684 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVII. No. 957 



bubbles and the growth of raindrops and solid 

 crystals. 



From these principles it is deduced that with a 

 rapid gas formation in cheese the gas must neces- 

 sarily tend to separate at many points, each more 

 or less near to colony growth, while with a slow 

 gas production the gas has time to find its way to 

 points where it may separate from solution most 

 advantageously and then continue to form accre- 

 tions. It was found by using curd superficially 

 stained with C!ongo red which outlined each curd 

 particle in the cheese, that ' ' Nissler ' ' holes which 

 are small and rapidly formed were situated both 

 within and between curd particles, while normal 

 eyes universally developed between the curd par- 

 ticles, points long ago described by Bachlor as 

 ' ' weak spots ' ' favorable to eye growth. 

 F. Alex. McDeemott: Chemiluminescent Beac- 



tions with Physiologic Substances. 



The products of the alkaline hydrolysis of pep- 

 tone and glue, done in the absence of oxygen, 

 give a faint light when oxidized with strong alka- 

 line hydrogen peroxide, and a somewhat brighter 

 light when formaldehyde is added before the 

 peroxide. Urin may be caused to give light in a 

 number of ways, particularly upon the addition 

 first of formaldehyde and then of alkaline hydro- 

 gen peroxide. The cause of the latter phenomenon 

 is not known. 

 F. Alex. McDeemott : A Note on an " Oil Nut, ' ' 



Fyrularia puhera (Buffalo nut). 



The fruit of Fyrularia pubera contains about 

 27 per cent, of oil. The cause of the astringent 

 taste was not located. 

 O. EiDDLE: On the Absorption of Water by Egg 



YoVk from Egg Albumen. 



SECTION OF INDIA RUBBEK CHEMISTRY 



D. A. Cutler, chairman 

 Dorris Whipple, secretary 

 Charles P. Fox: Wild Lettuce Subber. 



Descriptive notes concerning two well-known 

 Composite common throughout central United 

 States and suggesting their possible use as a 

 source of crude rubber and drug. Characteristics 

 of this rubber, the by-products and methods of 

 obtaining them, are given. 

 Charles P. Fox: An Adopted Wiley Extractor 



for Subber Extractions. 



Author notes the unsatisfactory service given by 

 the usual forms of extractor used in raw rubber 

 extractions. Paper describes a simple, economical 

 and efficient apparatus for this work. 



John B. Tuttle: The Sampling of Rubber Goods. 



Attention is called to the importance of obtain- 

 ing proper samples for chemical analysis. Illus- 

 trations in support of the argument are given; 

 also precautions regarding care of samples, and a 

 table of the minimum amounts required by the 

 Bureau of Standards for physical and chemical 

 tests. 

 L. G. Wesson: Preliminary Note on a New 



Method for the Direct Determination of Eubher. 



To avoid errors due to variations in the com- 

 position of the derivatives of rubber heretofore 

 used in its analysis, the method outlined attempts 

 to estimate rubber by burning its nitrosite, and 

 subsequently weighing the carbon dioxide formed. 

 For the expeditious combustion of the nitrosite, an 

 electric combustion furnace has been developed. 

 Some results for rubber, on both raw and vulcan- 

 ized samples, are given. The method possibly 

 offers an opportunity for the simultaneous deter- 

 mination of sulphur of vulcanization. Further 

 work is under way. 



DIVISION OF PHARMACEUTICAL CHEMISTRY 



B. L. Murray, chairman 



F. E. Eldred, secretary 



H. T. Graber: Observations upon the Assay of 



Digestive Ferments. (Second paper.) 

 A. Zimmerman: Blood Fibrin in the Assay of 



Feed Klein: Some Nerv Reactions of Peptones 



and Enzymes. 

 Joseph P. Eemington: The United States Phar- 

 macopoeia — Progress of the Ninth Revision. 

 Changes in the method of revising the book as 

 compared with the revision of previous pharma- 

 copoeias. The influence of the Food and Drugs 

 Act in obtaining information from manufacturers 

 about their products. Improvements in preparing 

 the text. 



Atherton Seidell: The Analysis of Thymol Cap- 

 sules. 

 Atherton Seidell: The Fiegler Method for the 



Determination of Thymol. 

 F. O. Taylor: Interpretation of the U. S. P. 

 Assay Processes. 



This paper deals with the possibility of different 

 interpretations of the assay methods for alkaloidal 

 drugs and their extracts as given in the U. S. P., 

 with particular reference to some specific instances 

 where discrepancies have occurred because of a 



