vacua. In this tube, Fig. 11 (P.=0'001 m.m., or 13 M.), are fixed to exactly similar phosphorescent screens, c and D; at one end of each is a mica gate, E, E', with a negative pole, A, A', facing it. One of the screens, c, is in the cylindrical part of the tube and close to the walls; the other, D, is in the spherical portion, and therefore far removed from the walls. On passing the current the screen D in the globe shows a narrow sharp streak of phosphorescence, proving that here the molecules are free to follow their normal course straight from the negative pole. In the cylindrical part of the tube, however, so great is the attraction of the walls that the molecular stream is widened out sufficiently to make the whole surface of the screen, C, glow with phosphorescent light. If an idle pole, c, c, Fig. 12 (P.=0'0001 m.m., or o'13 M.), protected all but the point by a thick coating of glass, is brought into the centre of the molecular stream in front of the negative pole A, and the whole of the inside and outside of the tube walls are coated with metal, D, D, and "earthed," so as to carry away the positive electricity as rapidly as possible, then it is seen that the molecules leaving the negative pole and striking upon the idle pole c on their journey along the tube carry a negative charge, and communicate negative electricity to the idle pole. This tube is of interest since it is the one in which I was first able to perceive how in my earlier results I always obtained a positive charge from an idle pole placed in the direct stream from the negative pole. Having got so far, it was easy to devise a form of apparatus that completely verified the theory, and at the same time threw considerably more light upon the subject. Fig. 13, a, b, c, is such a tube, and in this model I have endeavoured to show the electrical state of it at a high vacuum by marking a number of + and signs. The exhaustion has been carried to o'0001 m.m., or o'13 M., and you see that in the neighbourhood of the positive pole, and extending almost to the negative, the tube is strongly electrified with positive electricity, the negative atoms shooting out from the negative pole in a rapidly diminishing cone. If an idle pole is placed in the position shown at Fig. 13 a, the impacts of positive and negative molecules are about equal, and no decided current will pass from it, through the galvanometer, to earth. This is the neutral point. But if we imagine the idle pole to be as at Fig. 13 b, then the positively electrified molecules greatly preponderate over the negative molecules, and positive electricity is shown. If the idle pole is now shifted as shown at Fig. 13, the negative molecules preponderate, and the pole will give negative electricity. As the exhaustion proceeds, the positive charge in the tube increases, and the neutral point approaches closer to the negative pole, and at a point just short of non-conduction so greatly does the positive electrification preponderate that it is almost impossible to get negative electricity from the idle pole, unless it actually touches the negative pole. This tube is before you, and I will now proceed to show the change in direction of current by moving the idle pole. I have not succeeded in getting the "Edison" current in incandescent lamps to change in direction at even the highest degree of exhaustion which my pump will produce. The subject requires further investigation, and like other residual phenomena these discrepancies promise a rich harvest of future discoveries to the experimental philosopher, just as the waste products of the chemist have often proved the source of new and valuable bodies. (To be continued). New Process of Bleaching.-This process depends on the decolourising action of certain products of the distillation of bituminous shales upon all fibrous matters with which they are boiled. The quantity of oil used per ton varies from 4'5 to 9 litres, according to the quality of the material.—Moniteur Scientifique, iv., Part 1. PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. CHEMICAL SOCIETY. Ordinary Meeting, January 15th, 1891. Dr. W. J. RUSSELL, F.R.S., in the Chair. CERTIFICATES were read for the first time in favour of Messrs. Henry Austin Appleton, 19, South Street, Middlesbro'; John Charles Aydans, 44, Crescent Road, Plumstead, S.E.; Clayton Beadle, Beadonwell, Belvedere, Kent; Thomas Byrne, Glenville, Dundrum, co. Dublin; Arthur Cole, B.A., Holmleigh, Charles Street, Berkhamsted; Reginald Lorn Marshall, 25, Lancaster Park, Richmond; Tom Kirke Rose, 9, Royal Mint, E.; R. Greig Smith, Springwells, New Street, Musselburgh; Howard C. Sucié, Breeze House, Higher Broughton, Manchester; Matthew Carrington Sykes, Sykeshurst, Barnsley, Yorks; W. Will, Ph.D., 1, Beethoven Strasse, Berlin, N.W. The following papers were read : 1. "Magnetic Rotation." By W. OSTWALD. The magnetic rotation of organic compounds, according to Perkin, is an additive function of their composition and equal to the sum of the rotations of the components, but this is not the case with the rotation of inorganic compourds, which is usually found greater than that calculated on such an assumption. In the case of hydrogen chloride, for instance, the calculated value is about 2.18, and as a matter of fact the value obtained for hydrogen chloride dissolved in an organic solvent, isoamyl oxide, is 2.24, but when dissolved in water the value found is from 4'05 to 4'42, increasing with the dilution. The author points out that these exceptional values are only obtained in the case of electrolytes, and that they must therefore be referred to a fundamental difference existing between the constitution of electrolytes and that of non-conductors. That such a difference exists has been already deduced from other considerations, and has led Arrhenius to the formulation of the theory of electrolytic dissociation. The author claims that the facts established with regard to magnetic rotation are in perfect accordance with this theory, and that any exceptional values in the magnetic rotations of electrolytes are due to the occurrence of electrolytic dissociation. DISCUSSION. Mr. PICKERING said that in Professor Ostwald's attempt to appropriate Dr. Perkin's results on the magnetic rotation of solutions of electrolytes in support of the dissociation theory, no attempt was made to explain what connection should exist between the magnetic rotation and the supposed dissociation into ions, but it was boldly stated that if, as in the case of hydrogen chloride, the magnetic rotation and dissociation both increased with dilution, the result proved the truth of the dissociation theory, while equal support to this latter theory was afforded if, as in the case of sulphuric acid, dilution diminished the rotation and increased the dissociation; and the most astonishing part of the argument appeared to be that the nearly double magnetic rotations obtained in some cases should be brought forward as a proof of dissociation, when the observations were made on solutions so strong that the dissociation theory represents them as containing hardly any dissociated substance at all. Surely the natural conclusion to draw from such a doubling when it occurs in the absence of dissociation would be that it could not be explained by dissociation. 2. "The Vapour Density of Ammonium Chloride." By FRANK PULLINGER, B.A., B.Sc., and J. A. GARDNER, B.A. The authors have made experiments at various temperatures on the vapour density of ammonium chloride. The apparatus used was that of Victor Meyer. In view of the well-known results of Wurtz concerning the vapour density of phosphorus pentachloride, it was decided to vapourise the ammonium chloride into an atmosphere of ammonia-one of the products of dissociation. In the first instance the experiments were conducted at a moderate red heat, and the salt was vapourised into air. The mean result of five experiments was o'926; the calculated value for complete dissociation is o‘921. At_1040° C. (the temperature of boiling zinc), Deville and Troost, using Dumas's method, found the vapour density to be 1.000. Boiling sulphur was next used, giving a temperature of 448° C. The salt was first vapourised into air. The values found were 0.983 and 0.932. The air was then displaced by ammonia, and the values obtained were o'939, o'994, and 1'009. At a temperature of 360° C. (that of boiling anthracene), the relative density in an atmosphere of air was o'944, while in an atmosphere of ammonia it was 1'128 and I'141. It is evident that in this latter case the ammonium chloride was not wholly dissociated. It was found impossible to vapourise the salt into ammonia at 300° C. in a bath of boiling a-naphthylamine. In one case, o'0175 grm. of ammonium chloride was heated for forty minutes, but the loss in weight during that time was only o'0045 grm., and the volume of ammonia expelled from the apparatus was only o'g1 c.c. In another experiment, o'0037 grm. was taken, and the loss during forty minutes was o'0021 grm., no gas being expelled. The vapourisation into air, however, goes on with comparative rapidity at this temperature, and the values found were o'982, o'986, and o'985. The time taken for expulsion of the air was ten to twelve minutes. At a temperature of 354° C., Deville and Troost, using a bath of mercury vapour, found that the vapour density was I'OI. The authors propose to continue their experiments at temperatures between 300° and 360°. 3. "Chlorinated Phenylhydrazines." By J. T. HEWITT, B.A., B.Sc. Mr. PICKERING thought that Mr. Vernon's conclusions must be accepted at present with great reserve. A difference of 1o in the melting-points, especially where one of these melting-points was undefined, might easily be accounted for by the presence of dissolved matter, accidental impurity, products of oxidation, or some of the oil Mr. Vernon's used to cover the molten phosphorus. curves seem to prove conclusively that this was the case, for that portion which represented the temperature of the substance while it was melting was very much curved, instead of being horizontal as it would be if the phosphorus had been pure. The small difference in the densities-o'o was equally unsatisfactory, and even if any conclusion could be drawn from a superficial examination of the crystals under the microscope, it would be invalidated by the fact that the specimens examined had both been dissolved in, and re-crystallised from, benzene, for, since fusion had been shown to render the two supposed varieties identical, it was more than probable that dissolution would do the same. It was noticeable that although the two modifications were supposed to be obtained by cooling fused phosphorus, yet the fused phosphorus solidified in each case at the same temperature, a temperature which was not identical with the meltingpoints of either of the supposed varieties. Mr. TUTTON Concurred with Mr. Pickering in considering that such an important conclusion as to the existence of a new variety of phosphorus was not justified by the data brought forward. It is well known that phosphorus is a substance which exhibits the property of The author describes the following compounds :- hydrochloride. Orthochlorophenylsemicarbazide, CICH,NHÁNH CONH,. Orthochlorophenylhydrazinepyruvic acid,-- The compounds formed by interaction of aldehyds or ketones and orthochlorophenylhydrazine, according to the author, are very unstable. 4. "A New Modification of Phosphorus.," By H. M. VERNON, Scholar of Merton College, Oxford. Observations on the rate of rise of temperature of phos. phorus and other experiments have led the author to the conclusion that one or other of two different modifications of phosphorus may result when fused phosphorus solidifies; the new variety is formed when the phosphorus is cooled below its solidifying point and then solidified, and has an undefined melting-point; the ordinary variety of well-defined melting-point being formed when solidification of the phosphorus sets in directly the point of solidifi. cation is reached without the temperature sinking below this point. From examination of crystals under the microscope, the author considers that the new variety crystallises in rhombic prisms, the ordinary crystallising in octahedral; he summarises the properties of the two modifications in the following table : stance. caused by the sudden solidification of a superfused mass would be likely to influence the results of a determination of melting-point made after solidification under such circumstances. In the speaker's own experiments on the fusion of phosphorous oxide, which also exhibits superfusion in a very marked manner, a determination of melting-point after such solidification from a state of superfusion frequently yielded values differing sometimes by a whole degree from the true melting-point of the subIt is not at all surprising that a difference of a degree should have been observed by Mr. Vernon, but this fact in itself could scarcely be said to furnish proof of the existence of two modifications. The speaker also took exception to the arbitrary manner in which, from a microscopical examination of which absolutely no details are given, it was concluded that the supposed new modification crystallised in rhombic prisms. Remembering that many really isotropic substances frequently exhibit polarisation colours, owing to their deposition probably in a slight state of strain, it would not be surprising if regular crystals of phosphorus were to exhibit polarisation. It is certainly necessary to have at least data concerning the mode of extinction of the crystals and their behaviour in convergent light before any conclusion can be arrived at as regards their crystalline system. Means of Recognising the Kind of Size Used in Paper.-W. Herzberg.-Resin-size is evenly distributed in the entire mass of the sheet of paper. Animal size forms two layers entirely separated from each other by the body of the paper. Hence, if the paper is well rubbed and bruised, any characters traced upon it penetrate through if an animal size has been used.-Mon. Scientifique. [COPY.] 4, Lombard Court, Oct. 31, 1890. GENTLEMEN, We are requested, and therefore beg to call your attention to the enclosed circular relating to the present method of electing Fellows of the Chemical Society which has been sent by us to every Fellow resident in the United Kingdom. A wide-felt opinion as to the necessity of reform led to the issue of this circular, and the answers received thereto shows that it meets with the emphatic support of the Fellows. We therefore trust the subject may receive the immediate and careful attention of the Council. We are authorised to state that the Council will receive full support in any endeavour they may make to bring about the ends which we have in view. We therefore append from among the additional suggestions which have been sent to us, some which appear worthy of consideration. May we express the hope that you will favour us with an early reply which may be communicated to the Fellows. We are, &c., (Signed) F. J. LLOYD. F. L. TEED. Twelve suggestions, additions to those contained in our original circular, were appended to this letter. On November 6th Professor Thomson formally acknow. ledged the receipt of this letter, which came before the Council on November 20th. Subsequently, we received the following official reply : [COPY.] Chemical Society, Burlington House, DEAR SIRS,-The President and Council having under consideration the Memorial addressed to them by you, of date October 31st, would like to be informed who are the body and the individual Fellows by whom you say you are requested to call the attention of the Council to the matters set forth in your Memorial, and are further authorised to state what will be their future contingent action. I shall be obliged if you will please afford me this information, which would obviously be of much weight in guiding the Council to a conclusion on the different matters submitted to them. Yours faithfully, (Signed) Messrs. Lloyd and Teed. HENRY E. ARMSTRONG. NEWS Further, in view of the very large support which our circular to the Fellows has obtained, we are requested once more to strongly urge upon the Council the necessity of taking the matter in hand immediately. As to the steps which our Committee and its supporters would take in the future, these certainly depend upon the action of the Council. We have stated, and do so again, of reform will be cordially supported by us, our sole aim that all steps which the Council may take in the direction being the welfare of the Society itself. At the same time, the Committee request us to state that they feel themselves fully strong enough, if necessary, to act without the support of the Council. To the Editor of the Chemical News. IT is usually held by the well-informed, on more or less satisfactory evidence, that there is a special providence charged with the care of midshipmen and fools; but I enjoy any such privilege of protection. This being so, it have never heard the suggestion ventured that chemists all the more behoves us to seize every opportunity of working out our own salvation. The matter about which I am now writing you is a very simple one, and without doubt has come under the notice of most of your readers at some time or other; but since it refers to a danger that might at any time entrap the unwary and lead to a very serious error in analysis, I think it only right to point this out, deeming it probable that I may thus draw the attention of some few readers of the CHEMICAL NEWS to a source of error that they might otherwise chance to overlook. Moreover, I think that any danger incident to the use of certain apparatus should not be pointed out once for all, since an occasional repetition of the warning may often meet the eyes of those who have failed to This is my excuse for notice an earlier intimation. troubling you on such a simple matter. I lately had occasion to determine some saponification equivalents, and proceeded of course in the usual manner, using a conical (Erlenmeyer's) flask in the process. The determination gave me a saponification equivalent of 10 29 per cent KHO, A duplicate in another flask gave me 9:18. This difference was sufficiently disturbing in all conscience; and, in addition, the equivalent was far By the instruction of our Committee, the following reply higher than I had reason to expect it would come. Under was sent : 4, Lombard Court, Henry E. Armstrong, Esq., Ph.D., F.R.S., &c. DEAR SIR,-In accordance with our letter of the 13th inst., we have laid your communication before the Committee under whose instructions we act, and we are requested to say, in reply, that all Fellows of the Society being equal as to status in the Society, the names of the members of the Committee have nothing to do with the question of the proposed reform in the mode of admission to the Chemical Society. these circumstances it was suggested to me by a friend that possibly an error had been introduced by the use of new flasks, owing to a reaction, that is, between the alkali and the silica of the glass. I therefore repeated my determination, using again No. 1 flask, and this time I obtained the saponification equivalent 6'90! A fourth determination in the same flask gave me 6.88-obviously a very close agreement. Under these circumstances, therefore, it seems to me indubitable that in the first two determinations a large quantity of the alkali was used up by reacting with the new glass; after this had taken place the flask was fit for use without fear of any further error NEWS from such source. The moral, therefore, is obvious: never to trust a saponification result obtained by the use of a new flask.-I am, &c., F. H. P. C. P.S.-It has occurred to me that this warning is the more necessary, since-if I recollect rightly-Mr. Hehner, in his well-known researches on the constitution of beeswax, details a blank experiment made by him to determine whether or no any alkali were consumed by the glass of the flask. He found that none was; but evidently this conclusion must only apply to a seasoned flask, although, of course, I cannot say whether all new flasks would behave as mine did: glass is variable, and some glass may not require such "seasoning." 6, vol. xv., pp. 86-133; and vol. xiii., p. 74. They affirm that neither the phosphorus nor the total sulphur in a plant or in an arable soil can be determined by the action of acids or by simple incineration. At present they consider chiefly the determination of alkalies and oxides. They effect this, as far as the alkalies are concerned, by a preliminary elimination of the silica by treatment with ammonium fluoride and sulphuric acid, and as for The alumina and ferric oxide, by fusion with potassa. following comparative table shows the results obtained by their exact method, by digestion in the cold with dilute hydrochloric acid, by treatment for several hours with hot concentrated hydrochloric acid, and by treatment with the same acid after incineration. The results refer to 1 kilo:Cold Hot strong Do. after incineration ALLOYS OF SODIUM AND LEAD. To the Editor of the Chemical News. SIR,Some weeks ago we published a brief note (CHEMICAL NEWS, vol. lxii., p. 314), on some Alloys of Sodium and Lead" that appear to be definite conipounds, giving the observed densities of the alloys and the densities that they should have theoretically as mixtures. In your issue of January 2nd, W. J. A. B. alleges that our calculated densities are erroneous, saying that "the authors give . . . figures which it is difficult to see how they obtain." Our figures are correct, and it is not difficult to see how W. J. A. B. has blundered. He has calculated for 10, 19'5, and 31.7 volumes of sodium made up to one hundred volumes by lead. We have followed the universal custom of giving analytical results in percentages by weight. If W. J. A. B. will go over his calculations in the light of this explanation he will doubtless see his error, and we will be glad to see his retraction.-We are, &c., Philadelphia, January 30, 1891. GREENE AND WAHL. Exact. HCI. HCI. Influence of Solvents upon the Rotatory Power of the Camphols and Iso-camphols: a Study of the Chloral Bornylates.-A. Haller. The author's results show that, excepting methylic alcohol, the influence of which is manifest, all the other solvents exert no action upon the rotatory power of the lævo-rotatory camphol a. The influence of the different liquids upon levo-isocamphol varies with their function or constitution, but it remains the same for each homologous series. On the Constitution of the Albumenoids.-Dr. H Arnaud.-There are three orders of immediate essential principles forming constituent parts of organised matter: hydrocarbons, fatty bodies, and ammonium cyanate. The albumenoids are merely a combination in various proportions of the three immediate principles just enumerated; they contain potentially all three, and it is easy to isolate them. We may consequently consider the albumenoids are true polycyanates of compound ammonia, or of comradicles of hydrocarbons and of fatty acids, replacing the same number of atoms of hydrogen. It may, perhaps, be also admitted that the albumenoids contain in their tissue other radicles still unknown. CHEMICAL NOTICES FROM FOREIGN pound polyureas, into the structure of which there enter SOURCES. NOTE.-All degrees of temperature are Centigrade unless otherwise expressed. Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances, de l'Académie des Sciences. Vol. cxii., No. 3, January 19, 1891. On the Presence of Sulphur, and on its Part in Vegetation. MM. Berthelot and André.-Plants take up sulphur incessantly until they flower, the relative proportion of this element being greater by one-third during the first period of vegetation. The sulphur in the state of organic compounds reaches its maximum during inflorescence, and then declines. It seems as if the sulphates derived from the soil were reduced at first and then re generated after flowering in consequence of an internal oxidation. Still, this supposes that the sulphur is entirely derived from the soil in the state of sulphates, whilst a portion may well be derived directly from organic sulphurcompounds which exist in plenty in the soil. This latter opinion is supported by the fact that organic sulphur is found in quantity in the roots except at the commence. ment of flowering. Towards the end of flowering it abounds at once in the roots and the stems. Electric Bleaching of Paper.-Two English manufacturers, Evans and Overs, bleach paper electrically, rendering it perfectly white without injury to its strength The process depends on the use of a solution of magnesium chloride, which is decomposed by the action of a powerful current into chlorine and oxygen on the one hand, and into magnesium and hydrogen on the other. The electrodes are plates of platinum. Microscopic Examination of Paper.-W. Herzberg. -From the Zeit. fur Anal. Chem. New Process for Utilising the Oxygen of the Air. The-Georges Kassner (from Dingler).—The process turns mainly on the use of the plumbates of the alkaline earths. Determination of the Mineral Matters Contained in Vegetable Soils, and on the Part which they Play in Agriculture. MM. Berthelot and André. authors announce that a complete account of their method for determining the constituents of arable soils will be given in a future communication, and they refer to their memoirs in the Annales de Chimie et de Physique, Series Industrial Society of Mulhouse.-Session of April 9, 1890--The proceedings turned chiefly on the reception and opening of certain "sealed papers." |