TEANSACTIONS OF SECTION B. 679 



2. Report of the Committee on the Influence of the Silent Disclarge of 

 Electricity on Oxygen and other Gases. — See Reports, p. 263. 



3. Report of the Committee appointed to consider the best method of Esta- 



blishing an International Standard for the Analysis of Iron and Steel. — 

 See Reports, p. 18G. 



4. Notes on the Molec^dar Refraction and Dispersion of (a.) Metallic 



Carbonyls, (b) Indinri and Gallium, (c) Sulphur. By Dr. J. H. 

 Gladstone, F.R.S. 



The author had examined a specimen of iron pentacartonyl prepared hy 

 Ludwig Mond, which gave the molecular refraction of 67'33 for the line A, and 

 70-85 for the hne e. It is therefore, like the nickel tetracarbonyl, a very 

 refractive and extremely dispersive substance. He gave reasons for thinking that 

 the metals in these two substances had not any abnormal valency, that the car- 

 bonyls have a ring formula, and that each CO in the iron compound has the high 

 refraction of 11 '2. 



The refraction equivalents of indium and gallium had been previously deter- 

 mined from the observations of Soret upon alums of these metals. Soret, however, 

 has since published additional observations, especially upon gallium alums. From 

 these the atomic refraction of gallium was calculated at 11-6, and of indium at 

 1 3-7, which the author wished to substitute for his previous figures. 



The refraction of sulphur had been determined by various observers in a solid, 

 liquid, and gaseous condition, dissolved in carbon bisulphide, and in chemical 

 combination with carbon and chlorine. Tliese all gave nearly the same atomic 

 lefraction for the line D, viz., about 16-3 ; the sulphur dissolved in carbon bisul- 

 phide was the lowest, viz., 16-0, as determined both by Nasini and the author. 

 The atomic dispersion of sulphur between a and G of the spectrum, whether 

 dissolved in carbon bisulphide or in actual combination with the carbon, was the 

 same, viz., 1-8. In more complicated organic compounds the atomic refraction and 

 dispersion are generally smaller. 



5. The Effect of Small Quantities of Foreign Matter on the Properties of 



Metals. By Professor W. C. Roberts-Austen, F.R.S. 



6. Researches on Diffusion. By Dr. Svante Arrhenius. 



7. The Transpiration of Hydrogen through Palladium. 

 By Professor W! Ramsat, F.R.S. 



TUESDAY, AUGUST 9. 

 The following Papers and Reports were read : — 



1. The Impurities of Town Air. By G. H. Bailey, D.Sc, Ph.D. 



During the past twelve months the Air Analysis Committee of Manche:tter, in 

 conjunction with the Royal Horticultural Society, have been engaged on the 

 analysis of the air of large towns. A large amount of ioformation having been 

 already collected by previous observers as to the carbonic acid iu the air, it was 



