I 12 



NA TURE 



[May 30, 1907 



the porcelain works were visited under the guidance of 

 several chiefs of departments. While not inferior to any 

 other porcelain factory in its perfection of technical hand- 

 ling of the material and artistic treatment of form and 

 colour, Sfevres undoubtedly surpasses all its rivals in the 

 wide range of pigments which it possesses. Many of these 

 are due to the scientific researches of the eminent chemists 

 who have directed the operations of the factory, and re- 

 search work is still continuously carried on, especially 

 with the rarer elements which modern chemical progress 

 has rendered available. A yellow titanium glaze was 

 much admired, and a new method of decoration produced 

 by the crystallisation of zinc oxalate in combination with 

 various pigments promises to become a valuable adjunct 

 to the decoration of vases and other decorative objects of 

 porcelain. The dazzling white of the' S6vres material is 

 said to be due, -not only to the purity of the ingredients 

 used, but also to the kind of wood used as fuel, nameiy, 

 birch. No doubt there is some reason for this belief, 

 because the heat in the furnaces is so intense that the 

 greater part of the ash of the fuei is volatilised, and, 

 although the ware is carefully packed in saggers and pro- 

 tected as much as possible from the furnace gases, the 

 volatilised ash must to some extent permeate the whole 

 mass. The waste during burning has been reduced of 

 late years by the adoption of an electric pyrometer which 

 enables those in charge of the firing operations to regulate 

 the temperature within a few degrees. An interesting hour 

 was spent in the museum, which contains a unique collec- 

 lion of porcelain from all parts of the world. Of special 

 interest are the specimens of different pigments and glazes, 

 .md the ladies of the party regarded with curiosity the 

 .irtificial rubies and sapphires made by Ebelmen. These 

 were small, and cannot be compared with the beautiful 

 specimens prepared by Hautefeuille which are preserved 

 in the Museum d'Histoire naturelle ; but they were the 

 first of their kind, and the precursors of the gems now 

 made in considerable quantities by Moissan's process. It 

 may be remarked that even artificial emeralds are now 

 being produced having (he same chemical composition as 

 I he natural stones, from which they can only be dis- 

 tinguished by optical tests. 



In the evening a banquet was given at the Palais 

 d'Orsay which was attended by the foreign delegates and 

 ;< number of French scientific men. Among the former 

 "■ere .Sir W. Ramsav, Dr. H. Brown, Mr. C. E. Groves, 

 Dr. Lewkowitsch, Dr. Markel, and Mr. W. F. Reid. 

 From Germany came Graebe, Liebermann, and Dr. von 

 Martius ; from Italy. Prof. Piutti ; from Switzerland, 

 Werner, Guye, and Willstaetter ; from Russia, Antonow 

 .ind Jacovlew. Many distinguished French men of science 

 I'ad assembled to welcome their colleagues from other 

 lands. M. Bouveault, president of the Soci^t^ chimique 

 de France, presided, ably seconded by M. A. B^hal, 

 secretary of the society, well known for his researches in 

 organic chemistry ; M. Lindet, secretary of two inter- 

 national congresses of applied chemistry: MM. Poirrier 

 and Lauth, representatives of the dye-stuffs and pigment 

 industries ; Prof. G. Bertrand, discoverer of oxydases ; 

 I-e Bel, in whose fertile brain the idea of stereochemistrv 

 originated ; Prof. Cazeneuve, whose researches on the 

 derivatives of camphor are well known ; M. Tanret, to 

 whom we owe much of our knowledge of sugars ; Le 

 Chatelier, who is still investigating hydraulic cements ; 

 M. Haller, member of the institute ; M." Armand Gautier, 

 late president of the society ; and a number of others no 

 less distinguished. 



M. Pichon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, represented the 

 Government, and m.ade an eloauent speech pointing out 

 the advantage to the whole civilised world of such amicable 

 meetings of scientific men of all nations, united in the 

 rommnn wish to promote science and thus advance the 

 well-being of the human race. The British delecates pre- 

 sent could not help thinking how unfavourably the action 

 of our own Government contrasted with that of France. 

 The latter had offered decorations of the Lesjion of Honour 

 to three of the delegates. Sir W. Perkin. Sir \V. Ramsav, 

 and Mr. W. F. Reid, but the British Government raised 

 objections, and at the time of the jubilee celebration these 

 had not been withdrawn. The current explanation was 

 that some mediaeval rule exists that foreign orders are 

 NO- Tg6l, VOL. 76I 



only to be received by British subjects connected with the 

 Army or Navy. But the Legion of Honour is not a military 

 order, and was specially founded for men of such eminence 

 as Sir \V. Ramsay and Sir W. Perkin, and Mr. W. F. 

 Reid, who originated the modern industry of smokeless 

 powder, may certainly claim to be placed on as high a 

 level as Mr. Thomas Atkins, who uses it. It is high time 

 that our Government paid more attention, if not to the 

 claims of scientific men, at any rate to those of inter- 

 national courtesy. Their action in this matter has not 

 given satisfaction in the French capital, and contrasts very 

 unfavourably with that of Germany, which accepted grate- 

 fully what was, of course, intended as a graceful inter- 

 national compliment. 



On Friday, May 17, proceedings commenced at the early 

 hour of 8.30 a.m. with an exhibition of products and 

 apparatus of the members of the Soci^t^ chimique de 

 France. Among many important exhibits, two especially 

 aroused the interest of the visitors. Abbe J. B. Senderens 

 showed a number of products obtained by a new method 

 of catalysis. Amorphous phosphorus prepared at a low 

 temperature is placed in a tube and heated to about 300° C. 

 in a current of hydrogen gas. The vapour of the substance 

 to be decomposed is then passed through, with the result 

 that water is formed and condenses in the receiver with 

 the product of the reaction. M. G. Bertrand exhibited 

 about forty samples of products obtained by the action of 

 a bacterium which he has isolated from sorbose. These 

 contained a number of substances of extreme interest lo 

 the chemist, including several artificial sugars. At 

 10 o'clock a general meeting took place, at which M. 

 Armand Gautier, a former president of the society, read 

 un account of the work done by members of the society 

 since its formation. Few societies can show such a record 

 of discoveries of the first magnitude. 



A distribution of prizes to the successful students of the 

 Ecole sup^rieurc de Pharmacie then took place. .At 1 p.m. 

 a special (rain started for Chantilly, where the priceless 

 art treasures presented to the nation by the Due d'Aumale 

 were inspected. In the evening a meeting of the Soci^tc^ 

 chimique de France was held, at which country members 

 only were entitled to read papers. Some communications 

 of importance were read, and will be published in the 

 Bulletin. 



On Saturday a reception was held in the Hotel de Villi- 

 by the municipality. The president of the municipal 

 counci]. Dr. Lefevre, is himself a biological chemist, and 

 made some humorous allusions to the important part 

 played by chemists in modern municipal work. The 

 beautiful paintings with which the building is decorated 

 were shown and explained to the visitors, who al.so 

 witnessed some of the preparations that were being made 

 for the reception of the delegates of the University of 

 London in the ensuing week. 



During the evening a theatrical soiree was given at 

 the Palais d'Orsay, which terminated the proceedings 

 ofllcially. There were, however, numerous private offers 

 of hospitality extending into the following week, and the 

 British delegates were loth to part from their hospitable- 

 colleagues of the Soci^t(5 chimique de France. 



STUDIES FROM A NORTHERN 

 UNIVERSITY. 

 'T'HF, two contributions to science referred to below* 

 form part of the publications issued by the University 

 of Aberdeen when the quatercentenary of its foundation 

 was celebrated in September of last year. When men 

 move northwards to occupv chairs in the most outlying 

 university of the kingdom, it has been said that the isola- 

 tion and absence of externa! incentives are apt to cause 

 a premature cooling of their zeal for science. However 

 that may be, these two volumes contain convincing 

 evidence that in recent years Aberdeen University has been- 



1 " Studies In PatholoBv" Wrilten by Alumni 10 celebrate f he Quater- 

 centenarv of the University of Aberdeen and the (^u^tirrentenary of the 

 Chair of Pathology therein. Edited by William Bulloch, M.D. Pp. xxx-|- 

 412. (Aberdeen, 1906.) Price 15.V. 



" Proceedines of the Anatomical and Anthropological Society of the- 

 University of .-Vberdeen, 1904-1906." Pp. viii-f-241 ; illustrated. (Aberdeel> 

 University Press, 1906.) 



