130 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. — ^1916. 



List of Apparatus. 



26 doz. 4 oz. stoppered bottles. 



26 doz. double-lined cardboard boxes (2^ in. x 2^ in. x 6 in.). 



16 Rain-collecting gauges, complete with wooden stand, iron spikes, funnel, 



glass container, bottle-brush, and | oz. glass wool. 

 *1 sixteen-hole water bath of copper, complete with wooden stand and 



attachments. 

 *1 distilling apparatus, consisting of 1-5 litre Jena flask, Liebig's condenser, 



retort stands, clamps and bossheads. 

 *1^ doz. glass basins (3^ in. diam.). 



*45 doz. Erlenmeyer flasks of Bohemian glass, 100 e.c. capacity. 

 *lf doz. watch glasses (li in. diam.). 

 *2 Nessler tubes (70 c.c.j graduated. 

 5 wooden trays. 



Much of the above apparatus is distributed amongst observers in 

 different parts of Austraha. The items marked with an asterisk, how- 

 ever, are in Melbourne, and would be suitable for carrying on work 

 of a similar character. 



Dijnamic Isomerism-. — Report of the Committee, consisting of 

 Professor H. E. Armstrong {Chairman), Dr. T. M. Lowry 

 (Secretary), Professor Sydney Young, Dr. C. H. Desch, 

 Sir J. J. DoBBiE, and Dr. M. 0. Forster. (Drawn up hy 

 the Secretary.) 



Important new evidence, which has been accumulated during the 

 past year, indicates even more clearly than before that liquids con- 

 taining a single optically-active component, of definite composition 

 and of fixed molecular structure, may be expected in the majority of 

 cases to exhibit the ' simple ' type of rotary dispersion expressed by 

 the formula a (X'^ — Xq'*) = const. This formula has been tested in 

 the case of forty-two compounds of the terpene series, for which data 

 have recently been supplied by Professor Eupe, of Basel, ^ with the 

 remarkable result that all but three have been found to conform closely 

 to the ' simple ' dispersion law. In view of the complicated character 

 of the molecular structure in these compounds (which contain one, 

 two, or three asymmetric carbon atoms, complex ring systems, and 

 unsaturated linkages), it is clear that ' simple ' rotary dispersion is 

 not dependent on simple molecular structure, provided that the active 

 substance is strictly homogeneous. ' Complex ' or ' anomalous ' rotary 

 dispersion in an optically-active liquid (and especially in a liquid of 

 apparently simple character) may therefore be regarded as an a priori 

 reason for suspecting the existence of some anomaly of chemical com- 

 position — e.g., polymerism, association or dissociation, or dynamic 

 isomerism. 



> Ann., 1915, 409, 327. 



