914 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 235. 



between the amount added from tbe burette 

 and an arbitrary volume contained between two 

 marks on tbe neck of tbe flask. 



Drawing out tbe liquid to tbe zero mark by 

 a pipette enables one to make anotber and sev- 

 eral successive determinations witbout cleaning 

 out tbe apparatus until tbe flask is actually 

 almost filled witb tbe powdered cement, so tbat 

 tbree or four determinations may be made in 

 about ten minutes. 



Messrs. Peckbam's paper recommended tbe 

 deflagration metbod for determining sulpbur in 

 bitumens, using about two parts bitumen to 

 tbirty parts of mixed sodium carbonate and 

 potassium nitrate. Some discussion followed 

 as to tbe possible loss of volatile sulpbur com- 

 pounds — mercaptans, mercaptids and sulpbo 

 etbers — but tbe amounts of tbese forms of sul- 

 pbur were conceded to be extremely small and 

 probably witbout appreciable effect on tbe be- 

 bavior of an aspbalt. 



A report by tbe Committee on Patent Legis- 

 lation was read by Major C. C. Parsons, witb 

 tbe recommendation tbat it sbould be brought 

 before the members of tbe Society at large. 



A report by Durand Woodman, Secretai-y and 

 Treasurer, stated tbat nine regular and two 

 special meetings bad been held, at which thirty- 

 seven papers were read. Tbe average attend- 

 ance at these meetings was sixty-five. 



The expenses of the Section bad been fl.ig 

 per member for tbe year. The membership 

 numbers about 305. 



Tbe election of oflicers for tbe ensuing year 

 resulted as follows : Chairman, C. F. McKenna ; 

 Secretary-Treasurer, Durand Woodman ; Ex- 

 ecutive Committee, William McMurtrie, E. G. 

 Love, G. C. Stone ; delegates to tbe Scientific 

 Alliance, E. E. Smith, M. T. Bogert. 



A SPECIAL meeting of the Society was held on 

 Saturday, May 27th, at 8:45 p. m., in the As- 

 sembly Room of tbe Chemists' Club. 



Announcement was made by Dr. C. A. Dore- 

 mus of the preliminary program of the Fourth 

 International Congress of Applied Chemistry, 

 to be held at Paris next year. Tbe meetings 

 •will be held in tbe halls and amphitheatre of 

 the new Sorbonue, and every important branch 

 of applied chemistry will be covered. 



The feature of tbe evening was a paper by 

 Dr. H. W. Wiley on ' Tbe Chemistry of Nitri- 

 fication,' fully illustrated by lantern slides. 

 DuEAND Woodman, 



Secretary. 



THE WASHINGTON BOTANICAL CLUB. 



Regular meetings of tbe Club were held on 

 May 3 and May 30, 1899. At tbe former tbe 

 members participated in a symposium on the 

 topic 'The Origin of Insular Floras.' Discus- 

 sion was opened by Professor E. L. Greene, Dr. 

 F. H. Knowlton and Mr. O. F. Cook. In tbe 

 short notes which preceded attention was called 

 to the discovery of Aspleniiim ebenoides in the 

 District of Columbia, and proof sheets of Pro- 

 fessor Bailey's ' New Encyclopedia of Horti- 

 culture ' were exhibited. 



The meeting of May 30th was devoted to a 

 discussion of the more salient features of the 

 District flora, several specimens being exhibited. 

 Tbe Club held a most enjoyable excursion on 

 Decoration Day, to which other botanists were 

 freely invited, visiting Plummer's Island, in the 

 Potomac, and the neighboring Virginia shore. 

 Charles Louis Pollard, 



Secretary. 



PBOFESSOB DEWAR ON LIQUID HYDROGEN. 

 The second lecture in connection witb tbe 

 Royal Institution's centenary was given by 

 Professor Dewar on June 7th. Professor Dewar 

 said, according to the report in the London 

 Times, tbat he did not intend to take any long 

 flight into tbe great work of tbe Royal Institu- 

 tion in tbe past, since that bad already been 

 done by bis colleague. His object was rather 

 to introduce his audience to a new instrument 

 of research — that was to say, to liquid hydro- 

 gen. This be exhibited boiling gently in a 

 vacuum tube immersed in liquid air, the access 

 of beat being, by this precaution, greatly im- 

 peded. They would notice it was a transparent 

 liquid, in which there appeared a whitish de- 

 posit. This consisted of solid air, and it was 

 impossible to avoid its presence, because im- 

 mediately tbe cotton-wool plug was removed 

 from a vessel of liquid hydrogen tbe air of tbe 

 atmosphere came under the influence of so 

 low a temperature as to be at once frozen 



