Uecembei! 9, 1U04.] 



SCIENCE. 



803 



tion was discussed, and it was shown that 

 the author of it had assumed the aijplica- 

 bility of Stefan's law to the temperature of 

 the gases of the air, and had neglected the 

 dependence of connection between earth 

 and air on the relative temperatures of the 

 two in framing the theory. Inasmuch, there- 

 fore, as not only his fundamental equation 

 and much of the numerical data which had 

 been used in the computations were open to 

 serious question, grave doubt was expressed 

 as to the validity of Professor Arrhenius's 

 computation of the effect of variation of the 

 carbonic-acid contents of the air, and also 

 of the glacial theory which Arrhenius and 

 Chamberlin had founded upon it. 



In the long discussion that followed several 

 geologists dissented from Mr. Hansen's views, 

 holding that various important facts found no 

 place in it. Charles K. Wead, 



Secretary. 



AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. NEW YORK 

 SECTION. 



The first regular meeting of the season was 

 held at the Chemists' Club, Friday evening, 

 October 7. A number of the visiting English 

 members of the Society of Chemical Industry 

 were present as guests of the section. Mr. 

 Chas. 0. Cresswell, of London, the general 

 secretary of the Society of Chemical Industry, 

 gave a brief address, expressing appreciation 

 of the many courtesies shown to the English 

 members of the Society of Chemical Industry 

 during their tour of the United States. 



Doctor J. Lewkowitsch, of London, the well- 

 known authority on oils, fats and waxes, then 

 gave a discourse on the most recent advances 

 in the chemistry of oils and fats. He men- 

 tioned, in the first instance, the theory of 

 saponification of glycerides. Up till a few 

 years ago the equation representing the 

 hydrolysis of oils and fats, i. e., 



/OR /OH 



CjHj^OR + 3H0H = CjHs^OH + 3R ■ OH, 

 \0R \0H 



was taken as the true expression of the reac- 

 tion in the sense that one molecule of tri- 

 glyceride was converted into one molecule of 

 glycerol and three molecules of fatty acids. 



Geitel, however, first showed by physico-chem- 

 ical experiments that the reaction underlying 

 the hydrolysis is a bi-molecular one; accord- 

 ing to this view the saponification of glycer- 

 ides takes place in stages, the triglyceride 

 passing through the diglyceride into mono- 

 glyceride, to be finally resolved into glycerol 

 and free fatty acid. As the correctness of 

 this view was doubted, he (Dr. Lewkowitsch) 

 had tried to prove its correctness by purely 

 chemical methods. If diglycerides and mono- 

 glycerides did appear as intermediate products 

 in a partially saponified fat, then it should be 

 possible to prove the presence of lower glycer- 

 ides by converting the lower glycerides into a 

 triglyceride by boiling with acetic anhydride. 

 The then resulting triglycerides could be 

 readily examined for the presence of acetyl 

 groups. On carrying out the experiments, he 

 actually proved that acetic acid was obtained 

 on saponifying the acetylated mass. The 

 acetic acid could be determined quantitatively 

 in the usual manner. Now if a natural fat 

 was saponified slowly in a manner simulating 

 the process carried on on a large scale, and 

 samples from the partially saponified mass 

 were acetylated, varying amounts of acetic 

 acid were obtained from them. On plotting 

 the results in a system of coordinates, zigzag- 

 like curves were observed. This proved that 

 lower glycerides did occur in the partially 

 saponified mass, and hence that the progress 

 of saponification takes place in accordance 

 with the view that the triglycerides pass 

 through the diglycerides and monoglyeerides, 

 and that all three possible reactions occur 

 simultaneously. 



Dr. Lewkowitsch explained next his views 

 on the hydrolysis of triglycerides and showed 

 that water alone must be considered as the 

 hydrolizing agent. The saponification proc- 

 esses applied in practise must, therefore, be 

 explained by the assumption that the bases 

 only act as catalyzers (or accelerators) and 

 that the fundamental equation, 



/OR /OH 



CjHs^OR -f- 3Hj0 = CsHj^OH -I- 3R0H, 

 \0R \OH 



actually represents the primary chemical 

 change. He fully explained this in the in- 



