362 Scientific Intelligence. 



hydroxide at high temperatures, and its action upon metals when 

 heated in contact with them, LeBla.no and Bergmann have 

 made an investigation of these matters. They find that caustic 

 soda can be easily dehydrated,. as far as accidental water is con- 

 cerned, by heating it in a gold crucible to 400° C, and that it 

 shows no tendency to give off water of composition at 720°. 

 Gold is the only metal experimented with which is not at all 

 acted upon at the temperature just mentioned. Silver and 

 sodium, in the absence of air, cause the evolution of hydrogen 

 alone, while under the same conditions platinum, copper, iron, 

 nickel, aluminium, zinc and magnesium cause the evolution of 

 both hydrogen and water vapor. The ideal reaction is Me + xNa- 

 OH = Me(ONa) x + xH, so that the reason for the production 

 of water in nearly all cases is somewhat obscure. This point the 

 authors will study by means of further experiments. — Berichte, 

 xlii, 4728. h. l. w. 



4. Transformation of Diamond into Graphite. — Vogel and 

 Tammann have investigated the temperature at which this 

 change takes place. Splinters of diamond were placed in sealed 

 porcelain tubes and heated in an electric furnace. At 1000° C. 

 the change is exceedingly slow, and may not occur at all ; at 

 1200° a considerable transformation takes place within 24 hours, 

 and at 1500° the change is comparatively rapid. A piece of 

 diamond, which was heated to 1600° in fused calcium silicate, so 

 as to exclude air, was also changed superficially into graphite. 

 — Zeitschr. physikal. Chem., 69, 598. h. l. w. 



5. The Johns Hopkins University Circular ; No. 2. Pp.92. Bal- 

 timore, Md., February, 1910. — The recent circular of the Johns 

 Hopkins University has a double interest. It opens with a series of 

 papers, seventeen in number, from the physical laboratory, edited 

 by Professor Ames. Five of these are by Professor Wood, includ- 

 ing two on his recent photography with infra-red and ultra-violet 

 rays ; three each by J. B. Whitehead, J. A. Anderson, and W. 

 W. Strong, and others by A. H. Pfund, P. H. Edwards, and C. 

 M. Sparrow. A list of recent publications (since April, 1906) 

 by those who are, or have been, members of the University fills 

 pages 55-76. 



This circular also contains the record of the commemorative 

 meeting held on December 19, 1909, of Professor Simon New- 

 comb, whose active connection with the University extended over 

 the sixteen years from 1884 to 1900. The address delivered by 

 Professor Milton Updegraff, of the U. S. Navy, is given in full. 



6. Meteor ologisehe Optik; von J. M. Pernter. IVAbschnitt; 

 von Felix M. Exner. Pp. xviii, 559-799. Vienna, 1910 (Wil- 

 helm Brailmuller). — Earlier parts of this valuable work have been 

 noticed in this Journal (see vol. xiii, 472, xxii, 81.) As will be 

 recalled, the work as planned by Professor Pernter in 1901 was 

 intended to embrace all the material dealing with meteorological 

 optics, a field which has never been filled before. The author 

 unfortunately died in December, 1908, before it was possible for 



