July 16, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



99 



does not have an unpleasant odor, although it "will 

 putrefy if kept for a long time in a moist condi- 

 tion without air. The dried material contains 6 

 per cent, of nitrogen; 1.44 per cent, of phosphorus. 

 These figures would indicate its value as a fertil- 

 izer, which fact has been confirmed by pot cultures. 

 Portions of the dried sludge showed excellent 

 growths of wheat at the end of 18 days. The ex- 

 periments are being continued on a larger scale. 



Bat C. Webner: Sanitary and Mineral Properties 



of the Water Supplies of Georgia. 



A sanitary water laboratory was established by 

 the Georgia State Board of Health in May, 1910, 

 and a sanitary survey of public water supplies 

 undertaken. The work has been limited, due to 

 lack of funds, but about thirty water works plants 

 have been inspected and analyses have been made 

 from most public supplies of the state. The inter- 

 est of superintendents and other officials of water 

 works is growing and some water works laborator- 

 ies are being installed in the state. Mismanage- 

 ment and lack of understanding of technical fea- 

 tures of purification leads to poor filtering results 

 in some cities. 



Supplies of the state are in general: Filtered 

 stream waters in northern half and deep wells in 

 southern section. The stream waters are usually 

 turbid and more or less colored, but are not grossly 

 contaminated. These waters are soft. The deep 

 well waters are excellent in appearance and sani- 

 tary quality, and are fairly high in mineral con- 

 tents, but few if any are treated for softening be- 

 fore use. 



W. L. Stevenson and others: Analytical Methods 

 for Sewage WorTcs Operation. 



John L. Portee: The New Orleans Water Purifi- 

 cation WorTcs. 



H. P. Letton: P,at Proofing of Wharves as an 

 Anti-plague Measure. 



H. E. Hale and T. W. Melia: A Comparison of 

 Methods for Determining Putresciiility or Oxy- 

 gen Demand. 



E. J. TULLY : A Saivitary Survey of Lake Michigan 

 together with a Study of Stream Pollution along 

 the Wisconsin Shore. 



It is established as a result of this investigation 

 that the water of Lake Michigan along the Wiscon- 

 sin shore is not a uniformly safe source of supply. 

 The water is polluted and at times quite heavily so. 



not only in the immediate vicinity of sewer outfalls, 

 but throughout the entire literal area studied, even 

 to a distance of seven miles from shore, and munic- 

 ipal supplies are frequently more or less polluted. 

 It is therefore recommended that all public water 

 supplies be purified and it is advised that sewage be 

 subjected to adequate treatment before disposed 

 by dilution. 



division of organic chemistry 



F. B. Allan, chairman 

 C. G. Derick, vice-chairman and secretary 



The division of organic chemistry held its meet- 

 ings in Parlor " E " of the Grunewald Hotel, Fri- 

 day, April 2, 1915, with Vice-chairman C. G. Derick 

 presiding. Of the thirty-two papers listed, fifteen 

 were given by the authors, eleven by abstracts and 

 the remaining six by title only. Each paper was 

 very freely discussed although the, average attend- 

 ance at morning and afternoon meetings was only 

 fifteen. 



Edward Kremers : The Classification and Nomen- 

 clature of Organic Compounds. 



Victor P. Lee: Dimethylsulfate as a Methylating 



Agent. 



Many methyl ethers have been prepared with 

 the object of determining their value, if they pos- 

 sess any, either as perfume substances, or as di- 

 luents or softeners when mixed with other synthetic 

 perfume substances. The use of dimethylsulfate for 

 this purpose is not new but has not been used much 

 until quite recently. As dimethylsulfate is now a 

 comparatively cheap reagent, and as its use as an 

 alkylating reagent is very simple, it is replacing 

 methyl iodide to a great extent. A table of the 

 compounds prepared is given and the method used 

 is outlined. 



Francis D. Dodge : Some Derivatives of Coumarin. 



The author has prepared addition compounds of 

 coumarin with the acid sulphites of sodium and po- 

 tassium. These are well crystallized salts, and are 

 to be regarded as sulphonates of hydro-eoumarin. 

 On heating, they decompose smoothly into cou- 

 marin, alkaline sulphite and sulphurous anhydride. 

 They combine quantitatively with one molecule of 

 alkaline hydroxide, yielding sulphonates of ortho- 

 hydro-coumaric acid. 



The latter are very soluble salts, showing little 

 tendency to crystallize, and by the action of strong 

 alkaline hydroxides, at 100°, are converted into 



