470 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 92. 



has been almost exclusively on the physical 

 side. 



Ramsey and Shields/^ by their work on 

 the surface energy of homogeneous liquids, 

 have developed a method for the determina- 

 tion of the molecular weights of this class 

 of bodies. 



Traube's exhaustive study of the specific 

 gravity of solutions, promises, if all that he 

 claims be true, and much of it seems to be, 

 to bring order out of an almost interminable 

 chaos of empirical data. Among other 

 things his work has given a new and very 

 rapid method for the determination of 

 molecular weights. 



I will not take the time to refer in detail 

 to the work of Briihl and others on the re- 

 fraction and dispersion of light as depend- 

 ent on the composition and structure of 

 bodies ; to the work of Thomsen, of Stoh- 

 man and of Berthelot upon thermo-chemis- 

 try ; to the work of Guye, Walden and 

 others on specific and molecular rotation, 

 and of Perkin on electro-magnetic rotation 

 of polarized light ; and to the work of Row- 

 land on spectrum analysis. 



In all of these fields and in many others a 

 vast accumulation of empirical data has 

 been secured. This wealth of experimental 

 material has been accompanied and sup- 

 plemented by theoretical discussions, and 

 many interesting relations have been dis- 

 covered. Physical chemistry has proved 

 one of the most enticing and profitable 

 fields for work in recent years and claims 

 many enthusiastic investigators in our own 

 country as well as abroad. In the develop- 

 m.ent of the subject perhaps no one has con- 

 tributed more than Ostwald by his Lehr- 

 buch and by his ably edited Zeitschrift fiir 

 physikalische Chemie. We may congratu- 

 late ourselves that our workers in America 

 are now to have a journal of their own, and 

 we may confidently hope that the new Jour- 

 nal of Physical Chemistry will contribute 

 much toward 'the chemistry of the future.' 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



1. Arch, neerland, 20, 1885 ; also Zeit. fiir phys. 

 Chem. 1, 481 (1887). 



2. Archiv. fiir Anatomie u. Physiologie, 1867, 87. 



3. Osmotische Untersuchungen, Leipzig, 1877. 



4. Ann. de Chim. et de Phys. (5) 22, 293. 



5. Zeit. f. phys. Chem. 1, 481. 



6. Lehrbuch d. Allgemeinen Chem. I., 661. 



7. Zeit. f. phys. Chem. 5, 174. 



8. Ibid. 5, 23. 



9. Compt. Rend. 87, 167 (1878); 104, 1430 (1887). 



10. Ber. d. Chem. Chem. Ges. 21, 536 (1888). 



11. Ibid. 21, 701 (1888). 



12. Eaoult. Compt. Rend. 87, 167 (1878); 94, 1587 

 (1882); 95, 188 (1882). 



Beckmann. Zeit. f. phys. Chem. 2, 638, 715. 

 Eykmann. Ibid. 2, 602, 964 ; 4, 497. 



13. Beckmann. Ibid. 4, 532 ; 6, 437 ; 18, 473. 

 H. B. Hite. Am. Ch. J. 17, 507 (1895). 



W. R. Orndorff and F. K. Cameron. Ibid. 17, 

 517 (1895). 



14. Eaoult. Compt. Rend. 87, 167 (1878); 104, 

 1430 (1887). 



J. Walker. Zeit. f. phys. Chem. 2, 602. ' 

 Beckmann. Ibid. 4, 532. 



15. H. do Vries. Ibid. 2, 415. 



16. W. Nernst. Ibid. 6. 16, 27, 573. 



17. Zeit. f. phys. Ch. 2, 280 (1888); 4, 444 (1889); 

 5, 53 (1890). 



18. Ostwald's Lehrb. d. Allg. Chem., II., 647. 



19. Zeit. f. phys. Chem. 1, 631 (1887). 



20. Zeit. f . phys. Chem. 2, 36 and 270 (1888) ; 3, 

 170 (1889). 



21. Ibid. 15, 356 (1894); 19, 243 (1896). 



22. Ibid. 15, 365. 



23. Zeit. f. anorg. Chem. 10, 387. 



24. Zeit. f. phys. Chem. 10, 387 (1892). 



25. Zeit. f. phys. Chem. 1, 583 (1887). 



26. Wied. Ann. 41, 42 (1890). 



27. Ber. d. Deut. elektroch. Ges. 1894. 



28. J. Chem. Soc. 63, 1089 (1893) and Zeit. f. 

 phys. Ch. 12, 433. 



29. Ber. d. Chem. Ges. 1892-1896. 



Zeit. f. anorg. Ch. 3, 1; 8, 12, 77, 323, 338. 

 Liebig's Annalen, 290, 43. 



"W. A. NOYES. 



Rose Polytechnic Institute, 



Teeee Haute, Ind. 



SECTION a— CHEMISTRY. 

 Section C. of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science was called 

 together for organization on Monday, August 



