Febeuaey 26, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



357 



solutions. These results in general are con- 

 firmed by the freezing point measurements. 



suicides of Copper and Iron : By G. deChal- 

 MOT. In a former number of this journal the 

 author described a silicide of copper of the com- 

 position CujSia. Upon repeating the work with 

 different specimens he found that the substance 

 obtained was a mixture of silicon, copper silicide 

 and copper. The mixture forms apparently 

 homogeneous pure crystals, which fact led him 

 to think they were of the composition given 

 above. He has also obtained a silicide of iron 

 to which he gives the composition FeSi^. 



Formation of Diacetylenyl (Butadiine) from 

 Copper Acetylene : By A. A. Noyes and C. W. 

 LuCKEK. Several investigators have described 

 a crystalline product obtained by the action of 

 acetylene (from copper acetylene) on boiling 

 bromine. The composition ascribed to it was 

 CjH^Bre, and the present investigation was 

 undertaken to verify this and to determine the 

 origin of the compound. Pure acetylene (from 

 calcium carbide) would not produce it, and it 

 was finally discovered that the action would 

 take place more readily if cupric chloride was 

 added to the copper acetylene before its decom- 

 position, as the formation was due to the oxi- 

 dizing action of the cupric chloride formed by 

 the action of the air on the copper acetylene 

 and hydrochloric acid. The study of the com- 

 pound led to the conclusion that it is formed by 

 the direct union of the hydrocarbon CJI^ with 

 bromine. 



On the Action of Acid Chlorides on the Imido 

 Esters and Isoanilides, and on the Structure of the 

 Silver Salts of the AnUides : By H. L. Wheeler 

 and P. T. Walden. The authors thought that 

 light might be thrown on the constitution of 

 the silver salts by the study of the action 

 of acid chlorides on compounds that are defi- 

 nitely constituted as the silver salts are sup- 

 posed to be. From the action of acid chlorides 

 on isoanilides and imido esters results were ob- 

 tained which admit of only one interpretation 

 according to which the reactions are explained, 

 not by tautomerism, but by addition. This 

 proves also that the metal in the silver salts of 

 the anilides is directly joined to oxygen. The 

 reactions of acid chlorides with imido esters 

 also showed that diacid amides have both acid 



groups attached to the nitrogen. These results 

 were further confirmed by the action of the 

 halogens on the imido esters. 



On the Effect of Light on the Dispkicement of 

 Bromine and Iodine from Organic Bromides and 

 Iodides : By J. H. Kastle and W. H. Beatty. 

 In studying the decompositions of the halogen 

 derivatives of the sulphonamides it was found 

 that the halogen was set free, to a considerable 

 extent, by the action of sunlight. If a sub- 

 stance containing both chlorine and bromine is 

 exposed to the sunlight in a sealed tube with 

 water the chlorine is first set free, and after 

 some time, from the action of this chlorine, the 

 bromine is set free. Chlorine set free in this 

 way could displace bromine and iodine from 

 their most stable compounds. Parallel experi- 

 ments carried on in the sunlight and in the dark 

 showed that up to 50° no change took place in 

 the dark, while the action in the light was 

 marked. 



The Specific Gravities of Water Solutions of 

 Formic Acid: By G. M. Richardson and P. 

 Allaire. The authors have determined the 

 specific gravity of solutions of formic acid, 

 making seventy-one determinations between the 

 pure acid and a solution containing only 0.618 

 per cent., and have tabulated the data obtained. 



The Constitution of Benzanilide: By N. Knight. 

 There are two possible formulae for benzanilide, 

 and a method which was suggested to establish 

 the correct one was to study the reactions of 

 benzene sulphanilide with benzoylchloride and 

 of benzanilide with benzenesulphonchloride. 

 The results, however, were different from those 

 expected, dibenzoylanilide being the chief prod- 

 uct, and no important conclusions as to the 

 structure could be drawn. 



A number of recent publications are also 

 reviewed in this number of the Journal, viz. : 

 Traite de chemie organique d'apres les theories 

 modernes, A. Behal ; Analytical Chemistry, N. 

 Menschutkin ; Recherches sur la congelation 

 des solutions aqueuses etendues, M. A. Ponsot ; 

 Kurzes Lehrbuch der organischen Chemie, A. 

 Bernthsen ; Studies in Chemical Dynamics, J. 

 H. vAn't Hoff; The Chemical Analysis of Iron, 

 A. A. Blair (3d edition); and Gas and Fuel 

 Analysis for Engineers, A. H. Gill. 



J. Elliott Gilpin. 



