326 



SCIENCE. 



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



A. Method for the Determination of Small 

 Amounts of Copper in Water: E. B. 

 Phelps. (By title.) 



A Trade Waste Study: Copper Salts in 

 Irrigation Waters: W. W. .Skinner. 

 (By title.) 



The Availability of the Phosphoric Acid 



of the Soil: G. S. Peaps. 



The various factors which influence the 

 amount of phosphoric acid dissolved by 

 solvents are considered— nature of the soil 

 phosphates, solution of soil constituents 

 thereby exposing more phosphoric acid, 

 fixation by the soil, and availability of the 

 dissolved phosphoric acid. These factors 

 appear to exclude the use of water, carbon- 

 ated Avater, one per cent, acetic acid and 

 JV/200 hydrochloric acid. Soils must be 

 divided into different classes according to 

 the solubility of their constituents. 



There is a relation between the chem- 

 ically available phosphoric acid and soil 

 deficiency in phosphoric acid, according to 

 pot tests on a number of soils. The action 

 ■of the plant makes available a considerable 

 :amount of phosphoric acid. Cotton and 

 •cow peas have a higher solvent power than 

 rice or corn, corn being very low. Though 

 cow peas and cotton take up nearly equal 

 •quantities, the soil was deficient for cotton 

 .and not for cow peas, showing that cotton 

 'requires more. With a given amount of 

 •chemically available plant food, the soil 

 anay be deficient for one crop and not for 

 another with higher solvent power or lower 

 needs. 



The Effect of Climate on the Composition 



of Cotton Seed: G. S. Fraps. 



From observations during two seasons, 

 meal from the western part of the state 

 appears to be much richer in nitrogen than 

 meals from eastern Texas. The climate of 

 the former section is semi-arid. No close 

 relation could be traced between the rain- 



fall and distribution of the meal. Texas 

 meal appears, on the average, to be richer 

 than meals from other sections. 



On the Presence in Soils and Subsoils of 

 Substances Deleterious to Plant Growth: 

 W. K. Cameron and B. E. Livingston. 

 (By title.) 



The Fermentation of Sugar-Cane Prod- 

 ucts: C. A. Browne, Jr. 

 In the first part of the paper the writer 

 discusses the influence of the various en- 

 zymes of the sugar cane upon the composi- 

 tion of the juice. The action of invertase 

 in windrowed cane, the coloration phe- 

 nomena produced by oxydases, and the 

 physiological importance of the oxydases 

 and catalases in the matter of protection 

 against microorganisms are briefly pre- 

 sented. 



The second part of the paper is devoted 

 to a description of a few typical fermenta- 

 tions produced by bacteria, yeasts and 

 molds, in cane juices, syrups and molasses. 

 Particular attention is paid to the different 

 compounds, dextran, mannite, cellulose, 

 ehitine, fat, etc., produced by these organ- 

 isms and the influence of these upon the 

 composition of the cane products is dis- 

 cussed. The writer concludes by noting 

 the bearing which several of these com- 

 pounds, such as glycerol and acetyl-methyl- 

 carbinol, have upon the physiology of cer- 

 tain fermentations. 



The Quantitative Estim,ation of Salicylic 

 Acid: W. D. Bigelow and W. L. Dubois. 

 This paper is an attempt to define as 

 exactly as possible the conditions to be 

 followed for the estimation of salicylic acid 

 by extracting with organic solvents and 

 comparing the color given by treating the 

 extracted salicylic acid with ferric solu- 

 tions, with solutions containing a known 

 amount of salicylic acid. The errors most 

 frequently made in the use of the method 



