448 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 481. 



tight vessel witli a large amount of the 

 same salt in a more or less completely 

 dehydrated condition are, when a condition 

 of equilibrium is attained, converted with 

 precision into a phase containing a definite 

 amount of water greater by one step than 

 that present in the salt used as desiceant. 

 The employment of the method for the re- 

 moval of mechanically adherent water 

 from highly efflorescent salts, and for the 

 preparation of compounds containing alco- 

 hol, benzene or acetic acid of crystallization 

 was also referred to. 



An Interesti'ng Deposit from City Water 



Pipes: E. H. S. Bailey, University of 



Kansas, Lawrence, Kan. 



The soft brown deposit, resembling peat, 



contained the following percentages: 



Silica, 13.20; water, 27.62; manganese 



oxide, MujO^, 34.07; ferric oxide, 8.04; 



alumina, 3.29, and therefore, resembles 



woad. The water itself only contained a 



minute trace of manganese. 



A Method of Determining the Total Car- 

 bon of Coal, Soil, Etc. : S. W. Parr, Uni- 

 versity of Illinois, Urbana, 111. 

 The substance is mixed with an excess of 

 sodium peroxide and burnt in the well- 

 known Parr calorimeter. The residue is 

 then mixed with an excess of dilute sul- 

 phuric acid and the evolved carbon dioxide 

 measured in a gas burette, the amount of 

 carbon being calculated from the volume 

 of the gas. The amount of carbon in the 

 peroxide used is determined in a special 

 blank experiment. The method gave good 

 results for total carbon in iron, organic 

 compounds, etc. 



The Application of Physical Chemistry to 

 the Study of Uric Acid in Urine: F. H. 

 McCruden, Boston, Mass. 

 The greater solubility of uric acid in 



urine as compared with pure water is 



shown to be due to the establishment of an 

 equilibrium between the uric acid and the 

 acid phosphates. Hence the addition of 

 even considerable amounts of alkalies, as 

 compai-ed with the uric acid, does not ap- 

 preciably influence the solubility of the 

 latter. The interesting details of this 

 paper do not lend themselves to discussion 

 in an abstract. 



Investigation of the Bodies called Fiber 

 and Carbohydrates in Feeding Stuffs, 

 with a Tentative Determination of the 

 Components of Each: P. Schweitzer. 

 The author presented in tabular form 

 the results obtained by approximate 

 methods of determination of 'pure fiber,' 

 fibro-pentosan, pectose, pecto-pentosan, 

 pentosan, sugar, starch and 'indefinite car- 

 bohydrates' in a large number of feeding 

 stuffs. 



The following papers were also read: 



Herman Schlundt: 'The Dieleetrie Constants 

 of some Inorganic Solvents.' 



Hamilton- P. Cady: 'Concentration Cells in 

 Liquid Ammonia.' 



James Locke : ' The Action of Ammonia upon 

 Solutions of Copper Sulphate.' 



Charles Baskerville : ' Phosphorescent Thor- 

 ium Oxide.' 



Charles Baskerville and George P. Kunz: 

 ' On the Action of Radium Compounds on Rare 

 Earth Oxides and the Preparation of Permanently 

 Luminiferous Preparations by the Mixing of the 

 Former with Powdered Substances.' By title. 



Charles Baskerville : ' Action of Ultra- Violet 

 Light on Rare Earth Oxides.' 



W. D. Bigelow, H. C. Gore and B. J. Howaed: 

 ' The Ripening of Apples.' 



John Urio Nef : ' Dissociation Phenomena of 

 the Alkyle Haloids and of the Monatomio Alco- 

 hols.' Published in Liehig's Annalcn, Vol. 318, 

 p. 137. 



Edward Bartow : ' Synthesis of the Quinoline 

 Series.' 



Arvid Nilson : ' The Life of a Barley Corn.' 



G. B. Frankforter, 



Secretary. 



