112 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL. No. 1020 



sand method was adopted and a test filter put into 

 operation at once. Lime and iron were used, par- 

 ticularly with reference to softening. The dosage 

 was determined in the end empirically. The re- 

 sults have been absolutely satisfactory. Turbid- 

 ity, zero. Bacterial count, low, with absence of 

 gas formers. Hardness, reduced from 116 p. p. m. 

 to 55. Laundry and boiler tests have also been 

 made with satisfactory results. Further plans for 

 the filter plant, as also for sewage treatment are 

 nearly completed. 



The Belation ietween Aluminum Sulphate and 



Color in Mechanical Filtration: Fbank E. 



Hale. 



Filter alum and alkalinity combine at ordinary 

 temperature to form monobasic carbonate of alum- 

 inum, at 100° F. probably dibasic. 



Color in water is acid and combines with the 

 hydroxide radicle of the alum precipitate. The 

 direct aluminum compound is soluble (boiling re- 

 action). Neutral color combines directly with 

 alum to form probably AIR, (OH) and residual 

 acid color. This has resulted in removing double 

 amounts of color per same amount of alum, neu- 

 tralizing excess alum by raw water. High alka- 

 line waters form soluble aluminates and require 

 more alum. Acidity of color shown by removal of 

 expected acidity proportional to removal of color, 

 by residual acidity not removed by aeration or 

 boiling, by neutralization of acidity preventing 

 alum reaction, by removal of color of different 

 waters proportional to color acidity, by deepening 

 of color by alkali, by prevention of alum reaction 

 by combined iron, by removal of color by mag- 

 nesium hydrate, and lastly definite chemical ac- 

 tion is indicated by definite color removal by defi- 

 nite amounts of •alum. 



DIVISION OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRT 



F. B. Allan, Chairman 

 C. G. Derick, Vice-chairman and Secretary 

 The division of organic chemistry held its meet- 

 ings Wednesday morning and all day Thursday, 

 the 8th and 9th of April, respectively, with Chair- 

 man F. B. Allan presiding. Of the twenty-four 

 papers listed in the program, nineteen were pre- 

 sented. The symposium on "The Teaching of 

 Organic Chemistry" was held according to the 

 program. These meetings were marked by a very 

 thorough discussion of each paper, with a very 

 few exceptions, and all organic chemists present 

 agreed that the division meetings were the most in- 

 teresting that they had attended. The average 



attendance at each meeting was fifty. Dr. E. R. 

 Renshaw was appointed by the division as a com- 

 mittee to draft a questionnaire concerning the 

 teaching of organic chemistry which should be 

 submitted to the division at the Montreal meeting 

 in September. 



The Chemistry of Enzymic Action: J. U. Nep. 



(One hour.) 

 The Constitution of Acetylacetone-thiourea: W. J. 



Hale. 

 A Contribution to the Study of the Constitution 



of Hydroxyaeo Compounds: Wm. McPherson 



AND GrEORGE W. STRATTON. 



The authors discussed the methods used in at- 

 tempting to isolate isomeric compounds of the 

 general formulas 



y^ 



O 



Arf 



■^N— NHB 



yOH 



and Ar^ 



\N=:N— R 



The Preparation and Properties of Some New 



Ortholenzoquinones : Cecil Boord and "Wm. 



McPhbsson. 



/3 ethyl-, /3 m-propyl-, j3 i-butyl- and ^ t-amylortho- 

 benzoquinones have been prepared. The method of 

 Jackson and Koch, using anhydrous ether as a sol- 

 vent, and also that of Willstatter and PharmensteU 

 have been used in each case. 



The two crystalline forms observed by Willstatter 

 in the case of orthobenzoquinone itself, have been 

 observed in each case. Also with an increase in the 

 size of side chain the stability of each of the crys- 

 talline forms is increased. 



The Oxidation of Propylene Glycol: Wm. Lloto 

 Evans, E. J. Titzemann and P. E. Cottringer. 

 A Study of the Mechanism of the Grignard Beac- 

 tion: Lambert Thorp and Oliver Kamm. 

 Evidence is furnished leading to the conclusion 

 that the Baeyer-Villiger oxonium structure for 

 the Grignard compounds is to be preferred to 

 the structure assigned by Grignard and Stanikoff. 

 The authors do not, however, believe that an 

 oxonium structure need be assumed in order to 

 account for the behavior of the Grignard com- 

 pounds. 



The Structure of th^ Three Dihydro-^-naphthoic 

 Acids: C. G. Derick and O. Kamm. 

 Two dihydro-/3-naphthoic acids having an un- 

 saturated linking in the ring carrying the car- 

 boxyl have previously been prepared and the 

 structure of one of them demonstrated. In the 

 present work the preparation of the third isomeric 

 acid is described and a demonstration of the struc- 



