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TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION B. 709 
6. A Method for Resolving Racemic Oximes into their Optically Active 
Components. By WiLLiAM Jackson Pope. 
The author gives a method for resolving very feebly basic racemic substances, 
such as oximes, into their optically active components. The method consists in 
forming salts of the feeble base with dextrocamphorsulphonic acid and separating 
the salt of the dextro-base from that of the levo-base by fractional crystallisa- 
tion. In order to demonstrate the efficacy of the method, racemic camphoroxime 
was resolved into its active components by fractional crystallisation with the 
equivalent quantity of camphorsulphonic acid ; dextrocamphoroxime dextrocamphor- 
sulphonate, C,,H,,NOH, C,,H,,OSO,H, H,O, separates first from the acetone or 
ethereal solution, and when treated with dilute ammonia yields pure dextro- 
camphoroxime. The more soluble levocamphoroxime dextrocamphorsulphonate, 
C,,H,,NOH, C,,H,,0SO,H, H,O, remains in the mother liquids, and after 
appropriate purification yields levocamphoroxime when treated with ammonia. 
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19. 
The following Papers were read :— 
1. Phenomena connected with the Drying of Colloids, Mineral and 
Organic. By J. H. Guapstons, /.R.S.. and Warrer Hisserr. 
The object of this paper was to draw attention to some peculiarities observed 
in the drying of colloids—namely, the hydrates of tin, titanium, silica, iron, and 
alumina, together with gelatine, gum, and albumen. 
The mineral colloids when dried from solution approximate very closely to 
definite hydrates. Through the shrinking caused by the evaporation of the water 
they crack into non-crystalline blocks, which exhibit a variety of phenomena, 
such as serrated edges, fringes, contour lines, and internal fissures of a crescent or 
spiral form, 
When the soft material gives off water the surface becomes hard, though the 
water still continues to find its way through. When the dried surface is tough, as 
in the case of gelatine, no internal structure is reyealed, but where it is hard and 
brittle, as in the case of titanic hydrate, crescent-shaped cavities and contour lines 
make their appearance round the region of final attachment. 
In the case of the tin hydrate, where the crust is sufficiently strong to resist 
distortion, cavities make their appearance, generally in the form of regular spirals, 
often consisting of many conyolutions, ' These spirals, with modifications, are also 
shown in titanium hydrate, iron oxide, and albumen. 
Of the above-mentioned elements, tin, titanium, silicon, and carbon are 
members of Mendeléeff’s fourth group, while iron and alumina form sesquioxides. 
While there is a close analogy among these organic and mineral colloids, there are 
enone which must be ascribed to the chemical nature of the particular 
ydrate. 
2. The Influence of Acids and of some Salts on the Saccharification of 
Starch by Malt-Diastase. By Dr. A. Frrnpacu. 
In a series of papers on ‘Inyertase,’ published in 1889 in the ‘Annales de 
l'Institut Pasteur,’ I proved that the slightest variations of acidity or alkalinity 
have a very great influence on the action of the enzyme. Its action is greatly 
favoured by the presence of free acid, and for each acid as well as for each sample 
of invertase there is a definite quantity of acid which appears most favourable to 
the action. 
It was natural to apply these observations to diastatic action, as it has been 
