414 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. No. 637 



Chemical Society.' This has been pub- 

 lished in Science and in the Journal of 

 the society. After the address the visiting 

 members were given a complimentary 

 smoker by the members of the club. 



On Monday other meetings of sections 

 were held. 



PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY 



Alexander Smith, Chairman 

 The Electrolytic Purification of Cerium: 



J. P. Magnusson. 

 The Conductivity and Ionization of Salts 

 in Aqueous Solution at High Tempera- 

 tures: A. A. Notes, W. D. Coolidge, A. 

 C. Melcheb, H. C. Cooper and G. W. 

 Eastman. 



The Hydrolysis of Salts and the Ionization 

 of Water from 0° to 306° : A. A. Noyes, 

 Y. Kato, R. B. Sosman and C. W. Ka- 



NOLT. 



Photochemistry and the Phase Bide: Wil- 

 der D. Bancroft. 



Thermochemistry: Joseph "W. Richards. 

 Discussed the mechanism of endothermic 

 reactions, taking as types of three common 

 reactions the reduction of zinc oxide by 

 carbon, the production of water gas by 

 steam acting on carbon, and the reduction 

 of iron oxides by carbon monoxide in the 

 blast furnace. The analogy of these reac- 

 tions to simple physical changes absorbing 

 heat, was particularly dwelt upon. 



The Final Disintegration Products of 



Uranium: B. B. Boltwood. 



The conclusion is reached that in unal- 

 tered, primary minerals from the same lo- 

 cality the amount of lead is proportional 

 to the amount of uranium, and that in 

 unaltered, primary minerals from different 

 localities the amount of lead relative to 

 uranium is greatest in minerals from the 

 locality which is geologically the oldest. 

 Hence lead seems to be the final disintegra- 



tion product of uranium. The amounts of 

 helium found in minerals containing both 

 uranium and thorium are of about the 

 order, and are not in excess of the quanti- 

 ties, to be expected from the assumption 

 that helium is produced by the disintegra- 

 tion of uranium and its products only. 

 From the composition of radioactive min- 

 erals it appears highly improbable that 

 either lead or helium is a disintegration 

 product of thorium. 



Solution in a Dissolved Solid: Charles L. 



Parsons. 



A study of solutions of iodine in potas- 

 sium iodide, of lead oxide in solution of 

 lead acetate, of camphor in aqueous acetic 

 acid, of iodine in aqueous acetic acid, etc. 

 It is shown that some solids in solution 

 form a mixed liquid which acts perfectly 

 analogous toward some solutes, to the well- 

 known cases of ternary mixtures where a 

 solid or a liquid is dissolved in two mixed 

 liquids. It was, furthermore, pointed out 

 that many of the physical properties, gen- 

 erally accepted as abnormal, of ternary mix- 

 tures are in reality perfectly normal and 

 that in many such eases polymerization is 

 not at all necessary to qualitatively explain 

 the supposed variation from the gas laws. 



The Electromotive Force of the Oxy- 



hydrogen Cell: G. N. Lewis. 



Measurements of free energy (the maxi- 

 mum work obtainable from a chemical 

 process) not only are of great importance 

 technically, but they also permit the chem- 

 ist to predict in what direction and how 

 far chemical reactions will progress. The 

 free energy of many important oxidation 

 processes can be calculated if the potential 

 of the oxygen electrode is known, or the 

 E.M.P. of the oxyhydrogen cell. This was 

 determined in three ways: (1) from the 

 decomposition pressure of silver oxide be- 

 tween 300° and 445°, (2) from measure- 



