June 24, 1921] 



SCIENCE 



577 



sitioa of the gas evolved during the reaction is 

 satisfactorily explained on this basis. The work 

 ds being continued. 



B. p. m. as catalyst: C. H. Milligan and E. 

 Emmet Eeid. It has long been known that ethy- 

 lene can be used in place of ethyl chloride in the 

 preparation of ethyl benzene by the Eriedel and 

 Crafts reaction but the absorption rate is so slow 

 under usual conditions that the method has not 

 been attractive for preparing ethyl benzene. We 

 find that the reaction can be made to go so 

 rapidly by using a high speed stirrer that this be- 

 comes an efficient preparation method. A mix- 

 ture of 250 g. benzene and 50 g. aJuminmn chlo- 

 ride absorbs as much as 1,800 c.c. of ethylene per 

 minute when stirrer is run at 1,300 r. p. m. 



Catalysis in the interaction of carbon with steam 

 and carbon dioxide: H. A. Neville and H. S. 

 Taylok. The catalytic activity of alkali carbo- 

 nates, alkaline earths and various salts in pro- 

 moting reaction between steam and carbon has 

 been shown to be paralleled by similar effects in 

 the acceleration of interaction of carbon and car- 

 bon dioxide. In each case potassium carbonate 

 has been found to be the most active salt catalyst. 

 Reduced nickel promotes interaction of carbon and 

 carbon dioxide markedly. In explanation of the 

 mechanism of the two reaction processes it has 

 been shown that adsorption of carbon dioxide by 

 carbon at 445° C. is markedly increased by addi- 

 tion to the carbon of such accelerating agents, al- 

 though these latter themselves show no adsorptive 

 capacity for the gas. 



Catalysis in the reduction of oxides and the 

 catalytic combination of hydrogen and oxygen: 

 E. N. Pease and H. S. Taylor. Oxygen and 

 water vapor, present in hydrogen used for reduc- 

 tion of copper oxide, markedly inhibit the action; 

 addition of reduced copper to the oxide appears to 

 accelerate the reaction. The induction period in 

 the reaction is attributed (a) to initial drying 

 of the oxide, (fc) to slow initial formation of 

 copper which then acts as a caitalyst. It is doubt- 

 ful whether the catalytic combustion of hydrogen 

 and oxygen in presence of copper can be repre- 

 sented as an alternate oxidation and reduction 

 process as it has been found that when hydrogen 

 containing oxygen is passed over copper oxide at 

 150° C, no appreciable water is formed and, at 

 lower temperatures, the activity is reduced as 

 the catalyst becomes progressively oxidized. The 

 formation of water in presence of copper may take 

 place through interaction of hydrogen on an oxy- 

 gen molecule which is in process of combining to 



form oxide, that is, at the instant of collision 

 with the copper surface. 



A case of autooxidation : MmO, — > BMnO, : J. 

 C. Eraser. 



Oxidation and reduction by organic compounds: 

 0. H. Milligan and E. Emmet Eeid. 



The action of alumina, titania, and thoria on 

 ethyl and isopropyl acetate: Homer Adkins and 

 A. C. Keahse. 



The catalytic electrolytic Oxidation of SO.: 

 Colin G. Fink. The electrolytic oxidation of SO. 

 with various anodes was investigated. It was 

 found tha.t graphite anodes will catalyze the oxi- 

 dation providing ferrous-ferric ions are present in 

 solution. In the absence of iron, no catalytic ef- 

 fect due to the graphite could be observed. On 

 the other hand, an inert anode such as ferro- 

 silicon, in the presence of ferrous-ferric ions will 

 not catalyze the SO, oxidation. The combined 

 effect of the graphite anode and the iron is es- 

 sential to accelerate the reaction. 



The decomposition of ethyl acetate induced by 

 catalytic nichel: Homer Adkins and P. "W. Sim- 



MONDS. 



The catalytic influence of foreign oxides on the 

 decomposition of silver oxide, mercuric oxide and 

 barium peroxide: James Kendall and Pbancis 

 J. Edche. The effect of foreign oxides on the 

 temperature and rate of decomposition of silver 

 oxide, mercuric oxide and barium peroxide under 

 an oxygen pressure of one atmosphere has been 

 experimentally investigated. In almost all of the 

 systems examined, the added oxide induces a con- 

 siderable change in the decomposition tempera- 

 ture. Most commonly there is a marked lowering 

 in this point; thus (to cite an extreme case) an 

 equimolecular mixture of BaO, and CuO has an 

 oxygen equilibrium pressure of one atmosphere at 

 355°, approximately 500° below the decomposition 

 temperature of pure BaO™. In a few systems a 

 comparatively small rise in the decomposition tem- 

 perature is indicated. In all instances, however, 

 the rate of oxygen evolution is significantly in- 

 creased. 



A new clock reaction: G. S. Eorbes, H. W. 

 Estill, and O. J. Walker. The induction period, 

 t, preceding precipitation of AsoSj from H3ASO3 

 or HjAsO, in the presence of H^SjOa, is extraordi- 

 narily sharp and reproducible. In the ease of 

 H3ASO3, l/t = KC NaiS303, but is independent of 

 C H3ASO3, and also of C H provided HC,H30o or 

 very dilute HCl is used. The period increases 

 greatly with C HCl. The rate of precipitation, 

 also highly reproducible, is very great at first, di- 



