Oct. 1, 1885] 
NATURE 
9/9) 
7 
tantamount to not assigning it any particular name at all. 
Although from their number and complexity, organic bodies can 
only be designated by names which do in some measure describe 
and characterise them, the primary purpose of a name is un- 
doubtedly to designate, and not to describe. Accordingly, with 
a view to the prompt mental association of object with name, 
brief empiric names, based on the origin and properties of 
bodies, are, wherever practicable, to be preferred to structural 
names. As regards isomeric bodies, they may to a large extent 
be advantageously distinguished from one another by means of 
significant letters or syllables prefixed to the name common to 
the different isomers. But the suggested use of the particular 
letters a, B, y, each in a special sense ; also a general resort to 
the particles hydro-, oxi-, and hydroxi- as name-components ; 
and, more especially, the innovation of substituting the word 
**hydroxide” for the long-established word ‘‘hydrate”’ are 
practices open to grave objection. 
The Periodic Law, as Wlustvated by certain Physical Proper- 
ties of Organic Compounds, by Prof. Thos. Carnelley, D.Sc.—In 
this paper the author shows that the physical properties of the 
normal halogen and alkyl compounds of the hydrocarbon radi- 
eals exhibit numerous relationships, which, with one exception, 
are similar to those which he has shown to exist between the 
normal halogen or the alkyl compounds of the elements. It 
appears that the physical properties of the following four classes 
of compounds obey the same rules:—(1) The halogen com- 
pounds of the elements—z.e. of elements with elements. (2) 
The alkyl compounds of the elements. (3) The halogen com- 
pounds of the hydrocarbon radicals. (4) The alkyl compounds 
of the hydrocarbon radicals—z.e. of hydrocarbon radicals with 
hydrocarbon radicals. The relationships referred to have been 
tested in no less than 6117 cases, 5 per cent. only of which are 
exceptions. 
Suevestions as to the Cause of the Periodic Law, and the Nature 
of the Chemical Elements, by Prof. Thos. Carnelley, D.Sc.—The 
truth of the periodic law of the chemical elements is now gener- 
ally allowed by most chemists. Nevertheless, but little has 
been done towards attaining a reasonable explanation of the law. 
The object of this paper, therefore, is to offer a few suggestions 
on this subject. Granting the truth of the periodic law, we 
cannot help theorising as to its cause, and thence by a natural 
step as to the nature of the elements themselves. Even long 
before the discovery of the law many chemists had pointed out 
certain numerical relationships existing between the atomic 
weights of bodies belonging to a given group, and had hence 
supposed that the elements belonging to the several natural 
groups were not primary, but were made up of two or more 
simpler elements. These conclusions, however, were more or 
less fragmentary, and referred only to particular groups of | 
elements. In the light of the periodic law the author has made 
a general extension of the fragmentary conclusions of Dumas, 
and has brought that law into juxtaposition with an extended 
generalisation of the analogy of the elements with the hydro- 
carbon radicals. His conclusions are based on the relationships 
which he has observed to obtain between certain physical pro- 
perties and the atomic weights of the elements, and those of 
their compounds (see previous paper). A careful consideration 
of the points submitted leads almost irresistibly to the conclusion 
that the elements are analogous to the hydrocarbon radicals in 
both form and function. ‘This is a conclusion which, if true, 
would further lead us to infer that the elements are not ele- 
ments in the strict sense of the term, but are built up of (at 
least) two primary elements, A (= carbon at. wt. 12), and B 
(ether at. wt. —2), which by their combination produce a 
series of compounds (viz. our present elements), which are 
analogous to the hydrocarbon radicals. If the above theory of 
the constitution of the elements be true, the periodic law would 
follow as a matter of course, and we should therefore be able to 
represent the elements by some such general formula as 
Ay Bon+(2-xj, analogous to that for the hydrocarbon radicals, 
Cy Hen+(e-x), In which #=the series, and x the group to which 
the element or hydrocarbon radical belongs.! Assuming the 
truth of the theory here advanced, it is ‘interesting to observe, 
that whereas the hydrocarbons are compounds of carbon and 
hydrogen, the chemical elements would be compounds of carbon 
with ether, the two sets of bodies being generated in an exactly 
analogous manner from their respective elements. There would 
™ Cf. Abney’s researches on the infra-red absorption spectra of carbon 
compounds (Prac. Roy. Soc., 31, 416). also the article on the Decomposition 
of Didymium by Welsbach in Nature, vol. xxvii. p 435. 
hence be three primitive elements—viz., carbon, hydrogen, and 
ether. Finally, it may be stated that this theory would remove 
the chief objections which have been urged against the periodic 
law, whilst the existence of elements of identical atomic weights 
and isomeric with one another would be possible. May not 
Ni and Co, Ru and Rh, Os and Ir, and some of the rare earth 
metals be isomers in this sense ? 
The Value of the Refraction Goniometer in Chemical Work, 
by Dr. J. H. Gladstone, F.R.S.—The principal points illus- 
trated and enforced in this communication were (1) that the 
index of refraction and length of spectrum are important physical 
properties of any substance ; (2) the specific refraction and specific 
dispersion may be serviceable : (@) in determining the purity of 
a substance, (6) in the analysis of such a mixture as ethyl and 
methyl alcohols, (c) as a guide in the investigation of organic 
compounds, (@) as arbiter between rival views as to the consti- 
tution and structure of particular chemical compounds. 
Refraction of Fluorine, by G. Gladstone.—From a comparison 
of the observations on fluorspar, cryolite, and several artificial 
fluorine compounds, the author shows the refraction equivalent 
of fluorine to range from 0°3 to 0°8, the mean of the whole series 
of determination being 0°6. Thus, taking the highest estimate, 
the specific refraction of this element is scarcely equal to half 
that of any other substance. 
Note on the Conditions of the Development and of the Activity 
of Chlorophyll, by Prof. Gilbert, LL.D., F.R.S.—An account of 
some experiments made in conjunction with Dr. W. J. Russell, 
which show a close connection to exist between the formation 
of chlorophyll and the amount of nitrogen assimilated by 
plants ; the amount of carbon assimilated is not, however, in 
proportion to the chlorophyll formed, unless a sufficiency of 
mine:al substances, required by the plants, is available. In 
cases where both nitrogenous and mineral manures were applied 
a lower proportion of nitrogen assimilated and chlorophyll 
formed over a given area was observed, which is no doubt due 
to the greater assimilation of carbon and consequent greater 
formation of non-nitrogenous substances, although the amounts 
of nitrogen assimilated and chlorophyll formed were as great, if 
not greater. . 
On the Action of Sodium Alcoholates on Fumaric and Maleic 
Ethers, by Prot. Pardie, Ph.D., B.Sc.—By the action of sodinm 
methylate on ethylic fumarate, methylic methoxysuccinate is formed, 
from which methoxysuccinic acid can be obtained, a crystalline 
solid melting at 1or°—103°; this same acid is obtained from the 
products of the reaction of sodium methylate on etaylic maleate 
or hydric methylic maleate, Similarly an ethoxysuccinic acid is 
obtained by the action of sodium ethylate on ethylic fumarate, 
also by its action on Aydric ethylic maleate. Thus fumaric and 
maleic acids yield alkyloxy-succinic acids, which are identical 
with one another, or, if not identical, resemble one another so 
closely that their isomerism must be of the same character as 
that of substances which differ from one another only in their 
optical and crystallographic characters. 
On Sulphine Salts derived from Ethylene Sulphide, by Orme 
Masson, M.A., D.Sc. (Edin,).—Ethylene sulphide, when heated 
at 160°, is converted into diethylene sulphide S(C,H,),S, an 
ethereal solution of which, when mixed with methyl iodide, 
unites with the latter to form diethylene sulphide methyl sulphine 
todide S(CyH4),S.C Hal, which is a crystalline compound soluble 
in water, but insoluble in alcohol or ether. From this compound 
a series of the saw/phime salts have been prepared, which resemble 
the salts of trimethyl sulphine in their behaviour when heated, 
but differing from these compounds in the ease with which they 
are decomposed by caustic alkalis with the formation of diethy/- 
ene sulphide methyl sulphine hydroxide (CzH4)95,CH30H. The 
compounds obtained by Dehn (Azalen, Supp. iv. 83) by heat- 
ing together ethyl sulphide, ethylene bromide, and water to- 
gether in sealed tubes, and styled ‘‘sulphinic salts” by him, 
were, in all probability, dimethylene sulphine-methyl-sulphine 
derivatives. 
On an apparently new Hydrocarbon from Distilled Fapanese 
Petroleum, by Dr. Divers and T. Nakamura,—A description of 
a yellow solid hydrocarbon found amongst the final products of 
the distillation of the petroleum from the wells at Sagara. The 
hydrocarbon melts at 280°-285°, and has a composition expressed 
by the formula (C,Hs),. 
The Composition of Water by Volume, by Dr. A. Scott, M.A., 
D.Sc.—After pointing out the desirability of renewed deter- 
minations of the exact proportions in which hydrogen and 
oxygen combine with one another, inasmuch as neither of these 
