322 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 583. 



tural chemistry no longer represents a kind 

 of chemistry, but the field in which all 

 kinds of chemistry are utilized. 



It is true that there are many problems 

 yet unsolved relating to the source of plant 

 fertility and even to definitions. For in- 

 stance, the chemists and botanists use the 

 term plant food in a different sense, thus 

 creating more or less confusion. 



The chemist regards plant food as that 

 which enters the plant from without and 

 is utilized for its gro\Hh and development. 

 The botanist does not regard water and 

 carbon dioxide as plant food, but only as 

 food materials, which do not become real 

 foods until united by photosynthesis. 



In this country another problem relates 

 to the supply of potash, which it is possible 

 may yet be obtained by grinding potash- 

 bearing feldspars. 



Another problem relates to the composi- 

 tion and nutrition of foods. This problem 

 now occupies the attention of a great many 

 agricultural chemists, who, perhaps, are 

 known also as physiological chemists. 



The realm of physical chemistry is im- 

 portant here, since most of the phenomena 

 of plant growth rest upon the principles 

 of physical chemistry. Agricultural chem- 

 istry also follows foods through their prep- 

 arations, and supervises their purity and 

 ascertains their nutritive value. 



Agricultural chemistry also has occupied 

 the field of technical chemistry in all the 

 processes which utilize the raw material 

 produced from the field, the forest and the 

 farm. Thus the chemical problems of 

 tanning, paper making, sugar manufactur- 

 ing, etc., come within the domain of re- 

 search of agricultural chemists of the pres- 

 ent day. 



It is thus seen that every department of 

 chemical activity and research may be 

 utilized for the advantage of agriculture. 



Dr. Wiley was followed by Louis Kahlen- 

 berg, whose address on 'Recent Experi- 



mental Researches in Osmosis' will appear 

 in the Journal of the society. 



On Saturday morning Wm. L. Dudley 

 delivered an address on 'Laboratory De- 

 signing and Construction.' His ideas on 

 the subject were illustrated by plans for a 

 chemical laboratory. James F. Sellers 

 followed with an address entitled 'A Sym- 

 posium on Chemistry Requirements in the 

 South.' 



C. A. Browne, Jr., told of 'Recent De- 

 velopments in Industrial Chemistry in the 

 South.' 



The writer restricts his paper very 

 largely to Louisiana. The developments in 

 the fertilizer industry, manufacture of ice, 

 preservation of wood, distillation of turpen- 

 tine, tar, methyl alcohol, etc., from wood 

 and the utilization of wood waste for the 

 manufacture of ethyl alcohol by Claassen's 

 process are briefly discussed. The utiliza- 

 tion of cottonseed by-products in a number 

 of new ways is alluded to, and reference is 

 made to a new process for extracting oil 

 from rice and the improvement of the rice 

 by-products for cattle feeds. The re- 

 mainder of the paper is devoted to a dis- 

 cussion of recent developments in the sugar 

 cane industi-y, particular stress being laid 

 upon the recent work in improving the 

 varieties of sugar cane and in the utiliza- 

 tion of the by-products of the sugar house 

 — the bagasse and molasses. 



The address of the retiring president of 

 the society, F. P. Venable, was on 'The 

 Growth of Chemical Research in the 

 United States. ' It will appear in the 

 February number of the Journal of the 

 society. 



The reports of the secretary, editor and 

 treasurer were next read. The member- 

 ship of the society is now 2,919, a net gain 

 of 244 members. A new local section has 

 been organized in Iowa and also one in 

 western New York. An application for a 

 local section in Minnesota is pending. 



