June 1, 1900.] 



SCmNGE. 



865 



The Progress of Science : The Retiring President 

 of the National Academy ; The Work of the Acad- 

 emy; The American Association; An International 

 Assembly ; A National Physical Laboratory ; The 

 Promotion of Men of Science ; Eecent Deaths ; The 

 Solidification of Hydrogen ; Chemical Fertilization ; 

 The Approaching Eclipse. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



THE NEW YORK SECTION OF THE AMERICAN 



CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 



At the regular meeting of the New York 

 Section of the American Chemical Society, held 

 May 12th at the Chemists' Club, the following 

 papers were read : 



C. W. Volney : ' New Extraction Apparatus.' 

 C. W. Volney: 'Artificial Musk.' 

 P. A. Levene : ' Modern Researches on the 

 Chemistry of the Proteid Molecule.' 



J. A. Mathews : * Calticyanides of Bismuth.' 

 Dr. Volney 's artificial musk was exhibited and 

 caused considerable discussion. It is said to be 

 a compound belonging to the paraffine series, 

 and therefore a distinct departure from the 

 idea that an artificial perfume must contain the 

 ' benzol ring.' No analysis was given nor par- 

 ticulars of the method of preparation, these 

 being reserved for a future communication . 



Asked whether his musk is composed of a 

 saturated or unsaturated parafiine compound, 

 Dr. Volney said it is saturated. 



Dr. Schweitzer said that so far as he knew, it 

 had never been claimed that an aromatic group 

 was necessary in the synthetic musks. Patents 

 had been taken out for a variety of processes, 

 some for preparing musks by nitrating resins, 

 among them ordinary rosin ; but when the in- 

 ventor had been asked to supply his musk on a 

 large scale he had furnished ' musk Baur. ' 



Dr. Stearns claimed that nitrated bodies do 

 not smell of true musk. Different persons, he 

 said, are differently affected by the true musk 

 odor, and many are incapable of deciding that 

 an imitation is a good representative of the true 

 odor. In this way many substances were called 

 artificial musk which would not pass even an 

 arbitrary set of tests. It is not yet known what 

 the essential element of true musk is, or whether 

 it is pre-existent, or is formed by a slow chem- 



ical change in the constituents of musk ma- 

 terial. Baur has examined musk to determine 

 whether nitrated bodies were present, but found 

 none. 



Dr. Levene' s paper was an interesting review 

 of the work which has been done and the views 

 which have been held during the past two years 

 on the chemistry of the protein compounds and 

 the classifications of their constituents. 



In regard to the sulphur in their composition, 

 he said it evidently existed in two forms or 

 conditions of combination, one molecule being 

 separable as hydrogen sulfide, the other re- 

 maining. 



Dr. J. A. Mathews described an investigation 

 of the cobalticyanides of bismuth designed to 

 develop a process for separation of bismuth in 

 analytical work, for instance in the analysis of 

 pig and refined lead. The conditions under 

 which such an analysis are carried out were 

 found, however, to prevent the complete pre- 

 cipitation of bismuth as cobalticyanide, and as 

 yet he had not been able to make the practical 

 application of the study of these salts which 

 had been hoped for. 



The meeting was addressed by Professor Ris- 

 ing, of California, who said that much interest 

 was manifested by the chemists of the Pacific 

 coast in becoming members of the American 

 Chemical Society, and an application for a 

 charter would soon be made. 



Dr. McMurtrie, president of the Society, was 

 present, and, invited to take the chair, said 

 that in view of the approaching general meet- 

 ing it was necessary that each member should 

 bring out whatever subject he had in readiness 

 for publication in time to have its title an- 

 nounced on the program. All such titles should 

 be transmitted to the General Secretary, A. C. 

 Hale, 551 Putnam Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y., as 

 early as practicable, to facilitate the preparation 

 of the program and to enable the committee 

 to arrange sufficient time for the sessions. 



Dr. Doremus announced the full list of sec- 

 tions and ground covered thereby in the con- 

 gress of chemists to be held at Paris in July ; 

 also that titles of papers to be presented there 

 should be forwarded not later than June 1st. 

 DuEAND Woodman, 



Secretary. 



