346 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LII. No. 1345 



the HON. The tests must fee made on the grass 

 immediately after cuttingj as the HCn was gen- 

 erally absent after the grass was wilted. 



Effects of alfalfa on the sulphur content of the 

 soil in comparison with grain crops: C. O. Swan- 

 son and W. L. Latshaw. Samples were taken 

 from 86 fields and analyzed for sulphur. The plan 

 was to select fields which had been in. alfalfa for 

 a long time, twenty to thirty years. Near these 

 fields were found soils of the same type which 

 were in native sod or had been cropped to grain 

 since broken, about forty years. On the basis of 

 annual rainfall the state of Kansas may be di- 

 vided into three sections: humid, where the rain- 

 fall is 30 inches or more; the subhumid, where the 

 rainfall is less than 30 inches but more than 22; 

 the semi-arid, where the rainfall is less than 22 

 inches. In the humid section the average per cent, 

 of sulphur was: alfalfa soil, 0.029; virgin sod, 

 0.035; cropped soil, 0.027. In the sub-humid sec- 

 tion: alfalfa soil, 0.043; virgin sod, 0.045; cropped 

 soil, 0.041. In the semi-arid section: alfalfa soil, 

 0.035; virgin sod, 0.038; cropped soil, 0.027. The 

 growing of crops has decreased the sulphur con- 

 tent of the soil, using the virgin sod as the basis 

 of comparison: Alfalfa, 16.5 per cent.; grain, 20 

 per cent. This is for the humid section. For the 

 sub-himiid section the losses are: alfalfa, 4.7 per 

 cent.; grain, 9.3 per cent.; for the semi-arid sec- 

 tion the losses are: alfalfa, 7.4 per cent.; grain, 

 30 per cent. The sulphur content of the soil is 

 approximately the same as that of phosphorus. 

 Chemical analyses of these soils do not show any 

 appreciable loss of total (phosphorus, while the loss 

 of sulphur is nest to nitrogen and carbon in mag- 

 nitude. 



The preservation of fish frozen in chilled irine: 

 (I.) The penetration of salt: L. H. Almt and E. 

 Field. Several species of fish were frozen by im- 

 mersion in sodium chloride solutions of different 

 concentrations and temperatures and for varying 

 periods of time. Salt penetrated the skin and 

 superficial tissue under all experimental conditions. 

 Freezing of fish in brine at the temperature near 

 which ice begins to separate from the solution did 

 not prevent the penetration of salt. Though it 

 was possible to detect penetrated salt by chemical 

 means, the amount of salt absorbed was not sufEl- 

 eient to influence the taste of the cooked product. 

 A study is being made of the relative keeping of 

 fish frozen in air and in brine. 



Sesearch on hypnotics: E. H. Volwiler. The 

 m'ost commonly used hypnotics at the present time 



are barbital, formerly known as veronal, luminal, 

 adalin, diallylbarbiturio acid and several others. 

 Of these compounds, barbital is by far the most 

 commonly used and is manufactured in this coun- 

 try in very large amounts. Recently some research 

 has been carried on by The Abbott Laboratories, 

 which is the principal manufacturer of barbital, to 

 produce a better hypnotic. Among others, di- 

 butyl barbituric acid and benzyl-ethyl barbituric 

 acid have been prepared. Di-butyl barbituric acid 

 shows promise of being valuable, its toxicity being 

 somewhat less than that of barbital and several ob- 

 jectionable side effects being eliminated. 



Wood alcohol and prohiiition : Charles Bask- 

 erville. Wood methyl alcohol poisoning is a 

 unique problem in that it involves not alone physi- 

 oloigical changes and technical matters having to 

 do with production and distribution of the toxic 

 agent, but sociological factors as well, for it is 

 closely knit to prohibition. The pure substance so 

 closely resembles ethyl hydroxide that it requires 

 an expert chemist to determine the difference. As 

 ethyl hydroxide was the constituent of the quon- 

 dam beverages, the name without the qualifying 

 words is liable to be misleading to those not in- 

 formed. In view of that, and numerous other fac- 

 tors, it is urged that the name "methyl hydrox- 

 ide" or "methanol" be applied to wood alcohol, 

 and the name ' ' ethyl hydroxide " or " ethanol ' ' 

 be applied to the so-called grain alcohol in an effort 

 to render the use of the word alcohol itself obso- 

 lete. This can not be accomplished by legislation 

 or immediately, but by common agreement in usage, 

 especially in the chemical and pharmaceutical pro- 

 fessions. 



Charles L. Parsons, 



Secretary 

 (To he continued) 



SCIENCE 



A Weekly Journal devoted to the Advancement of 

 Science, publishing the official notices and pro- 

 ceedings of the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science 



Published every Friday by 



THE SCIENCE PRESS 



LANCASTER, PA. GARRISON, N. Y. 



NEW YORK. N. Y. 



Entered in tbe post-sffics st LaDcaatcr, Pa., a.% second dafi matter 



