262 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. No. 529. 



Laboratory Instruction in Organic Chem- 

 istry: James F. Norris. 

 An account of the methods used by the 

 author. Great stress is laid on the work 

 in the laboratory, instead of spending too 

 much time on lectures. An important 

 part of the work is the identification of 

 unknown pure substances and mixtures by 

 a systematic study of class reactions and 

 the determination of physical constants. 



The Detection of Palm Oil ivhen used as 

 a Coloring for Fats and Oils: C. A. 

 Crampton and F. D. Simons. 

 ]\Iethods are given for the identification 

 of the presence of palm oil in cotton-seed 

 oil which is to be used in the manufacture 

 of oleomargarine. Also two colorimetrie 

 tests are given for its detection in oleo- 

 margarine itself. 



The Detection of Renovated Butter: C. A. 



Crampton and F. D. Simons. 



In this paper the difficulties attending 

 the identification of this product were dis- 

 cussed. Notes were given concerning sev- 

 eral recent and promising methods for its 

 detection. 



A Method for the Rapid Analysis of Sugar 

 Beets: David L. Davoll, Jr. (Read by 

 title.) 



The Rapid Detection of 'Beading Oil' in 

 Whiskeys: 0. S. Marckworth. (Read 

 by title.) 



A Rapid Gasometric Method for the De- 

 termination of Formaldehyde: G. B. 

 Frankforter and Rodney West. (Read 

 by title.) 



The Action of Permanganate and Sodium 

 Peroxide upon Formaldehyde, with a De- 

 termination of the Heat of Combustion: 

 G. B. Frankforter and Rodney West. 

 (Read by title.) 



Firpene, a Terpene and its Comparison 

 with Pinene: G. B. Frankforter and 

 Francis Frary. (Read by title.) 



'The Crystalline Alkaloid of Calycanthus 

 Glaucus: H. M. Gordin. (Read by title.) 



The Hydrocyanic Acid Content and Some 

 Other Properties of Cassava: C. C. 

 Moore. 



Methylamine as a Solvent: H. D. Gibbs. 

 (Read by title.) 



The Oil of Thymus Vulgaris: W. 0. 

 Richtmann. 



Investigated the influence of soil on oil 

 of thyme {Thymus vulgaris). Plants 

 grown on light sandy soil, well drained and 

 somewhat elevated, yielded 0.20 per cent, 

 of red oil containing 45 per cent, of thymol. 

 Other plants grown on heavy clay soil, 

 poorly drained, near the river level yielded 

 0.22 per cent, of oil. It contained 42 per 

 cent, of thymol. 



On Thursday evening Professor Arthur 

 A. Noyes, the retiring vice-president of 

 Section C, gave a most interesting address 

 on the 'Preparation and Properties of 

 Colloidal Solutions,' illustrated with many 

 experiments. It was a valuable summary 

 of the work that has been done in that field, 

 and will be published in the February num- 

 ber of the Journal of the society. 



On Friday morning there was a general 

 session of Section C, presided over by L. P. 

 Kinnicutt. The report of the committee 

 on indexing chemical literature was pre- 

 sented by Dr. James Lewis Howe, and was 

 referred to the council with the request 

 that it be printed. The following papers 

 were presented : 



The Nature of Amorphous Sulphur: 

 Alexander Smith. 



It was shown by consideration of the 

 f'liange in mobility, the solubility, the 

 dilatation and the absorption of heat, that 

 there are two liquid states of sulphur. 

 That forming the greater part of the liquid 

 phase up to 160.1° is pale yellow, and 

 mobile, its coefficient of expansion dimin- 



