June 16, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



919 



the electrical intensity is small, is at the same 

 pressure approximately as the minimum spark- 

 ing potential of the electrodeless discharge, or 

 the point at which the discharge is most easily 

 started. Also, when the frequency of the dis- 

 charge is altered by a change of capacity, the 

 position of the maximum point of the duration 

 curve is altered to correspond to the displace- 

 ment of minimum sparking potential of the 

 discharge. 



Lengthening the spark gap and thereby in- 

 creasing the electrical intensity inside of the 

 vessel in which the discharge takes place 

 changes the form of the duration curve, and 

 when the electrical intensity is thus increased 

 above a certain amount the curve obtained is 

 completely altered in form. When the after- 

 glow in the rarefied air is allowed to diffuse 

 into a vessel cooled to liquid air temperature, 

 the duration curve is displaced some distance 

 towards the higher pressure and is also changed 

 in form, other conditions being the same; 

 otherwise, the duration of the afterglow, which 

 in the experiments was approximately thirty 

 seconds, was found to be little different than 

 when the air is at normal temperature. That 

 a long-enduring glow can be obtained at the 

 low temperature of liquid air and a pressure 

 approximately one tenth of one millimeter is 

 obviously important in its bearing on problems 

 of astrophysics. 



The Figure of the Sun, an Explanation of the 

 Motions of Mercury: 0. L. Poor. 

 This paper, which is being published by 

 the Academy, was read by title. 

 The meeting then adjourned. 



C. C. Trowbridge, 



Secretary. 



THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 

 NEW YORK SECTION. 



The eighth regular meeting of the New 

 Yoi-k Section of the American Chemical So- 

 ciety was held at the Chemists' Club, 108 West 

 55th St., Friday, May 5, at 8:15 p.m. The 

 chairman, Dr. Wm. J. Schieffelin, presided. 



The program of the evening was as follows : 

 An Improved Form of Viscosimeter for the 



Testing of Oils: Daniel D. Jackson. 



The earlier forms of instruments for the 

 determination of the viscosity of oils con- 

 sisted of bottles or bulbS which delivered a cer- 

 tain quantity of oil through an orifice of defi- 

 nite size. The necessity for jacketing such 

 instruments soon became evident, and various 

 methods were employed for this purpose. In 

 only a few cases, however, has any attempt 

 been made to protect the orifice so that a uni- 

 form temperature at this point would be as- 

 sured, and in the cases where the orifice has 

 been protected the oil under examination has 

 been allowed to flow into a vessel which was 

 outside the instrument. This causes a fall in 

 temperature from the beginning to the end of 

 the operation which is very considerable. A 

 form of apparatus designed by the author for 

 the testing of the viscosity of oil at 70° F. 

 (21.1° C.) and 212° F. (100° C.) is so arranged 

 that both the orifice and the oils under exami- 

 nation are kept at an exactly uniform tempera- 

 ture throughout the entire operation, and two 

 very considerable errors in the results are 

 thereby eliminated. 



Condensation of Succinylosuccinic Etter with 

 Ouanidine: A. W. Dox and M. T. Bogert. 

 Various attempts were made by the writers 



to produce a naphttetrazine of the following 



structure : 



■'C(X)n 



N 



The well-known quinazoline syntheses when 

 applied to p-diaminoterephthalic acid, in 

 which the anthanilic acid grouping is present 

 on both sides of the nucleus, should give such 

 a compound. Bu't diaminoterephthalic acid 

 proved to be very inert, and no condensations 

 could be made with it. It was found, how- 

 ever, that succinylosuccinic ester and guani- 

 dine condensed to a derivative of the above 

 naphttetrazine. The method of preparation 

 and subsequent analyses showed the product 

 to be 2, 6-diimino- 4, 8-dioxy-hexahydro- 1, 

 3, 5, 7-naphttetrazine. There is a possibility 

 also that the compound exists in the tauto- 

 meric form, having two amino instead of 

 imino groups. The substance is soluble 



