July 16, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



97 



carbon copper couples. The variations shown by 

 any one couple in general are reproducible. The 

 results show that the thermo-electric properties 

 of carbon depend on the initial composition and 

 the manufacturing history of the carbon. 



It is possible that the change in direction of the 

 temperature coefficient-temperature curve indicates 

 that some of the carbon material undergoes a 

 transition into some other material. The results 

 here reported seem to show that ordinary carbon 

 is a mixture of several substances — in all proba- 

 bility several varieties of carbon with various 

 hydrocarbon bodies of high molecular weight, since 

 Moissans has shown that all forms of amorphous 

 carbon contain hydrogen. 



D. A. MacInnes and Kabr Parker: Potassium 

 Chloride Concentration Cells. 



J. P. Montgomery: The Precipitation of Lead 

 Chloride in Qualitative Analysis. 



Stewart J. Lloyd : Badium Content of Water 



from the Gulf of Mexico. 



Previous Sesults. — One liter of sea water con- 

 tains in grams of radium : 



Jolly 17.0 X 10-'" 



Eve 0.3 X 10-" 



Eve 0.9 X 10-" 



Satterly 1.0 X 10-" 



Seven and one fourth liters of Gulf water evap- 

 orated down and measured gave 1.7 X 10"". The 

 amount of radium in the ocean is hence probably 

 about 1,400 tons, which implies a content of 

 uranium of 4,200,000,000 tons. 



W. A. Taylor: Studies in the Measurement of the 

 Electrical Conductivity of Solutions. 



William J. Van Sicklen: Electrolytic Bectifica- 



tion of Alternating Currents. 



A number of cells were devised varying within 

 wide limits several factors affecting the energy 

 efficiency of rectification. The electrodes used 

 were for the most part iron-aluminium, carbon- 

 aluminium, nickel-aluminium. The affect of the 

 following factors on the energy efficiency of recti- 

 fication were determined: relative area ef and dis- 

 tance between electrodes, E.M.F. of the input cir- 

 cuit, resistance in the output circuit, nature and 

 conductivity and temperature of the electrolyte. 



2 "Electric Furnace, " p. 48, 1904 ed. — Lenher's 

 translations. 



The alternating current used throughout the deter- 

 minations was of 60 cycle frequency. 



William D. Harkins and Ernest D. Wilson: 

 The Changes of Mass and Weight Involved in 

 the Formation of Complex Atoms. 



William D. Harkins and Ernest D. Wilson: 

 The Structure of Complex Atoms. 



William D. Harkins and Ernest D. Wilson: 

 Nuclear and Valence Electrons. 



William D. Harkins and Ernest D. Wilson: 

 A Periodic Taile which Plots the Atomic 

 Weights of the Ordinary and the Isotopic Ele- 

 ments. 



Ernest D. Wilson and William D. Harkins: 

 A Connection between Planch's Quantum Hy- 

 pothesis, the Magneton, and the Palmer Series 

 Formula. 



Lloyd C. Daniels : Cuprous Salts of Oxygen Acids 

 and a New Method for Preparing Cuprous Salts. 

 References are given to the salts of this class 

 that have been described. They are the sulfite, sul- 

 fate, ammoniated sulfate, carbon monoxide com- 

 pound of the sulfate, acid thiosulfate and acetate. 

 The brown insoluble product of the action of 

 oxalic acid on cuprous sulfite is shown by its clear 

 colorless solution in hydrochloric acid, by its clear 

 solution in ammonia, and by its formation of cal- 

 cium nitrate and nitric acid, to be a new salt of 

 this class. Analysis shows its composition to be 

 CuoH2(C204)4. The same method is to be applied 

 to the preparation of other cuprous compounds. 



M. A. RosANOPF: A Belatdonal Process of Frac- 

 tional Distillation. 



WATER, SEWAGE AND SANITATION SECTION 



Earle B. Phelps, chairman 

 H. P. Corson, secretary 



The following list of officers of the Division of 

 Water, (Sewage and Sanitation, were elected for 

 1915: 



Chairman: Edward Bartow. 



Vice-chairman: Earle B. Phelps. 



Secretary: H. P. Corson. 



Executive Committee: Edward Bartow, Earle 

 B. Phelps, H. P. Corson, C. P. Hoover, E. H. S. 

 Bailey. 



