866 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 283. 



CHEMICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



The regular meeting was held April 12, 1900. 



The first paper of the evening was read by 

 Mr. J. K. Haywood, and was entitled ' The 

 Analysis of the Arsenical Insecticides. ' 



The paper consisted of the comparative study 

 of various methods proposed for the analysis of 

 these preparations. 



The second paper of the evening, which was 

 presented by Dr. H. C. Bolton, entitled 'A Claim 

 for Priority,' was read by the Secretary. 



The Journal of the American Chemical Society 

 for March, 1900, contains a paper by Joseph W. 

 Richards and Norman S. Powell, entitled ' Sub- 

 stitutes for Hydrochloric Acid in Testing Car- 

 bonates ' ; the authors find that potassium acid 

 sulfate, oxalic acid, citric acid and tartaric acid 

 can be used in testing carbonates, producing 

 effervescence more or less actively and they give 

 a table of results. The authors make no refer- 

 ence to previous work on the same lines, and 

 this prompts me to claim that about twenty 

 years ago I anticipated all their observations 

 and published the results in periodicals ac- 

 cessible to everyone. 



Between 1887 and 1882 I published three 

 memoirs under the title ' Application of Organic 

 Acids to the Examination of Minerals,' in which 

 I showed the action of these acids on 200 

 mineral species, including carbonates, sulfids, 

 oxides, silicates and many others. I pointed 

 out the usefulness of citric acid as a substitute 

 for hydrochloric acid in the laboratory and in the 

 field, and showed that by means of it certain 

 minerals could be readily distinguished. 



These papers were printed in whole or in 

 part in the following journals : Chemical News, 

 Vols. 35, 36, 43 and 47 ; Annals N. Y. Acad, 

 Sciences, Vols. I. and II. ; Proceedings American 

 Assoc. Adv. Science, Vol. 47 ; Reports Brit. 

 Assoc. Adv. Science, Vol. 50 ; Mineralogical 

 Mag., Vol. IV. ; Berichte d. d. chem. Oes., Vol. 

 XIII. ; and abstracts appeared in many other 

 journals. Moreover, the use of citric acid in 

 testing minerals was adopted by teachers in 

 more than one scientific school, the use of potas- 

 sium acid sulfate having been long known be- 

 fore. Finally, Nason's edition of Elderhort's 

 Manual of Qualitative Bloivpipe Analysis (1881) 

 gives a whole chapter to my method. 



It is gratifying to note that the results ob- 

 tained by Richards and Powell agree well with 

 mine. Coincidences of independent thought 

 often occur, but in publishing a research some 

 acknowledgment of previous work is gener- 

 ally made ; had the authors made even a slight 

 examination of familiar literature they would 

 have found that their field of study had been 

 thoroughly traversed. 



The third paper was read by Dr. Cameron 

 and was entitled, ' The Estimation of the Car- 

 bonates and Bicarbonates of the Alkalies,' by 

 F. K. Cameron and L. J. Briggs. 



The last paper was read by Dr. Cameron and 

 was entitled ' The Solubility of Calcium Sulfate 

 in Solutions of other Salts,' by F. K. Cameron 

 and F. D. Gardner. 



Mr. Chestnut exhibited specimens of plants 

 used by the Indians in California to stupefy 

 fish which they use for food. 



An adjourned meeting was held at Hopkins- 

 Hall, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore^ 

 Md., on April 21, 1900. 



Dr. Remsen welcomed the society and ex- 

 plained that the Chemical Department of the 

 University is now undergoing repairs after 

 damage by fire. He gave an interesting ac- 

 count of the work in progress under his direc- 

 tion in the University laboratory. 



The first paper was read by Dr. Simon and 

 was entitled ' A Storage Vessel for Solid Carbon 

 Dioxid.' The author exhibited an improved 

 vessel, which he had designed and which is 

 giving universal satisfaction in the transporta- 

 tion of such materials as solid carbon dioxid and 

 liquid air. In connection with the vessel he ex- 

 hibited some solid carbon dioxid which had been 

 placed in it the day before and showed that 

 there had been very little loss. 



Professor Morse read a paper on the prepara- 

 tion of permanganic acid, in which he discussed 

 various methods and showed that the electro- 

 lytic method had been most satisfactory. He 

 described in detail the apparatus used in his 

 laboratory for carrying out this method. 



Dr. Bolton presented a paper entitled, ' An 

 Experimental Study of Radio-active Sub- 

 stances.' The paper was illustrated with pho- 

 tographs taken with Radium light. 



