790 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 411. 



discussion between us of scientific topics 

 or even of administrative topics. Some- 

 how I learned early in the association how 

 his mind ran, and came to know fairly 

 well not only the lines of his action, but 

 the course of his thought. So between us 

 discussion was needless. This very fact 

 indicates the closeness of the sympathy 

 existing between us; and I mention it as 

 an apology for any appearance of fulsome 

 eulogy that may have fallen from my lips. 



"The feeling that overwhelms me is one 

 of loss. The greatest of scientific men is 

 gone; our warmest friend of scientific 

 progress has passed away; our brightest 

 exemplar of human knowledge is no more. 



"This is but little of what I am moved 

 to say; yet I am glad to offer even this 

 small tribute to a great man." 



Doctor Walcott, Chairman of the Com- 

 mittee on Resolutions, then offered the 

 following, which was adopted by a rising 

 Tote: 



"The friends and associates of Major 

 John Wesley Powell here place upon record 

 an expression of their grief at the loss of 

 a loyal friend, a devoted public servant, a 

 daring explorer, and an original contrib- 

 utor to the sum of human knowledge, and 

 they extend to the family of Major Powell 

 their sincere condolence in their great be- 

 reavement. ' ' 



The meeting then adjourned. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 

 The Chemistry of the Terpenes. By Dr. P. 

 He0SLEr^ Privatdocent of Chemistry in the 

 University at Bonn. Authorized transla- 

 tion by Dr. Francis J. Pond, Assistant Pro- 

 fessor in the Pennsylvania State College. 

 Carefully revised, enlarged and corrected. 

 One volume. P. Blakiston's Son & Co., 

 Philadelphia. 1902. $4.00. Pp. 457. 

 Webster's International Dictionary states 

 that a terpene is ' Any one of a series of iso- 

 meric hydrocarbons of pleasant aromatic odor, 



occurring especially in coniferous plants and 

 represented by oil of turpentine, but includ- 

 ing also certain hydrocarbons found in some 

 essential oils.' 



This so-called definition may serve; in part 

 at least, tbe purpose of the publisher, for it 

 may satisfy tbe curiosity of one who inci- 

 dentally has stumbled across the word and 

 cares little for positive information. It cer- 

 tainly does not define the word chemically, as 

 it pretends to do. 



Some years ago one of the writer's students 

 presented himself with a set of examination 

 questions of an eastern college of pharmacy. 

 One of the questions read : ' What is a ter- 

 pene ? ' and tbe student, who had attended a 

 course on ' hydrocymenes and derivatives,' 

 apparently was curious to know how the 

 writer would briefly define a terpene for the 

 purpose of an examination paper. " A ter- 

 pene is a dihydro'terpene,' " was the prompt 

 reply. For a moment tbe student was puz- 

 zled. Shortly, however, he recalled sufficient 

 of A. V. Baeyer's application of Geneva Con- 

 gress nomenclature to the terpenes. He there- 

 fore smiled and walked away, seemingly satis- 

 fied. 



The fact is that the word terpene has been 

 used to designate different groups of com- 

 pounds. The compiler of Webster's Diction- 

 ary seems to know of natural terpenes only. 

 Semmler, on the other hand, thought it neces- 

 sary to reduce the number of natural terpenes 

 proper and assigned to certain hydrocarbons 

 (Ci„Hju) found in volatile oils the name ali- 

 phatic terpenes. Not satisfied with this, he 

 coined the name pseudoterpenes for certain 

 other isomeric hydrocarbons of this group. 



Konig, who tried to give a strict chemical 

 meaning to the word alkaloid, defined this 

 term as standing for certain derivatives of 

 pyridine, thereby excluding such well-known 

 alkaloids as caffeine and many others. A. v. 

 Baeyer, in an adaptation of Geneva Congress 

 nomenclature to terpenes and camphors, de- 

 fined a terpene as a tetrahydrocymene. The 

 terpenes of old, in accordance with the same 

 principles of nomenclature, became terpadi- 

 enes. However, there are many ' terpenes,' 

 i. e., hydrocarbons (C^Hj^), which cannot be 



