606 



REPORT — 1894. 



acid, and will rekindle the oil-wick after the foul air has been left or passed 

 through. 



It is worthy of note that the proportion of carbonic acid which was extinctive 

 of any particular flame was independent of the size of the flame. 



Further, it was noticed that the wick-fed flames gradually diminished in size as 

 the proportion of carbonic acid in the air was increased ; this was evidently due to 

 the lowered temperature of the flame leading to a diminished supply of combus- 

 tible gas or vapour being produced from the combustible solid or liquid ; the flame 

 ultimately died because it was starved of fuel. The flames of gases fed from jets, 

 on the other hand, increased in size as the proportion of carbonic acid in the air 

 was increased. It appeared that the flame extended its surface in the air containino- 

 a diminished proportion of oxygen, in its endeavour to obtain the supply of oxygen 

 necessary for its combustion. This expansion of the flame lowered its temperature 

 ultimately below the kindling point of the gas, and the ilame was therefore extin- 

 guished by being cooled. The extinctive proportions of carbonic acid for diflferent 

 flames was therefore determined by the amount of oxygen required for combustion, 

 and by the extent to which the temperature of the flame in air surpassed the 

 kindling point of the combustible gas or vapour. 



Results obtained with Naked Flames, 



4. On some Experiments with Free Hydroxylamine. 

 By Dr. C. A. Lobry de Bruyn, Amsterdam. 



The President of this section, Professor H. Dixon, has invited me to give some 

 account of my researches concerning free hydroxylamine. In responding to this 

 friendly request, I only propose to show you some of the properties of this sub- 

 stance by some experiments, for the time at my disposal forbids a detailed treat- 

 ment of the subject ; moreover a paper, containing the results of the investigation, 

 Las been published in extenso, in the ' Eecueil des Travaux Ohimiques des Pays- 

 Bas.' 



In a few words I may remind you that the free base can be prepared in the 

 following way. The hydrochloric acid salt of the base is dissolved in absolute 

 methyl alcohol, the equivalent quantity of methylate of sodium is added, the 

 common salt which precipitates is filtered off, and the solution of the free base 

 concentrated by distillation at 100 or 200 mm. By fractionating the residue at the 

 pressure of 20 mm., the pure free base passes over at 58° as a crystallised substance 



