March 2, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



347 



delegate to the council of the Scientific Alli- 

 ance for 1906. C. Stuart Gager, 



Secretary. 



THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. NEW YORK 

 SECTION. 



The fourth regular meeting of the season 

 was held at the Chemists' Club on Friday, 

 January 5, at 8:15 p.m. The vice-chairman, 

 Dr. A. A. Breneman, presided. The follow- 

 ing papers were presented. 

 Is the Optical Rotatory Power an Additive 



Property of Asymmetric Carbon Atoms? 



M. A. EOSANOFF. 



In the memoir founding the science of 

 stereo-chemistry in 1875, van't Hofi made the 

 well-known assumption that when two or more 

 asymmetric carbon atoms are associated in a 

 molecule, the rotation due to each is inde- 

 pendent of the rotations due to the others. 

 The assumption was made the subject of ex- 

 tensive experimental inquiry, carried on be- 

 tween 1893 and 1896, on the one hand by 

 Guye (of Geneva) and his pupils, on the other 

 hand by Walden (of Riga). The results 

 seemed to establish the correctness of the as- 

 sumption beyond possibility of doubt, and the 

 verified assumption was incorporated in stereo- 

 chemistry as ' The Principal of Optical Su- 

 perposition.' The author now demonstrates 

 that Guye's and Walden's experimental 

 method was theoretically faulty, so that the re- 

 sults fail to serve the object of the experi- 

 ments. Having thus reopened the question 

 as to the correctness of van't Hoff's assump- 

 tion, he considers it in the light of facts that 

 do have a bearing on it, and comes to the con- 

 clusion that van't Hoff's principle is wrong 

 and should be replaced by a new principle, 

 provisionally formulated as follows : The ro- 

 tatory power of an asymmetric carbon atom 

 depends upon the composition, constitution 

 and configuration of each of its four groups. 

 On S-Amino-Jf-hetodiliydroquinazoline and 5- 

 Amino- 2' methyl -Jf-ketodihydroquinazoline: 

 Victor John Chambers and Marston Tay- 

 lor BOGERT. 



The authors prepared the above quinazolines 

 by reducing the corresponding nitro com- 

 pounds. Of the 5-amino-4-ketodihydroquina- 



zoline, its hydrochloride, chlorplatinate ; bib- 

 rom, acetyl, benzoyl and phenyluramino de- 

 rivatives were investigated; as well as its re- 

 actions with nitrous acid, chloroform and 

 potassium hydroxide, and with benzaldehyde. 

 Of the 5-amino-2-methyl-4-ketodihydroquina- 

 zoline, beside the free base, only the hydro- 

 chloride and chloraplatinate were prepared. 

 On Phosphotungstates of Amino Acids: P. A. 



Levene. 



In the course of a study of the products of 

 tryptic digestion of gelatine the author made 

 the observation that glycocol formed a crystal- 

 line precipitate on treatment with phospho- 

 tungstic aciifi. This observation led to an in- 

 vestigation into the conditions required for 

 the formation of this phosphotungstate as well 

 as for the formation of insoluble phospho- 

 tungstates of other acids. 



It was noted that insoluble phosphotung- 

 state could be formed with glycocol, alanin, 

 leucine, glutanic and aspartic acids. Further 

 it was observed that the physical properties, 

 and the solubilities of the phosphotungstates 

 differ to such an extent as to make possible a 

 separation of the individual acids by means of 

 their phosphotungstates. 



Dr. Beatty and the author at present are en- 

 gaged in an effort to apply the method to the 

 study of the products of hydrolysis of proteids. 

 While this work was in progress there ap- 

 peared a publication by Skraup in which men- 

 tion is made of the property of glycocol of 

 analin to form crystalline phosphotungstates. 



The section held its fifth regular meeting 

 of the season at the Chemists' Club, on Friday 

 evening, February 9. 



The president of the American Chemical 

 Society, Dr. W. F. Hillebrand, presented to 

 Professor Marston Taylor Bogert, of Columbia 

 University, the Nichols medal, which was 

 awarded to him for his researches on the 

 quinazolines. 



The regular program of the evening was 

 then taken up and the following papers read: 

 The Osazone Test for Glucose and Fructose, 

 as influenced hy Dilution, and hy the Pres- 

 ence of other Sugars: H. C. Sherman and 

 R. H. Williams. 



