December 1, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



703 



Earaday and others were not connected with 

 the government, and had no encouragement 

 or support from it. 



In Germany, which consisted of thirty-six 

 separate different countries during the devel- 

 opment of chemistry, there has been a large 

 number of centers of science and independent 

 thinkers. At first Germany was far behind 

 France and England. Liebig was the one who 

 brought about the change. His great discov- 

 ery of the method of laboratory teaching, of 

 personal teaching supplementing mass teach- 

 ing in lectures, together with the development 

 of research work as a requisite for graduation 

 at a German university, has led to the enor- 

 mous development of the science of chemistry 

 in Germany, so that at present over one half 

 or nearer three fourths of the chemical in- 

 vestigation of the world is carried on in Ger- 

 many, all of which is attributable to Liebig's 

 methods. 



In America the development of chemistry 

 has been dependent on the development in 

 foreigii countries, and foreign methods have 

 been introduced. At present progress is rapid 

 and the signs are hopeful, but the connection 

 between theoretical and applied chemistry is 

 not so well developed as in Germany, where, at 

 Ludwigshaf en for instance, there are one hun- 

 dred and fifty university graduates employed 

 in technical work in one establishment, and 

 the university professors and scientists in 

 works are in close touch. Professor Ostwald 

 illustrated the close connection of theoretical 

 and practical chemistry in Germany by his 

 own valuable discovery of the preparation of 

 nitric acid from ammonia, by catalytic reac- 

 tions depending on pure physico-chemical 

 theories. Arthur M. Comey, 



Secretary. 



THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON. 



The 161st regular meeting was held Thurs- 

 day evening, November 9, 1905, in the As- 

 sembly Hall of the Cosmos Club. Messrs. S. 

 S. Yoorhees and L. S. Munson were elected 

 councilors to represent the Washington Sec- 

 tion in the American Chemical Society. 



The first paper of the evening, entitled 



' Polymorphic Forms of Calcium Metasilicate,' 

 was presented by Dr. E. T. Allen. 



The results of the investigation were stated 

 as follows : 



Calcium metasilicate (CaSiOj) crystallizes 

 in two different forms, the mineral wollas- 

 tonite which is monoclinic, and an artificial 

 form which is pseudo-hexagonal. These are 

 enantiotropic polymorphs with an inversion 

 point at 1,190°. The artificial form is more 

 stable above this point, therefore to synthe- 

 size the mineral of nature, the melt must first 

 be chilled to a glass, and this then devitrified 

 below the inversion point (800° to 900°). 

 Reversion from pseudo-wollastonite to wollas- 

 tonite does not take place when the two forms 

 are heated together below the inversion point, 

 but this may be effected by the addition of 

 calcium vanadate which dissolves the pseudo 

 form from the solution of which the more 

 stable woUastonite crystallizes. There is 

 scarcely any volume change in the inversion, 

 the specific gravity of the woUastonite being 

 2.915 and that of the pseudo-wollastonite 2.912. 

 As an inversion temperature is a point at 

 which two solids are in equilibrium, it re- 

 mains unchanged no matter what solution the 

 mineral may crystallize from. It is only the 

 temperature of crystallization which is af- 

 fected. 



Since neither pseudo-wollastonite nor para- 

 morphs of woUastonite after pseudo-wollas- 

 tonite are found in nature, it follows that 

 natural woUastonite has always formed below 

 its inversion temperature; and since woUas- 

 tonite is very characteristic of contact meta- 

 morphic zones, the foregoing may have an 

 important bearing on the temperature of con- 

 tact metamorphism. 



The second paper, entitled ' Investigations 

 on the Properties of Wheat Proteids,' was 

 presented by Dr. Joseph S. Chamberlain. 



The conclusions drawn were: (1) The wash- 

 ings from gluten determinations contain 35- 

 40 per cent, of the proteids of wheat, of which 

 about 15 per cent, is composed of the glutinous 

 proteids gliadin and glutenin; (2) the cold 

 alcoholic extract of wheat contains, with the 

 gliadin, about 10-12 per cent, of those pro- 



