October 21, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



527 



' The Solubility of Di-ionic Acids in So- 

 lutions of Di-ionic Salts of Other Acids,' 

 A. A. Noyes and E. S. Chapin. 



' The Solubility of Tri-ionic Bases in So- 

 lutions of Di-ionic Salts of Weak Bases,' A. 

 A. Noyes and E. S. Chapin. 



' The Solubility of Iodine in Dilute Po- 

 tassium Iodide Solutions,' A. A. Noyes and 

 L. J. Seidensticker. 



Dr. A. A. Noyes, in this series of papers 

 on ' Solubility,' showed that by means of 

 equations the solubility of a substance in 

 the presence of another can be calculated 

 and so predicted. 



' The Eate of Reaction between Silver 

 Acetate and Sodium Formate; A Eeaction 

 of the Third Order,' A. A. Noyes and 

 George T. Cottle. 



' On the Influence of Silicon on the Heat 

 of Solution of Coke in Cast Iron,' E. D. 

 Campbell and W. E. Hartman. 



' Passage of Bubbles through Media of 

 Different Densities,' C. Gilbert Parker. 



' Some Boiling-Point Curves,' F. K. 

 Cameron and E. F. Thayer. 



* Photographic Reproduction of Color,' 

 Romyn Hitchcock. 



* Sixteenth Annual Report of Committee 

 on the Bibliography of Chemical Literature,' 

 of which Dr. H. Carrington Bolton is Chair- 

 man. This report has been printed in 

 Science. 



The Sub-section of Physiological Chem- 

 istry met Friday afternoon in Room 8 

 Boylston Hall, Harvard University, a num- 

 ber of visiting physicians being present. 



Dr. E. E. Smith, of New York, who was in 

 charge of this division of the subject, gave 

 the leading paper on ' American Research 

 in Physiological Chemistry.' The begin- 

 nings of the application of chemistry to 

 physiological research are twinned with the 

 life of the American Association. It was 

 inaugurated in 1842, when Meyer pointed 

 out the valuable discoveries of Joule, Grove 

 and Helmholtz in the domain of physics to 



the physiologists. Von Liebig's ' Animal 

 Chemistry,' edited for the American pro- 

 fession by J. M. Webster, was the first im- 

 portant publication in America in this line, 

 although in 1825 Dr. Beaumont, TJ. S. A., 

 had obtained for the first time pure gastric 

 juice in treating a gastric fistula from a 

 gunshot wound. Dr. Caldwell, of Louis- 

 ville, ridiculed Liebig's material views of 

 the body as a ' corporeal stove for burning 

 oxygen.' In the forties animal heat at- 

 tracted the attention of physiologists, many 

 of whom maintained that if the lungs were 

 the stove the lungs should be hotter than 

 the other parts of the body. Austin Flint 

 (1862) found stercorin in human feces and 

 that it differed from cholesterm by only 

 two hydrogen atoms. 



In 1869 Atwater prepared an essay on 

 the composition of the American maize. 

 Twenty-five years ago this same worker, in 

 an address before the Maine State Board of 

 Health, gave out the modern ideas of nutri- 

 tion. All are well aware of the valuable 

 work done now in various parts of the 

 country by Dr. Atwater, or under his direc- 

 tion, upon the dietaries of people of differ- 

 ent occupations in various localities. Aside 

 from the scientific value of such observa- 

 tions, the economics of the question deserve 

 the most careful consideration. Dr. At- 

 water has concluded that our national die- 

 tary is one-sided, and as the food produc- 

 tion of the United States is out of balance, 

 we should make use of a larger propor- 

 tion of fuel materials, as fats and carbo- 

 hydrates. 



Probably the greatest problem of interest 

 now is the study of proteids. The imper- 

 fect methods of separating these complex 

 bodies have been greatly improved by Mal- 

 let and Wiley by the use of various saline 

 solvents and precipitants, especially phos- 

 phomolybdic acid and bromine. Chitten- 

 den's work for the past fifteen years, 

 Osborne's new nomenclature and crystal- 



