Chemistry and Physics. 235 



sary to dilute the sulphur dioxide with hydrogen, or to allow it 

 to act at low pressure upon the solid hydrides, in order to avoid 

 decomposition by the heat produced and to obtain pure products. 

 Moissan finds that the hydrosulphites correspond to the formula 

 M' 2 S a 4 , and not to M' 2 HS 2 4 , thereby apparently settling an 

 uncertainty which has existed for a long time. The reaction 

 which takes place in the case of the potassium salt is as follows : 



2S0 2 + 2KH=K 2 S 2 4 + H 2 . 

 The reactions with the other hydrides are analogous to this. — 

 Bulletin, xxix, 10. h. l. w. 



5. The Solubility of Boric Acid in Hydrochloric Acid Solu- 

 tions. — The statement made in a commonly used hand-book of 

 inorganic chemistry, that boric acid is more soluble in hydro- 

 chloric acid than in water, has been found to be incorrect by W. 

 Hertz. His results show that the solubility of boric acid rapidly 

 decreases as the strength of the hydrochloric acid increases until 

 the latter is about four times normal. At this point the solubility 

 is only about one-third as great as in water. As the strength of 

 the hydrochloric acid is then increased up to nine and one-half 

 times normal, the solubility of the boric acid is practically con- 

 stant. Since the ionic dissociation of boric acid is very slight, it 

 appears that the usual explanation, based upon the decrease of 

 ionization from the effect of the hydrogen ions of the hydro- 

 chloric acid, will not apply in this case. — Zeitschr. anorg. Ghent. , 

 xxxiii, 355. h. l. w. 



6. The Preparation of Pure Iron. — Iron which was crystal- 

 line in structure and pure white in color, which dissolved slowly 

 but completely in dilute sulphuric acid with evolution of odorless 

 hydrogen, has been prepared by Skrabal. A platinum electrode 

 was first coated with iron from a ferrous ammonium oxalate solu- 

 tion, then the electrode thus prepared was used as an anode, and 

 the pure iron was deposited on a platinum cathode in a solution 

 of ferrous sulphate acidified with sulphuric acid. A current of 

 low tension (0*4 volt) was used. — Perichte, xxxv, 3404. 



h. l. w. 



7. Beitraege zur Chemischen Physiologie ; herausgegeben 

 von Franz Hofmeister. Ill Band, 1-8 parts. Braunschweig, 

 Vieweg und Sohn, 1902. — The first eight parts of the third vol- 

 ume of Hofmeister's Beitraege bring fresh evidence of the 

 increased attention which is being devoted to the chemical study 

 of the albuminous bodies. It is impossible to review in this 

 place the twenty papers presented; it must suffice to refer in 

 particular to Friedmann's interesting studies of the sulphur con- 

 taining groups of the proteids, to the physiological studies on 

 the proteolytic digestion products (Embden and Knoop, Zunz, 

 Langstein), and to Czapek's extensive investigation of proteid 

 synthesis by lower plant organisms. The application of modern 

 physico-chemical methods to the solution of physiological prob- 

 lems is also further indicated in papers by Laquer and Sackur 

 and by Pauli. l. b. m. 



