256 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. I., No. 9. 



tion of wood for musical instruments, but jierhaps 

 otherwise useful. It is described as follows : — 



The wooden boards are so arranged in a large iron 

 kettle that gases may freely circulate over their en- 

 tire surface, and exposed, in the first place, for twelve 

 hours, to the drying effects of hot air. After this the 

 kettle is closed, reheated by the apparatus below, 

 and the air exhausted, when the kettle is filled with 

 oxygen ozonized by electrical sparks passing contin- 

 ually between two points of platina, forming the 

 end-poles of two wires conducted through tubes of 

 glass into the kettle. The ozone is said to act so 

 energetically upon the heated wood, that it consumes 

 the destroying resinous, oily, or other parts in from 

 twelve to twenty-four hours. — {Engineers' club, 

 Philad.; meeting March 3.) [542 



CHEMISTRY. 

 (.Organic.) 

 Investigations on the unsaturated acids. — 

 For the purpose of defining the lactone formation 

 with greater precision, a series of investigations has 

 been undertaken in Fittig's laboratory, which, al- 

 though not completed, have yielded valuable results 

 in this direction. By reduction of ;3-aoeto- and j3- 

 aceto-isobutyric acids, Gottstein prepared two new 

 caprolactones. A heptolactone was obtained by 

 Young from the reduction of ethylacetopropionic 

 acid, — 



CH, - CO COOH 

 I I 



CHs - CH - CH, - CHa + H.^ = 

 CH, - CH - O - CO 



I I + H.O. 



CH, - CH - CHj - CHs 



An octolactone resulted from the reduction of methyl- 

 Qthylacetosuccinic ether. Lactones were derived by 

 Hjelt from allylmalonic, diallylmalonic, and diallyl- 

 acetio acids. From the formation of paraconic acid 

 from Itabrompyrotartaric, it was shown by Beer to be 

 a carboxylic acid of butyrolactone, — 

 COOH 

 I 

 CH, - CH - CH, 



Other lactones of an interesting nature were prepared 

 by Jayne and Penfleld. Of special interest is a delta- 

 lactone obtained by Wolff. In lactones hitherto ex- 

 amined the general structure has been, — 



CO 



or reduction has taken place between the carboxyl 

 group and a hydroxyl group attached to the third car- 

 bon atom from the carboxyl. Starting with sodium- 

 acet- acetic-ether and /3-iodpropionic acid, acetoglu- 

 taric ether — 



CH, - CO 

 I 



CjHj - O - CO - CH - CH, - CH, - CO - OCjHj 

 — was first prepared. By treatment with hydrocliloric 

 acid this substance was converted into y-aceto-butyric 

 acid (CH;, — CO - CII, — CH,, — CHj - COOH), 

 which, by the action of nascent hydrogen in alkaline 

 solution, gave the deltalactone of normal capronio 

 acid, — 



CH, - CH - CH, - CH, - CH,. 



I 

 CO 



Results obtained by Ebert in the study of cumarine, 

 by Fittig and Ebert on curaarilic acid, and by Erd- 

 mann on the action of sulphuric acid upon cinnamic 

 acid, were also described. — {Ann. chem., ccxvi. 26.) 

 c. F. M. [543 



Constitution of the nitroso-bodies. — The 



nitrosoketones discovered by V. Meyer in 1877 are 

 now regarded by him and M. Ceresole as containing 

 an oximido-group (=N — OH) instead of the group 

 — N = O ; for example, — 



CHj - CO - CH = N - OH 

 instead of 



CHj - CO - CH - NO. 



Several facts are mentioned in support of the first 

 form; and, as an experimental proof, the benzyl ether 

 of nitrosoacetone was made and compared with the 

 benzylnitrosoacetone obtained by the action of nitrous 

 acid on benzylacetacetic ether. Since the isomerism 

 of these bodies was established by differences in their 

 Ijhysical and chemical properties, the first cannot 

 contain a nitroso-group. 



CH3 - CO - c'^ - C,H,. 

 Benzylnitrosoacetone from benzylacetacetic ether. 

 CHs - CO - C = N . OH - C,H,. 

 Benzylnitrosoacetone from nitrosoacetone. 



Whether nitrosoacetone contains the group 



.<:> 



NH 



C = N— OH or the group C | remains to be de- 

 \0 



termined. The authors conclude that true nitroso- 

 bodies are probably produced by nitrous acid when 

 it acts on the group = CH; when acting upon the 

 group = CHj, isonitroso-bodies containing the group 

 — C = N . OH result. — {Berichte deutsch. chem. 

 gesellsch.jXV.SOQI.) c. p. m. [544 



GEOLOGY. 



Geology of the vicinity of Havana. — Pedro 

 Salterain y Legarra has published a geological map 

 which shows along the Cuban shore, in the jurisdiction 

 of Havana and Guanabacoa, a narrow strip of modern 

 rocks; then a band twice as wide, which he refers to 

 the miocene. Next to this is a band of about the same 

 width, colored as eocene. The rest is represented as 

 cretaceous, with narrow tongues of eruptive rocks 

 running through it in a general east and west direc- 

 tion, the largest of which begins at EegUi. Guana- 

 bacoa is situated on it, and it extends eastward to the 

 limit of the jurisdiction. To the south-west, along the 

 Kio Marianao, the cretaceous becomes very narrow ; 

 and south of and including Pedroso, the eocene again 

 appears. The first part of the accompanying memoir 

 consists of a brief orographic and hydrographic de- 

 scription of the districts, together with a number 

 of analyses of the water of the Rio Almendares and 

 of various mineral-springs. 



Great difficulty was experienced, in studying the 

 geology, from the heavy mantle of vegetable earth, and 

 the consequent distance between outcrops. His clas- 

 sification of the formations is as follows: 1°. The 

 quaternary or recent, containing the reef-formations 

 of corals and zoophytes, detrital, and alluvial deposits. 

 2°. Post-pliocene, the relations of which to the qua- 

 ternary or to the upper tertiary pliocene are uncertain. 

 It generally consists of a sandy, whitish-yellow lime- 

 stone, with many fossils generally identical with liv- 

 ing species. In Matanzas a molar of a hippopotamus 

 was found in a similar deposit. 3°. The miocene, 

 which is placed between the overlying madreporic or 

 quaternary and the eocene baud. It extends along the 

 northern slope of the first range of hills, and con- 

 sists of a rock of generally identical character in all 

 parts, a somewhat argillaceous white limestone, gen- 

 erally very fossiliferous, coarse, porous, and rough to 

 the touch. Most of the fossils are casts. Zoophytes 

 are abundant, as in the post-pliocene; but the relative 



