Jaktjaey 29, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



179 



ORIENTAL ITEMS OF ETHNOLOGIC INTEREST. 



The seventeenth volume of the Journal 

 of the American Oriental Society contains 

 several articles of ethnologic interest. One 

 is the date of Zoroaster, which fixes the 

 definite form of the Mazdeistic cult. This is 

 placed by Prof. A. V. W. Jackson, in a very 

 erudite analysis of the testimony, ' between 

 the latter half of the seventh century and 

 the middle of the sixth century B. C 



Dr. John P. Peters defends with strong 

 arguments the opinion that " the original 

 home of civilization in Babylonia was the 

 strip of land from Nippur southward to the 

 neighborhood of Ur," and the founding of 

 the city of Nippur " considerably antedated 

 6,000 B. C. and perhaps 7,000 B. C." That 

 there were city builders among men that 

 long ago is a most interesting result. 



Prof. Haupt, in a critical analysis of the 

 Judaic account of creation, adds to the evi- 

 dence that it is ' specifically Babylonian ' in 

 origin. 



Dr. C. P. G. Scott has some remarks on 

 the ' universal ' qualities of language, apro- 

 pos of Malayan, a subject of the greatest 

 anthropologic interest. 



D. G. Brinton. 



Univeesity of Pennsylvania. 



NOTES ON INORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 

 In a recent number of the Zeitschrift fiir 

 physikalische Chemie, Debus criticises some 

 of the conclusions of Eoscoe and Har- 

 den in the ' New Views of Dal ton's A.tomic 

 Theory.' He holds that in 1801 Dalton 

 was led to the hypothesis that equal vol- 

 umes of gases under normal conditions con- 

 tain equal numbers of molecules, and that 

 this hypothesis and his study of the oxids 

 of nitrogen led him to formulate his atomic 

 theory. In 1805 he abandoned his earlier 

 views as to the equal number of molecules. 

 Avogadro was probably aware of Dalton's 

 views and borrowed his hypothesis, which 

 js now known as Avogadro's law. 



To the number of metallic carbids pro- 

 duced in his electric furnace by Moissan 

 must now be added lanthanum carbid, Cj La. 

 It is, like most of the other carbids, decom- 

 posed by water and yields chiefly (71%) 

 acetylene with 27% methane, a little ethy- 

 lene and small quantities of liquid and solid 

 hydrocarbons, thus closely resembling the 

 carbid of cerium. 



The last Proceedings of the Chemical So- 

 ciety (London) contain accounts of experi- 

 ments of E. Sonstadt on sea water. As long 

 ago as 1872 Sonstadt showed that the 

 iodin in sea water is in the form of calcium 

 iodate, four parts per million. His experi- 

 ments not having been repeated by others, 

 he now shows that an oxidizing substance 

 must be present in sea water. He compares 

 the oxidizing action of sea water on ferrous 

 sulfate with that of sea water which has 

 been deprived of iodates and similar com- 

 pounds by evaporation and heating with 

 mercury. He finds that the oxidizing qual- 

 ity of sea water is far greater than would 

 be due to the presence of the iodate, and 

 infers that other oxidizing substances are 

 present. It seems ordinarily to be taken 

 for granted that iodin is present in sea 

 water as sodium iodid, analogous to chlorin 

 and bromin, but, aside from Sonstadt, Balard 

 and Pfaff are the only observers who have 

 been able to even detect the presence of 

 iodin in any form in sea water. 



Sonstadt also shows that silver and gold 

 can be detected in as small quantities as 

 two liters of sea water, by continued agi- 

 tation with mercury. The mercury on 

 evaporation leaves a film partly soluble in 

 nitric acid showing silver, while the insolu- 

 ble portion dissolves in aqua regia and on 

 cupellation gives a very minute bead of 

 gold. Sonstadt concludes that, inasmuch 

 as silver chloride is not decomposed by 

 mercury, the silver may be considered to 

 be present practically as metallic silver, 

 and the gold probably in a similar condition. 



