TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 69 



years ago, while the calls upon the professor's time in conducting classes or looting 

 over examination papers have greatly augnientcd. Thus some of the most capable 

 men have been drawn away from the investigation of natm-e ; and in order to afford 

 them sufficient leisure for the purpose, means must be found to multiply the 

 number of the professorships in our various colleges. 



While the rudiments of science are being infused into our primary education, 

 now liappily becoming national, while pliysical science is gradually gaining a 

 footing in our secondary and our large public schools, and while it is winning 

 for itself an honoured place at our universities, it is to be hoped that many new in- 

 vestigators will arise, and that Britisli chemists will not fall behind in the upward 

 march .of discovery, but will continue hand in hand with their continental 

 bretliren thus to serve their own and future generations. 



Chemiccd Nomenclature. Bij Di'. A. Crtjm Bro^vn. 



This communication does not contain a proposal of a new nomenclature or of a 

 new system of nomenclature, but was intended as a contribution to that critical 

 examination of chemical names which, it may be hoped, will lead to the develop- 

 ment of a sins'le language, capable of expressing clearly, completely, and shortly 

 the actual relations of substances to one another, and anij theoretical speculations 

 which are, or may be, entertained by cliemists. 



Three difierent kinds of names at present used are considered : — 1st. Proper 

 names, i. e. names which, merely in virtue of a convention, represent particular sub- 

 stances. 2nd. Names which indicate the composition of the substances represented. 

 3rd. Names which indicate the relation of the substances to others, and which may 

 therefore be called functional names. In a functional nomenclature each substance 

 will have more than one name, as it has more than one relation to other substances; 

 but no confusion need result fronr this, as eacli name will be used in its owTi place, 

 when the relations implied in the name are treated of. 



On the Relative Power of Various Substances in preventing Putrefaction and 



the Development of Protoplasmic and Fungus Life, By Dr. F. Crace- 



Calvert, F.R.S., F.C.S., cj-c. 



To carry out this series of experiments, small test-tubes were thoroughly cleansed 

 and heated to dull redness. Into each was placed 26 grammes of a solution of 

 albumen containing one part of white of e^^g to four parts of pure distilled water, 

 prepared as described in my paper on protoplasmic life. To this was added one 

 thousandth, or '026 gramme, of each of the substances the action of which I desired 

 to study. The reasons why I employed one part in a thousand are twofold : — first, 

 the employment of larger proportions would, in some instances, have coagulated 

 the albumen ; secondly, it would have increased the difficulty of determining the re- 

 lative powers of the most efficacious antiseptics in preventing the development of 

 the germs of putrefaction or decay, as the period of time required would have ex- 

 tended over to twelve months. A drop was taken from each of the tubes, and exa- 

 mined under a microscope having a magnifying-power of 800 diameters. This 

 opej'ation was repeated daily for thirty-nine days, and from time to time for eighty 

 days. Tlie tubes were kept in a room the temperature of which did not vary more than 

 3°,' namely from 12°-5 C. to 15°-5 C, during the time these experiments lasted. 



In order to appreciate the influence of the antiseptics used, I examined two solu- 

 tions of pure albumen, one of which was kept in the laboratory, the other in the 

 open air. 



A marked difference was observed in the result, the solution kept outside becoming 

 impregnated with animal life in less than half the time required by the other, while 

 as many vibrios were developed in six days in the solution outside, as were deve- 

 loped in thirty days in the one in the laboratory. 



A summary of the results of the experiments is given in the following Table, in 

 which the substances are gTOuped according to their chemical nature. 



