April 8, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



583 



different espeditions which made observations 

 in the island of Sumatra on May 18, 1901. 

 Charles C. TEOWBRroGE, 



Secretary. 



THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



The 149th regular meeting of the Washing- 

 ton Chemical Society was held on Thursday, 

 March 10, at 8 p.m., in the Assembly Hall of 

 the Cosmos Club. 



The regular program for the evening was 

 preceded by appropriate remarks and the pre- 

 sentation of resolutions (published on page 

 595 of this journal) upon the deaths of 

 Mr. E. E. Ewell and Dr. E. A. de Schweinitz, 

 both of whom were former officers of the 

 Washington Chemical Society. 



The first paper on the program, entitled 

 ' Testing and Quality of Chemical Reagents,' 

 was presented by Mr. Lyman E. Kebler. 



The speaker first considered the subject 

 from the point of view of the manufacturer 

 who, on account of competition and the de- 

 mands for lower priced material, often finds 

 it necessary to send out inferior reagents 

 designated as ' 0. P.' with the tacit under- 

 standing that this abbreviation stands for 

 something other than its generally accepted 

 meaning. The speaker believed that the above 

 condition of affairs could eventually be over- 

 come by the establishment of standards of 

 purity for aU chemical reagents, and the 

 agreement of chemists and consumers gen- 

 erally to insist upon receiving goods which 

 are of the purity designated. Such a plan 

 would tend to put all manufacturers on an 

 equal footing and make it impossible for one 

 firm to sell a lower grade of goods for the 

 same price that another receives for better 



A great deal of the trouble up to the present 

 time was considered to be due to the fact that 

 government chemists generally have not in- 

 sisted on getting pure materials, and it has, 

 therefore, been difficult for chemists connected 

 with manufacturing establishments to main- 

 tain a high degree of purity, because it is fre- 

 quently contended by dealers, that what is 

 accepted by the government ought to be good 

 enough for the individual. The speaker urged 



the necessity for all chemists standing together 

 in the matter. A large number of specimens 

 of reagents containing a greater or less 

 amount of impurity were exhibited, and dis- 

 cussion on the subject was entered into by 

 Messrs. Hillebrand, Voorhees, Tolman and 

 Noyes. 



The second paper on the program was pre- 

 sented by Mr. B. J. Howard, and was entitled 

 ' Comparison of Tests for Turmeric in Mus- 

 tard.' 



Turmeric may be added to mustard either 

 in the powdered or else as a form of extract. 

 Though added as a powder, if it is subse- 

 quently made up into prepared mustard by 

 heating with water or vinegar, or both, the 

 condition for the purpose of analysis is the 

 same as the case of an extract. 



Eive methods of testing were made, viz., 

 (1) the alkali test, (2) the sulphuric acid test, 

 (3) the diphenylamine test, (4) the boric- 

 hydrochloric acid and (5) the boric-oxalic 

 acid test. The last two are merely adapta- 

 tions of the tests made use of for detecting 

 borax or boric acid used in foods as preserva- 

 tives. The boric-hydrochloric acid reagent is 

 made up of about equal parts of a saturated 

 aqueous solution of boric acid and an equal 

 solution of strong hydrochloric acid. 



Eor the detection of turmeric in the pow- 

 dered form a thin film of the sample to be 

 tested is spread upon a microscope slide with 

 a few drops of the reagent and examined with 

 a low power lens or reading glass. When the 

 boric-hydrochloric acid is used the film is al- 

 lowed to evaporate — the best results being ob- 

 tained with spontaneous evaporation. With 

 sulphuric acid, boric-hydrochloric acid, or 

 diphenylamine one part of powdered turmeric 

 to 20,000 of mustard is easily detected, and 

 much more positively than with either of the 

 other reagents. In using diphenylamine, 

 however, care must be taken not to confuse 

 the after color produced by the action of the 

 reagent upon the mustard itself for that pro- 

 duced by the turmeric. 



For the detection of turmeric in the ex- 

 tract form the method must be modified. The 

 sample is mixed with three or four times its 

 volume of 90 per cent, alcohol, and allowed 



