Februart 28, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



325 



acids (Congress of Arts and Science, St. 

 Louis, IV., 278 (1904), Am. Ghem. Jour., 

 January, 1907, etc.) suggested that prob- 

 ably the real reacting component is the 

 positive urea ester ion and that the addi- 

 tion of an acid to the mixture would, by 

 facilitating the ionization of the urea ester, 

 lead to a perfect method of synthesis. 

 Preparative as well as quantitative experi- 

 ments carried out with Dr. R. H. Hall 

 completely confirmed this view and brought, 

 therefore, one more experimental confirma- 

 tion of the theory of catalysis underlying 

 the author's work. 



The Oxidation of M-Nitroienzoylcarhinol: 

 Wm. L. Evans and Benj. T. Brooks. 

 When benzoylcarbinol is acted upon by 

 oxidizing agents it is found that there is 

 obtained varying amounts of benzoylfor- 

 maldehyde, mandelic, benzoylformic and 

 benzoic acids, according to the agent used. 

 Preliminary experiments, the results of 

 which are herewith presented, are being 

 conducted to determine the following 

 points : 



1. Are the same general reactions fol- 

 lowed in the oxidation of these simple sub- 

 stituted sugars, like m-nitrobenzoylcar- 

 binol, as were developed for benzoylcar- 

 binol? 



2. And also, what possible effect might 

 introducing substituents into the ring 

 have on the behavior of these substances 

 towards oxidizing agents which were previ- 

 ously used with benzoylcarbinol? 



The following results were obtained: (1) 

 m-nitrobenzoylcarbinol gives with freshly 

 precipitated mercuric oxide, freshly pre- 

 cipitated silver oxide and potassium per- 

 manganate alone or in the presence of 

 alkalies, benzoic acid and carbonic acid 

 exclusively; (2) m-nitrobenzoylearbinol 

 gives with cupric hydroxide and caustic 

 alkalies only m-nitromandelie acid; (3) 

 m-nitrobenzoylcarbinol gives with potas- 



sium ferri-cyanide and alkalies both m- 

 nitrobenzoic acid and m-nitromandelic 

 acid. 



Thus far, these preliminary experiments 

 seem to follow the general interpretation 

 previously given by one of us for the reac- 

 tions of benzoylcarbinol. 



A Chemical Study of a Number of the 

 Wild Fruits from Sylvan Beach, N. Y.: 

 Nicholas Knight. 



The territory was formerly the lake bot- 

 tom, and the soil is of so sandy a nature 

 that it is unfit for purposes of agriculture. 

 The fruit of the Smilacina racemosa and 

 Smilacina fifolia were first investigated. 

 It was necessary to pick the former while 

 still green and to allow it to ripen slowly 

 on the stems while under cover. Later on 

 opportunity was presented for analyzing 

 the fully ripened fruit that had matured 

 normally. A glucoside in the fruit picked 

 green changed to tannic acid in the ripe 

 berries. In other respects the fruit of the 

 earlier and later picking bore a striking 

 resemblance, as likewise the fruits of the 

 two species. The fruit of Solanum dul- 

 camara from the same locality was also 

 reported on. 



Brommation of Phenyl and Tolyl Ethers: 



Alfred N. Cook. 



Phenyl ether yields a dibrom and tetra- 

 brom derivative with iodin as a carrier. 

 Ortho-, meta- and para tolyl ethers yield 

 di- and tetrabrom derivative also with 

 iodin as a carrier, as per se. The bromine 

 evidently enters the nucleus even when 

 heated to 150° C, and in direct sunlight, as 

 indicated by the fact that the derivatives 

 do not react with caustic potash, sodiiun 

 carbonate or calcium carbonate and water 

 even when heated under pressure. This is 

 contrary to the well-known law. The 

 halogen usually enters the side chain and 

 not the nucleus in direct sunlight or at 

 elevated temperatures. 



