May 19, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



543 



to the Desert Laboratory of the Carnegie Institu- 

 tion and to the Mission of San Xavier near 

 Tucson. 



The visiting members were entertained at lunch 

 by the University of Arizona on Thursday in the 

 new Maricopa Hall. They were also entertained 

 at lunch on Friday by the Tucson Chamber of 

 Commerce, at which the Mexican representatives 

 and Dr. Ward were introduced and made ad- 

 dresses. 



On Thursda}' evening a Sigma Xi banquet was 

 held with Dr. Ward and the Mexican representa- 

 tives as guests of honor. 



The executive committee met each morning at 

 9 and held its final session on Saturday morning. 

 Eesolutions were passed in favor of the limita- 

 tion of the use of radium in the form of radiolite. 

 The next meeting was decided to be held in Santa 

 Fe, New Mexico, September 11-14, 1922. 



In arranging the program of this Tucson meet- 

 ing the special effort was made to give to each 

 section a certain amount of exclusive time during 

 which its papers of widest interest could be pre- 

 sented. This was followed by simultaneous meet- 

 ings of the sections at which the more technical 

 papers were given, thus assuring abundant time 

 for all papers. The program had been prepared 

 by Dr. V. M. Slipher, chairman of the physical 

 science section, Dr. C. T. Vorhies, chairman of the 

 biological science section, and Dr. E. L. Hewett, 

 chairman of the social science section in conjunc- 

 tion with the president. 



On January 29 an ecological excursion was made 

 to the Tucson mountains and lunch was served 

 near the petrified trees, recently discovered by 

 Dr. Sarle, of the Universitj' of Arizona. 



ABSTRACTS 



Chemistry 

 Flagstaffiie, a nexo Arizona mineral, and its 

 identity ivith terpin hydrate: F. N. Guild. Dr. 

 A. B. Douglass discovered on buried logs near 

 Flagstaff, Arizona, a finely crystallized substance 

 whose chemical and crystallographic analysis re- 

 sulted in its determination as a new^ organic min- 

 eral with the formula C H O . This was named 



10 22 3 



Flagstaffite. Afterwards a communication from 

 Dr. Francis Dodge of Brooklyn led to the further 

 conclusion that flagstaffite is identical with terpin 

 hydrate, a substance easily synthesized in the 

 laboratory, but hitherto never found occurring 

 naturally. The author emphasizes the importance 

 in chemical research of accurate crystallographic 

 measurements, pointing out that in this case, the 

 identity of flagstaffite with terpin hydrate was 

 established largely through erj-stallographic data. 



Demonstration of the Goldschmidt crystal model 

 machine: F. N. Guild. 



The ionization of strong electrolytes in the 

 light of recent theory: T. F. Buehrer. The 

 author sets forth that an explanation of the 

 anomaly of strong electrolytes as evidenced by 

 their failure to obey the Ostwald dilution law 

 must be sought for in the arrangement of elec- 

 trons within the molecule, according to the Lewis 

 theory of molecular structure. It also demands 

 a more rational definition of the idea of dissocia- 

 tion of an electrolyte. Various tables showing 

 the activity-coefficients and ionization-constants of 

 potassium chloride, a typically strong electrolyte, 

 and acetic acid, a typically weak one, were given 

 for illustration. 



Critical solution temperatures of ivhite phos- 

 phorus: T. F. Buehrer. The theory of solu- 

 bility worked out by Professor Hildebrand of the 

 University of California is discussed and illus- 

 trated by a table, showing the varying conditions 

 of solutions of white phosphorus in diff:erent sub- 

 stances. 



The development of the tungsten lamp: Paul 

 Cloke. 



Some new "beryllium alloys; their preparation 

 and properties: M. G. Fowler. Beryllium is a 

 rare element and difficult to separate from Al. 

 It resembles Al, but is lighter and has greater 

 tensile strength. Experimenting on methods of 

 preparation, it was first attempted to electrolyze 

 beryllium into molten lead from fused BeF^NaF; 

 and then into mercury from an aqueous solution. 

 In the first case, beryllium Avas found to be spar- 

 ingly soluble in lead; and in the second ease the 

 amalgam was readily decomposed by water. 

 However, since a pure alloy of beryllium was 

 required, electrolysis was abandoned as unsuc- 

 cessful. Then oxides of copper and beryllium 

 were reduced in the electric furnace and an aUoy 

 containing considerable carbide was obtained, and 

 a similar reduction of BeF^ with an excess of 

 magnesium produced an alloy of Be and Mg. 

 This method promises more success. The inten- 

 tion is to study phase rule diagrams of alloys of 

 beryllium with copper, aluminum, magnesium, cad- 

 mium' and zinc. 



The potential of the gold electrode: F. S. 

 Wartman. The present values of the potential 

 of the gold electrode — the measure of its ten- 

 dency to pass from the metallic to the ionized 

 condition — are found in error, due to the effects 

 of variations in the physical form of the metal, 

 temperatures and solutions of very soluble salts 

 used by previous investigators. The present work 



