November 18, 1921] 



SCIENCE 



499 



no obstacle in the way of seven or eight who finally 

 succeeded in reaching the summit. 



On Friday evening Dr. Dewey gave a number of 

 illustrations on " How English can be made the 

 world language by removing the chief obstacle in 

 learning it." This talk was followed by an illus- 

 trated lecture on " The practise of forestry on 

 national forests," by Col. T. S. Woolsey. Col. 

 Woolsey has been connected with U. S. Forest 

 Service and his various slides were very interesting. 



Mr. Arthur Delroy very cleverly explained how 

 character is read from hands and handwriting, and 

 gave illustrations of how the " impossible " or 

 magic trick was performed on the stage. 



Later in the evening an informal dance closed the 

 social events of the meeting. 



TECHNICAL SESSIONS 



Each of the three technical sessions was attended 

 by a number of members and guests who took active 

 part in discussing the papers presented. The result 

 was that the proceedings, carried out according to 

 schedule, were lively as well as interesting. 



The Thursday morning session was filled by read- 

 ing and discussion of papers : 



Experiences with alTcaline and allcaline earth 

 metals in connection with non-ferrous alloys: 

 Charles Vickers. Sodium appears to have a 

 negative value for copper, but seems to be superior 

 to phosphorus in deoxidizing bronze. Calcium, of 

 the alkaline earth metals, appears valueless in pro- 

 ducing sound copper castings. As a deoxidizer, cal- 

 cium ia best adaptable when combined with an acid 

 element, as silicon, and is further improved when 

 combined with a third element. 



The electrolytically produced calcium-barium-lead 

 alloys comprising Frary metal : W. A. Cow an, L. D. 

 SiMPKiNS and G. O. Hiers. This paper presented 

 by Mr. Hiers described the development of Frary 

 Metal and its production by eleetrodeposition from 

 a mixture of calcium and barium chlorides over a 

 bath of molten lead as cathode. The properties of 

 Frary metal are compared with those of other bear- 

 ing metals. As a bearing metal it has desirable 

 hardness and strength at elevated temperatures. 



The electrolytic corrosion of lead-thallium alloys : 

 Colin G. Fink and C. H. Eldridgb. Presented by 

 Dr. Fink. Anodic corrosion losses in an aeid cop- 

 per sulfate electrolyte containing nitric and hydro- 

 diloric acids are reduced by using lead-thallium 

 alloys. A minimum loss of 1.2 lb. per 100 lb. of 

 copper deposited resulted with a lead anode con- 

 taining 10 per cent. Tl and 20 per cent. Sn. 



A new tlieory of the corrosion of iron: J. New- 

 ton Friend. An auto-colloidal catalytic theory, 

 which postulates the corrosion as starting by the 

 formation of colloidal ferrous hydroxide. This by 

 contact with the air forms hydrated ferric hydrox- 

 ide which in turn is alternately reduced by contact 

 with iron and oxidized by contact with air, thus 

 continuing the corrosion. 



Bust prevention iy slushing: Haakon Styri. 

 An extended research which shows that for protec- 

 tion against rust by greases a thorough cleaning of 

 the steel parts by an aqueous solution is essential; 

 an oil emulsion which leaves an oil film for short 

 time protection is preferable. Such emulsions pro- 

 tect against rust. 



Transformer oil sludge: C. J. Eodman. Of the 

 three types of transformer oil sludge (asphaltic, 

 soap and carbon) , the asphaltic is the most general 

 form and is the oxidation product of an attackable 

 oil. It collects upon the active parts of trans- 

 former. The soap sludge forms slowly and is diffi- 

 cult to remove by filtration. The carbon sludge is 

 caused by electrical breakdown. 



The electrolysis of organic compounds: Raymond 

 Freas. The author endeavors to encourage further 

 research of organic compound electrolysis. The dis- 

 cussion, limited to electro-reduction processes, pre- 

 sents the factors influencing the relative velocities 

 of reaetion, and despite their great number it is 

 maintained possible to secure selective reduction 

 electrolytically. A convenient experimental arrange- 

 ment is described. 



Electrolytic oxidation of the leuco-base of mala- 

 chite green: Alex. Lowt and E. H. Haux. That 

 the dye stuff malachite green can be produced by 

 electrolytic oxidation of the leuco-base is set forth 

 in a series of experiments. The highest dye yield 

 resulted with uranyl sulphate as catalyst, platinum 

 cathode, and nichrome gauze anode in dilute sul- 

 phuric acid solution, at 85° C. 



The electrolytic dissociation of cyanamide and 

 some of its salts in aqueous solution: N. Kame- 

 TAMA. The degree of dissociation and of hydro- 

 lysis of sodium and calcium cyanamide was deter- 

 mined; from this the dissociation constant was 

 calculated and the mobility of the cyanamide anion 

 estimated. 



Electrolytic production of sodium perborate : P. 

 C. Alsgaard. After presenting a detailed account 

 of the work by Arndt and by Valour, the author re- 

 lates the results of his experiments and their appli- 

 cation to larger scale production. 



