4o8 



NA TURE 



[August 27, 1896 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 

 Chemical Society, June i8. — Mr. A. C. X'criiun Harcourt, 

 I'resiclfiu, in tlie chair. — The following papers were read : — The 

 action of hromine on [linene with reference to the question of 

 its constitution; by VV. A. Tilden. The author experimentally 

 confirms his view that one molecule of pinene can combine 

 with four atoms of bromine, and proposes a new formula for the 

 hydrocarbon. — Preliminary note on some products from pinene 

 tetr.ibromide, by VV. A. Tilden and A. Nicholls. — An apparatus 

 for showing experiments with ozone, by G. S. Newth. The 

 author describes an apparatus for showing the action of reagents 

 on ozonised oxygen, the reagent being introduced in such a way 

 that the volume of the gas is not disturbed. — Note on santalal 

 and some of its derivatives, by A. C. Chapman and H. E. 

 Burgess. It is shown that cedrene and the hydrocarbon obtained 

 by the action of phosphorus pentoxide on santalal are very 

 similar but not identical. — Second note on the liberation of 

 chlorine during the heating of a mixture of potassic chlorate and 

 manganic peroxide, by H. .McLeod. The author confirms his 

 previous observation that the gas obtained by heating potassium 

 chlorate with manganese dioxide contains small quantities of 

 chlorine, but no ozone. — Polymorphism as an explanation of the 

 thermochemical peculiarities of chloral and bromal hydrates, by 

 VV. J. Pope. The fact that the heat of dissolution of chloral 

 hydrate is partly dependent on the length of time elapsing since 

 solidification, is shown to be due to a change in crystalline form 

 of the solid substance. — Explosion and detection of acetylene in 

 air, by F. Clowes. Mixtures of air with 3— Si per cent, of 

 acetylene are explosive ; the best method of estimating acetylene 

 in air is based on the examination of the change occurring in 

 a hydrogen flame when such air is passed over it. — On the 

 occurrence of quercitin in the outer skins of the bulb of the 

 onion (Allium Ccpa), by A. G. Perkin and J. J. Hummel. The 

 colouring matter present in the skin of the "onion bulb is shown 

 to be quercitin. — On the colouring matter contained in the bark 

 of Myriax iiagi, by A. c;. Perkin and J. J. Hummel. The bark 

 of Myriai iiagi contains a colouring matter Ci5H,„Og, which the 

 authors term myricetin ; it is probably a hydroxyquercitin. — 

 Preliminary note on a new base derived from camphoroxime, by 

 M. O. Forster. By treatment with methylic iodide, camphor- 

 oxime yields campholenonitrile together with the hydriodide of 

 a new tertiary base, C,.,HjgN ; a number of compounds of the 

 latter have been prepared. — The rotation of aspartic acid, by 

 B. M. C. Marshall.— Sj'nthesis of pentacarbon rings. Part iii. 

 Condensation of benzil with Ixvulic acid, by F. R. Japp and 

 T. S. Murray. Benzil and Icvvulic acid condense yielding two 

 isomeric anhydrobenzilkevulic or diphenylhydro.xycyclopenten- 

 onylacetic acids ; the derivatives and decomposition products of 

 these acids are described. — Absorption of dilute acids by silk, 

 by J. Walker and J. R, Appleyard.— Position-isomerism and 

 optical activity ; the methylic and ethylic salts of ortho-, meta-, 

 and para-ditoluyltartaric acid, by P. Frankland and F. M. 

 Wharton.— Double sulphides of gold and other metals, or the 

 action at a red heat of sulphur upon gold when alloyed with 

 other metals, by J. S. Maclaurin.— The relative weights of 

 gold and silver dissolved by potassium cyanide solutions from 

 alloys of these metals, by J. S. Maclaurin.— The three 

 chlorobenzeneazosalicylic acids, by J- T. Hewitt and H. E. 

 Stevenson. Ortho- and parachlorobenzeneazosalicylic acids 

 have been prepared by the action of diazotised chloraniline 

 solution on salicylic acid ; derivatives and salts of the three 

 isomerides are described.— Condensation of chloral with 

 resorcinol, by J. T. Hewitt and F. G. Pope. The condensation 

 of chloral and resorcinol yields a tetrahydroxydiphenylacetic 

 acid and its lactone. — The atomic weight of Japanese tellurium, 

 byMasumi Chikashige. The tellurium of which the atomic 

 weight has previously been determined has been obtained from 

 metallic tellurides ; if tellurium be a compound, as has been 

 suggested, that obtained from Japanese tellurosulphur should 

 have a diflerent atomic weight. The author finds, however, that 

 tellurium from the latter source has the same atomic weight as 

 that prepared from tellurides, and consequently concludes that 

 this element really has a greater atomic weight than iodine.— 

 Derivatives of camphene sulphonic acids, by A. Lapworth and 

 F. S. Kipping. The a- and ;8-chlorocamphenesulphonic 

 chlorides obtained during the sulphonation of camphor, and 

 their derivatives, are described.- lodoso- and iodoxv- 

 benzaldehydes, by \. Meyer and T. S. Patterson.— o-Isopropy'l- 

 glutaric acid, by VV. H. Perkin, jun.— The action of ethylic 

 NO. 1400, VOL. 54] 



/3-iodopropionate on the sodium derivative of ethylic isopropyl- 

 nialonate, by T. Z. Heinke and W. H. Perkin, jun. — The 

 condensation of halogen derivatives of fatty ethereal salts with 

 ketones and ketonic acids, by VV. H. Perkin, Jun., and T. F. 

 Thorpe. — The electrolysis of the salts of monhydroxy-acids, by 

 J. W. Walker. — The action of formic aldehyde on phenyl- 

 hydrazine, and on some hydrazones, by J. VV. Walker. — The 

 colouring matter of Sicilian sumach, Khiis coriariii, by A. G. 

 I'erkin and (J. \. Allen. The colouring matter of Sicilian 

 sumach is not quercitin or quercitrin, but myricetin. — The 

 colouring matter of Qucrbracho Colorado, by A. G. Perkin and 

 O. Gunnell. The colouring matter of querbracho is fisetin. — 

 On asitine, the alkaloid of Acoiiituiii luierophylhim, by 

 H. A. D. Jowett. Asitine is amorphous and non-toxic, and 

 probably has the composition C.mHjiNOo ; many of its salts are 

 described. — The action of methyl alcohol on aconitine. 

 Formation of methyl benzaconine, by VV. R. Dunstan, 

 T. Tickle, and D. H. Jackson. — The chemical inactivity of 

 Rdntgen rays, by H. B. Dixon and H. B. Baker. The authors 

 have investigated, with negative results, the question whether 

 Rontgen rays are able to influence chemical change, either by 

 starting it or by accelerating or diminishing it after it has been 

 started by ordinary light. — Colloidal chromsulphuric acid, by 

 H. T. Calvert and T. Ewan. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



Books. — The Theory of National and International Bibliography: F. 

 Campbell (Library Bureau). — Korly-third Report of the Department of 

 Science and Art (Eyre).— Durham College of Science, Calendar for Session 

 1896-7 (Reid). — Sixteenth Annual Report of the U.S Geological Survey, 

 Parts 2, 1, 4 (Washington).— The Boston Machinist : W. S. Fitzgerald, 4th 

 edition (Chapman).— Steel : W. Metcalf (Chapman).— A Guide to Cha- 

 monix, &c. : E. Whymper (Murray). — Accounts of Trade cairied by Rail 

 and River in India, 1804-5, &c. (C.-ilcutta).-City and Guilds of London 

 Institute, Programme of Technological Examinations, Session 1896-7 (Whit- 

 taker). — Signaletic Instructions, including the Theory and Practice of 

 .\nthropometrical Identitication : A. Bertillon, translated (Paul) —The 

 Indigenous Drugs of India : K. L. Dey, 2nd edition (Tharker).- L-hrbuch 

 der Experimental Phy.sik : Prof. E. Riecke, Zweiter Band (Leipzig, Veil). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Professor Ostwald on English and German Science 385 



Carl Vogt. P.y Dr. Henry de Varigny 386 



The Eastern Tian-Shan. By P. K 38S 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Stebbing : " Navigation and Nautical AsUonomy " . 389 

 Symons and VVallis : " The Distribution of Rain over 



the British Isles during the Year 1895 " 39° 



Letters to the Editor: — 



The Total Solar Eclipse of August 9, 1896, as observed 



in a Cloudless Sky at Bodo. — Dr. A. Brester, Jr. 390 

 Air Temperature during the Solar Eclipse. — Dr. Hugh 



Robert Mill 391 



The Positioniof Science at Oxford. — Prof. Geo. Fras. 



Fitzgerald, F.R.S 391 



On the Notation of Terrestrial Magnetic (Ju.inlities. — 



Dr. L. A. Bauer 391 



On "IluUite.''— Prof. Grenville A. J. Cole ... 391 

 Foreign Sn.ails in the VVesi Indies, —C. W. Branch 392 

 The Arctic Record of 1896. By Dr. Hugh Robert 



Mill .392 



Sir William Robert Grove. By Prof. A. Gray, 



F.R.S 393 



Professor Hubert A. Newton. By W. E. P. ... 394 

 The Eclipse of the Sun. I. (riliislralcl.) By J. 



Norman Lockyer, C.B., F.R.S 395 



Notes 400 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



Astronomical Constants 403 



Small Planet Observations 403 



Cycles of Solar Eclipses 404 



-Stars having Peculiar Spectra 404 



Comet Brooks ( I S89 v.), 1S96 404 



Contributions to the Anthropology of British 



India. By A. C. H 404 



Scientific Education in Germany and England. By 



Prof. W. Ostwald 405 



The Homogeneity of Argon and of Helium. By 

 Prof. W. Ramsay, F.R.S., and Dr. J. Norman 



Collie, F.R.S 40O 



University and Educational Intelligence 407 



Societies and Academies 40S 



Books Received 40S 



