884 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 102. 



cuius, Aster Fendleri. Specimens of these and 

 many others were exhibited to the Society. 



Mr. Walter Hough read a paper on ' The 

 Mokis in Relation to their Plant Environment,' 

 and Mr. G. W. Littlehales exhibited and de- 

 scribed a new machine for engraving parts of 

 the plates from which charts and maps are 



printed. 



Bernard R. Green, 



Secretary. 

 CHEMICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON. 



The 90th regular meeting of the Society was 

 held November 12, 1896. The President, Dr. 

 de Schweinitz, was in the chair, with fourteen 

 members present. A communication from the 

 Medical Society of the District of Columbia was 

 read, in which the Chemical Society was re- 

 quested to appoint a representative on a Joint 

 Commission on Vivisection. The commission is 

 to be charged with the duty of investigation re- 

 lating to the practice of animal experimenta- 

 tion in the District of Columbia, and the repre- 

 sentation before Congress of the constituent or- 

 ganizations (The Medical Society of the District 

 of Columbia, the Bureaus o Medicine and Sur- 

 gery of the Army, Navy, Marine Hospital Ser- 

 vice and Animal Industry, the Medical Depart- 

 ments of the Columbian, Georgetown, Howard 

 -and National Universities, and the Chemical, 

 Biological, Anthropological, Entomological and 

 Philosophical Societies of the District of Colum- 

 bia). 



The first paper of the evening was on ' Poison- 

 ous Honey,' by V. K. Chesnut, who referred to 

 the literature, and enumerated several recent 

 cases of poisoning which happened in New 

 Jersey and North Carolina. Reports of other 

 poisonous honeys had been received from Texas 

 and California. 



The principal cases were ascribed to honey 

 derived from the laurels {Kalmia latifolia and 

 Kalmia angustifolia). A new method of detect- 

 ing the presence of andromedotoxin in honey 

 was described and specimens were exhibited of 

 poisonous honey and the plants from which it 

 was derived. 



The discussion of Mr. Chesnut' s paper was 

 by Prof. Stokes, Munroe and Seaman and Dr. 

 de Schweinitz. Prof. Stokes asked if the flower 



of the horse chestnut was known to be poison- 

 ous to bees, Mr. Chesnut was not aware of the 

 fact, but thought it possible ; the flowers of the 

 Judas tree have a similar reputation. Prof. 

 Munroe spoke of the honey locust, Prof. Sea- 

 man of the possible evaporation of gelsemine 

 from gelsemium honey, and Dr. deSchweinitz 

 cited a historical case of poisoning which hap- 

 pened in Asia Minor. 



The second paper was by Dr. de Schweinitz, 

 on ' A Convenient Lamp for Generating For- 

 maldehyde Gas and Acetic Aldehyde.' Sev- 

 eral forms of lamps in working order were ex- 

 hibited. Ordinary lamps are used, but the upper 

 part of the wick is supplemented by a piece of 

 plantinized asbestos. The cotton wick is turned 

 high enough to light. After burning a minute 

 or so the platinized asbestos begins to glow and 

 the flame is extinguished. The glow continues 

 till the alcohol is exhausted. The decomposi- 

 tion is simple. With methyl alcohol, formal- 

 dehyde and water are the chief products ; with 

 ethyl alcohol, they are acetaldehyde and water. 



Traces of carbonic, formic and acetic acids 

 are also present in the reaction. Dr. Fireman 

 asked what the yield of aldehyde was. Dr. de 

 Schweinitz replied that he did not have the 

 exact figures at hand, but that he obtained about 

 three-fourths of the theoretical yield. 



A. C. Peale, 



Secretary. 



NEW BOOKS. 



Handhuch der Physiologischen Optik. H. vON 

 Helmholtz. Zweite umgearbeitete Auflage. 

 Hamburg und Leipzig, Leopold Voss. 1895-6. 

 Parts 11, 12, 13-17. 



Primitive Travel and Transportation. Otis 

 • TuFTON Mason. Washington, Government 

 Printing Office. 1896. Pp. 593. 



Auto Cars. D. Farman. Translated from the 

 French by Lucien Serrailler. London, 

 Whittaker & Co.; New York, The Macmil- 

 lan Company. 1896. Pp. 249. $1.50. 



Charles Darwin and the Theory of Natural Selec- 

 tion. Edward B. Poulton. New York, 

 The Macmillan Company. 1896. Pp. vi.+ 

 224. $1.25. 



