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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 359. 



himself and Professor G. G. Henderson on 

 ' The Action of Ammonia on Metals at High 

 Temperatures,' which stated that the phys- 

 ioal effect of the treatment in every case 

 was to disintegrate the metals completely, 

 while a large proportion of the ammonia 

 was resolved into its elements. Three 

 papers on aluminum and its alloys, to- 

 gether with the report of the Committee on 

 the Nature of Alloys, were presented. 



The papers on organic chemistry, to 

 which September 16 was devoted, drew 

 but a small audience, owing to their highly 

 technical nature. The reports of the Com- 

 mittees on Isometric l^apthalene Derivatives 

 and on Isomorphous Derivatives of Benzene 

 were taken as read. Professor A. Michael, 

 of Tufts College, contributed three papers, 

 one being on ' The Genesis of Matter,' in 

 which he assumed that at the birth of mat- 

 ter there were two forms of ' protyle ' cor- 

 puscles endowed with opposite polarity and 

 only two forces — gravitation and chemical 

 aflBnity — the temperature being near the 

 absolute zero. Gravitation acted on these 

 corpuscles, and when they came within the 

 sphere of chemical aflBnity they united, 

 converting part of their chemical energy 

 into heat. It was probable that the non- 

 metals in the genesis of matter would be 

 first formed, and that as the temperature 

 decreased the metallic elements began to 

 form. At the next meeting of the Section 

 the papers on general and physical chem- 

 istry were so numerous that it was neces- 

 sary strictly to limit the time of each 

 speaker. Professor J. Sakurai, of Tokio, 

 speaking on ' Some Points in Chemical 

 Education,' said that chemical education, 

 as at present carried on, was inefl&cient and 

 unsatisfactory. Chemical education was a 

 sound course for those who would become 

 chemists or for those who applied that 

 science in special directions, but it was no 

 less important for its educational value in 

 secondary schools. Nevertheless, modern 



chemistry was still taught largely in the 

 same dry and descriptive way as in the 

 old days. He deprecated the term ' phys- 

 ical chemistry ' as misleading and sug- 

 gested that ' general chemistry ' be used in 

 its stead. Chemical laboratories in univer- 

 sities and colleges, he thought, should be 

 institutions which contributed to the sum 

 total of the knowledge in which men were 

 trained and not mere workshops for ap- 

 prentices. In the discussion that followed 

 it was the general opinion that a thorough 

 training in analysis should precede research 

 work. Mr. W. Thomson read a practical 

 paper on the ' Detection and Estimation of 

 Arsenic in Beer and Articles of Food,' and 

 Dr. E. F. Armstrong discussed ' The Equi- 

 librium Law as Applied to Salt Separation 

 and to the Formation of Oceanic Salt De- 

 posits.' Its application to the formation 

 of deposits, of potash and other salts, formed 

 by the gradual drying up of ancient seas, is 

 of interest and from a model, representing 

 the successive changes observed on con- 

 centration of solutions containing several 

 inorganic salts, it was possible to forecast 

 the order in which salts would separate on 

 concentration, and also the relative amounts 

 deposited at any stage. The Committee on 

 the Bibliography of Spectroscopy reported. 

 At the closing session of the Section Dr. J. 

 Gibson read a paper on ' The Electrolytic 

 Conductivity of Halogen Acid Solutions,' 

 in which he showed that there was a 

 marked difference in the chemical behavior 

 of the solutions of acids, according as the 

 concentrations were above or below the 

 concentrations corresponding to their re- 

 spective maximal specific conductivities. 

 Mr. P. J. Hartog, in describing ' The Flame 

 Coloration and Spectrum of the Nickel 

 Compounds,' said that nickel acetate pro- 

 duced an evanescent purple tinge and a per- 

 sistent red coloration in the Bunsen flame. 

 Professor Smithells remarked that, although 

 experiments with nickel had been made for 



