680 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 672 



Holm himself, certainly looks quite as natural 

 and life-like as any specimen of a recent 

 arthropod exhibited in the museum. 



The geological department hopes to have a 

 limited number of copies of this model, which 

 it is prepared to exchange with other mu- 

 seums. Naturally a model of this nature, 

 which has taken a very long time to make, de- 

 mands an exchange of considerable value, but 

 for information on this matter inquiries 

 should be addressed to the keeper of the geo- 

 logical department, Natural History Museum, 

 Cromwell Road, London, S. W., England. 



THE RESEARCH LABORATORY OF PHYS- 

 ICAL CHEMISTRY OF THE MASSA- 

 CHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF 

 TECHNOLOGY 



This laboratory opened on September 1 for 

 its fifth year. Professor G. N. Lewis has been 

 appointed acting director of the laboratory, in 

 place of Professor A. A. Noyes, who is tem- 

 porarily acting as president of the institute. 

 Investigations are being carried on in the 

 laboratory by sixteen men of whom ten are 

 devoting their whole time to research work. 

 The new members of the research staff are 

 Professor Carl von Ende (Ph.D., Gottingen), 

 Mr. John Johnston (B.Sc, St. Andrews) and 

 Mr. Roger D. Gale (S.B., Massachusetts Insti- 

 tute of Technology). Mr. R. B. Arnold (S.B., 

 Rose Polytechnic Institute) enters as a candi- 

 date for the degree of doctor of philosophy. 

 This degree was conferred last June on three 

 of the research workers in the laboratory, 

 Messrs. Raymond Haskell, R. B. Sosman and 

 M. A. Stewart. 



As in the past, a considerable part of the 

 research work bears upon the problems of 

 conductivity in aqueous solutions at high tem- 

 peratures. The results of the numerous in- 

 vestigations in this field, which have already 

 been completed in this laboratory, have re- 

 cently appeared in a comprehensive memoir 

 published by the Carnegie Institution. A new 

 form of conductivity bomb, capable of with- 

 standing very high pressures, has recently 

 been constructed. In this bomb the vapor- 

 pressure, density and compressibility of water 

 up to the critical point are being studied, as 



well as the influence of pressure upon the elec- 

 trical conductivity of solutions. Closely allied 

 investigations are being made upon electrical 

 transference in mixed salt solutions, the solu- 

 bility of salts in water at high temperatures, 

 and the dielectric constant of water up to its 

 critical point. 



In another field of investigation which is 

 receiving" special attention in this laboratory 

 several investigations are under way. These 

 are directed towards the determination of the 

 common electrode potentials, and of the free 

 energy of important chemical reactions. In- 

 directly but vitally connected with these re- 

 searches is an investigation of the specific 

 heat of gases at very high temperatures, which 

 is now being undertaken by Professor H. M. 

 Goodwin and Dr. H. T. Kalmus. 



The general scheme of qualitative analysis, 

 developed by Professor A. A. Noyes and Dr. 

 W. 0. Bray, is being extended to include the 

 detection of the acids. Other investigations 

 begun in previous years on the hydration and 

 the true transference numbers of the ions, on 

 the electromotive force produced in a solution 

 by rotating it at a very high rate of speed, 

 and on the properties of the solutions of 

 metals in liquid ammonia, are being brought 

 to a successful conclusion. Mr. C. A. Kraus, 

 who is carrying on the last-named investiga- 

 tion, has succeeded in finding the missing link 

 between the metallic and the electrolytic con- 

 ductor, and has thus obtained a new point of 

 attack for the problem of the electron. 



During the past year a gift of $500 has 

 been received from the William E. Hale Re- 

 search Pund and one of $3,000 from a private 

 source in support of the work of the labora- 

 tory. In addition. Professor A. A. Noyes has 

 received a grant of $2,000 from the Carnegie 

 Institution for assistance in carrying on the 

 researches above referred to on the conduct- 

 ivity of aqueous solutions. 



THE CHICAGO MEETING OF THE AMER- 

 ICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE AD- 

 VANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 



The program for the entire meeting will be 

 issued on Monday, December 30. ' Copies may 

 be obtained at hotel headquarters and at the 



