288 
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. [Sess. 
fortunately, will now never be published — on the influence on enzymatic 
reactions of the same condition. His experiments on mustard powder and 
on crushed bitter almonds have already been published in the paper 
on “ The Significance of Maximum Specific Electrical Conductivity in 
Chemistry” {Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinburgh, xlviii, Part I, No. 6). These 
will be found well worthy of study by those who are interested in plant 
chemistry and in enzymatic changes. It is certainly open to question 
whether one of the controlling conditions of enzymatic reactions will not 
be found to be the nature of the mineral salts that are present, and the 
amount of dilution or concentration required to bring the solution of the 
salt to its maximum conductivity point. 
John Gibson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 
in 1877, and twice served as a member of Council, from 1892 to 1894 and 
from 1897 to 1900. He was of great service to the Council when papers 
of a chemical nature were under consideration. 
Gibson had just completed the fitting up of the new laboratories at the 
Heriot-Watt College, and had only entered into possession of them for a 
couple of months, when his death occurred, on January 1, 1914. 
It was a peculiarly hard stroke of fate that he should not have had 
the opportunity of enjoying for a longer time those laboratories in which 
he had taken so great an interest, and to the completion of which he had 
for so long; looked forward. 
The following is a list of his papers published in the Society’s Pro- 
ceedings and Transactions : — 
In the Proceedings, R.S.E. 
1. On some Laboratory Arrangements. April 2, 1883. Yol. xii. 
2. On Peroxides of Zinc, Cadmium, Magnesium, and Aluminium (with 
R. M. Morrison). Read July 5, 1880 : published 1885 in vol. xiii. 
3. On Papers by MM. Haas, Cleve, and Lecoy de Boisbaudran, on the 
Production of Peroxides by means of Peroxide of Hydrogen. April 6, 
1885. Yol. xiii. 
4. The Action of Sodium Carbonate and Bromine on Solutions of 
Cobalt and Nickel Salts. February 17, 1890. {Abstract.) Yol. xvii. 
5. Manganese Deposits in Marine Muds (along wdth R. Irvine). 
January 9, 1891. Yol. xviii. 
6. On the Chemical Composition of Sea-water. July 3, 1893. Yol. xx. 
7. On Photo-chemical Action. February 15, 1897. Yol. xxi. 
8. Preliminary Note on a Characteristic of Certain Chemical Reactions. 
December 6, 1897. Yol. xxii. 
