26o 



NA TUKE 



[July i6, 1896 



of hydrogen, for in the best case the weight of the globe was 

 600 times the weight of the hydrogen contained in it. The 

 great advantage, however, to be gained from this method is the 

 alisence of any error introduced by mercury vapour, for it would 

 have no effect on the weight of the hydrogen, and the voUime 

 and pressure of the residual mercury vapour are far too small 

 to influence results. Dr. Morley has given especial attention to 

 this method, and has brought it tea very great pitch of accuracy. 



The palladium was placed in a tube which could be connected 

 with the apparatus by a ground-glass joint. When the palladium 

 was charged with hydrogen the tube was weighed. Connection 

 being now made, a fusible metal plug, which took the place of 

 a stop-cock, was melted, and the hydrogen passed into the 

 globes. The lube was afterwards weighed, the difference giving 

 the weight of hydrogen, usually about 37 grammes. This was 

 found sufficient to fill three globes. 



The mean of eight results in one series is 

 D 



1 + '0000049. 

 The mean of four results in a second series is 



D = -089880 ± -0000088. 

 The mean of eleven results with a new apparatus, 



D = -089866 ± -0000034. 



Dr. Morley gives as his final result for the weight of one litre 

 of hydrogen under standard conditions, 



-089S73 ± -0000027 pr- 



The third part of the paper deals with the determination of 

 the volumetric composition of water. The electrolytic gas was 

 produced in a voltameter, whose loss of weight gave the weight 

 of gas used. This gas was admitted into globes of known 

 volume, plunged in ice, where its pressure was measured. From 

 these it was transferred to an eudiometer and exploded. The weight 

 of gas usually dealt with was about 23 grammes. The explosion 

 of the gases was carried on in a eudiometer, where all but i/iooth 

 or i/ioooth part of the gas could be exploded out of contact 

 with mercury. In all Dr. Morley's results he found excess of 

 hydrogen, due to secondary reactions in the voltameter. 



The mean value determined by ten experiments of the ratio of 

 the excess of hydrogen to the whole combined volume of 

 hydrogen and oxygen is -000293. This value x 3 = -00088 

 gives a correction to be applied to the ratio of hydrogen and 

 oxygen, in order to obtain the ratio of volumes of hydrogen 

 and oxygen that would combine without residue. 



The mean of the ten experiments gives the value of the density 

 of the electrolytic gas as 



= '53551° ± -ooooio. 

 In calculating the ratio of combining volumes. Dr. Morley takes 

 into account the deviation of the mixed gases from the density 

 computed by Boyle's law, and also the values of the constant a 

 in Van der Vaals's equation. He obtains the ratio of mixture to 

 be 2-000357, which, corrected for known excess of hydrogen, 

 gives ratio of combining volumes to be 



2-00269. 



The fourth and last portion of the experimental portion of the 

 paper deals with the syntheses of water from weighed quantities 

 cjf oxygen and hydrogen. The hydrogen was weighed, absorbed 

 by palladium, the oxygen weighed in a globe, and the two were 

 combined together in a combustion apparatus, whose gain in 

 weight gave the weight of water produced. The quantity of 

 hydrogen used was about 42 or 43 litres -, the measured residue 

 of uncombined gas varied from i/iooth to l/io,oooth of quantity 

 concerned. The combustion apparatus was plunged in water 

 during the union of the two gases, in order to keep it cool. 

 This process took about one and a half hours, and was carried on 

 as far as possible. The remaining gas in the various parts of 

 the apparatus was pumped out and analysed, the combustion 

 apparatus being kept in a freezing mixture, to keep as low as 

 possible the \apour pressure of the water. The rest of the 

 process needs no description. 



As regards two possible sources of error which have been 

 suggested. Dr. Morley proved conclusively that his hydrogen 

 from palladium contained no water, and that his phosphorus 

 pentoxide absorbed no oxygen. 



.^s the mean of twelve experiments. Dr. Morley gives the 

 atomic weight of oxygen to be very nearly 

 15-879. 



NO. 1 394, VOL. 54] 



In collating all the results of his experiments, Dr. Morley 

 gives the following values : 



Weight of one litre of oxygen ... ... ... 1-42900 



Weight of one litre of hydrogen ... ... 0-0S9873 



Atomic weight of oxygen (chemical method) ... 15-879 



Molecular weight of water (chemical method)... 15-879 



Atomic weight of oxygen (physical method) ... 15-879 



The probable accuracy of Dr. Morley's work appears to be 

 exceedingly high, for he has in several cases spent especial trouble 

 and time in eliminating hitherto constant sources of error. The 

 extremely ingenious forms of apparatus he used for his many 

 determinations are especially worthy of remark ; and these, 

 together with the extraordinary care bestowed in their use, 

 combine to make the whole rank among the finest investigations, 

 of modern science. E. C. C. Baly. 



SCIENCE IN THE MAGAZINES. 



'T''HE relation of complexion to disease is discussed by Dr. 

 ■*• John Beddoe, F.R.S., in the course of a paper in 

 Science Progress. Baxter's great work on the medical statistics 

 of the Civil War contains evidence as to the greater liability 

 of blonds to certain classes of disease (in America at least). It 

 follows from this that the blonds in America have less chance 

 than the brunets of contributing their due proportion to the 

 next generation, and therefore the blonds ought to diminish 

 relatively, and the brunets to increase. 



As bearing upon this, it appears that of accepted soldiers 

 from among the white natives of the United States, 66 per 

 cent, were light and 34 dark complexioned, but the proportion 

 for English, Irish, and Germans is 70 to 30. Thus, Dr. Beddoe 

 points out, the men of American birth yielded a larger propor- 

 tion of brunets than those of any of the nations that had con- 

 tributed to their ancestry, which is nearly equivalent to saying 

 that the Americans are more generally dark complexioned than 

 their ancestors were. Statistics as to the colours of school 

 children of Germany, Austria, .Switzerland, and Belgium, and 

 of adults in Italy and the British Isles, seem to furnish sufiicient 

 evidence that in a great part of Europe the citizens are darker 

 than the peasantry. Why the blond type should be more sus- 

 ceptible than the brown to the malign influences of urban life is 

 a difficult question to decide. 



Other articles in Science Progress are : — " Prehistoric Man in 

 the Eastern Mediterranean," by Mr. J. L. Myres ; " The Grap- 

 tolites," by Mr. J. E. Marr ; "Insular Floras," by Mr. W. B. 

 Henisley ; and " Recent Discoveries in Avian Palaeontology, " 

 by Mr. C. W. Andrews. 



There are several articles in the Contemporary to which at- 

 tention may be directed here. Mr. Phil Robinson describes 

 "The First Nest of a Rookery," in a pleasantly-written paper, 

 but the interpretations of his observations are made too much 

 from the humanistic point of view. Dr. Lennox Browne attacks 

 " The Antitoxin Treatment of Diphtheria," his criticism being 

 based mainly upon the Report of the Metropolitan Asylums 

 Board, summarised in these columns in -April last (vol. liii. 

 p. 524). He claims that the mortality of cases treated by anti- 

 toxin at the London hospitals in 1895 is but a trifle lower than 

 that of the previous year, and is in excess of what has been 

 obtained in individual hospitals of the series whence the Report 

 is issued ; and, also, that this improvement has not been due to 

 the serum treatment, but rather to increased vigilance and nursing 

 care. Some " Girls' Technical Schools on the Continent" are 

 described by Marion Mulhall. The article shows how the 

 technical instruction of girls now takes a front rank in the cares 

 and duties of many municipal authorities in Holland, Belgium, 

 Germany and Austria. 



Sir W. .\L Conway de.scribes in Scrihner his walk of " A 

 Thousand .Miles through the Alps," and concludes his narrative 

 with a comparison between Switzerland and the Tyrol from a 

 traveller's point of view, much to the advantage of the latter. 

 He says, and there are many ready to corroborate his 

 statements, " Whereas travel in Switzerland is exploited by 

 hotel-keepers and organised in their interests, the Tyrol is, 

 through the agency of the powerful German and -Austrian Alpine 

 Club, organised by travellers themselves in their own interests. 

 In Switzerland, traps are laid for the tourist's francs ; in the 

 Tyrol, every effort is made to spare his pocket." The Tyrol is 

 far ahead of Switzerland in climber's food, in mountain huts, 



