30 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 340. 



THE NEW YORK SECTION OF THE AMERICAN 

 CHEMICAL SOCIETY". 



The last meeting of the season of tlie New 

 York Section of the American Chemical Society 

 was held on Friday evening, June 7, at the 

 Chemists' Club, 108 West 55th Street. Dr. 

 Charles A. Doremus occupied the chair. 



The chairman delivered his annual address 

 on ' The Development of an American School 

 of Chemistry,' in which he urged the advance- 

 ment of chemical engineering by the develop- 

 ment of originality and the assumption of 

 greater responsibilities by chemists. 



The secretary's report showed a net gain in 

 membership of sixty during the year, and that 

 twenty-nine papers had been read at the nine 

 meetings which were held. 



The election of officers for 1901-1902 re- 

 sulted as follows : 



Chairman — Professor Marston T. Bogert (Co- 

 lumbia University). 



Vice-chairman — Durand Woodman (127 Pearl 

 Street, N. Y.). 



Secretary-treasurer — Professor J. A. Mathews 

 (Columbia University). 



Executive Committee— P. C. McUhiney (Co- 

 lumbia), Professor E. H. Miller (Columbia), T. 

 C. Stearns (Jersey City). 



Delegates to the Scientific Alliance: Wm, 

 McMurtrie, Professor Marston T. Bogert, H. C. 

 Sherman (Columbia University). 



Papers were read as follows : 



M. T. Bogert and L. Boroschek — ' Some Ex- 

 periments with the Mono-nitro-orthophthalic 

 Acids.' 



H. C. Sherman, J. L. Danziger, L. Kohn- 

 stamm — 'On the Maumene Tests for Oils.' 



E. F. Kern — ' On the Separation and Deter- 

 mination of Uranium.' 



The paper on the ' Maumene Test for Oils ' 

 was a brief account of the principal results ob- 

 tained in a series of experiments on several 

 varieties of oils, with different modifications of ■ 

 the Maumene test. The common practice of 

 diluting oils with petroleum to prevent too vio- 

 lent a reaction was found to give unsatisfactory 

 results, the figures obtained from such mixtures 

 being too high ; as was also the case when the 

 oil was dissolved in an equal weight of carbon 

 bisulphide or chloroform. The necessity of 



taking account of the specific heats of the oils 

 and diluents was noted. In order to avoid the 

 necessity of diluting the oil and the resulting 

 uncertainty in the interpretation of results, the 

 use of a weaker acid was proposed. Sulphuric 

 acid of about 87 per cent, can be added directly 

 to all the common oils and the test can be car- 

 ried out in exactly the same way for the drying 

 as for the non-drying oils. Even when calcu- 

 lated as ' specific temperature reaction ' the 

 results are somewhat influenced by the strength 

 of the acid used, higher figures being obtained 

 with the more concentrated acids. It was, 

 therefore, recommended that the test be always 

 made with acid of such strength as will give 

 with water a rise of 33° to 34° C. 



It was announced that the courtesies of the 

 society had been extended to Professor Van't 

 Hoff, and a motion was made and unanimously 

 carried authorizing the chairman and executive 

 committee to take such measures and make 

 such preparations as might be required for 

 entertaining Professor Van't Hoff. 



The meeting then adjourned until October. 

 DuRAND Woodman, 



Secretary. 



DI8CVSSI0N AND CORRESPONDENCE. 

 EBBINGHAUS'S THEORY OF COLOR-VISION. 



In proposing his specialization of Hering's 

 theory of color-vision, Ebbiughaus had for an 

 object to give it a basis in fact by showing a 

 connection between the kind of light which 

 must be absorbed by the colored substances in 

 the retina and the subjection distribution of 

 color throughout the spectrum as revealed by 

 color-equations — especially those of the par- 

 tially color-blind. The connection was a very 

 forced one from the beginning : the visual yel- 

 low could stand very well as the absorbent of 

 the light necessary to the production of the 

 sensation blue, but the visual purple ought to 

 have been blue in color to fulfill its function of 

 absorbent of the light that causes the sensation 

 yelloiv, while in reality, it is not even purple (in 

 the English sense of the word), but magenta ; 

 and the existence of a visual green and a visual 

 red was purely hypothetical. Thus of the 

 four colored absorbent substances to which so 



