1867.] Chemistry. 101 



is heated by passing the tube gently through the flame of a 

 spirit lamp, or, better still, by placing it in hot water. When a 

 thin blue flame is seen to run between the test-flame and the surface 

 of the oil, the igniting point is arrived at. 



Proceedings of the Chemical Society. 



At the first meeting of this season, held on the 1st of November, 

 1866, Dr. Hermann Sprengel exhibited and described an instrument 

 for obtaining a vertical section of a heterogeneous mass of liquid 

 prelimrnary to the determination of the average specific gravity. 

 This instrument — winch is specially applicable for taking samples 

 of acid from sulphuric acid chambers, in which the heaviest acid is 

 necessarily at the bottom of the chamber — is fully described, and 

 its use explained in the ' Journal of the Chemical Society ' for No- 

 vember, 1866. 



At the same meeting, Mr. E. T. Chapman read a paper entitled 

 " The Kelation between the Products of Gradual Oxidation and the 

 Molecular Constitution of the Bodies Oxidized." The paper gave 

 an account of the results of an action of chromic acid on several 

 organic compounds. Yinic alcohol submitted to the action of a mix- 

 ture of bichromate of potash and sulphuric acid in sealed tubes 

 yielded acetic acid without the production of any gaseous carbon 

 compound. At one stage of the process, however, acetic ether was 

 the only product. Amylic alcohol furnished valerianic acid. In 

 the case of compound ethers, acetate of ethyl was converted entirely 

 into acetic acid ; acetate of amyl into acetic and valerianic acids. 

 At high temperatures it was found that carbonic acid in variable 

 quantity was produced. 



One noteworthy result of the experiments was the observation 

 that natural valerianic acid obtained from valerian root, behaves 

 under the chromic acid treatment differently fr.om the acid obtained 

 by the oxidation of amylic alcohol. The real origin of the supposed 

 natural oil is, however, doubtful. The author also obtained results 

 which seem to show that fusel oil contains two isomeric alcohols, 

 one of which is more easily oxidized than the other. The fusel oil 

 which yielded these results is supposed to have been obtained by 

 the distillation of a mixture of grain and rice. 



At the meeting on November 15th, Dr. Daubeny read a paper 

 '■ On Ozone." The author has made experiments at Torquay in the 

 winter months, and Oxford in the summer months. In the former 

 place the south-west and westerly winds were most strongly charged 

 with ozone ; and in the latter city, the easterly winds brought most. 

 The results at Torquay Dr. Daubeny considers to prove the influ- 

 ence of the sea in increasing the amount of ozone. The principal 

 natural source of ozone the author finds to be the air exhaled from 



