458 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 221. 



principle the most correct and natural, he agrees 

 to the report chiefly because with 0=16 many 

 of the weights most frequently used in calcula- 

 tions are represented by whole numbers, and 

 hence these numbers are most conveniently 

 used. Landolt adds that he hopes this report 

 ■will lead to an international agreement as to 

 the figures used. 



In a recent paper in the Journal fur prakthche 

 Chemie, W. Eidmann describes the action of 

 metallic magnesium upon compounds contain- 

 ing nitrogen, especially upon the cyanids. At 

 a red heat almost all compounds, inorganic and 

 organic, which contain nitrogen are decomposed, 

 generally with the formation of magnesium ni- 

 trid, MgjNj. The cyanids of the alkalies and al- 

 kaline earths are decomposed without explosion, 

 the carbid of the metal being formed. This, Eid- 

 mann says, shows that the ordinarily accepted 



formula of the cyanids, e. g., Ba 



/C = N 



\C = N " 



correct. In the case of those cyanids which 

 decompose at a red heat, as those of zinc, 

 nickel, lead, copper, etc., the reaction with mag- 

 nesium is more violent and decomposition into 

 magnesium nitrid, carbon and the metal ensues. 

 In the case of those cyanids, as those of silver 

 and mercury, which decompose below a red heat 

 the liberated cyanogen reacts with magnesium 

 with explosive violence. 



A SERIES of analyses of waters from wells 

 near the sea-shore are published by P. Guichard 

 in the Bulletin Societe Chimique. The water in 

 these wells rises and falls with the tide, while 

 the composition of the water leads to the con- 

 clusion that there is no direct connection be- 

 tween the wells and the sea, and, hence, it fol- 

 lows, according to the author, that subterranean 

 waters must be afiected by the moon, even as 

 the ocean. This conclusion will, doubtless, find 

 many to dissent from it. 



A DBSCEIPTION is given in the Fharmaceu- 

 tische Zeitung by Alfred Zucker of the manu- 

 facture of whitelead by electrolysis, at Dell- 

 briick, according to the Luckow process. The 

 electrolyte is a l^fo solution of S>Qfo sodium 

 chlorid and 20^ sodium carbonate. The 

 anode is soft lead, the kathode hard lead. The 

 current is 0.5 ampere per square centimeter at 



2 volts. Water and carbon dioxid are carefully 

 added as the electrolysis proceeds. With care 

 as to the strength of the electrolyte, a purity of 

 whitelead is obtained not hitherto reached. 

 The hygienic regulations of the factory are 

 worthy of mention. Every operative receives 

 daily one liter of fresh milk, and at the conclu- 

 sion of his daily work must clean very thor- 

 oughly his hands, finger nails, etc. In addition 

 he receives Glauber's salts, and every fortnight 

 must take a complete warm bath in water 

 which contains a certain amount of liver of sul- 

 fur. By these precautions all cases of satur- 

 nine poisoning have been avoided for several 

 years. 



Although not under the head of inorganic 

 chemistry, mention may be permitted of a de- 

 scription of the manufacture of artificial silk in 

 a recent number of the Zeitschriftfiir Angewandte 

 Chemie from the pen of H. Wyss-Naef. The 

 first practical . use of the process was in 1889. 

 The raw material is carded cotton which is first 

 converted into nitrocellulose by a bath of strong 

 nitric and sulfuric acids. After washing and 

 drying it is dissolved in a mixture of alcohol 

 and ether. This collodion is then spun through 

 openings .08 mm. diameter. The alcohol and 

 ether evaporate almost instantly on spinning 

 and the material is carefully dried. It is then 

 treated by a secret process to reduce the nitro 

 groups, ammonium sulfid being probably the 

 reducing agent used. The silk is then bleached 

 with chlorin and is ready for the market. 



J. L. H. 



CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. 



THE THEORY OF CYCLONES AND ANTICYCLONES. 



A PUBLICATION of unusual interest, contain- 

 ing conclusions of the greatest importance in 

 meteorology, has been issued as Bulletin No. 1 

 (1899), of the Blue Hill Meteorological Obser- 

 vatory (' Studies of Cyclonic and Anticyclonic 

 Phenomena with Kites,' by H. Helm Clayton). 

 This is a study of the results obtained during 

 the kite fiights of September 21st-24th and of 

 November 24th-25th last, and it will aid ma- 

 terially towards once more strengthening belief 

 in the older Perrel, or conveclional theory of 

 cyclones and anticyclones, as opposed to the 

 newer Hann, or driven theory. Lack of space 



