August 19, 1909] 



NA TURE 



239 



the depression of the freezing point of a strong solution 

 of calcium chloride is more than five times as great as 

 that calculated from the number of ions present in the 

 solution. Each ion appears to appropriate no less than 

 9 molecules of water. The factor a = 9 gives a very good 

 approximation to the freezing-point curve, as far as the 

 uncertainty of the data permit. When N = ai», the vapour- 

 pressure would be reduced to zero, according to the 

 formula, but the formula ceases to apply when the vapour- 

 pressure of the compound molecules themselves becomes 

 equal to that of the solution. At or before this point the 

 molecules will dissociate with the formation of lower 

 hydrates. Many analogous phenomena are already known, 

 and a more complete study of the vapour-pressures of 

 strong solutions may be expected to throw additional light 

 on the subject. 



The essential point of the theory here sketched is that 

 the equilibrium existing in a solution is one between 

 definite chemical compounds and the solvent, giving rise 

 to a simple vapour-pressure relation by means of which 

 the phenomena may be studied and elucidated. There is a 

 great deal of work to be done before such a theory can 

 be regarded as established, but in the meantime it may 

 serve very well as a working hypothesis for correlating 

 experimental results and suggesting new lines of investi- 

 gation. Regarded in this light, the vapour-pressure theory 

 may serve a useful purpose, and, judging by the experi- 

 mental data at present available, I think I may fairly 

 claim to have made out a good friina-facie case for the 

 theory. 



Note. — The vapour-current indicator is a development 

 of the old smoke-jack. A light spiral vane with a mirror 

 attached is suspended in a tube, which nearly fits it, by 

 means of a quartz fibre. Joule (Proc. Phil. Soc, Man- 

 chester, vii., 3^) employed a wire spiral suspended by a 

 silk fibre for indicating air currents, but does not seem 

 to have adapted it for purposes of exact measurement. 

 The instrument shown in the lecture gave a deflection of 

 30° (500 mm. at i metre) for a velocity of air current 

 o.oi cm. /sec. The sensitiveness might easily have been 

 increased, but the above amply suffices for most purposes. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Reuter's .Agency states that the Hong Kong and 

 Shanghai Bank has made a donation of about 4500/. to 

 the Hong Kong University. 



Prof. W. Osler, F.R.S., will deliver the inaugural 

 address of the winter session of the London School of 

 Tropical Medicine on Tuesday, October 26. 



Mr. W. H. H.\dow, fellow and tutor of Worcester 

 College, Oxford, has been appointed principal of Arm- 

 strong College of Durham University at Newcastle-on- 

 Tyne, in succession to Sir Isambard Owen, who has 

 accepted the Vice-Chancellorship of Bristol University. 



We learn from Science that the College of Agriculture 

 of the University of the Philippines, situated at Los Banos, 

 opened on June 14 last with about sixty students. Prof. 

 E. B. Copeland is dean and professor in botany ; Prof. 

 H. Cuzner, professor of agronomy ; Prof. E. M. Ledyard, 

 professor of zoology; and Prof. S. B. Durham, professor 

 of animal husbandry. 



A correspondent asks us to mention that a man with 

 a science training and degree is wanted for a vacant post 

 in an advanced mission college in South China. The 

 Chinese are eager to acquire the secrets of Western 

 power, and a teacher with the science qualifications re- 

 quired would have a fine opportunity of assisting to make 

 history in that great land. 



We learn from the Pioneer Mail that on July 14 the 

 Governor of Madras opened a new agricultural college 

 and research institute at Coimbatore. The building is 

 designed both for teaching and research work. A special 

 set of rooms is set apart for chemistry, botany, entomo- 

 logy, and mycology. A physical laboratory is provided, as 

 well as ample accommodation for the Madras herbarium 



NO. 2077, VOL. 81] 



and a library. The cost of the new institution, including 

 the surrounding farm, has been eight lakhs. The 

 Governor, during the course of his remarks, said that as 

 the demands of scientific agriculture grow and the 

 necessity for expansion arises, the Government will not 

 hesitate to increase the capacity of the institution. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Paris. 



Acaaemy of Scien-es, Auj;ust 9. — M. Bouquet de U 

 Grye in the chair.— The thermal effects of moistening 

 soils : A. Muntz and H. Gaudechon. Certain dry soils, 

 when moistened, give out an appreciable amount of heat, 

 and it is possible that this thermal phenomenon may have 

 an effect on the growth of plants. Measurements with 

 different soils gave an evolution of heat varying from 09 

 to 6-6 calories per kilogram, and a systematic levigation 

 showed that the finest particles caused nearly all the heat 

 evolution. — Magneto-anodic phenomena : M. Gouy. The 

 phenomenon described accords to a certain extent with the 

 theory of M. Fortin, which regards the magneto-kathode 

 rays as formed of spirals of electrons. — Discontinuous 

 singularities of uniform analytical functions : A. Denjoy. 

 — Tides and the crust and the elasticity of the terrestrial 

 globe : Ch. Lallemand. The author has shown in a 

 previous note that the principal modes of determination 

 of the rigidity of the globe lead to different results. The 

 theory developed in the present paper removes this anomaly. 

 — The different species of asymmetrical intensities, observed 

 for the magnetic components, polarised circularly, of the 

 absorption bands of uniaxial crystals : Jean Becquerel. 

 —The decomposition of carbon dioxide by the ultra-violet 

 rays : H. Herchefinkel. The decomposition of carbon 

 dioxide into oxygen and carbon monoxide by the action 

 of the ultra-violet rays has been proved ; a similar result 

 has been obtained with the radium emanation, confirming 

 the observations of Ramsay and Cameron. — The inter- 

 vention of osmotic pressure in dyeing : M. Rosenstiehl. 

 — A method for the rapid estimation of metallic aluminium : 

 E. Kohn-Abrest. The metal is heated to 300° C. first in 

 hydrogen, and then in pure hydrochloric acid gas, followed 

 again by hydrogen. The aluminium is volatilised as 

 chloride, and the metal determined indirectly by a deter- 

 mination of the chlorine. — .Attempts at benzidination_ in 

 the diphenvl, diphenylamine, and diphenylethane series : 

 H. Duval.— The ethyl acetal of tetrolic aldehyde: P. L. 

 Vig-uer. Dibromo butyric aldehyde was obtained by the 

 addition of bromine to crotonaldehyde ; the application of 

 Claisen's method to this aldehyde gave, not the tetrolic 

 aldehyde desired, but its ethyl, acetal. — Some parasitic 

 diseases of Cin)minomiim ocylaniaini of Ceylon : D. Bois 

 and C. Ocrber.— Vaccination of cattle against tuberculosis : 

 M. Rappin. The bacilli used in these injections were 

 modified by the action of sodium fluoride ; it has been 

 shown that the resistance of the animal to tuberculous 

 infection is increased by the treatment almost to the point 

 of immunisation. — The glucoses of the urine : F. 

 Landolph. Each species of glucosuria or diabetes corre- 

 sponds, in the urine, to the presence of mixtures of 

 several kinds of sugars, and it may be supposed that these 

 differences correspond to diseases of different organs. — The 

 preservation and increase of digestibility of distillery pulps 

 and of green ensilage by a rational fermentation by inocul.-i- 

 tion : j. Crolbois. — The suprarenal capsules and their 

 exchanges between the blood and tissues ; J. Athanasiu 

 and A. Gradinesco. The experiments on a dog and a 

 cat described lead to the conclusion that the death of 

 animals deprived of the suprarenal capsules is due to the 

 arrest of the exchanges between the blood and the tissues. 

 — Contribution to the study of urinary indosis in diabetic 

 subiects : H. Labbe and G. Vitry. — The variation of an 

 oxidising enzyme during metamorphosis in Limnophihts 

 tlaviiOftiis : Xavier Roques. 



Cape Town. 



Royal Society "f South Africa, Tune 16 — Dr. R. 

 Marloth in the chair. — Some points in the morphology and 

 biology of a new species of Haworthia : Dr. S. SchSn- 

 land. The author gives a full description of the only 

 species of Haworthia with strictly distichous arrangement 



