BaN,+H,O, triclinic.—The brilliant little crystals of the barium salt have a six-sided prismatic habitus, with terminating faces usually at only one end. The other end is frequently attached to another individual in twinning position, the long axes of the two making an angle of about 65°. The small size and irregular surface of the crystals prevented measurements of sufficient accuracy to determine the axial ratios. The angle which would be naturally chosen as that of the prism measures 66° 12'. Since the extinction angle is 22° when the obtuse interior angles of this prism are placed in a vertical plane one above the other, and 10° when the crystal is turned 90° about its long axis, the crystal system must be triclinic. The double refraction is extremely high, above 0.200, and the mean index of refraction is about 1.7. CORNELL UNIVERSITY, INTRODUCTORY NOTE ON THE REDUCTION OF METALLIC OXIDES, AT HIGH TEMPERATURES. A By FANNY R. M. HITCHCOCK. Received January 22, 1898. consideration of the results obtained by Dr. Friedheim and the author, when working on the atomic mass of tungsten in 1895, and 1896, led me to the conclusion that the loss in weight of the metallic oxides on reduction in hydrogen was not due solely to oxygen. Experiments made at high temperatures showed nitrogen was given off steadily though very slowly from tungstic oxide and from molybdic oxide, when reduced in a current of hydrogen. On decreasing the temperature the amount of nitrogen decreased; on raising the temperature again, nitrogen was given off in greater quantities. While the spectrum of the gas gave only the appearance of nitrogen, and no trace of argon or helium could be found on sparking with oxygen, yet the densities were abnormal, and indicated the presence of gases both lighter and heavier than nitrogen. The nitrogen obtained on reduction in porcelain tubes at the temperature obtainable with a Glaser furnace gave densities varying from two to eight (H = 1). The gas obtained when a Lorenz furnace was used gave densities of from twenty-two to twenty In this latter gas argon may be present. The results obtained by an examination of the gas from different metallic oxides indicate that nitrogen is generally present in greater or less amounts; and the low results for atomic weights obtained by the reduction method might be thus easily accounted for. Ferric oxide, prepared from ferrous oxalate, which was made from pianoforte wire, showed a noticeable amount of nitrogen. The results obtained with other oxides will soon be ready to communicate; as the experiments are not completed and the examination of the gases is still under way, the author desires for the present to reserve this field of research. NOTES. Device to Prevent Loss from Spattering.—To prevent loss from spattering or bumping when boiling liquids in flasks, the writer has devised the arrangement herein described, and found it to work very satisfactorily,-much more so than a watch-glass cover. The accompanying diagram is almost self-explanatory. Two bulbs are blown on the end of a piece of glass tubing which is then bent and finished as shown. The bulbs should fit quite loosely in the neck of the flask and the exterior handle should incline downward into the flask so as to return anything condensed thereon. It will be found that the escaping vapors will condense on the bulbs and form liquid joints at the points indicated by the dotted lines. As these joints are always on opposite sides of their respective bulbs, they form a complete obstruc. tion to spattering liquids but allow gases to freely escape through the circuitous course around them. The arrangement is especially useful in making copper assays where the sulphuric acid used in expelling the other acids frequently bumps badly. A single bulb, hanging well down in the neck of the flask, is often quite sufficient but two bulbs are better. ALBERT H. Low. LABORATORY OF VON SCHULZ & Low, CORRESPONDENCE. WASHINGTON, D. C., February 14, 1898. Editor Journal of the American Chemical Society: Dear Sir.-The Organization Committee of the Third International Congress of Applied Chemistry, which is to be held in Vienna during the coming summer, has fixed the date of the meeting from July 28, to August 2, 1898. Some time during the month of February, programs and announcements will be sent to all persons who have been enrolled as members of the Congress. Respectfully, H. W. WILEY, Chairman of the American Committee. WASHINGTON, D. C., February 23, 1898. Editor Journal of the American Chemical Society: Dear Sir.-The committee appointed by the president of the society, in harmony with the resolution of the board of directors adopted at the meeting of October 7, 1897, has considered the question of a want column in the Journal. We propose that such a column be opened in the Journal for the use of the members of the society who may desire to secure employment, and for the use of employers who may desire to secure the professional services of members of the society. We therefore wish to announce to members seeking employment or new fields of labor, that they are invited to insert a notice to that effect in the advertising columns of the Journal, free of charge, the notice not to exceed the space of three one-half inch insertions. We also desire to inform employers, companies, and corporations desiring the professional services of members of the society, that they may insert an advertisement to that effect, of the space of three one-half inch insertions in the columns of the Journal free of charge. The advertisements should be sent to the editor of the JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, Easton, Pa. RESEARCHES ON THE MOLECULAR ASYMMETRY OF NATURAL ORGANIC PRODUCTS. BY LOUIS PASTEUR, membre de la Société Chimique de Paris, (1860). Alembic Club Reprints, No. 14. Edinburgh: William F. Clay. 1897. Cloth. 46 pp. Price, Is. 6d. In presenting this important paper in English translation the Alembic Club has rendered a valuable service to chemists interested in the history of the rise and development of fruitful scientific theories. The study of the phenomena of rotary polarization of organic substances has led to the discovery of most important peculiarities in the constitution of the complex compounds of carbon, and in this paper by Pasteur we find described in a simple yet masterly style the several steps which led him up to his first great generalization on the subject of optical isomerism. In the early 40's he became engaged in a study of the relation of the crystalline forms of certain tartrates to their observed optical rotations. In 1848 he was able to announce the isolation of the right- and left-handed tartaric acids from ammonium sodium racemate; this pioneer discovery was followed by others published at frequent intervals, all of which attracted much attention. In 1860 the Chemical Society of Paris invited Pasteur to deliver two lectures covering the matter of his investigations in this field. The lectures were given in semi-popular form and published in the following year. The Alembic Reprint is simply the translation of the lectures as given in 1860. The translator very properly calls attention to the fact that later investigations have not modified the theories advanced by Pasteur in any essential particular, and further that they must be considered as paving the way for the able and fruitful hypotheses of LeBel and van't Hoff on the relations of asymmetric carbon atoms, published many years later. J. H. LONG. A HANDBOOK FOR CHEMISTS OF BEET-SUGAR HOUSES AND Seed-culTURE FARMS. BY GUILFORD L. SPENCER, D. Sc., of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. First Edition. New York: John Wiley & Sons. London: Chapman & Hall, Ltd. 1897. x + 475 pp. Price, $3.00. This work is the outcome of the favorable reception accorded the author's Handbook for Sugar Manufacturers, and of the increased importance of beet-sugar manufacture in the United States. In it are given short and easily understood directions for sampling and analyzing the raw material and products which the chemist of a beet-sugar house or seed-control farm has to deal with; many hints on sugar-house work and chemical control; and a very complete set of tables; all combining to make a handbook which cannot but be of service to the man of wide, as well as the man of limited experience. It is to be regretted that so many sugar-house managers think it economy to employ as chemists, men with a very limited knowledge of chemical theory and manipulation, but such is the case, and this handbook contains much that will prevent such men from going astray, as well as much to encourage further study. I can endorse the author's statement that many so-called "undetermined losses" are due to errors in measuring, sampling, or methods of analysis. Throughout the book the author gives evidence of an appreciation of the difficulties in effecting chemical control-difficulties which the merely theoretical man is apt to overlook or underestimate. ETC. EDMUND C. SHOREY. A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON MINERAL OILS AND THEIR BY-PRODUCTS, |