474 General Notes. [ May 
The crystals of phenactte occurring at various localities 
phenacite from the Pike’s Peak region (as well as the amazon 
stone and smoky quartz from the same locality) is found in 
pockets in the neighborhood of the Crystal Peaks,? a chain of 
granite hills about fifteen to twenty miles northwest of Pike’s 
P e crystals from this place are usually small in size, the 
largest ever found measuring but 15 mm. in length. ost of 
the crystals are colorless, but those entirely imbedded in gangue 
have a faint wine color.——Mr. A. N. Alling3 has recalculated 
the physical constants for topaz from measurements of a crystal 
of this mineral from Thomas Range, Utah. The axial ratio as 
recalculated is a:b: = 0.5285 :1:0.47715. The optical 
angle, 2 V = 67° 18’; and the indices of refraction are P= 1.610. 
and y = 1.6176 for yellow light. 
Chemical Integration4—The author regards all chemical 
species known to us as units or integers produced by the iden- 
tification in volume, or, in other words, the integration of more 
elemental species. Rejecting the atomic hypothesis which he 
has long regarded as, in the language of J. P. Cooke, “a tem- 
porary expedient for representing the facts of chemistry to the 
mind,” the author designates the so-called molecular weights of 
species as their integral weights. They are, at the same time, 
equivalent weights, since they are the weights of equal volumes. 
The specific gravity at o° and 760 mm. of hydrogen gas, which 
is the unit of combining vedit, should, in his opinion, be made 
the unit of specific gravity for all species. The integral weights 
for gases and vapors are well known to be multiples. of this unit 
of specific gravity, and, believing the law of condensation by 
volume to be universal, the author conceives all liquid and solid 
species to be forme by the condensation or so-called polymen- 
zation of normal gaseous species often unknown to us. From 
this he concludes that the specific gravity of these liquids and 
solids should be calculated on the basis of hydrogen as unity. 
In this way the problem of the coefficient of condensation is 
solv e 
We had long Soe ana that the law of progressive series is 
also, ies that o umes, universal in chemistry, applying not 
only to related ere but to species differing in the pro- 
en. 
age a . Sci., xxxii., Feb. 1887, p. 130. 
2 W. B. one Bi 134. 3 Tb., xxiii., Feb. 1887. 
* Abstract of read before Nat. Acad. Sciences, . April 1 19, 1887. 
