APRIL 19, 1901.] 
NOTES ON INORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 
ATOMIC WEIGHT STANDARD. 
IN spite of the all but unanimous decision of 
tke International Committee on Atomic Weights, 
that the standard should be Oxygen—16, the 
question seems not yet to have been finally 
settled. At the December meeting of the 
American Chemical Society, a report was pre- 
sented by the section of the International Com- 
mittee appointed by the Society, in which it is 
shown that opinion is still somewhat divided, 
and an expression of views is called fur from 
the members of the Society. For the guidance 
of the members a very fair statement is made 
in brief of the principal arguments for both 
standards. According to the report, Professor 
Erdmann writes that out of 143 replies to the 
teachers’ circular, 118 favor the retention of 
the old standard, Hydrogen—1. It will be re- 
membered that after the report of the Interna- 
tional Committee, six German chemists sent 
out a circular to the teachers of chemistry in 
German universities and technical schools, ad- 
vocating the old standard, and calling for ex- 
pressions of opinion. It is natural that replies 
to this ex parte circular should have been chiefly 
received from those who agreed with its views, 
but the number of favorable replies indicates 
that there is an element, by no means small, 
who are opposed to the majority. It is, how- 
ever, not the teachers alone who are to be con- 
sidered in this matter; the selection of the 
standard of atomic weights is of at least as 
much importance to the practical chemists, who 
vastly outnumber the teachers. 
In the opening number of the Berichte for the 
year, the section of the International Com- 
mittee representing the German Chemical So- 
ciety publish the annual table, headed ‘ Inter- 
nationale Atomgewichte. O—16.00,’ but they 
also print a second table with the heading 
‘Didaktische Atomgewichte. H==1.00,’ with 
the comment that it is done for those teachers 
who cannot reconcile their teaching to a stand- 
ard which is anything other than unity. It is 
interesting to note that in this table appear for 
the first time gadolinium, krypton, neon, thu- 
lium and xenon, which are thus given a final 
standing as elements. 
In reviewing these tables in the Zeitschrift fiir 
SCIENCE. 
627 
anorganische Chemie, F. W. Kuster reproduces 
the report in full, except that he omits the sec- 
ond didactic table, as unnecessary for the read- 
ers of the Zeitschrift. He says the only end 
gained by printing it would be to keep up the 
discussion, which should now be looked upon as 
finally settled. On the other hand, it would 
seem that in the end unanimity is far more 
likely to be obtained by still allowing the freest 
discussion, rather than by suppressing it, while 
any considerable number of chemists, including 
some of the most eminent, refuse to acquiesce in 
the decision. 
ACTION OF ALCOHOL UPON METALS. 
SoME time since, a note was made in these 
columns of a specimen of alcohol contaminated 
with zinc, which could only have come from its 
being kept, as is ‘so often the case, in a gal- 
vanized iron container. The subject has been 
more recently investigated by Dr. Malméjac, 
and his results published in the Journal de 
Pharmacie et de Chimie. In his experiments he 
used ninety-five-per-cent. alcohol which left no 
residue on evaporation. The metals, copper, 
iron, tin, lead, zinc and galvanized iron, were 
corked up with the alcohol in glass flasks, and 
kept at ordinary temperature for six months. 
The copper was entirely unacted upon, but in 
all the other flasks there was a deposit at the 
bottom, and the metal was covered with a sim- 
ilar deposit. In the case of tin, lead, zinc and 
galvanized iron, the deposit was white; that 
from the iron was red, resembling iron rust. 
All the liquids, except that in which the lead 
had been placed, filtered clear; the latter re- 
tained its milky appearance after repeated fil- 
terings through double filters. The clear fil- 
trates from iron, lead, zinc and galvanized iron 
gave much residue on evaporation, while the 
residue from tin was hardly appreciable. In 
the former cases it is clear that not only had 
the metal been oxidized, but a considerable 
quantity had entered into solution. These ex- 
periments have an important bearing on the 
preserving and shipping of alcohol, especially in 
view of the fact that absolute alcohol is very 
generally purchased in galvanized iron cans. 
In such a case redistillation is imperative. 
J. L. H. 
