Febeuaey 25, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



313 



ing tract on draft and its necessity. Let us take 

 advantage of the tuberculosis scare and change 

 the habits of people so that they may not need to 

 drop all their occupations and sit in a draft all 

 day doing nothing. 



An artificial life demands artificial means of 

 securing the advantages of natural living. One 

 man's fresh air is another man's draft and the 

 most difficult part of the ventilation problem is to 

 reconcile the interests of both these classes of 

 persons. 



It is now pretty generally recognized among the 

 scientific workers most familiar with the facts, 

 that there is little danger from breathing germs 

 except from direct contact with the particles given 

 off by sneezing, coughing, etc., and this only with- 

 in a radius of ten feet or so of the distributing 

 factor. Also that in itself carbon dioxide, up to 

 even 50 or 75 parts in 10,000 does not disturb the 

 individual in a cool, dry room. 



The window lowered an inch at the top is of 

 more power than raised a foot at the bottom. 

 Because air is invisible, the average person ignores 

 it. If more attention could be paid to air cur- 

 rents, to the mixing of air, and as an aid to this, 

 if the air of halls could be kept cooler, vast benefit 

 would result. Heat and humidity are the most 

 dangerous products of still life, because they so 

 soon endanger the activity of the cells and raise 

 the body temperature. 



Odors also form no unimportant part in the 

 causes for discomfort in our enclosed spaces. May 

 not circulation of air combined with ozonization 

 do much to eliminate this? We have tests under 

 way looking to this end. 



The following papers are reported by title: 



Industrial Bacteriology as a Field for Biochemical 

 Investigation: Samuel C. Prescott. (Chair- 

 man's address.) 



Studies upon the Physiological and Chemical Toxi- 

 cology of the Sap of the Manzanillo Tree: Jose 

 A. Feknanbez Benitez. 



Some Points in the Analysis of Proteins: T. B. 



OSBOENE. 



A Method for the Determination of Amino Nitro- 

 gen and its Applications: Donald D. Van 

 Sltke. 



The Anaphylactic Reaction as a Specific Test for 

 Protein: M. J. Eosenau. 



The Manganese-bearing Tissues of the Fresh-icater 

 Mussels: H. C. Beadlet. 



The Relation of Typhoid Fever to the Water Sup- 

 plies of Illinois: Edwaed Babtow. 



The Action of Enzymes on Sugars: C. S. Hudson. 

 The Cause of Depression Produced by Molasses: 



J. B. Lindset. 

 The Chemical Organization of a Typical Fruit: 



A. E. Vinson. 

 Fiasing and Staining Tannin in Plant Tissues: A. 



E. Vinson. 



DIVISION OF OEGANIC CHEMISTEY 



R. S. Curtiss, Chairma/ii 



Ealph H. MoKee, Secretary 



Advances in the Chemistry of Coal-tar Colors : 



Hugo Schweitzeb. 



Enormous progress is yearly made in the in- 

 dustry of coal-tar colors where the far-reaching 

 possibilities of chemistry have been recognized. 

 It is the popular idea that aniline colors can not 

 stand the influence of light. This is due to the 

 fact that the first aniline colors were poor. This 

 is not true of the aniline colors now made. The 

 most wonderful advances in the production of new 

 colors of extreme fastness are to be found in the 

 class of alizarin colors, which for the last twenty 

 years have played a very important part in the 

 dyeing industry. 



Many interesting experiments have been made 

 to determine the fastness of certain dyes, among 

 them the experiment of dyeing a blue fabric and 

 exposing it to the sun's rays at the height of 

 many thousand feet. Since a method has been 

 discovered for the manufacture of artificial indigo 

 economically, many different kinds of dyes have 

 been made from this indigo, which plays an im- 

 portant part in the industry. Friedlander has 

 made some interesting investigations to show that 

 the purple of the ancients, which was derived from 

 purple shell fish of the Mediterranean, was iden- 

 tical with some of the modern derivatives of in- 

 digo. From 12,000 shell fish he obtained one 

 twentieth of an ounce of color, which shows why 

 it was so precious and expensive in the olden 

 times. 



Within a few years it has even been possible to 

 make coal-tar colors for the use of artists. While 

 the product in Thessaly of a few pounds of dye- 

 stuff would be sufiicient to supply the painters of 

 the world with this color it is practically nothing. 

 Experiments were carried out for the benefit of 

 art. They are being continued so that in the end 

 organic colors will reign supreme in this field. 



A comparison of the natural colors of a few 

 years back with the artificial colors of to-day 

 show that in every case the artificial colors are 



