420 SCIENCE. 
completeness and different perspectives. Then 
there should be a central bureau as planned by 
the Royal Society, which would send out 
promptly a card catalogue giving all the titles 
and also references to reviews and abstracts (at 
least in certain standard journals), as they ap- 
pear. The slips giving data regarding reviews 
and abstracts would, of course, refer to the 
article abstracted, and should, perhaps, be 
printed on narrow and thin slips which could 
be pasted on the original cards. If the abstracts 
in question are by competent men of science, it 
would be an advantage if an opinion were ex- 
pressed in regard to the importance of the work 
reviewed, whether it is a compilation or an 
original research, etc. If this were done by 
some uniform system it could be carried over to 
the slip by asymbol, as a letter or a single word. 
We are undertaking to carry out this plan for 
psychology in the Psychological Laboratory of 
Columbia University, but it has, of course, only 
local usefulness so long as the Index is not pub- 
lished. We have a card catalogue of psycho- 
logical literature, and the card indicates whether 
the publication can be found in the University 
Library and if not the most accessible library 
in which it can be found. It is proposed to add 
references to abstracts and reviews, as far at 
least as they are contained in the Zeitschrift fiir 
Psychologie and the Psychological Review, and to 
indicate the character and value of the publica- 
tion. To learn the contents it is only necessary 
to turn to a journal within arm’s reach. 
J. McKEENn CATTELL. 
CoLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. 
NOTES ON INORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 
THE investigations of Professor K. A. Hof- 
mann have shown the decided analogies which 
exist between hydroxylamin NH,OH and water 
especially in possessing both a basic and an 
acidic nature. The basic nature lies in the ten- 
dency of the amido group to form an am- 
monium group, while the acidic nature rests in 
the hydroxyl group, in which the hydrogen 
atom is in derivatives replaceable by a metal. 
A new analogy between hydroxylamin and 
water is now shown by Rudolf Uhlenhuth in 
Liebig’s Annalen. When hydroxylamin is ad- 
ded to a concentrated solution of nickel sulfate, 
[N. S. Vou. X. No. 247. 
a red crystalline precipitate is formed, which 
has the formula NiSO,, 6NH,OH. This would 
be ordinarily considered hydroxylamin of crys- 
tallization. Nickel sulfate, however, crystal- 
lizes as many other vitriols with 7H,O. Ac- 
cording to Werner’s hypothesis one of these 
water molecules is united chemically with the 
SO,, while the other six are codrdinated with 
the nickel atom. Now the hydroxylamin 
could not be thus united with the SO,, hence we 
find only six molecules present. This would 
seem to add another to the not long list of sub- 
stances such as water, ammonia, etc., which can 
be coordinated with the metallic atoms. 
Practical use is being made of the high tem- 
perature developed by the reduction of metal- 
lic oxids by aluminum, as described by H. 
Goldschmidt in the Zeitschrift fiir Electrochemie. 
Carbon-free metals are readily obtained, as 
chromium for chrome steel and manganese for 
manganese bronze. Vanadium oxid is reduced 
by aluminum only to the suboxid V,0, but 
columbium oxid is reduced to the metal. Asa 
by-product in these reactions an artificial corun- 
dum is obtained which surpasses the natural 
emery as an abrasive. Whena mixture of iron 
oxid and aluminum reacts, the temperature is 
intense but is very circumscribed, so that it can 
be used for many purposes, such as welding 
steel, where a high temperature is desired 
locally. 
A CONTRIBUTION to the chemistry of matches 
has appeared in the Bollettino chimico-farmaceu- 
tico by Giovanni Craveri of Buenos Ayres. He 
suggests the replacement of phosphorus in 
matches by perthiocyanic acid H,C,N.8;, and 
claims that such matches are not poisonous nor 
explosive, strike on any surface and burn 
brightly. Perthiocyanic acid can be readily 
made from the by-products of several pro- 
cesses, such as the purification of coal gas or 
the Lebane soda manufacture, and already its 
cost is less than that of phosphorus. If the 
new matches prove all that is claimed for them, 
Craveri will be recognized as a benefactor of 
the human race. 
THE paper by Sir William Crookes on vic- 
torium, a new element associated with yttrium, 
recently read before the Royal Society has been 
4 
if 
| 
