November 17, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



577 



ination has been made to show that it will 

 assist greatly in unraveling the intricacies of 

 the life history of this species from the point 

 of view of morphological changes and their 

 relation to temperature variation. One fact, 

 indeed, is clearly apparent and that is this : 

 the reproductive season begins at 15° C. or 

 very close to it and estends only to 20° C. or 

 closely in its neighborhood. The vegetative 

 processes preceding anthesis and maturing of 

 seed have also fairly narrow, but different, 

 temperature relations, as do also those suc- 

 ceeding the maturing of seed. The active 

 period of growth and reproduction seems to 

 be normally included within an interval of 

 10° C, i. e., from 10° C. to 20°. During the 

 colder as well as during the warmer periods of 

 the year, according to the particular zone, nor- 

 mal or invaded, Zostera marina L. enters into 

 a state of quiescence, total or nearly so, but 

 revives when the proper temperature for vege- 

 tative activity of one sort or the other comes 

 again. The material now in my hands as the 

 result of this cooperation seems ample for 

 clearing up these points, and a more detailed 

 report is in preparation. 



There seems to be no dependence on a par- 

 ticular period of illumination in the case of 

 the various stages of growth and reproduction 

 — in other words, no photo-periodism in the 

 sense of Garner and Allard. This negation 

 stands out very clearly. 



William Albert Sbtchell 



University of Calipobnia, 

 August 23, 1922 



THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL 

 SOCIETY 



division or physical and inorganic chemistry 

 S. E. Sheppard, chairman 

 Robert E. Wilson, secretary 

 Experimental studies of the radiation hypothe- 

 sis: Fabrington Daniels. The decomposition 

 of nitrogen pentoxide ia a favorable reaction for 

 testing deductions from the radiation hypothesis, 

 since it is a unimoleeular, gas phase reaction 

 which takes place at room temperature. The 

 influence of the temperature of the walls of the 

 containing vessel and their optical nature have 

 been investigated. Nitrogen dioxide is an im- 



portant factor in determining its velocity. The 

 influence of various solvents has been studied. 

 The effect of visible and infra red light has been 

 investigated. Experiments have been carried out 

 to determine whether the vessel walls can supply 

 sufficient energy to cause the reaction. A search 

 has been made for the emission of light pre- 

 dicted on the basis of the radiation hypothesis. 



Some deductions from statistical mechanics: 

 W. H. EoDEBUSH. Mareelin derived an equation 

 for the temperature coefadent of the rate of a 

 chemical reaction which agreed with the em- 

 pirical Arrhenius equation. Tolman has shown 

 that this derivation was incorrect. A rigorous 

 derivation of a similar equation is given. By 

 combining this equation with the assumptions of 

 the quantum theory a physical basis is obtained 

 for the empirical equation of Dushman, which 

 has been shown to have considerable validity. 

 The equation contains a constant which is charac- 

 teristic for the molecule involved so that complete 

 validity of the Dushman equation for all difiCerent 

 kinds of molecules could not be expected. 



The "creepage" corona, a Mew. type of silent 

 discharge: F. 0. Anderegg and H. E. Bowers. 

 The effect of a dielectric material in an electric 

 field has been studied by C. W. Rice (Froc. Am, 

 Inst. Elec. Eng., 1917). K. B. McEachron has 

 found that glass rods may increase the yield of 

 ozone (Purdue Uwiv. Eng. Expt. Sta. Bull. 7). A 

 study of their results shows that the action of 

 the dielectric material in the "creepage" dis- 

 charge is probably partly catalytic. Experiments 

 have been made with a variety of dielectric mate- 

 rials including fragments of ordinary glass, 

 quartz glass and of earthenware, with and with- 

 out beeswax impregnation; also blue and white 

 flint and of hematite. The effect of these mate- 

 rials upon air and upon carbon monoxide sub- 

 jected to a silent discharge has been studied 

 under a variety of conditions. Preliminary re- 

 sults are given, strongly supporting the conten- 

 tion that catalytic action and ionic activation are 

 superimposed in this type of discharge. 



The effect of container walls on chemical reac- 

 tions in the corona: F. O. Anderegg and K. B. 

 McEachron. In the effort to trace out the causes 

 which contribute to the common lack of reproduci- 

 bility in results, in the study of chemical reac- 

 tions in the corona discharge, experiments have 

 been extended over a considerable period of time. 

 The surface of metallic electrodes is disinte- 

 grated so that "polarization" and variation in 

 chemical action may result. If a dielectric mate- 



