SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
453 
The Movement of the Oscillarice, according to the researches of Dr. Ferdi- 
nand Cohn, depend on three facts : — 1st, a steady hut changeable rotation 
around the long axis of the plant ; 2nd, the power of being able to push 
itself variably backwards and forwards ; 3rd, the power of being able to 
bend, to stretch, and to twist — in one word, its flexibility. — Vide Quarterly 
Journal of Microscopical Science , July. 
CHEMISTRY. 
New Method of Organic Analysis. — Herr A. Mitscherlich describes a 
new mode of organic analysis, which he states is applicable to all organic, 
and many inorganic, compounds, and one of whose especial features is the 
direct determination of the oxygen. Those who wish to pursue the method 
must consult the original paper, the following being only a general account 
of the process ; — Oxygen and hydrogen are determined together by heating 
the substance in a current of chlorine, passing the products of combustion 
over red-hot charcoal, and absorbing the chlorhydric acid, carbonic anhy- 
dryde, and carbonic oxide formed by a saturated solution of plumbic nitrate, 
a solution of potassic hydrate, and a solution of cuprous chloride in chlor- 
hydric acid respectively. Chlorine, bromine, iodine, and sulphur, are deter- 
mined simultaneously with carbon and nitrogen, by volatilising the substance 
in a current of hydrogen, burning the mixed gases and vapours with oxygen, 
removing the water by means of sulphuric acid, and collecting the products 
of combustion in weighed vessels — with the exception of nitrogen, which is 
measured. The products of combustion, besides the water, may consist of 
carbonic anhydride, chlorhydric acid, bromine, iodine, sulphurous acid, 
sulphuric acid, and traces of brom- and chlorhydric acid. A residue of 
carbon also may be left in the combustion-tube. The water is absorbed by 
sulphuric acid, the chlorhydric acid by plumbic nitrate, bromine by mercuric 
oxide, iodine is weighed as such, sulphurous acid is absorbed by potassic 
bichromate, carbonic anhydride by potassic hydrate, nitrogen is measured, 
and the residual carbon weighed. — Yide Roggendorjfs Annalen, cxxx. 536. 
A Syphon for the Laboratory. — It so often happens that in using the 
ordinary syphon, acid and hurtful substances are introduced into the mouth, 
that a new syphon, invented by M. Zaliwski Mikorski, will be gladly em- 
ployed by chemists. The new syphon is not set at work by suction. One 
of its legs is provided with an accessory tube, by blowing through which 
the current becomes established. 
Chemical Relations of Cafeic Acid. — At a late meeting of the Academy of 
Sciences of Vienna, Herr Hlasivetz read a paper on this subject. He found 
that by treating the acid with sodium-amalgam he produced a hydracid by 
the addition of two atoms of hydrogen. This shows that there is an analog}’- 
between cafeic acid and cinnamonic and coumaric acids. The three thus 
belong to one series, each term of which possesses an atom of oxygen more 
than the preceding one. Cafeic acid is isomeric with umbellic , eveminic , and 
veratic acids. 
Cheap Mode of obtaining Oxygen. — M. de Motay has suggested an econo- 
mical method of producing oxygen, which is said to prove easy and efficient 
k x 2 
