820 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 74. 



entire mass the appearance of being a matted 

 mass of hair. One mass of 30 pounds was en- 

 tirely of this character. A fifteen-pound mass 

 contained a dozen or more crystals of rutile 45 

 cm. in length and from one-half to two mm. 

 in diameter. Magnificent crystals of amethyst 

 have also been found, one of which is entirely 

 of gem-cutting material and weighs 550 penny- 

 weights or 27J ounces troy. Topaz, blue and 

 white is found in the same localities. 



J. F. Kemp, 



Secretary. 



THE NEW YORK SECTION OF THE AMERICAN 

 CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 



The New York Section of the American 

 Chemical Society held its usual monthly meet- 

 ing in the chemical lecture room of the College 

 of the City of New York on Friday evening. May 

 8th, with about fifty members present, Dr. Peter 

 T. Austen presiding. In response to inquiries 

 regarding the progress made by the committee 

 appointed to canvass the matter of the organiza- 

 tion of a chemical club. Prof. Austen stated 

 that, in accordance with the instructions given, 

 it had increased its numbers to fifteen and had 

 held several meetings, to one of which the 

 members of the New York sections of the 

 American Chemical Society and of the Society 

 of Chemical Industry, as well as manufacturers 

 and gentlemen interested in the science and art 

 of chemistry, business men and friends of chem- 

 istry were invited. The meeting was full and 

 enthusiastic. The committee was instructed 

 to increase its number to fifty or more and to 

 push the organization of the club as rapidly as 

 possible. It appears that there is not in exist- 

 ence in this or any foreign country any real 

 chemical club, as difterentiated from a chemical 

 society. It is believed that the science and art 

 of chemistry furnish so much that is character- 

 istic that a chemical club may easily be made a 

 unique organization. 



Dr. A. E. Leeds, of Stevens Institute, read a 

 paper on the 'Bacteria of Milk Sugar.' The 

 author finds that the morphology, classification, 

 physiology and botany of bacteria are so rudi- 

 mentary and unsatisfactory that the most valu- 

 able methods of bacteriological investigation are 

 still of a chemical nature, and the advances to 



be made in the near future are to be looked for 

 mainly on the chemical sides of the subject. 



The author was interested to note in the 

 progress of his work that precipitated zinc hy- 

 droxide, which is generally considered amor- 

 phous or gelatinous, is really crystalline. 



Dr. H. W. Wiley, of the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture in Washington, offered 

 a paper entitled, ' Eecent Advances in Milk 

 Investigations.' It treated of the bacterial 

 theory of milk decomposition, the composition 

 of woman's milk as compared with cows milk 

 and the relative value of the two for infant food, 

 and of the commercial standards which should 

 be fixed for the milks sent to the city markets. 



Investigations of the composition of milk, in 

 its relations to the welfare of the human race, 

 are largely confined to the determination of its 

 value as a nutrient. From an economic point 

 of view, the content of fat and other food con- 

 stituents is of paramount importance, while 

 from a purely chemical point of view the most 

 important are perhaps the composition of the 

 difierent proteid bodies and the changes which 

 they undergo, spontaneously or under the in- 

 fluence of bacterial life. 



The author reviewed the works of Soldner 

 regarding the proteid content of human milk, 

 and quoted the figures given by that authority 

 for the average comjoosition of human milk as 

 follows : 



Proteids 1.52 percent. 



Fat 3.28 per cent. 



Sugar 6.50 percent. 



Ash 0.27 per cent. 



Citric acid 0.05 percent. 



Undetermined 0.78 percent. 



Total dry substance 12.40 percent. 



The undetermined substance, 0.78 per cent., 

 are mostly nitrogenous bodies not generally 

 found in cow's milk and for this reason cow's 

 milk can never be so diluted or altered as to 

 properly supply the natural nutriment of the 

 infant. 



The nitrogenous decomposition products of 

 the blood, chief of which are urea, hypoxanthin, 

 kreatinin, sulfocyauic acid and lecithin, are 

 uniformly found in milk. 



Mr. Marston Bogert, of Columbia University, 

 read a paper on ' Normal Heptyl Sulphocyanid.' 

 He ofifered a brief sketch of the series of alkyl 



