Decejibee 30, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



929 



Let us now look more closely at the con- 

 dition of things at the preseut time. The 

 discovery of thiophene by Victor Mej'er, 

 and Fischer's work on the sugars, are re- 

 ferred to. Notwithstanding the relatively 

 small number of workers iu inorganic 

 chemistry in recent years, very brilliant re- 

 sults have been obtained. Those mentioned 

 are : The discovery of the volatile com- 

 pounds of iron and nickel with carbon 

 monoxide, by Mond ; of triazoic acid by 

 Curtius ; of six new elements by Ramsay ; 

 the artificial preparation of the diamond by 

 Moissan ; the carbides, selenides and 

 borides, prepared by the same investigator. 



Let stress be laid upon it that this ex- 

 perimental result is, in part, dependent 

 upon the use of electricitj', which is ap- 

 plicable chiefly to inorganic compounds. 

 Let us examine more closely the details of 

 this application ; what electricity has al- 

 ready done, on the one hand as a source 

 of higher temperatures, on the other as a 

 means of effecting separations. 



Electricity as a source of heat is of 

 fundamental importance. The tempera- 

 tures which can be reached by combustion 

 processes are limited. By this means we 

 cannot obtain temperatures very much 

 above 3,000°. In the electric furnace tem- 

 peratures as high as about 4,000° can be 

 reached. 



The electric furnace, in the hands of 

 Moissan, has opened up a new way of 

 preparing valuable and important sub- 

 stances. It is evident that this applies 

 chiefly to inorganic chemistry. Higher 

 temperatures do not form, but break down 

 the molecular complexes which constitute 

 the problems of organic chemistr}'. Our 

 own existence, which depends chiefly on 

 the interaction of such complex molecules, 

 cannot be continued up to 50°. The com- 

 pounds of the hydrocarbons which were 

 obtained in the electric furnace, as car- 

 borundum and calcium carbide, have no 



value for the synthetical processes of or- 

 ganic chemistry. 



If we turn to electricity as a means of 

 separation, it is self-evident that it can be 

 only indirectly applied to organic chem- 

 istry, whose chief aim is synthesis. Most 

 of the organic compounds do not belong to 

 the electrolytes, which can be broken down 

 by electrolysis. Most of the metals can, 

 however, be separated by the current, in a 

 form suitable for weighing, by using the 

 proper intensity of current, and can be 

 separated from one another by using a 

 suitable electromotive force. The halogens 

 have recently been separated in the same 

 manner. A step is thus taken for inorganic 

 analysis, which is comparable to the work 

 of Liebig on the analysis of organic sub- 

 stances. 



What has been accomplished by the use 

 of electricity in separating the metals on a 

 large scale, can be seen from the following 

 data: In 1897 one- third of the entire cop- 

 per produced (137,000,000 kilograms) was 

 obtained electrolytically. The larger part 

 of the gold and silver were obtained in the 

 same way. Sodium is produced entirely 

 by electrolysis (260,000 kilograms in 1897), 

 and the increase in the aluminium pro- 

 duced, from 9,500 kilograms in 1888 to 

 321,000 kilograms in 1894, is to be referred 

 to the same cause. This aluminium can 

 now be used for the preparation of other 

 metals which were difficult to obtain. At 

 the last meeting of the Electro chemical 

 Society in Leipsie we saw almost chemi- 

 cally pure chromium prepared by suitably 

 igniting a mixture of aluminium and 

 chromium oxide. In the same manner, 

 manganese, titanium, tungsten, vanadium, 

 cerium, etc. , were formed. This opens up 

 a field in the metal alloys, which will, per- 

 haps, be of technical importance. 



We thus see inorganic chemistrj' teeming 

 with remarkable discoveries, enriched bj' a 

 new method of preparing substances, and 



