Marcu 15, 1912] 
from 17 states as published in Professional Paper 
48 of the U. S. Geological Survey were considered. 
Estimates of calorifie power by the usual formula 
x= 8,080 C + 34,500 (H —3 O) + 2,250 S 
(‘‘ Welter’s rule’’) 
gave results too low in seven eighths of the cases, 
the average result being 98.9 per cent. of the 
calorific power actually found. 
The formula 
%—= 8,080 (C —2 0) + 34,500 H + 2,250 8 
(‘‘Walker’s rule’’) 
gave an average result 100.37 per cent. of the 
calorific power actually determined. The latter 
formula also showed a smaller proportion of seri- 
ous errors in individual cases, and a smaller maxi- 
mum error. 
H. C. SHERMAN and S. H. RecEstEr: Relation of 
Proazimate Composition to Calorific Power in 
Coal. (Preliminary report.) 
Analysis of the data for 500 samples of coal 
from different parts of the country are averaged 
to show the general course of the curve for calorific 
power of dry, ash-free substance with increasing 
proportions of volatile matter. As the propor- 
tion of volatile matter increases the mean devia- 
tions of individual samples from the average be- 
comes greater. Where the volatile matter is over 
48 per cent. of the dry ash-free substance the 
individual variations are so great as to deprive the 
average relation of any appreciable significance. 
Even with coals of low or moderate proportions of 
volatile matter, individual samples often differ 
from the average relation by 2 to 5 per cent. or 
more, so that if anything more than a crude 
approximation is desired the calorific power should 
be determined directly by combustion in a bomb 
calorimeter. 
CHARLES E. MUNROE: Note on the Production of 
Mercury Fulminate. 
Describes the preliminary steps taken in the 
production of substituted fulminie acids from the 
higher aleohols and of mercury fulminate and 
these substituted acids from acetaldehyde and the 
higher aldehydes. 
CHARLES E. Munroe: The Present Status of the 
Gas Industry and Its Outlook. 
Attention was called to the fact that the cen- 
tenary of the gas industry occurs in April, 1912, 
this being the one hundredth anniversary of the 
incorporation of the first Gas Light Company in 
London, England. The industry began in this 
country with the incorporation of the gas company 
in Baltimore in 1816. To-day there are 1,296 
SCIENCE 
423 
establishments in the United States, having a 
capital of $915,537,000; employing over 50,000 
persons; manufacturing 150,835,793 M. cubic feet 
of gas; and having a value for its products of 
$166,814,000. To graphically depict the status 
and outlook of the industry a brief review of the 
various difficulties which it has encountered and 
the competitors which it has met and outranked 
was given, and it was admitted that the develop- 
ments in the adaptation of electric energy to use 
presented now a more critical situation than the 
gas industry had perhaps ever before encountered ; 
but he found in the development of the gas oven; 
in the employment of the chemical engineer; in 
the reduction of heat losses; in the more complete 
recovery of the by-products and their more com- 
plete utilization; and in the discovery and appli- 
cation of flameless incandescent surface combus- 
tion, means by which the gas industry could more 
than hold its own for a considerable time. 
G. A. BURRELL: 
Apparatus. 
This paper treats of gas analysis apparatus 
assembled by the author for work having to do 
with gas investigations carried on by the Bureau 
of Mines. Both accurate apparatus for use with 
mercury and apparatus for technical purposes are 
described. Exact and simple forms of apparatus 
for the examination of mine air and for use in 
ventilation studies are also described, both portable 
and laboratory forms. A special apparatus for 
the analysis of natural gas is also included. Also 
new apparatus for determining carbon monoxide 
by means of the iodic acid method. 
F. M. WituiamMs: New Forms of Apparatus for 
Gas Analysis. 
J. T. BAKER: Problems in Manufacture of C. P. 
Acids. 
This paper relates to the improvements made in 
recent years in the forms of apparatus for distil- 
ling acids on a larger scale. These are devised 
for working continuously by feeding the acid into 
the still as rapidly as the contents distills off and 
providing a gradual overflow for the tailings in 
order to remove the non-volatile impurities. 
Apparatuses made of glass and porcelain are 
used and have a capacity of from 2,000 pounds to 
4,000 pounds distillate in 24 hours. The advan- 
tages are less breakage with a minimum amount 
of labor and consumption of fuel. 
J. R. Cain and J. C. Hosrerrrr: A Rapid Method 
for the Determination of Vanadium in Steel, 
Ore, etc., based on its Quantitative Inclusion 
by the Phosphomolybdate Precipitate. 
New Forms of Gas Analysis 
