May 12, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



751 



accurate track of stock available is more seri- 

 ous in the case of organic compounds than of 

 inorganic, for the latter can usually be se- 

 cured here of satisfactory quality, but, with 

 the exception of the very commonest, prac- 

 tically all fine organic chemicals must be 

 imported from Germany. As it takes about 

 two months for such importations, a serious 

 delay may thus be caused in the prosecution 

 of a research, the only escape from which is 

 for the investigator to turn in and make the 

 substance himself. 



right) also. Thus '406, 16, 1, 10' would 

 mean — room 406, shelf 16, row 1, bottle No. 

 10. It is not necessary often to elaborate 

 quite so much as this — for increased elabora- 

 tion means diminished freedom of arrange- 

 ment on the shelves — ^but we have found it 

 helpful in the case of deep shelves in dark 

 corners, and it then becomes necessary to sup- 

 plement the general index by a special shelf 

 list, to prevent and correct any disarrange- 

 ment of stock on the shelves. 



The index is a card catalogue, composed of 



Name, p-Amino Benzonitrile, 



/CN(1) /\CN 



Formula, CtH.^^=C^11^<C = I I 



\NH, (4) H,N \y 



II, 1273. 

 M. P., 86° 



B. P. 



Amount. 



Maker. 



M. P.-B. p. 



Location. 



Cost. 



Remarks. 



Date. 



10 gm. 



L. Kohnstamm. 



86° 



Museum. 







Reduction of nitre nitrile. 



1902 



0.7 " 





1 t 



408 N. 







Engler's method ; Zn + HCl. 



« ( 



1.0 " 





( ( 



f i 







SnClj + HCl. 



( t 



0.5 " 





85.6 



f i 







Frieke's method ; Sn + HA. 



H 



0.2 " 



Ferrero. 



85-85.5 



( f 







p-uramino benzoic acid + PjOj 



t t 



1903 



50 " 



Williamson. 



86 



405 







Reduction of nitre ; c. p. 



We have not found it necessary to index 

 our inorganic stock, for this can be satisfac- 

 torily classified by keeping all the compounds 

 of the same element together, and arranging 

 the elements alphabetically on the shelves of 

 the stock room. We have found it necessary, 

 however, to index our organic stock, with the 

 exception of the reagents on the laboratory 

 shelves. 



That an alphabetical classification of or- 

 ganic substances is not very satisfactory will, 

 I think, be readily admitted by all organic 

 chemists, particularly by those who have had 

 occasion to search for compounds in Watts's 

 Dictionary. No doubt every method of classi- 

 fication has its shortcomings and inconsist- 

 encies, but for purposes of indexing we have 

 found the ' Beilstein ' classification most satis- 

 factory, for the reason that when in doubt we 

 can always refer to this standard work, or to 

 Richter's ' Lexikon,' which latter constitutes 

 a complete general index to Beilstein. In 

 order to record location of stock, our rooms 

 are all numbered, and when necessary the 

 shelves (from top to bottom), rows (from back 

 to front) and individual bottles (from left to 



5" X 8" cards. The Macey cards are by far 

 the most convenient, as their side locking 

 system permits the removal of any card, by a 

 half turn of the locking rod, as rapidly as 

 though the cards were not locked in at all. 

 A sample card is shown herewith. These 

 cards are arranged in drawers in the ' Beil- 

 stein' order, colored guide cards indicating 

 the divisions of the classification. The num- 

 bers (II., 1273) in the upper right-hand comer 

 indicate the volume and page of Beilstein's 

 ' Handbuch ' (third edition) where the com- 

 pound will be found described in detail. This 

 has the further advantage that when one does 

 not remember off-hand in just which group a 

 certain compound is classified, all that is 

 necessary is to get the volume and page refer- 

 ence from Beilstein and it can then be found 

 very quickly in the index. In other words, 

 the paging (if it may so be termed) of the 

 index is identical with that of Beilstein. The 

 melting-points (M. P.) and boiling-points (B. 

 P.) provided for in the upper right-hand cor- 

 ner are those recorded in the literature, while 

 those in the column near the middle of the 

 card represent the actual melting-points or 



