540 
NATURE 
[Oct. 1, 1885 
gases obey Boyle’s law exactly, the author gave a description of 
the apparatus he had employed in making such determinations, 
which allowed the use of considerable volumes of these gases. 
The results obtained show the ratio not to be exactly that of 
I vol. of oxygen to 2 vols. of hydrogen ; but the proportions are 
I : 17994 or I : 1°9935 ; or, if the impurity be supposed to exist 
in the oxygen alone, then the ratio is 1:1°996. The gases were 
examined as to their purity, the results indicating the presence 
of ‘2 c.c. to *3c.c. of foreign gas in the 450 c.c. used. 
In a communication entitled Ov Solutions of Ozone and the 
Chemical Action of Liquid Oxygen, Prof. Dewar gave a descrip- 
tion of the apparatus and method employed by him in the lique- 
faction of such gases as oxygen, &c., and after discussing the 
conditions required for the successful conversion into the liquid 
state of the so-called permanent gases, he gave an account of 
some experiments made with liquid oxygen. At —130° liquid 
oxygen loses the active characters possessed by this element in 
the gaseous state ; it is without action on phosphorus, sodium, 
potassium, solid sulphuretted hydrogen, and solid hydriodic acid. 
Other substances appear to undergo similar changes at very low 
temperatures ; thus liquid ethylene and solid bromine may be 
brought in contact without any action taking place, whereas 
gaseous ethylene and liquid bromine unite directly at the ordinary 
temperatures. Hautefeuille and Chapuis by subjecting a mixture 
of carbonic anhydride and ozone to great pressure obtained a 
blue liquid, the colour of which is due to the ozone. If ozonised 
air be passed into carbon disulphide at — 100°, the liquid assumes 
a blue colour, which disappears if the temperature be allowed 
to rise, and at a certain point a decomposition, resulting in the 
production of sulphur, takes place. The best solvent for ozone 
is a mixture of silicon tetrafluoride and Russian petroleum. 
These solutions of ozone are without action on metallic mercury 
or silver. Prof. Dewar, in remarking on the liquefaction of 
nitric oxide, stated that a comparison of its curve of liquefaction 
with that of methane shows the pressure to increase more rapidly 
with the temperature in the case of nitric oxide than in other 
gases, a fact which would appear to indicate, that at low tem- 
peratures the molecule of nitric oxide is of greater complexity, 
and probably exists as N.O,. An account was given of some of 
Cailletet’s experiments on the electrical conductivity at low tem- 
peratures, which seemed to indicate that as the limit — 220° was 
approached ordinary electrical conductors become almost perfect 
conductors. 
On the use of Sodium or other Soluble Aluminates for Softenin: 
and Purifying Hard and Impure Water, and Deodsrising and 
Precipitating Sewage, Waste Water from Factories, &c., by F. 
Maxwell Lyte, F.C.S., F.I.C.—The advantages attending the 
use of sodium or other soluble aluminates for the above purposes 
are dependent upon their easy decomposition with the produc- 
tion of a precipitate of hydrated alumina, which removes 
organic matter, and further by their use the temporary hardness 
may be completely destroyed, and the permanent hardness 
reduced. 
Some New Crystallised Combinations of Copper, Zinz, and [ron 
Sulphates, by J. Spiller, F.C.S.—The author gave an account 
of the preparation of a large series of double sulphates of copper 
and iron, zine and iron, and copper and zinc. 
In a communication on Barium Sulphate as a Cementing 
Material for Sandstone Prof. Clowes pointed out that, although 
Bischof mentioned instances of foreign sandstones in which the 
material cementing the sand grains together was barium 
sulphate, it appeared that up to the present time no such sand- 
stone had been met with in the United Kingdom. Having 
learned that opinions differed regarding the calcareous nature of 
certain new red sandstone beds in the neighbourhood of 
Nottingham, he undertook to examine the chemical composition 
of these sandstones, and procured specimens of the sandstone 
from different levels. On being analysed, the sandstone was 
found to contain barium sulphate in varying proportions, at 
present being determined, while some of the lower beds also 
contained calcium carbonate. In some of the sandstone beds 
the barium sulphate was very unequally distributed, forming a 
network or a series of small masses more or less spherical in 
shape. In such sandstone the sand grains between the sulphate 
streaks and patches were quite loose, the result being that the 
weathered surface presented a honeycombed appearance. To 
explain the presence of the barium sulphate he suggested that it 
might have been deposited along with the sand ; but if such had 
been the case it had certainly undergone a physical change, as it 
now existed in a firm, compact, and crystalline condition. It 
would, therefore, appear that it had been either deposited from 
aqueous solution or that it had been rendered crystalline by a 
slow percolation of a solvent liquid through the sedimentary 
deposit, or owed its origin to the action of water containing 
calcium sulphate passing through sandstone cemented originally 
with barium carbonate. 
NOTES 
BoTAnists will learn with very great regret of the death of 
Mr. Edmond Boissier, the learned and indefatigable author of 
the ‘‘ Flora Orientalis,” and many other important works on 
Systematic Botany. We have received no particulars, but we 
imagine his death must have been somewhat sudden, for the 
event was quite unexpected by his friends in this country. As 
recently as the month of August Prof. Oliver heard from him, 
the communication relating to the Supplements to the ‘‘ Flora 
Orientalis,” on which the deceased botanist has been for some 
time engaged, and in which he wished to incorporate the 
botanical results of Dr. Aitchison’s latest investigations in 
Afghanistan. Boissier’s career as a botanist may be said to 
have commenced with his travels in Spain in 1837, when he 
collected the materials published in his ‘‘ Voyage Botanique 
dans I’Espagne,” a richly illustrated work which appeared at 
intervals from 1839 to 1845. He subsequently travelled and 
botanically explored various parts of South-eastern Europe and 
Asia Minor. Independently of his larger works he pub- 
lished, separately, diagnoses of the exceedingly large number of 
undescribed species he found from within the limits of his 
«Flora Orientalis,” the first volume of which appeared in 1867, 
and the last in 1881. This work alone is sufficient to place the 
author in the first rank of a school of distinguished systematists, 
now alas fast disappearing without leaving a corresponding 
rising generation to take up the work where they have left it. 
Like the late Mr. Bentham, M. Boissier was in a position to 
give his undivided attention to the science he had chosen, and 
like him he laboured unceasingly ; and it is to be hoped that 
the supplement to the ‘‘Flora Orientalis” is in a sufficiently 
forward state for publication. Among other things the vast 
genus Luphorbia furnished materials for several valuable 
works, including a monograph of all the species, and a folio 
volume containing figures of 120 species. Mr, Edmond 
Boissier was a Foreign Member of the Linnean Society, having 
been elected in 1860; and from his constant readiness to give 
others the benefit of his extensive knowledge, he enjoyed the 
esteem and admiration of a wide circle of botanists. 
THE death is announced, at the age of seventy-eight years, of 
Mr. John Muirhead, one of the very few survivors of the early 
days of telegraphy, and closely connected with its practical 
development. Mr. Muirhead, in conjunction with Mr. Latimer 
Clark and Mr. W. M. Warden, of Birmingham, founded the 
house now known «as Latimer Clark, Muirhead, and Co., more 
than a quarter of a century ago. It was from this manufactory 
that Mr. Muirhead introduced the form of battery which bears 
his name, a form so eminently portable and practical that it has 
become the model for most of the existing batteries, while con- 
tinuing itself to be largely employed. 
A Times telegram dated Philadelphia, September 27, states 
that the President of the United States has asked Prof. Alexander 
Agassiz to accept the post of Superintendent of the Coast 
Survey. 
A REMARKABLE memoir on the development of the sternum 
in birds, prepared by Miss Beatrice Lindsay, of Girton College, 
and communicated to the Zoological Society of London by Dr. 
H. Gadow at their meeting on June 16 last, will appear in the 
forthcoming number of the Society’s Proceedings. Miss Lindsay, 
