960 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 807 



The totals recorded by a Callendar horizontal 

 pyrheliometer are very considerably in excess of 

 the totals obtained from the Angstrom, the dif- 

 ferences varying with the atmospheric conditions. 



A diagram was presented showing variations in 

 annual averages of radiation intensities at several 

 stations, including Washington, and it was shown 

 that a synchronism exists between minima of 

 radiation intensities, minima of monthly mean 

 temperatures in the interior of continents, minima 

 of sky polarization when measured at the point 

 of maxima, and maxima of distance of the neutral 

 points of Arago and Babinet from the anti-solar 

 point and the sun respectively. 



(The abstracts of the foregoing papers are by 

 their authors.) R. L. Faeis, 



Secretary 



THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTOST 



The 199th meeting was held at the Public 

 Library on Thursday, May 12, at 8 p.m., with 

 President Failyer presiding. The following papers 

 were read: 

 The Exact Determination of Sulphur and of 



Barium in the Presence of Alkali Salts: I. K. 



Pheus. 



By precipitating with BaCl, in a hot, neutral 

 solution the contamination of BaSO, with foreign 

 negative ions may be almost completely avoided 

 and the precipitate contaminated with such posi- 

 tive ions as K, Na or NHj converted into pure 

 BaSO, by treatment with H.SOi, evaporation and 

 extraction of the alkali sulphate with water. In 

 determining sulphur this alkali sulphate is con- 

 verted into BaSOi by addition of the water extract 

 to the mother liquor of the first precipitate. This 

 second precipitate of BaSOj is added to the first 

 and the process repeated. In determining Ba the 

 water extracts are rejected. 



The Determ,ination of Nitrogen in the Fceoes: 

 , I. K. Phelps. 



The difficulties of loss of nitrogen by standing, 

 of obtaining a uniform sample of the heterogene- 

 ous material, and of separating the hair from the 

 faecal matter when dogs are the subjects of study 

 are overcome by preservation of the faeces under 

 alcohol, filtration, dehydration of the solid ma- 

 terial with ether and treatment of the solid 

 residue and alcohol-ether filtrate separately. The 

 solid residue is freed from hair by sifting and N 

 determined in the usual way. The alcohol-ether 

 filtrate is sampled and the N determined accord- 

 ing to Kjeldahl, using the pfecaution to allow the 



alcohol-ether mixture to flow from a dropping 

 funnel into the sulphuric acid heated and main- 

 tained at a temperature of 140-160°. Thus the 

 large mass of the alcohol is converted into ethyl 

 ether and excessive carbonization avoided and, at 

 the same time, the acid kept of such concentration 

 that all volatile nitrogen substances are held. 



Oil Cement Concrete: A. S. Cushman. 



The results obtained in a series of experiments 

 in which oil residuums of an asphaltic and semi- 

 asphaltic nature have been mingled with cement 

 concretes while in a still wet or plastic condition 

 were described. No difficulty has been experienced 

 in getting homogeneous mixtures, and the initial 

 and ultimate strength of the oil concrete appears 

 to be only slightly less than that of ordinary 

 concrete. It is hoped that the results of the 

 investigation will lead to some valuable practical 

 uses of this material, both for road surfacing and 

 for waterproofing concrete in general. 



The Compleafity of the Humu^ Extract of Soils: 



E. 0. Shobet. 



This was a summary of the work of the Divi- 

 sion of Fertility Investigations of the Bureau of 

 Soils on soil organic matter. The author an- 

 nounced the isolation by him of twenty-three 

 organic compounds from soils. Seventeen of these 

 have been identified and eight types of compounds 

 are represented. 



The Separation and Determination of Cadmium 



in the Presence of Copper: E. A. Hill. 



The use of filter paper pulp, pulped with an 

 egg beater, is suggested for use in qualitative 

 analysis for preventing the passages of finely 

 divided precipitates through the filter and facili- 

 tating their removal therefrom. 



In the solution of precipitates upon the filter 

 the passage of the solvent is arrested by plugging 

 the outlet of the funnel with a cork stopper, 

 thereby giving the solvent time to act. 



Cadmium carbonate is precipitated from solu- 

 tions of copper by using ammonia free as distin- 

 guished from the ordinary laboratory (NHiJaCOs 

 reagent in the former of which CdCOs is prac- 

 tically insoluble. The separation is delicate and 

 complete (if heated) and affords a basis for both 

 qualitative and quantitative methods which will 

 be worked out later. 



Arrangements were made to hold a special meet- 

 ing at the Johns Hopkins University, to be fol- 

 lowed by a smoker. 



J. A. Le Cleec, 



Secretary 



