994 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVII. No. 965 



' ' Vaccination against Tuberculosis, " C. A. 

 Julian, Thomasville. 



' ' The Geological History of Western North 

 Carolina," J. H. Pratt, State Geological Survey, 

 Chapel Hill. 



"Action of Ammonia upon Arsenic Iodide," C. 

 H. Herty and J. T. Dobbins, University of North 

 Carolina, Chapel Hill. 



' ' A List of the Known Homoptera in North 

 Carolina, " Z. P. Metealf , Agricultural and Me- 

 chanical College, West Ealeigh. 



' ' The Chestnut Bark Disease, " S. C. Bruner, 

 Agricultural aL "■ Mechanical College, West Ealeigh. 



" Seruin-sinuuraneous Method of Immunizing 

 Hogs against Cholera," W. C. Chrisman, State 

 Department of Agriculture, Ealeigh. 



' ' Behavior of the Spermatozoa of the Crab, ' ' 

 Eaymond Binford, Guilford College. 



"The Granville Tobacco Wilt Problem," H. E. 

 Fulton, Agricultural and Mechanical College, West 

 Ealeigh. (Eead by S. 0. Bruner.) 



' ' The Swamp Lands of Eastern North Caro- 

 lina," J. H. Pratt, State Geological Survey, 

 Chapel Hill. 



' ' The Influence of Environment on Eeproduc- 

 tive Processes, ' ' W. C. Coker, University of North 

 Carolina, Chapel Hill. 



' ' Survivals and Adaptations along the South 

 Atlantic Coast: A Study in Anthropogeography, " 

 Collier Cobb, University of North Carolina, Chapel 

 Hill. (Eead by title.) 



"A New Interference Apparatus" (with a dem- 

 onstration), C. W. Edwards, Trinity College, Dur- 

 ham. 



' ' The Closing Up of Lake Basins in Massachu- 

 setts, Michigan and North Carolina," Collier 

 Cobb, University of North Carolina. (Eead by 

 title.) 



E. W. GUDGEE, 



Secretarij 

 Statk Normal College, 

 Greensboro, N. C. 



SOCIETIES ANV . ^DEMIES 



THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE OF ST. LOUIS 



At the meeting of the academy on March 3, 

 Dr. E. J. Terry, of the Wash-ugton University 

 'Medical School, read his second paper on ' ' The 

 Development of the Cranium in Mammals. ' ' 



Dr. Terry stated that Weiss 's study of the 

 occipital region of embryos of white rats revealed 

 the fact that the dens epistrophei in these animals 

 is composed of two elements, the one generally 



4^ 5 19 



recognized as comparable with a centrum for the 

 atlas, the other lying eephalad of this and forming 

 the extremity of the dens. The latter is derived 

 by independent chondrification in the tissue about 

 the notoehord eephalad of the atlas and where the 

 former crosses the dorsal surface of the basal 

 plate of the cranium. Weiss regarded this cephalic 

 element as representing the centrum of an oc- 

 cipital vertebra or a proatlas. 



The presence of an element in the dens epis- 

 trophei of cat embryos has been observed devel- 

 oping eephalad of the component identified as the 

 centrum of the atlas and extending upon the basal 

 plate of the cranium. This component is derived 

 from the mesenchyma which, in the form of a cone 

 traversed by the notoehord, extends from the level 

 of the atlas eephalad upon the basal plate and 

 there lies in a deep median groove. Chondrifica- 

 tion in this part of the dens occurs later than in 

 that part related to the atlas, but the two processes 

 appear not to be entirely distinct. 



At the meeting of April 21 Professor E. A. 

 Hall, of Washing-ton University, stated to the 

 academy that he had succeeded in preparing neu- 

 tral tri-ammonium citrate in commercial quantities. 



Professor Hall described a method in which 

 neutral tri-ammonium citrate was prepared by 

 passing an excess of dry ammonia gas into a well- 

 cooled solution of the water-free citric acid in an 

 anhydrous solvent.* The yield is quantitative. 

 Tri-ammonium citrate thus prepared is a stable, 

 white crystalline substance, not hygroscopic and 

 not affected by the CO; of the atmosphere. It 

 dissolves readily in water and the freshly-prepared 

 solution is neutral to sensitive litmus, azolitmin, 

 corallin, methyl red, etc. Eigorous analyses of 

 both the ammonia and the citrate content of the 

 salt show it to be the tri-ammonium citrate. 

 Further investigation of its physical-chemical 

 properties is being made. 



As the method of preparation is simple and 

 inexpensive and the yield good, it is evident that 

 this means a solution of the difficult problem of 

 the fertilizer chemist in the preparation of neutral 

 ammonium citrate solution for the determination of 

 the insoluble phosphoric acid in fertilizer analysis. 

 G. O. James, 

 Corresponding Secretary 



' This body was first prepared by this method 

 two years ago at the time of the investigation of 

 the conductivity method of preparing neutral am- 

 monium citrate solutions, but a press of other 

 research prevented its analysis and complete iden- 

 tification until the present time. 



(Si 



