Chemistry and Physics. 463 



SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE. 

 I. Chemistry and Physics. 



1. The Desulphurizing Action of Hydrogen on Coke. — 

 Alfred R. Powell, of the Pittsburgh Experiment Station of the 

 U. S. Bureau of Mines, has made an elaborate study of the 

 reactions of the sulphur in coal during the coking process, and 

 has studied also the effect of hydrogen and gas mixtures 

 containing this element as desulphurizing agents when passed 

 through finished coke at high temperatures or through coal in 

 the process of coking. The effect of hydrogen was found to 

 be very marked upon the removal of sulphur as hydrogen 

 sulphide, and in most cases the greater part of this objectionable 

 element was removed by passing the gas for 3 hours over the coke 

 at a temperature of 1000 °C. As the employment of pure 

 hydrogen as a desulphurizing agent would probably not be 

 practical on the large scale on account of the cost, a mixture 

 containing 50% hydrogen together with methane, carbon 

 monoxide, etc. was tried, as it corresponds to the by-product gas 

 of the coking process, which apparently might be employed 

 very cheaply in practice. This mixture was found to give slower 

 and less extensive desulphurization, but the results even in this 

 case were promising. For instance the mixture of gases dimin- 

 ished the sulphur in a coke from 1.20 to 0.34%, while pure 

 hydrogen used for a shorter time brought it down to 0.11%. 

 The work thus far done has been on a small laboratory scale, 

 but the work will be continued, and it is to be hoped that it 

 will lead to the manufacture of low-carbon coke for metallurgical 

 use. — Jour. Indust. Eng. Chem. 12, 1077. h. l. w. 



2. Chemical French,- by Maurice L. Dolt. Second Edition 

 8vo, pp. 413. Easton, Pa., 1920 (The Chemical Publishing Co.).— 

 This introduction to the study of French chemical literature 

 was very favorably mentioned in this department of the Journal 

 when the first edition appeared about three years* ago. The 

 appearance so soon of a new edition indicates that the book has 

 been well received and extensively used. About one half of the 

 text is devoted to very satisfactory exercises which give a large 

 amount of chemical information in addition to a knowledge of 

 French, while the remaining part for advanced reading is made 

 up of an excellent selection of important chemical articles copied 

 from the literature. There is a table of irregular verbs ; there 

 are special vocabularies in connection with the exercises, as well 

 as a general vocabulary. The new edition has received some 

 corrections, and two very good articles, one by Le Chatelier 

 and the other by Haller, have been added. h. l. w. 



3. A History of Chemistry; by James Campbell Brown, 

 edited by Henry Hilton Brown. Second Edition. 8vo, pp. 544. 



Am. Jour. Sci.— Fourth Series, Vol. L, No. 300.— December, 1920. 



