444 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. I. No. 16. 



L.); the white lily (lAlium candidum L.); 

 and the Spruce fir {Picea excelsa Link). He 

 has also introduced a chapter of 32 pages on 

 the 'physiology of nutrition.' The lan- 

 guage of the book is exceedingly simple. 

 Some of the original figures are very good. 

 In general it may be stated that the subject- 

 matter is well treated. The author intends 

 at some future time to present in a similar 

 way the cryptogamic types. 



The fact that the author begins the study 

 of structural botany with the highest types 

 will be objected to by most modern botan- 

 ists. Many will also question the advisa- 

 bility of attempting to present structural 

 botany in an elementary way. 



Albert Schneider. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 

 ARGON. 



M. Berthelot has communicated to the 

 Academy of Sciences the fuller details 

 which he promised concerniug his experi- 

 ments upon argon. Towards the end of 

 February he received from Professor Ram- 

 say 37 cubic centimetres of the gas, with 

 which small quantity he has obtained posi- 

 tive results of the greatest interest. Fol- 

 lowing the process by which he formerly 

 effected the direct combination of nitrogen 

 with various organic compounds, he finds 

 that argon is equally absorbed by these 

 bodies, though apparently with somewhat 

 less facility. The action of the silent dis- 

 charge upon a mixture of argon and ben- 

 zene vapor is accompanied by a feeble vio- 

 let luminosity visible in the dark. In one 

 of five experiments he found that a fluor- 

 escent substance was produced, which de- 

 veloped a magnificent greenish light and a 

 peculiar spectrum. M. Berthelot took 100 

 volumes of Professor Ramsay's gas, added a 

 drop or two of the hydrocarbon, and exposed 

 the mixture to the silent discharge at mod- 

 erate tension for about ten hours. The ex- 



cess of benzene vapor being removed in the 

 usual way, the mixture was found to have 

 been reduced to 89 volumes. More benzene 

 was then added, and the experiment was 

 repeated with higher tension, which in 

 three hours produced a reduction of vol- 

 ume equal to 25 per cent. On again sub- 

 mitting the gaseous residue with benzene to 

 very liigh tension discharge he found the 

 final result to be 32 volumes. Analysis 

 showed this residue to contain onlj' 17 vol- 

 umes of argon, the other 15 volumes being 

 hydrogen, free or combined, and benzene 

 vapor. In other words, M. Berthelot has 

 effected the combination of 83 per cent, of 

 the argon under experiment, and was pre- 

 vented only bj^ the dimensions of his appa- 

 ratus from carrying the condensation yet 

 further. 



The quantity at his disposal was too 

 small to permit of complete examination of 

 its products, but he is able to say that they 

 resemble those produced when nitrogen 

 mixed with benzene is submitted to the si- 

 lent discharge. That is to say, they consist 

 of a yellow resinous matter condensed on 

 the surface of the glass tubes employed. 

 This matter on being heated decomposes, 

 forming volatile products and a carbona- 

 ceous residue. The volatile products restore 

 the color of reddened litmus paper, proving 

 the production of alkali bj^ the decomposi- 

 tion, though the quantity of matter at com- 

 mand was too small to allow of its nature 

 being demonstrated. In any case, M. Ber- 

 thelot concludes, the conditions in which 

 argon is condensed by hj^drocarbons tend 

 to assimilate it yet more closely with nitro- 

 gen. 



He adds that if it were permitted to as- 

 sume 42 instead of 40 as the molecular 

 weight of argon — an assumption which the 

 limits of error in the experiments hitherto 

 made do not, in his opinion, exclude — this 

 weight would represent one and a half times 

 that of nitrogen ; in other words, argon 



