502 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVI. No. 1195 



enheimer and his coworkers prepared 



methylethylaniline oxide, methylethyl-/?- 



naphtliylamine oxide and other similar 



compounds, 



(CH3)(aH5)(CoH5)N=iO 



(CH3)(aH5)(C„H,)N = 0. 



The racemates were resolved by means of 

 d-bromoeamphorsulfonic acid or d-tartaric 

 acid. After fractional crystallization and 

 separation, each salt was converted into 

 the active picrate, which was changed to 

 the corresponding active chloride and 

 finally into the active amine oxide itself. 



Previous attempts to resolve compounds 

 with two like radicals, Na^hcd, have been 

 fruitless. Bven compounds more closely 

 allied to these amine oxides in form, such 

 as N-methylpicolinium salts, N-methylqui- 

 nolinium salts, could not be resolved by H. 

 0. Jones.^* Meisenheimer takes it for 

 granted that an explanation of the stereo- 

 isomerism is provided when he has called 

 attention- to the fact that, in the amine ox- 

 ides, the doubly bound oxygen engages the 

 valence which usually holds the acid rad- 

 ical, while in the case of the compounds 

 studied by H. 0. Jones, only non-ionizable 

 valences have been satisfied by doubly 

 bound carbon. 



It seems that a more consistent explana- 

 tion may be offered in terms of the elec- 

 tronic viewpoint, if the amine oxides and 

 their hydrates are assigned the following 

 formulas : 



E + — 



W -\ ] 



E"-|- — 



^ -\ OH' 



E +— _, 

 E' -] N , """O. 



n" + — + — 

 II. 



negative hydroxyl are as divergent as those 

 of positive and negative chlorine. In this 

 respect, the conditions are not the same as 

 those in ammonium compounds of the 

 form, Na^icd, but are comparable to the 

 condition existing in ammonium compounds 

 of the general type, Nahcde. 



In conclusion, permit me to express the 

 belief that chemists will soon come to real- 

 ize more fully that the recent investiga- 

 tions into the structure of the atom have a 

 practical bearing upon their particular 

 problems. The study of electromers, and 

 the investigations of the conditions under 

 which they may be prepared, certainly fur- 

 nishes an inviting field of research, which, 

 in my opinion, is worth tilling, and can not 

 fail to be productive of results of far- 

 reaching importance to chemists. Fur- 

 thermore, with our present limited knowl- 

 edge of the subject, no one can predict in 

 what manner the discoveries, sure to be 

 made, may react to modify and clarify our 

 theories concerning the structure of mat- 

 ter, and, in particular, our vague notions 

 of "chemical affinity." 



Laudee William Jones 



Univeksitt of Cincinnati, 

 Cincinnati, Ohio 



It must be assumed that the linking in for- 

 mula II. is similar to the grouping in for- 

 mula I., in so far as its eifect upon the 

 asymmetry of the molecule is concerned, 

 since amine oxides dissolved in benzene 

 often show large rotations. The nitrogen 

 atom, in either even, does not hold two like 

 groups, since the properties of positive and 

 24 H. O. Jones, J. Chem. Soc, 83, 1400 (1903). 



RECENT PHYSIOLOGY AND THE WARi 



This theme, kindly suggested by Pro- 

 fessor Sir James Dewar, is sufficiently 

 large to preclude more than a succinct 

 treatment of some outstanding points in 

 the time permissible in a single lecture. 

 But these points are of considerable inter- 

 est and have a more than fleeting impor- 

 tance. 



The first is that of fatigue, its measure- 

 ment and incidence in factory employees. 

 The indices taken have been speed of out- 

 put and quantity of output by groups of 

 workpeople working under the conditions 

 of a munitions factory. An inference of 



1 Address before the Eoyal Institution of Great 

 Britain, February 2, 1917. 



