408 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXII. No. 561. 



to meteorology, with most satisfactory results.' 

 One point in liis address must cominend itself 

 to many persons who try to keep up with the 

 progress that is being made along the various 

 branches of meteorological science, and that 

 is the plea for maintaining ' a comprehensive 

 outlook on the whole field of investigation,' 

 which is important in these days of intense 

 specialization. 



A NEAV TEXT-BOOK OF METEOROLOGY. 



The June number of the National Geo- 

 graphic Magazine contains an article entitled 

 ' Forecasting the Weather and Storms,' by 

 Professor Willis L. Moore, chief of the 

 Weather Bureau. This article occupies all 

 but three pages of this number. It is illus- 

 trated by means of numerous weather maps, 

 storm charts and half-tone prints, and is to 

 form, as we learn, one chaj)ter in a forth- 

 coming book by Dr. Moore, entitled ' The 

 New Meteorology.' The author's experience 

 in the Weather Bureau, and the exceptional 

 facilities at his command, will doubtless re- 

 sult in producing a popular book which will 

 be very widely read. 



NOTES. 



At a recent exhibition of meteorological in- 

 struments held under the auspices of the 

 Eoyal Meteorological Society in London, one 

 of the most interesting exhibits was a series 

 of twenty-four-hour traces of continuous sun- 

 shine, obtained on the Antarctic expedition of 

 the Discovery. 



Consular Report for February, 1905, con- 

 tains a report by the American consul at 

 Nottingham, England, on the fogs of that 

 district, their relation to commerce, business 

 and health, and the suggestions that have been 

 made regarding the dispelling of fogs. 



A PAPER by Forel in the Archives cles Sci- 

 ences physiques et naturelles for March, 1905, 

 summarizes the observations of Bishop's ring 

 which followed the Mont Pelee ^eruption of 

 May 8, 1902. 



Professor Angelo Mosso (Atti dei Lincei, 

 XIV., (1)), has made experiments on the 

 effect of carbon dioxide as a remedy for moun- 

 tain sickness, and recommends that about 



eight per cent, of C0„ should be added to the 

 compressed oxygen which is taken for use 

 during high balloon ascents. 



E. De C. Ward. 



Is'OTEB ON INORGANIC CEEMI8TBY. 

 solutions in liquid ammonia. 

 The modern theories of solution are based 

 almost exclusively upon phenomena taking 

 place in aqueous solution. It is true that 

 the action of other solvents, especially the or- 

 ganic, has been studied, as well as that of 

 liquid ammonia, and to a lesser extent of 

 liquid hydrogen chlorid, sulfid and fluorid. 

 But this work has contributed little to the 

 theory of solutions in general, nor have the 

 theories of sokition in water been to any con- 

 siderable extent successfully applied to other 

 solvents. During the past eight years Pro- 

 fessor E. C. Franklin, now of Stanford Uni- 

 versity, has done much work on solutions in 

 liquid ammonia, and in a recent Journal of 

 the American Chemical Society he has brought 

 forward a rather notable generalization, which 

 brings the liquid ammonia solutions into line 

 with water solutions. It has long been 

 recognized that liquid ammonia stands near 

 water as a solvent. It is an associated liquid 

 with a fairly high dielectric constant. While 

 inferior generally to water as a solvent, it 

 has marked power of ionization, the more 

 dilute ammonia solutions being even better 

 conductors of electricity than aqueous solu- 

 tions of the same concentration. As water 

 from the standpoint of solution is to be looked 

 upon as a compound of H ions and OH ions, 

 so annnonia is a compound of H ions and 

 NTI, ions. When acids are dissolved in liquid 

 ammonia they form, as a matter of course, 

 ammonium salts, but nevertheless they retain 

 true acid properties. They discharge the color 

 of phenolphthalein ; they dissolve metallic 

 sodium and -some other metals with the evo- 

 lution of hydrogen and the formation of 

 metallic salts; they dissolve certain metallic 

 oxids and basic salts which are insoluble in the 

 liquid ammonia. Here the acid ion seems to 

 be not H, but NH^, or as we may write it, 

 NH, . H. It is, however, by no means im- 



