216 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



similar conditions the spark in hydrogen develops more heat than 

 in nitrogen, which is just the opposite to what occurs in the 

 measurement of temperatures. The same holds also for the dis- 

 charge of cascade batteries. — Rendiconti delict R. Ace. dei Lincei, 

 v. p. 730, 1839 ; Beibldtter der Physik, xiii. p. 1016, 1889. 



FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS ON THE INERT SPACE IN CHEMICAL 

 REACTIONS. BY O. LIEBREICH. 



The phenomenon of the inert space observed and described 

 by the author (Phil. Mag. xxiii. p. 468) has been further fol- 

 lowed, and a series of experiments with the chloral mixture are 

 described, which are illustrated by figures showing the influence of 

 the surface of the liquid and of the sides of the vessel on the shape 

 of the inert space. It is thus shown that the evaporation of chlo- 

 roform cannot be the cause of the phenomenon, nor are immersion 

 and convection phenomena sufficient to account for it. The experi- 

 ments with iodic acid and sulphurous acid were also extended, and 

 it was more especially shown experimentally that the process of 

 the reaction in narrow spaces is retarded, and in spherical spaces 

 occupies a central position. Analogous phenomena were also ob- 

 served with the use of vessels of rock crystal, so that the alkali of 

 the glass cannot be adduced as the cause for the occurrence of the 

 inert space. The conclusion forces itself that the physical influence 

 of the side and the varying tension of the surface of the liquid play 

 the predominant part. The hypothesis is not inadmissible there- 

 fore that the occurrence of every chemical reaction only becomes 

 possible above a certain magnitude of the space in which it occurs. 

 Transferred to biological processes this leads to the conclusion that 

 chemical processes in cells are also bound up with a certain magni- 

 tude of the cells, unless a process of a different kind occurs, which 

 in a certain sense may, in comparison with the normal, be re- 

 garded as a degenerative one. — Sitzungsberichte der Akad. der Wiss. 

 zu Berlin, 1889, p. 169 ; Beibldtter der Physik, xiii. p. 998, 1889. 



LECTURE EXPERIMENT TO PROVE THE EXISTENCE OE THE 

 DIRECT AND INVERSE EXTRA CURRENTS. BY M. C. DAGUENET. 



The existence of the direct and inverse extra currents may be 

 easily demonstrated by means of a Wheatstone's bridge. In one 

 of the branches is inserted a high linear resistance, an incandescent 

 lamp for instance, while in the other is a long coil of wire of 

 small resistance. When the normal state of the current is at- 

 tained the resistances are balanced ; then the curcuit is opened 

 or closed, and the needle is seen to be deflected either in one direc- 

 tion or the other under the influence of the extra currents, and then 

 return quickly to its position of equilibrium. This experiment is more 

 easily made than that either of Faraday or of Edlund, especially 

 for the current on closing. — Journal de Physique, viii. p. 285, 1889. 





