Feb. 19, 1 874 J 



NA TURE 



315 



Royal Society, Feb. 12.— " Note on the Synthesis of Formic 

 Aldehyde," by Sir B. C. Brodie, Bart., F.R.S. 



In a former note I communicated to the society the 

 re.sult of an experiment in which a mi.xture of equal 

 (or nearly equal) volumes of hydrogen and carbonic o.xide 

 had been submitted, in the induction-tube, to the electric 

 action. My e.\pectation in making the experiment had 

 been that the synthesis of formic aldehyde would be thus 

 effected according to the equation CO + H., = COH.,. The 

 only permanent gas, however, other than the" gases originally 

 present in the induction-tube, which appeared in the result of the 

 experiment was marsh-gas. When a mixture of hydrogen and 

 carbonic acid gas were similarly operated upon, the same hydro- 

 carbon, together with carbonic oxide, was formed. I have now, 

 however, succeeded, by a modification in the conditions of the 

 latter experiment, in attaining the object which I originally had in 

 view. Evidence of this is afforded by the following analysis : — 

 The gas analysed was the result of submitting to the electric 

 action equal volumes of hydrogen and carbonic acid. After re- 

 moval from the gas of carbonic acid and carbonic oxide, and also 

 of a trace of oxygen, 191 '2 volumes of gas remained, in which 

 were found at the conclusion of the analysis 2'6 volumes of 

 nitrogen. Deducting this amount of nitrogen, iSS'6 volumes of 

 gas remain, containing the residual hydrogen in the gas, together 

 with any gases besides carbonic oxide formed in the experiment. 

 This gas was analysed by the addition of oxygen and subsequent 

 detonation by the electric spark, the absorption of the carbonic 

 acid by potash, and the removal of the oxygen over by pyrogal- 

 late of potash. The results of the analysis entirely concur with 

 the assumption that the iSS'6 volumes of gas were constituted of 

 hydrogen, marsh-gas, and lormic aldehyde in the proportions 

 given below. 



Hydrogen . . . . . i83'2 



Marsh-gas ..... o'2 



Formic aldehyde . , . . 5 '2 



1 88 -6 

 The composition of 100 volumes of the gas being. 



Hydrogen ..... 97 '14 

 Marsh-gas ..... O'lo 



Formic aldehyde .... 2'76 



100 00 



Another experiment was attended with similar results, only 

 that the proportion of marsh-gas was somewhat greater. 



The result of this experiment may be considered to be given 

 in the equation C0„ -I- 2H„ = COH„ 4- H2O. I have reason to 

 believe that lormie aldehyde is al-o formed in the reaction of 

 hydrogen and carbonic oxide ; and that the marsh-gas found (in 

 both experiments) results from the decomposition of this sub- 

 stance, possibly according to the equation 2COH2 = C02■^CH4. 

 I do not now dwell upon this subject, as it is my intention very 

 speedily to lay before the Society, together with other matters, 

 the details of the various experiments which I have made in re- 

 ference to it. 



Geological Society Feb. 4. — His Grace the DuVe of Argyll, 

 K.T., F. K. S., president, in the chair. — The following communi- 

 cations were read : — "The Physical History of the Valley of the 

 Rhine," by Prof. A. C. Ramsay, LL. D., V. P. RS., vice-presi- 

 dent. The author first described the general physical characters 

 of the valley of the Rhine, and discussed some of the hypo- 

 theses which have been put forward to explam them. His own 

 opinion was that during portions of the Miocene epoch the 

 drainage through the great valley between the Schwarzwald and 

 the Vosges ran Irom the Devonian hills north of Mainz into the 

 area now occupied by the Miocene rocks of Switzerland. Then 

 after the physical disturbances which closed the Miocene epoch 

 in these regions the direction of the dramage was reversed, so 

 that after passing through the hill-country between the lake of 

 Constance and Basel, the river flowed along an elevated plain 

 formed of Miocene deposits, the remains of which still exist at 

 the sides of the valley between Basel and Mainz. At the same 

 time the Rhine flowed in a minor valley through the upland 

 country formed of Devonian rocks, which now constitute the 

 Taunus, the Hundsruck, and the highland lying towards Bonn, 

 and by the ordinary erosive action of the great river the gorge 

 was gradually formed and deepened to it", present level. In pro- 

 portion as the gorge deepened, the marly flat Miocene strata of 

 the area between Mainz and Basel were also in great part worn 

 away, leaving the existing plain, which presents a deceptive ap- 



pearance of having once been occupied by a great lake. — "On the 

 Correspondence between some Areas of Apparent Upheaval and 

 the Thickening o[ Subjacent Beds," by W. Topley, Geological 

 Survey of England. The author referred to many instances in 

 which beds have unequal development, being much thicker in 

 some places than in others ; and the main object of his paper 

 was to show that such thickening and thinning of beds has an 

 important effect in producing the apparent dip of overlying 

 beds. The thinning of any one bed may have an appreciable 

 effect in producing or increasing its own apparent dip ; but 

 where a whole series of beds thin constantly in one direction, 

 the amount of the dip of one of the higher beds, due to the sutii 

 of the thinnings of the underlying btds, is often very considerable. 

 It is generally supposed that the dip of any bed is due to great 

 movements of the earth's crust ; from the facts mentioned the 

 author argued that our inferences as to such movements will vary 

 according to the beds which happen to be exposed at the sur- 

 face. It is evident, from the faults intersecting strata, that 

 upheavals and disturbances have taken place ; but unless we 

 assume every bed to have been deposited on a perfectly hori- 

 zontal plane, we cannot infer the amount of such upheaval from 

 the present position of the bed. In all cases we must take into 

 account the actual or possible thinning of underlying beds. The 

 beds which support geological basins frequently thin towards the 

 centres of those basins, thus producing, wholly or in part, the 

 basined form of the strata. It was, however, shown that the 

 beds of the basins themselves frequently thicken towards the 

 centre of the basins. 



Anthropological Institute, Feb. 10.— Prof. Busk, F.R.S. , 

 president, in the chair. — The second part of the paper "Explo- 

 rations amongst ancient Burial Grounds, chiefly on the sea-coast 

 valleys of Peru," was read by the author, Mr. Consul Thomas J. 

 Hutchinson. The paper treated of the burial grounds from Lima 

 northwards, as did the former part of the paper on those from 

 Arica to Lima. Mr. Hutchinson described a burial place with 

 the Aymara name of Parara on the Oroya railroad at a station 

 called Chosica, and at an elevation of only 2, 750 feet above the 

 level of the sea, and so named from its grinding stones used for 

 bruising corn, numbers of which lie amongst the cenotaphs. 

 Those were said by Prof. Forbes to be used for cooking pur- 

 poses, because the Aymaras are stated to have occupied a part 

 of Peru of which the minimum elevation is 10,000 ft., and there- 

 fore where the boiling of water is a difficult matter to accom- 

 plish. The flattened and elongated skulls mentioned by Dr. 

 Tschudi and Prof Forbes were touched upon — an illustration of 

 one of these from an elevation of 10,000 ft: above the sea being 

 given. Mr. Hutchinson recommended a further and more exten- 

 sive exploration of the mounds and Huacas in Peru to illustrate 

 the rich treasures of archjeology with which that country abounds. 

 — A joint paper by Mr. Tyrwhitt Drake and Mr. A. W. Franks 

 was read, on skulls and implements from Palestine. 



Photographic Society, Feb. 10. —James Glaisher, F.R.S., 

 president, in the chair. — A special general meeting was held to 

 decide whether two new laws, previously proposed, .should be 

 adopted, or whether the Council's amendment to appoint a com- 

 mittee to revise the laws generally be accepted. The Council's 

 amendment was lost. The anniver<ary meeting of the Society 

 was held afterwards, when the balance-sheet, sho.ving an im- 

 proved financial position, and the report of the Council, were 

 read and adopted. The President and Council, interpreting 

 the rejection of their amendment as a vote of wan; of confidence, 

 then tendered their resignatiofis, which were accepted. 



Manchester 

 Literary and Philosophical Society, Jan. 19. — Micro- 

 scopical and Natural History Section. — Mr. Joseph Baxen- 

 dell, F.R.A.S, vice-president of the Section, in the chair. — 

 Mr. Joseph Sidebotham, F. R.A..S., read a paper no "The 

 similarity of certain Crystallised substances to Vegetable forms." 

 The author called attention to the formation of verdegris on 

 insect pins, in old Entomological collections. This substance 

 makes its appearance where the pins pass through the thorax of 

 the insects, and in length of time grows into a considerable mass 

 of flocculent matter, of a brilliant green colour, and often breaks 

 up the insects and also destroys the pins. It consists mainly of 

 acetate or formiate of copper in combination with fatty or oily 

 matter. On examination of various specimens under the micro- 

 scope, they were found to present a great variety of forms, 

 filamentous and ribbon-like structure, often resembling various 



