial flight in queen-ants: Charles 

 Janet. — The glacial formations of the Chaux-d'Arlier : 

 Paul Girardin and Fritz Nussbaum. — The oceanic 

 lithology of ancient seas : J. Thoulet. 

 Cape Town. 

 South African Philosophical Society, March 27.— Mr. 

 S. S. Hough, F.R.S., in the chair.— A property of sym- 

 metric determinants connected with the simultaneous 

 vanishing of the surface and volume of a tetrahedron : T. 

 Muir. — The development of the ovary and embryo-sac in 

 Cassia Tomentosa : W. T. Saxton.— The fertility of some 

 colonial soils as influenced by the geological conditions : 

 C. F. Juritz. Chemical an.ilyses of the soil may be of 



