680 REPORT— 1892. 



thought desirable to devote more special attention to such impurities as sulphurous 

 acid and organic matter. Furthermore, since the object in view was not merely to 

 collect data but to lay the foundations of what may be termed chemical meteoro- 

 logy, the atmospheric conditions prevailing at the" time of the observation have 

 been noted. From the results of several hundreds of analyses carefully conducted 

 in London, Manchester, and Liverpool the following conclusions are drawn:— 



(1) That in clear breezy weather the amount of sulphurous acid is less than 

 1 mdhgramme per 100 cubic feet of air. 



(2) That in anticyclonic periods it rises very considerably, and in times of fo"- 

 maxima of 34 and 50 miUigrammes have been recorded for the worst districts of 

 Manchester and London respectively. 



_ (3) That wherever an open space or a less densely populated area occurs there 

 js a very marked diminution in the amount of impurities in the air. 



(4) That an increase in the amount of sulphurous acid is accompanied by at 

 least^as large an increase in the amount of organic impurities in the air. 



(5) That smoke, promoting as it does the formation of fog, and preventino- free 

 diffusion into the upper stratum of the air, must be regarded as the principal cause 

 ol the impure state of the atmosphere in large towns. 



2. Syntheses with the Aid of Butane and Penta.ne Tetra-carloxylic Ethers. 

 By Professor W. H. Peekin, jun., F.E.8. 



3. Synthesis of Hydrindon Derivatives. By Dr. F. Stanley Kipping. 



4. Heptamethylene Derivatives. By Dr. F. Stanley Kjpping. 



5. Action of Fhosphoric Anhydride ov Fatty Acids. 

 By Dr. F. Stanley Kipping. 



6. Methyl Salts of Camphoric Acid. By James Walker, Ph.D., D.Sc. 



_ The author has prepared two isomeric methyl hydrogen camphorates, and 

 myestigated their electrolytic conductivity with a view of testing the validitv of 

 i-riedels formula for camphoric acid. The substances he obtained are identical 

 with those recently prepared by Briihl. According to Friedel, camphoric acid 

 lorms two methyl hydrogen salts having the formulae 



C3H, C,H, 



CH Lh 



/^ \ y \ 



H2C CH, H„C CH, 



I I I and I II I ' 



H^C CO H,C CO 



COMe ^COH 



COOH ioOMe 



Substances having these formula; ought to be widely different in their strength as 

 acids, and consequently in their dissociation constants as determined from tlie 

 eJectrolytic conductivity of their solutions. I should liave a constant greater than 

 that ot camphoric acid itself, while II should have a constant of at most one-tenth 

 01 that ot camphoric acid. As a matter of fact, the constants of the two existino- 



