THE INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTRY OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND FOUNDED 1877. INCORPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER,1885. Patron -H.M. THE KING. JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. PART rr: 193s. Issued under the supervision of the Publications Committee. RICHARD B.PILCHER, Registrar and Secretary. 30. RUSSELLSQUARE,LONDON,W.C.I. Aeril, 1938. Publications Committee, 1938-39. W. J. A. BUTTERFIELD (Chairman), Sir ROBERT H. PICKARD (President), W. M. AMES, A. L. BACHARACH, JAMES BELL, HAROLD BURTON, ALBERT COULTHARD, H.E. COX, B. S. EVANS, A. E. EVEREST, A. E. FINDLEY, J. B. FIRTH, A. A. HALL, J. W. HAWLEY, H. H. HODGSON, if. R. JOHNSON, EDGAR LEWIS, P. LEWIS-DALE, C. AINSWORTH MITCHELL, J.R. NICHOLLS, G. S. ROBERTSON, ADAM TAIT, E. A. TYLER. Officers and Members of Council, 1938-39. PRESIDENT: SIR ROBERT HOWSON PICKARD, DSc., F.R.S. VICEPRESIDENTS : WILLIAM ALEXANDER SKEEN CALDER. ARTHUR ERNEST EVEREST, D.Sc. JOHN JACOB FOX, O.B.E., D.Sc. CHARLES AINSWORTH MITCHELL, M.A., D.Sc. ROBERT ROBINSON, M.A., D.Sc., LL.D., F.R.S. JOCELYN FIELD THORPE, C.B.E., D.Sc., F.R.S. HON. TREASURER : BERNARD FARMBOROUGH HOWARD MEMBERS OF COUNCIL: WILLIAM MELVILLE AMES, M.A., B.Sc. : Edinburgh and East of ALFRED LOUIS BACHARACH, M.A. : London. [Scotland.JAMES BELL, M.A., M.D., Sc.D. : Irish Free State. OSCAR LISLE BRADY, B.A., D.Sc. : London. HENRY VINCENT AIRD BRISCOE, D.Sc., A.R.C.S., D.I.C. : London. HAROLD BURTON, D.Sc.: Yorkshire.WILLIAM JOHN ATKINSON BUTTERFIELD, M.A. : London. FRANCIS HOWARD CARR, C.B.E., D.Sc., M.I.CHEM.E.: London. ALBERT COULTHARD, PH.D. : Manchester. HENRY EDWARD COX, D.Sc. : London. CECIL JOHN TURRELL CRONSHAW, B.Sc. : Manchester and District. WILLIAM AETHELBERT DAMON, B.Sc., M.I.CHEM.E : London. GEORGE MALCOLM DYSON, B.A., PH.D., A.M.I.CHEM.E.: East [Midlands and South Yorkshire. FRANK GEORGE EDMED, O.B.E., B.Sc., A.R.C.S.: Portsmouth. BERNARD SCOTT EVANS, M.B.E., M.C., D.Sc. : London. ALBERT EDWARD FINDLEY, B.Sc., M. ENG.: Liverpool and North- JAMES BRIERLEY FIRTH, D.Sc. : Nottingham. [West Coast. ARTHUR GORDON FRANCIS, D.Sc. : London. WILLIAM GODDEN, B.Sc., A.R.C.S. : Aberdeen and North of Scotland. PETER FERGUSON GORDON, PH.D., A.H.-W.C.: Coatbridge.ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER HALL, PH.D. : Newcastle upon Tyne and [North-EWt Coast. JOHN WILLIAM HAWLEY, B.Sc., A.M.I.CHEM.E. : Qlmgow and West THOMAS PERCY HILDITCH, D.Sc. : Liverpool. [of Scotland. HERBERT HENRY HODGSON, M.A., PH.D. : HudderaJieZd. JOSEPH ROBERT JOHNSON, M.I.M.M. : Birmingham.GEORGE KING, M.Sc. : Birmingham.EDGAR LEWIS, M.I.CHEM.E : Bristol and South- Western Counties. PERCY LEWIS-DALE, PH.D. : Bournemouth. GERALD ROCHE LYNCH, O.B.E., M.B., B.S. : London. BASIL GORDON McLELLAN, A.R.T.C., M.I.CHEM.E.: York. JOHN RALPH NICHOLLS, B.Sc. : London and South-Eastern Counties. DERIC WILLIAM PARKES, M.C., B.A., B.Sc. : Birmingham and WILLIAM STEWART PATTERSON, PH.D. : Sunderland. [Midhmh.FRANCIS MARTIN POTTER, O.B.E., B.Sc., A.R.C.S.: London.GEORGE SCOTT ROBERTSON, D.Sc. : Northern Ireland. ROLAND EDGAR SLADE, M.C., D.Sc.: London. SAMUEL SMILES, O.B.E., D.Sc., F.R.S. : London. HAROLD AUGUSTINE TEMPANY, C.B.E., D.Sc. : The Overseas [Dominions and Elsewhere Abroad. DOUGLAS FRANK TWISS, D.Sc. : Birmingham.ERNEST ALBERT TYLER, M.A. : Wales and the County of Monmouth. JOHN WEIR, M.A., PH.D. : Stevenston. BIRKETT WYLAM, PH.D. : Edinburgh. 104 DATES OF COUNCIL MEETINGS: ~~1938: 2 9 APRIL. I938 : 1 STH NOVEMBER. ~OTH MAY. 16~~DECEMBER. 2 ~~4 JUNE. 1939: 20T~JANUARY. 22ND JULY. 27 JANUARY.~~ 21~~OCTOBER. 1~THFEBRUARY. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING: 1ST MARCH, 1939. CENSORS: 1938-39. THE PRESIDENT, EX-OFFICIO.WILLIAM ALEXANDER SKEEN CALDER. SIR GILBERT THOMAS MORGAN, O.B.E., D.Sc., F.R.S. ROBERT ROBINSON, M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S. JOCELYN FIELD THORPE, C.B.E., D.Sc., F.R.S. Committees for 1938-39. Chairman* FINANCE AND HOUSE COMMITTEE: THE PRESIDENT, WITH 0. L. BRADY, H. V. A. BRISCOE, HAROLD BURTON, W. A. S. CALDER, F. H. CARR,A. COULTHARD, W. A. DAMON, A. E. EVEREST, T. P. HILDITCH, H. H. HODGSON, BERNARD F. HOWARD*, G. KING, EDGAR LEWIS, R. E. SLADE, JOCELYN F. THORPE, AND E. A. TYLER. LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE : THE PRESIDENT*, WITH H. V. A. BRISCOE, W. A. S. CALDER, F. H. CARR, C. J. T. CRONSHAW, BERNARD F. HOWARD, P.LEWIS- DALE, G. ROCHE LYNCH, B. G. McLELLAN, C. A. MITCHELL, J. R. NICHOLLS, R. ROBINSON, H. A. TEMPANY, AND B.WYLAM. NOMINATIONS, EXAMINATIONS AND INSTITUTIONS COMMITTEE : THE PRESIDENT* AND COUNCIL IN COMMITTEE. PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE : THE PRESIDENT, WITH W. M. AMES, A. L. BACHARACH, JAMES BELL, HAROLD BURTON, W. J. A. BUTTERFIELD*, ALBERT COULTHARD, H. E. COX, B. S. EVANS, A. E. EVEREST, A. E. FINDLEY, J. B. FIRTH, A. A. HALL, J. W. HAWLEY, H. H. HODGSON, J. R. JOHNSON, E. LEWIS, P. LEWIS-DALE, C. A. MITCHELL, J. R. NICHOLLS, G. 5. ROBERTSON, ADAM TAIT, AND E. A. TYLER. 105 SPECIAL COMMITTEES. BENEVOLENT FUND COMMITTEE : THE PRESIDENT, BERNARD F. HOWARD (HoN. TREASURER)*, THE FINANCE AND HOUSE COMMITTEE, H. G. COLMAN, E. M. HAWKINS, C. PROCTOR, G. RUDD THOMPSON, AND J. C. WHITE. ’ APPOINTMENTS COMMITTEE : THE PRESIDENT*, WITHH.V.A.BRISCOE,H. E. COX, H. W. CREMER, C. J. T. CRONSHAW, F. G. EDMED, B. S. EVANS, A. E. EVEREST, A. G. FRANCIS, P. F. GORDON, P. LEWIS-DALE, G. ROCHE LYNCH, C. A. MITCHELL, J. R. NICHOLLS, W. S. PATTERSON, R. E. SLADE, H. A. TEMPANY, AND J. WEIR. PEDLER FUND COMMITTEE : THE PRESIDENT*, WITH 0. L. BRADY, H. V. A. BRISCOE, H. BURTON, H. W. CREMER, J. J. FOX, T. P. HILDITCH, H. H. HODGSON, D. JORDAN-LLOYD, L. H. LAMPITT,J.I.0.MASSON,H. McCOMBIE, E. K. RIDEAL, R. ROBINSON, SAMUEL SMILES, JOCELYN F. THORPE, D. F. TWISS, AND WILLIAM WARDLAW. SUPPLEMENTAL CHARTER COMMITTEE: THE PRESIDENT*, WITH W. M. AMES, H. V. A. BRISCOE, W. J. A. BUTTERFIELD, H. E. COX, A. E. EVEREST, AND D. W. PARKES. NATIONAL CERTIFICATES IN CHEMISTRY. REPRESENTATIVES OF THE INSTITUTE ON THE JOINT COMMITTEE WITH : THE BOARD OF EDUCATION (ENGLAND AND WALES): THE PRESIDENT*, WITH 0.L. BRADY, H. V. A. BRISCOE, A. E. EVEREST, AND LEWIS EYNON; THE SCOTTISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT : THE PRESIDENT, WITH R. BRUCE, W. M. CUMMING, A. FINDLAY, P. F. GORDON,J.W. HAWLEY, G. G. HENDERSON*, N. PICTON, T. SLATER PRICE, J. WEIR, AND F. J. WILSON; THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, NORTHERN IRELAND : THE PRESIDENT, WITH J. C. A. BRIERLEY, W. H. GIBSON, J. HAWTHORNE, W. HONNEYMAN, SIR GILBERT T. MORGAN, T. SLATER PRICE, AND G. S. ROBERTSON. REPRESENTATIVE ON THE POISONS BOARD (Pharmacy and Poisons Act, 1933) G. ROCHE LYNCH, O.B.E., M.B., B.S. REPRESENTATIVES ON THE CHEMICAL COUNCIL: w. A. S. CALDER, F. G.EDMED, AND JOCELYN F. THORPE. REPRESENTATIVES ON THE LIBRARY COMMITTEE OF THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY: H. V. A. BRISCOE, H. W. CREMER, J. J. FOX, AND ERNEST VANSTONE 106 BOARD OF EXAMINERS FOR THE ASSOCIATESHIP AND FELLOWSHIP, 1938-39. Chairman :THE PRESIDENT. Representatives of the Nominations, Examinations and Institutions Committee: 0. L. BRADY, H. V. A. BRISCOE, H. E. COX, J. J. FOX, AND ROBERT ROBINSON. Examinersfor the Associateship : JOSEPH KENYON, D.Sc. (LoND.), F.R.S. WILLIAM WARDLAW, D.Sc. (DUNELM). Examinersfor the Fellowship : Branch A.-INORGANIC CHEMISTRY:To be appointed. Branch B.-PEYSICAL CHEMISTRY: ERIC KEIGHTLEY RIDEAL, M.B.E., D.Sc. (LoND.), F.R.S. Branch C.-ORGANIC CHEMISTRY:JOSEPH KENYON, D.Sc. (LoND.), F.R.S.Branch D.-BIOCHEMISTRY : HAROLD RAISTRICK, B.A., SCD. (CANTAB.),D.Sc. (LEEDS), F.R.S. Branch E.-CHEMISTRY (including Microscopy) of Food and Drugs, and of Water: GEORGE DAVIDSON ELSDON, D.Sc. (BIRM.). TEERAPEUTICS, ANDPHARMACOLOGY, MICROSCOPY: CHARLES HERBERT HAMPSHIRE, M.B., B.S., B.Sc. (LoND.), M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. Branch F.-AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY: NORMAN MEDERSON COMBER, D.Sc. (LoND.), A.R.C.S. Branch G.-~NDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY(General ChemicaI Technology) : ALBERT ERNEST DUNSTAN, D.Sc. (LoND.). Examiners in the special sections of Branch G will be appointed as re-quired. HON. AUDITORS, 1938-39 : WALTER CHARLES HANCOCK, B.A. (CANTAB.) AND JOSEPH HENRY LANE. AUDITOR, 1938-39: DAVID HENDERSON, in association with MESSRS.J. Y. FINLAY & CO., Chartered Accountanti?. SOLICITORS: MESSRS. MARKBY, STEWART & WADESONS, 5, Bishopsgate, London, E.C.2. BANKERS : THE WESTMINSTER BANK, LTD., Bloomsbury Branch, 214, High Holborn, London, W.C.1. REGISTRAR AND SECRETARY : RICHARD BERTRAM PILCHER, O.B.E., Chartered Secretary. ASSISTANT SECRETARY : RONALD LESLIE COLLETT, M.A. (CANTAB.),F.I.C. 107 Editorial. Particular attention is directed to the President’s Address, delivered at the Annual General Meeting, and especially to that part in which he deals with the postal vote on the proposed Supplemental Charter. (Pp. 120-131.) In his previous speeches on the subject, the President emphasised that the proposed measure is desirable in the public interest.Fellows and Associates may be reminded that one of the main purposes for which the Institute was founded is shown by the following Clause in the Petition for its Original Charter, which was granted as long ago as 1885:-“That it is a matter of increasing importance to Govern- ment Departments, Corporate bodies and others requiring the assistance of persons competent to practise in analytical Chemistry and to advise in technological Chemistry that such persons should be properly trained and that their qualifications should be attested by Certificates of competency granted by a scientific body possessing sufficient status and that at present there is no Institution or Corporate body which has power to issue such Certificates.” The above-quoted Clause clearly indicates the duty entrusted to the Institute. Throughout the years 1914-18, the names of many hundreds of persons possessing a knowledge of chemistry-not only Fellows and Associates, but men and women of varying degrees of experience and competence-were available at the Institute.The Institute was the recognised agency for providing chemical services of all kinds necessary to a country at war. The Institute bore the responsibility, the trials and the expense involved, and should be ready to render similar service as at any time when the occasion may arise. In viow of the probability that the new Council may submit a revised proposal, the President urges that Fellows and Associates should carefully weigh what he has said regarding the proposed Supplemental Charter, and asks the Local Sections to give further consideration to the matter.108 Sixtieth Annual General Meeting. TUESDAY, 1st MARCH, 1938. The Sixtieth Annual General Meeting of the Institute was held at 30, Russell Square, London, W.C.1, on Tuesday, the 1st day of March, 1938, at 8.0 p.m.,-Sir Robert H. Pickard, F.R.S., President, occupying the Chair. PRESENTATIONOF CERTIFICATESTO NEW MEMBERS. Before the business of the Annual Meeting, the President presented certificates to a new Fellow and to a number of new Associates. PRESENTATIONOF THE MELDOLA MEDAL. The PRESIDENT:My next duty, which is a very pleasant one, is to present the Meldola Medal. This, as you probably know, is given annually by the Society of Maccabzans, in commemoration of the late Professor Meldola, who held office as President of the Institute from 1912 to 1915.The Medal, which bears on its face a portrait of Meldola, is awarded by the Council of the In- stitute to the chemist whose record of work done under the age of thirty years is, in the opinion of the Council, the most meritor- ious and the most promising of any brought to the notice of the Council at the close of each year. On this occasion, the Council considered the claims of many candidates whose work was of a high order, and ultimately came to the unanimous decision to award the Medal to Mr. Ronald Percy Bell, Fellow and Tutor of Balliol College, Oxford. In the presence of Mr.Bell, I rather hesitate to classify summarily his work, but I have endeavoured to do so. Many original papers have been published under his name, and they may be roughly grouped under three headings. First, there is a series of papers dealing with the nature of solutions, among which I would refer to an illuminating analysis of the part played by dipolar forces in determining solubility; secondly, a series on the mechanism of chemical reactions in solution, dealing specially with the fundamental problem of acid and basic catalysis; and thirdly, a series of investigations of importance, upon the applica- tion of quantum mechanical ideas to the problems of chemical 109 kinetics. In addition to this theoretical treatment of these problems, our Medallist has published several experimental papers on the mechanism of the electrolytic separation of the two hydro- gen isotopes and on their exchange reactions.His work has been directed to the central problem of solution, which he has attacked on a very broad front. Presenting the Medal to Mr. Bell, the President said: Mr. Bell, I have very great pleasure in handing you the Meldola Medal for the year 1937,and at the same time conveying to you the cordial wishes of the Council of the Institute and of its members, in the hope that you may continue your work with satisfaction to yourself and the chemical profession. (Applause.) Mr. R. P. BELL: I should like to take this opportunity of expressing my thanks briefly to the large number of people to whom thanks are due, and first of all to the Maccabzan Society and to the Institute of Chemistry for awarding me this Medal.I do very much appreciate the honour, particularly when I look at the list of previous holders of the Medal and see what a very high standard I have to live up to. I suppose that, to the ideal scientist, just his work and the joy of it ought to be all that matters, but I am not ashamed to confess that I do feel very gratified, and possibly even proud, at this recognition which the. Institute of Chemistry has thought fit to give to me. There is a large number of people who are, so so to speak, partially responsible, and I should like to mention just one or two of them. First of all there is Sir Harold Hartley, my tutor, under whom I did my first research work.He laid the foundation for anything which I have done afterwards, and my gratitude to him will be lasting, whatever I eventually do. In the second place, I would mention Professor Brbnsted, of Copenhagen University. I had the privilege of working with him for four years after finishing my ordinary course at Oxford, and a large number of the lines of thought which I have tried to follow up, were really started by him. Thirdly, I would mention Professor Hinshelwood, in whose laboratory I have been working for the last five years. I owe a great debt of gratitude to him for the stimulus, advice and criticism which he has given me, and for his way of making it easy for me to carry on the work in the laboratory. I do very much hope that I shall be able to live up to this honour in the future in continuing my work, and I can only say that I shall do my very best to do so.There is one other person 110 whose name I should like to mention in that connection. I think that the work of all physical chemists in Oxford will be very greatly helped in the future by Lord Nuffield’s magnificent gift. We look forward to starting work very soon in the new laboratory for physical chemistry which his gift has made possible, and I should like to take this opportunity of recording my thanks to him as well as to the others whom I have named. (Applause.) OF THE SIR EDWARD MEDAL ANDPRESENTATION FRANKLAND PRIZE.The PRESIDENT: I have also to present the Sir Edward Frank- land Medal and Prize. Sir Edward Frankland was our first President, and this Medal and Prize are awarded to the student whose essay on a professional subject is deemed by the Council the best. This year, the SirEdward Frankland Medal and Prize have been awarded to Mr. Lewis Smith, a registered student studying at the Sir John Cass Technical Institute. He has submitted an essay entitled “The Study of Chemistry,” in which he has been so bold as to give his views on the education of the chemist, and, in doing so, has reviewed the difficulties both of the student and of the teacher. The presentation was then made, amid applause. MINUTES. The Minutes of the pRvious Annual Meeting, which had been circulated in the JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS,Part 11, 1937, were taken as read and signed.ANNUALACCOUNTS. The PRESIDENT:I will now ask our Honorary Treasurer to present the Annual Accounts with the Report of the Auditors. Mr. BERNARD (Hon. Treasurer) : The Accounts for F. HOWARD the year 1937,with the comparative figures for 1936,are attached to the Report of the Council and published in the JOURNAL AND PROCEDINGS,Part I, 1938, which you have doubtless studied. The Auditors’ remarks are more or less common form, and I do not think that I need read them, but there are a few special items to which I should like to draw your attention. In the first place, you will observe that the Accounts are presented this year in a new form.They consist of an Income and Expenditure Account (pages 22 and 23), and a Balance Sheet (pages 24 and 25). This new presentation of the Accounts 111 represents a very genuine attempt on the part of the Council and of the Finance Committee to meet the criticism, raised by Dr. E. B. Hughes and other members, of the method hitherto adopted. By “criticism,” I do not mean hostile criticism; every remark made by Dr. Hughes was helpful criticism, and the Council are most grateful to him for the enormous help that he has given to the Finance Committee by leading them into new paths and inculcating new ideas; so that when I say ‘‘criticism ” I want you to take that as meaning the most friendly criticism, for which we are deeply grateful.(Applause.) With reference to the Income and Expenditure Account, you will notice that the income from subscriptions shows an increase of over fT770. Certain of the expenses are somewhat higher, and I should like to tell you the reasons. Repairs and maintenance expenses of the premises are somewhat higher; but repairs had necessarily to be postponed while the building operations of the University of London were going on next door. For instance, we were quite unable to undertake any painting, owing to the large amount of dust caused by the demolition and rebuilding. Salaries and wages are rather higher because of the increase of staff rendered necessary by the increase in the size of the Institute. In 1923 the membership was 4,062, compared with 7,029 at present.The large increase of membership has caused an increase of staff, but of three members only. I think we have been ex- tremely moderate in our expansion of the staff to meet the demand caused by extra work. Certain items of expenditure are very nearly the same for the two years: the Publications account, for instance, is fT2,123 as against fTz,143, and the Examinations account is the same to within Er,-at fT962. There is an increase of E38 IS. Iod. in the contribution from the Institute’s funds to the support of the Chemical Society’s Library. That is a movement with which I think that you will be fully in accord. (Applause.) There are certain expenses caused by the promotion of the proposed Supplemental Charter, which amounted to over E125.The Balance Sheet sets forth the total investments at cost and the liabilities on the 31st December, 1937. When we changed over to this form of accounts, it was necessary for the Auditors to form a starting figure for the investments, and this figure was found to be fT31,IgO. After we had had Dr. Hughes’ help, the accounts for 1936, which were presented to you in a different form last year, were subsequently reproduced in the form in which 112 the accounts for 1937 are now presented. Produced in that form, they showed a debit balance on the income and expenditure account of L378. In 1937, the excess of income over expenditure amounted to k624 5s. 6d., and, after deducting the debit balance for 1936, we still have a credit balance of k245 14s.IId. for 1937. I think that all the other accounts will be readily understood by anyone who studies them. I should like to tell you that the Finance Committee, on the instructions of the Council, has been investigating the existing scheme for providing members of our staff with an endowment on retirement. The Committee has not gone very far into the matter, but it has reached the stage at which it has had to report back to the Council that the provision at present made for our staff compares very unfavourably with that instituted by other and similar bodies. The Council has now instructed the Finance Committee to go ahead and obtain quotations for securing an adequate endowment on retirement for existing members of the staff.(Applause.) I should like to leave it with you at that, and promise you that, by this time next year, I or my successor will have more to say on this subject. Dealing with the Benevolent Fund, I should like to direct the attention of members to the fact that the number of contribu- tors during 1937 showed an increase of 614 above those for 1936. This was mainly in reply to a special appeal asking members to make a great effort in the Coronation year. We hope that a great many of those 614 extra donors for the Coronation year effort will become regular annual subscribers, and continue to support the Fund, which so urgently needs your help. The main result of the special appeal which I have mentioned has been to augment the capital account, and I am very grateful to be able to report that the fund will also benefit still further under the wills of Dr.Alfred Fryer and Dr. John Augustus Voelcker. I cannot leave the question of the Benevolent Fund without referring to that personal touch of human kindness with which the Registrar deals with the extremely pathetic cases which come to his attention. I do ask for the cordial support of all the members of the Institute for this fund, in order that our Registrar may be able to carry on this work, which I know is so near to his heart. I beg formally to move that the Accounts be received and adopted, and I will ask Dr. Hughes if he will be so kind as to second the motion. 113 Dr.E. B. HUGHES:I have been offered the privilege of second- ing the adoption of these Accounts, and I do so most heartily and with very great pleasure and a feeling of great appreciation to the Honorary Treasurer and to the Officers and the Council for the courteous and generous manner in which the suggestions which Iventured to put forward at the last Annual General Meeting have been received. There has been a big alteration in the presenta- tion of these accounts. I realise that that must have caused a great deal of work to those concerned, and I can offer no sugges- tions for the future; I can only say that in clarity of presentation and completeness, they have gone further than I could have imagined and hoped, and I am heartily in support of their adoption.I therefore beg to second the proposition that the Annual Accounts for the year 1937, with the Report of the Auditors, be received and adopted, and that the best thanks of the Institute be accorded to the Honorary Auditors for their services, The PRESIDENT:If any member of the Institute wishes to ask a question relating to the Accounts, now is the opportunity to do so. Failing that, I will put to the meeting the motion that the Accounts be received and adopted. The motion was carried unanimously. REPORTOF THE COUNCIL. The PRESIDENT:The next item on the Agenda is to receive the Report of the Council, and it is my duty to put that formally before you and to move its adoption. The President then delivered his Address (see p.117). Dr. BERNARDDYER: As perhaps the senior Fellow of the Institute present (Applause), I have much pleasure in seconding this motion. In passing it, I am sure that you would like to associate with it our very sincere thanks to the President for the very thoughtful address which he has given us this evening, discussing from every point of view the question which so deeply concerns a great many of us. Personally, whatever views I might have had otherwise on any phase of the subject of the Supplemen- tal Charter I have unhesitatingly scrapped, in view of the faith which I have in our Council and my knowledge of the deep con- concern with which every member of that Council carrieson the responsible duties entrusted to him.(Applause.) 114 We shall all have, I take it, from what our President has said, another opportunity of considering collectively and adjudicating upon this serious and momentous question, and it is to be hoped that more of the Fellows and Associates will bend their thoughts seriously in this direction, because the vote which was taken was so small that it seemed to indicate apathy on the part of a very large section of the Institute. It is to be hoped that that will not be the case when a further opportunity of expressing an opinion comes before us. I am sure that we wish to thank our President not only for this Address but for all that he has done for the Institute. (Ap-plause.) He has worked hard for the Institute, despite the other engrossing duties which he has to fulfil.We should like to ask his permission to have this Address printed and circulated to every Fellow and Associate of the Institute. (Applause.) The PRESIDENT:Are there any questions? If not, I willput the motion that the Report of the Council be received and adopted. The motion was carried unanimously. The PRESIDENT: As regards Dr. Dyer’s remark, expressing the hope that the members will have the opportunity of seeing this Address in print, I can give the assurance that they will; it has been written for that purpose! I hope that you and those who are not here will read it. REPORTOF THE SCRUTINEERS. The PRESIDENT:I now call on the Secretary to read the Report of the Scrutineers on the election of the Officers (President, Vice-presidents, and Hon. Treasurer), General Members of Council, and Censors, for the year ending 1st March, 1939.The SECRETARY read the following Report of the Scrutineers :-OFELECTION OFFICERS,MEMBERS OF COUNCIL,AND CENSORS. The number of valid voting papers received for the election of Officers was 1344. The following were elected:- President: Sir R. H. Pickard. Vice-presidents: W. A. S. Calder, A. E. Everest, J. J. Fox, C. Ainsworth Mitchell, R. Robinson, J. F. Thorpe. Hon. Treasurer: Bernard F. Howard. The number of valid votes cast for General Members of Council was 1340. The following were elected:- G. Roche Lynch, T. P. Hilditch, D. F. Twiss, F. H. Carr, B. G. McLellan, H, V, A, Briscos, A, Coulthard, J.R. Johnson, F. G. Edmsd, 115 A. L. Bacharach, H. E. Cox, W. A. Damon, A. G. Francis, George King,W. J. A. Butterfield, B. Wylam, H. H. Hodgson, John Weir, B. S. Evans, R. E. Slade, 0. L. Brady, J. B. Firth, F. M. Potter, S. Smiles, P. Lewis-Dale, P. F. Gordon, (A. W. M. Wintle*), W. S. Patterson. The number of valid voting papers received for the election of Censors was 1257. The following were elect,ed:-Sir G. T. Morgan, J. F. Thorpe, W. A. S. Calder, Robert Robinson. The PRESIDENT:It is now my duty to declare that the success- ful candidates, as given in the Report of the Scrutineers, are duly elected as your Officers, Council and Censors for the ensuing year. I should now like on your behalf to thank the Scrutineers, Mr.Bassett and Mr. Heald, who have very kindly spent a long time in adding up and tabulating the votes. The duties of the Scrutineers are very arduous. Their services are not seen, but none the less I am sure that the Institute is deeply indebted to them for their work, and I should like on your behalf to be empowered to send them a letter thanking them for their services. (Applause.) ELECTION AUDITORS.OF The PRESIDENT:The next business is to elect the Auditors and fix their remuneration. I desire from the Chair to nominate Mr. J. H. Lane for re-election as an Honorary Auditor, and I should like to receive the nomination of a second Honorary Auditor from the body of the hall. Mr. R. F. INNES:I should like to propose the re-election of Mr.W. C. Hancock as Honorary Auditor. The PRESIDENT:The motion before us is for the re-appoint- ment of Mr. W. C. Hancock and J. H. Lane as Honorary Auditors. The motion was carried unanimously. Mr. BERNARD (Hon. Treasurer) : I beg to propose F. HOWARD the re-appointment of Mr. David Henderson, in association with Messrs. J. Y. Finlay & Co., Chartered Accountants, as Auditors for the ensuing year, the fee to be fixed at forty guineas. The PRESIDENT:I will second that and put it to the meeting. The motion was carried unanimously. * In submitting the Report the Secretary mentioned that Mr. Rintle had passed away just as the Balloting Papers weie being issued but notwithstanding the fact that know- ledge of his death spread rather quickly, he hah reieived sufficient votes to comg within the list of successful candidates.The candidate with the next highest number of votes had for this reason been reported as elected. 116 TO THE RETIRING VICE-PRESIDENT VOTE OF THANKS AND MEMBERS OF COUNCIL. The PRESIDENT: I am informed that Mr. Eynon would like to move a vote of thanks to the retiring Vice-president and the retiring Members of Council. Mr. LEWIS EYNON:I have very much pleasure in proposing a hearty vote of thanks to the retiring Vice-president and Members of Council. I do so with the more heartiness because I am myself a past Member of Council, and I know what a very great sacrifice of time membership of the Council involves, not only in attending Council meetings but in the more arduous work of attending Committee meetings. I am not sure whether I should condole with those who are retiring on the loss of the privilege of being members of the Council or whether I should congratulate them on a happy release.(Laughter.) In any case, I am sure that we do owe them a hearty vote of thanks for the work which they have done for the Institute. (Applause.) Dr. EVEREST: I have much pleasure in seconding the vote of thanks which has been proposed by Mr. Eynon to the retiring Vice-president and Members of Council. As one who has served on the Council, I know perfectly well how interesting it is and at the same time what a sacrifice of time is involved. The PRESIDENT:I will put that vote of thanks to the meeting.The vote of thanks was carried unanimously. The PRESIDENT: That concludes the business of this Annual General Meeting. The proceedings then terminated. 117 President’s Address. LADIESAND GENTLEMEN, May I mention, in the first place, that I am happy in the recollection that I had the honour, as your President, to accept the invitation to represent the Institute at the Coronation of His Majesty King George the VI and Queen Elizabeth in Westminster Abbey, on 12th of May. The Institute completed the 52nd year of its incorporation under Royal Charter on the 13th June, and the 60th year since its original incorporation on the 2nd October. It must, I think, be a source of gratification to the Fellows and Associates that the Institute increases in numbers and in its usefulness in the public service. To-day, I am able to tell you that, as the Hon.Treasurer has already mentioned, its roll of membership exceeds 7,000-a number of new members having been elected at the Council Meeting held since the publication of the Report. It is customary for your President, in moving the adoption of the Report of the Council to comment briefly on the matters referred to therein. On the present occasion, I must refer for a moment to our losses by death, and we recall with regret several names that are familiar to many of us and not a few Fellows who have rendered good service to science and their profession. Robert Westrup Blair, our Honorary Corresponding Secretary in the Far East, a fine type of colonial Civil Servant, the son of a distinguished father, the late Sir Robert Blair, Education Officer of the London County Council; Joseph Bernard Coleman, a lecturer at University College, Nottingham and later at the South Western Polytechnic, who was associated with Professor Frank Clowes, as joint-author of a text-book which was in very general use when I was a student; William Bates Ferguson, King’s Counsel, a keen ?nd successful investigator in the chemis- try and physics of photography; Alfred Cooper Fryer, an early Inspector under the Alkali, etc.Works Regulations Act, a popular and hospitable member of our Bristol and South-Western Counties Section, who, in his will, remembered the Benevolent Fund of the Institute; Alfred Henry Knight, a well-known 118 metallurgical consultant in Liverpool ; Sir David Orme Masson, Professor of Chemistry at Melbourne University and a leading representative of science in the Commonwealth of Australia ; Arthur George Perkin, Professor of Colour Chemistry and Dyeing in the University of Leeds, the last of the three chemist sons of Sir William Henry Perkin, the discoverer of Mauve; Frank Litherland Teed, Barrister-at-Law and formerly Public Analyst for the City of London; Joseph Harold Totton, Public Analyst for Belfast and a keen member of the Local Section; John Augustus Voelcker who, like his father, will be remembered particularly for his services to Agriculture, and to whom we are also grateful for a valuable bequest to our Benevolent Fund; Sydney Young, who held the Chair of Chemistry at the University of Bristol and later at Trinity College, Dublin; and I would add our esteemed colleague, Albert Watkins Maggs Wintle, an earnest Member of Council, who passed away after an operation, while his name stood on the balloting list for re-election at this Annual Meeting, Of the extent and value of the work of the Council and the Committees, and of the many matters of public interest in which the Institute has been asked to co-operate, there is ample evidence in the Report before you.The Treasurer has dealt with our finances, and I trust that the new form of the Annual Financial Statements meets with general approval.I wrote that before I realised that you were going to approve of it so cordially. I hope you will allow me from the Chair to offer our best thanks to the Treasurer for the care and attention which he devotes to our interests. (Applause.) The Benevolent Fund profited by the special appeal for Coronation Year, the conception of which was largely due to the happy inspiration of Mr. J. C. White. To the Proposed Supplemental Charter and the proceedings thereon, I will refer later. Our Local Sections have continued to provide many interest- ing papers, demonstrations, discussions and visits, and our best thanks are due to their Committees and Officers,-especially their Honorary Secretaries. The Honorary Corresponding Secretaries in Overseas Dominions and Colonies, too, have continued to help us in matters referred to them and in this connexion I would mention our special indebtedness to our old friend Dr.Gilbert J. Fowler, Honorary Secretary of the Indian Advisory Committee. 119 The Nominations, Examinations and Institutions Committee has held nine lengthy sittings-I have not been at all of them-and the importance of their work is indicated by the summary given in the Report. It is, perhaps, remarkable that with the increasing member- ship, the newly qualified Associates are becoming steadily absorbed in industry and other branches of practice, so that out of 7,000, there are only 64 who are out of employment, so far as we know. In my address last year, I referred to the difficulty sometimes expressed by the heads of large research and industrial organisa- tions in hearing of men suitable for appointment to positions of responsibility, other than by promotion from among their own juniors.I have had some correspondence with members of the Insti- tute calling my attention to similar difficulties experienced by those who, having reached the highest position available under their present employers, are desirous of changing to positions with still higher possibilities. I propose to ask the new Council whether they will consider the possibility of any amendment to the present machinery of the Institute’s “Appointments Register,” with a view to dealing with this matter, but, in the meantime, my attention has been called to the fact that some 350 members are regularly receiving the list of vacancies and that of these only about 64 have notified the office that they are actually disengaged.It seems to me more than likely that at least some of the others are eminently suitable for senior positions, and I would like to ask heads of large organisations and directors of industrial concerns whether they could not avail themselves of the facilities afforded by the Institute’s Appointments Register to a greater extent than they have done in the past. The Council has co-operated with councils of other bodies in rendering such assistance as it could to the Air-Raid Pre- cautions Department of the Home Office, and will be as ready as ever to afford assistance in public matters of this kind when called upon. I would like to thank, in your name, Mr.Davidson Pratt for his excellent lecture on “Gas Defence,” and to repeat our thanks to Dr. Glasstone, Sir Martin Forster, Mr. Calder, Professor Rideal and Dr. Ainsworth Mitchell for their valuable lectures. (Applause.) 120 The Report contains the list of our recent publications, and concludes with a brief reference to the Examinations for National Certificates in Chemistry and the appointment of the Fourth Pedler Research Scholar. Having briefly reviewed the headings of the Report, I propose now to submit some considerations affecting the policy of the Institute. In the first place, I will refer particularly to the Proposed Supplemental Charter, which, for one reason or another, did not meet with the approval of the majority of the combined total of those Fellows and Associates who exercised their right to vote on the matter,-less than half the membership voted; actually 2,829 out of nearly 7,000.Since the postal vote was taken, a Special Committee has been engaged in reviewing the situation. It seems to that Committee, in whose views I concur, that the full significance, and even the purpose, of the proposals was not understood; in fact, the opinions expressed by the speakers representing certain views, confirmed that impression. Criticisms were directed to one part or other of the proposal which tended to confuse the main issue, but the Council was anxious to hear all that could be advanced from the opposition, and now that we have had an opportunity of considering the views expressed, I want to suggest to you that it is necessary that we should clear our minds of ideas and arguments that were, to my mind, unfounded or irrelevant.In saying that, however, I do not for one moment suggest that any speaker, in anything he said at the meeting, was prompted by any but good motives and loyal feelings towards the Institute. The main arguments in favour of the proposals contained in the Supplemental Charter are, I think, as follows:- (I) Departments of State may require a Register of qualified (2) The Institute is not the only competent examining chemists which shall be as complete as possible. Body, but it is the only body with authority to maintain a Register of qualified chemists,--other than pharmacists.(3) All members on this Register are required to sign a declaration agreeing to abide by the disciplinary clauses of the Charter. Such professional discipline has been 121 deemed necessary for a certain Government purpose, and may be required for other purposes. In order to make the Register as complete as possible, it is desirable to include the names of all persons who are competent, according to the Institute’s standards, and are willing also to abide by the disciplinary code, even if they do not wish to take part in all the work of the Institute and to avail themselves of the full privileges of its membership. If the suggested proposals are brought into effect the Universities are all prepared to acknowledge and support the Institute as the competent Registration authority for the Profession of Chemistry.This co-operation will be strengthened by the inclusion on the’Counci1 of six FeZZows of the Institute who occupy professorial chairs and are nominated by the Universities. That after having very carefully considered the situation the Council that is just retiring recommended the proposals as being in the best interests both of the Institute and the profession. (Applause.) Those are the arguments in favour of the Supplemental Charter. At the risk of incurring the criticism that I do “protest too much,” I want to emphasise again that at no time was the Council of the Institute threatened by the representatives of the Universities, or the position and authority of the Institute challenged by those representatives.Indeed, as I have already stated, the Universities were ready and willing to acknowledge the position of the Institute as the registration authority for our profession, and had approved the Petition. It is my firm impression that a change of mind and opinion on the part of many members occurred at the slightest suggestion that the Council of the Institute might be acting under com- pulsion. I have heard from many friends that the vote turned largely on that suggestion; but the implication was no more than this,-that, if the Institute could not secure some means of voluntary registration for Graduates in Chemistry, the Univer- sities themselves might feel called upon to attempt it.Alterna-tively, they might seek to obtain a further hearing from Govern- ment with regard to the question wherein legislation affecting the interests of their graduates might arise in the future. 122 Unlike Medicine, Law, Dentistry and Pharmacy-Chemistry, being a subject which may be studied, and is studied, irrespective of vocational aims, comes less directly before the public mind, except in relation to certain specific purposes; and it must be remembered that the Institute has never sought to obtain either compulsory registration for the profession of Chemistry, or exclusive recognition of its qualifications.The Rule made by the Home Secretary, under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act, laid down that the supervision of the manu- facture of pharmaceutical preparations containing poisons and intended for the treatment of human ailments, could only be entrusted to a Registered Pharmacist or to a member of the Institute; but the Institute had not sought any exclusive privilege and had, in fact, suggested that chemists who were not members of the Institute might be granted personal licences. Despite this suggestion, however, the Rule was not modified, and it led to representations being made to the Home Secretary on behalf of the Universities, because it was thought that it might be the “thin end of the wedge” to general compulsory registration.After the Rule had come into force, the Vice-Chancellors of the British Universities approached the Institute,-I repeat in the most friendly way- and the Council prepared the proposed Supplemental Charter as an endeavour to meet the point of view of the Vice-Chancellors. I want to make it quite clear- and I am afraid now I am a little personal-that I was not Vice-chancellor of London University at the time that the Council determined on taking this course of action, nor had I any reason to think that I was to attain such an honour. The Council had already agreed upon this policy when I came into office as Vice-chancellor, and I was then and am still, heartily in favour of it. Now, if we consider Pharmacy,-we find that University Graduates in Pharmacy are required to pass a further examination, Forensic Pharmacy, conducted by the Pharmaceutical Society and also to submit evidence of two years’ practical experience (in lieu of apprenticeship) before they can become “Registered Pharmacists.” No one but a Pharmacist who is on the Pharma- ceutical Society’s Register can keep what is known as “open shop” for the sale of poisons, or for that matter be ranked Pari passu with members of the Institute under the Poisons Rule; and it should be further noted that all Registered Pharmacists 123 have to pay an annual subscription of LI 11s.6d. to the Pharma- ceutical Society. Graduates in Dentistry also have to pay an annual fee (l4) to the Dental Board before they can practise.I do not know whether the Universities have ever raised any objection to this position; but, apparently, there is some feeling in the Universities that it is unfair that a Graduate in Chemistry, a non-vocational subject in some cases, should not be able to obtain professional recognition by the State without fully sub- scribing to the Institute. Your Council felt however, and still feels, that it would be wise to make some concession, in order that the Institute should obtain, not only recognition by the State, but also the whole- hearted co-operation of the Universities in its work. It would seem to me very important that the opportunity to achieve these objects should not be lost. In the case of Pharmacy and Dentistry, registration is made compulsory by Acts of Parliament.In the case of Chemistry, registration has not been made generally compulsory by the State; nor, in my opinion, and I think in the opinion of most members of the Institute, would it be either desirable or practic- able to make it so; but in one instance Parliament has made it compulsory for a certain specified purpose, and, for that purpose, the Institute should be willing to help the State. It is perhaps a coincidence that the Publications Committee has illustrated the JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGScontaining the annual report with a portrait of Boyle, just at the time when I am addressing a body of sceptical chemists. The sceptical chemists I am addressing are mainly those 1,443Fellows and Associates out of 7,000 who voted against their Council’s proposal for a Supplemental Charter.Now as to the points raised in discussion, on which it would have been easy to dilate at the special meeting, had time allowed. I must say, first of all, that the Poisons Rule made under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act, affected very few people,-perhaps a round dozen,-but was important in that it indicated that circum- stances might again arise wherein the State might find it necessary to look to the services of a recognised qualifying and registering body of chemists, all of whom were subject to the disciplinary con- trol of their professional equals. The Council regarded, and still regards, the importance of the proposed Supplemental Charter 124 largely as a matter of public service.The Council has been asked by the Universities to take the lead in an endeavour to solve this particular problem and, with that purpose in view, it prepared the Proposed Supplemental Charter. The Institute is always ready to help the State and the State knows it; but ignoring this important aspect,-grounds for objection were raised on the following matters :-Against University representation on the Council, espec- ially without financial contribution. That senior lecturers (as well as professors) were not to be eligible for any such representation. That persons who were unwilling to subscribe fully to the general objects of the Institute and become Fellows or Associates should be accorded any sort of recognition.That the Institute was seeking financial advantage out of the proposed third grade of membership. That the extension of “registration” was not wide enough, it being supposed that there were many persons doing chemical work in industry who were not included in the proposals. That the Proposed Supplemental Charter did not help the Institute to do more for the industrial chemist. That no provision was made for existing members to step down and become “Graduates Registered.” That the reference to “discipline”-and I have made it many times this evening-was merely an excuse for the proposals. That diplomas other than University degrees were not considered. That a much wider Charter was not brought forward, especially in the interests of the younger members.Now, if you will bear with me for a few moments, I want to deal with each of these objections. Objections were raised to University representation on the Council-even representation by Fellows of the Institute-on the ground that the Universities would make no financial contribution to the Institute. Why should the Institute ask for any such financial contribution? Precedents exist, however, for such representation without financial contribution, and they are not difficult to seek. The General Medical Council is an example. The Universities are represented on it by 18 out of 43 members on that Council without contributing to its funds. Under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act, 1933,the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society includes three members nominated by the Privy Council, and it is laid down that the Chairman of the “Statutory Committee” of the Society shall be a person of legal experience appointed by the Privy Council. None of these need be, or in fact are, pharmacists, and the Privy Council does not contribute towards the funds of the Society.Let us reflect, too, that from its very foundation our Institute has had the advantage of much guidance in all affairs relating to professional education and examinations by the professorial Fellows, and that the Council has, very naturally and necessarily, regarded the specific association of such Fellows with the Institute and its work as being of the first importance.(Applause.) This association, with such representation has, therefore, always been regarded by successive Councils as necessary, desirable, and definitely in the interests of the Institute,-certainly not as a mere concession. Surely few, if any of us, can say that we do not owe a great deal to those of our Founders who laid down the general scheme of education for chemists, and few, indeed, have not the sincerest feelings of gratitude towards those who guided us to become qualified for our profession, and to whom the Institute must continue to look for help and guidance on educational matters. I understand that the view has been expressed that if the Universities were to appoint representatives on the Council at all, they should be at liberty to elect not only professors, but also lecturers; but surely it would be a little unjust to the prestige of the Institute that a University should send as its representative anyone but a chemist who holds a position of major responsi- bility.I believe that the position and prestige of the Institute would be materially strengthened by such direct representation of the Universities on the Council. Many lecturers in Universities have been chosen by the general body of membersasordinary Members of Council or as District Members, and have given, and will doubtless continue to give, loyal and valuable services in those capacities. The suggestion that some other class of representation might, in the future, become desirable, is quite beside the point, 126 as I see it, because the Institute can itself decide that question as and when the occasion may arise.Next, there were objectors who had little or no sympathy with the idea of recognising the position of anybody who did not wish to avail himself of the full privileges of Fellowship or Associateship. I grant that it is a generally accepted principle that a professional man should take his part in supporting the work of the body which represents his profession, and I have in mind the special provision long since made by the Institute for the admission of Honours Graduates of the Univer- sities to the Institute; but it appeared to the Council that the new form of registration by the Institute was advisable, and might, in times of emergency be of the greatest importance to the State.Such registration would be voluntary, except with regard to payment of fees to meet actual expenses, and would imply integrity and competence and submission to the disciplin- ary control of the Institute. But was it not to be expected that, in due time, persons so registered, would prefer to acquire full membership of the Institute and its privileges? Incidentally, the suggestion that the Institute would benefit financially seemed to a few of our Fellows and Associates to be one of the objects of the proposal; but I think you will realise that it would be fair and just that the proposed third grade of membership should bear their share of the expense incurred, so far as it was concerned with the investigation of their appli- cations for registration.That expense, I may explain, is not trivial. It involves the careful checking of documents by the staff, printing, stationery, postage, and general overheads, as well as the payment of travelling expenses of members of the Nominations, Examinations and Institutions Committee entrusted with the business of assessing the claims of candidates for such registration. You will see, therefore, that the fees proposed were not estimated to cover more than the necessary expense. There were other side issues, such as-that the Institute was not sincere in its concern for the interests of chemists employed by Industry. That remark was not very relevant, but I may say that the majority of the Fellows and Associates are engaged in industrial appointments, and although it is no part of the function of the Institute to intervene between such members and their employers, the interests of industrial chemists 127 are no less promoted than those of other chemists, as I will show later.The Regulations of the Institute are sufficiently elastic to enable any industrial chemist who has “made good” to state his case for admission, even though he may not be possessed of “academic qualifications ”;but I think you will all agree that the Institute should not seek power to admit such candidates without individual scrutiny of their abilities (applause). Again, the objection was raised that an existing Fellow or Associate would not be allowed to become, or revert to the status of the new proposed third grade.Those who objected to the institution of the new grade are surely not those who are objecting to this condition. The Council has always had con- sideration for the Fellow or Associate who has met with mis- fortune, but it must be a reasonable anticipation that a chemist who signs such a Declaration as Fellows and Associates are required to sign on election-that he will, to the utmost of his power, maintain the dignity and welfare of the Institute,-will do all that he can loyally to support its work. He is not likely to step down to the third grade. I would repeat what I said at the Special General Meeting:- “The Council felt that there may be some slight tendency for a few persons to seek admission to the Associateship in order to obtain some particular facility, and then after the desire for that particular service had been satisfied, wish to transfer to the new category; then at a later date having a desire perhaps to use the Institute’s Appointments Register, or the Benevolent Fund, might wish to become again Associates.In other words, the position of the Institute would not be fairly protected if a man were to think that he could ‘hop in and out’ from one category to another as it suited his im-mediate and rather short-sighted views of his interests.’’ Perhaps I might mention why it is necessary that the new category should be “Members” of the Institute at all.The reason is that a Charter can only confer disciplinary powers over persons who are actually members of the Corporate Body. The reference to the Censors and their work during the dis- cussion, recalled the principle that the Police Force does not exist only for the prevention of crime, but also for the protection 128 of the law-abiding citizen. The Institute, largely by the confidential work of the Censors, has established a code of pro-fessional behaviour which is now so generally accepted that its benefits can only be realised by those who remember the condi- tions prevailing forty or fifty years ago. The value of the Censors’ duties cannot be measured by the number of members who have been called upon to resign or have had their names removed from the Register for unprofessional conduct.Those represent the cases where the code of the Institute has been broken. Cases have occurred in which the extreme action has been taken, but we may rejoice that the existence of the code has rendered such cases very rare. We must remember, also, that under the By-laws, a member is liable to be called upon to resign, not only when he has been convicted by a competent Court of Jurisdiction, but also when, in the opinion of the Censors-without any extraneous legal procedure-his membership is regarded as undesirable. Reports of the Council have occasionally contained mention of the removal of members. One such case was reported last year; but, under the By-laws, such removal may be obviated, because the Censors, in serious cases, must first call upon the offender to resign, and only if he decline to do so is the Council required to decide the matter.As to the proposal that registration should be undertaken by the Chemical Council,-the Chemical Council is the Council formed under the agreement between ourselves, the Chemical Society, and the Society of Chemical Industry-it should be mentioned that the present constitution of that Council is that of a body-a charity in the strict legal sense-entrusted with the administration of a fund for specific purposes. Although its aims include the advancement of the science and the promotion of general co-operation between the three Chartered Chemical Bodies, its functions do not extend to the matters of professional qualifications or discipline, which are the business of the Institute alone.A group of objectors, who appeared not to be otherwise opposed to the general principles of the Proposed Charter, demurred at the non-inclusion in the third category of Associates of certain Colleges who are at present accepted as eligible for Associateship of the Institute. This, of course, was a question 129 not at issue during the negotiations with the Universities; but I am at a loss to understand why loyal and keen members of the Institute should regard it as a grievance that the concession was not further extended in the direction suggested. There are only three Associateships of these Colleges which are so recognised under the present Regulations, while there are a large number of Associateships and Diplomas of other Colleges which are not so recognised.However, the special Committee which is considering this matter thinks that it may be desirable to consider whether provision could be made for these cases as part of a general principle. The provisions of the original Charter of the Institute are already very wide, but the suggestion was made-naturally, in the circumstances, without any specific practical details-that the Council should draft a Petition for a supplemental Charter which would be of more value to the general body of members, especially to those engaged on the industrial side and also to the younger members.Although this comment might have taken us far beyond the business of the Special General Meeting, it prompts the reminder that a Royal Charter is only granted to any body of persons if it can make a case that the grant of any particular privileges to it will be in the public interest. It also prompts the reflection that preceding Councils have ever been ready to receive and con- sider suggestions from the Fellows and Associates for the further- ance of their interests, consistent with the objects of the Institute; -here recurred the special reference to chemists engaged in industry. On this, it may be remarked that no class of Fellow or Associate, in any branch of work, receives special or extraordinary privileges beyond those accorded to any other class; yet it is clear that most Fellows and Associates, and indeed professional men and women very generally, not only wish their status to be acknowledged but are anxious to take their part in supporting the institution which is devoted to their general interests and the promotion of competence and integrity in the practice of their professions. What has the Institute done, and what does it do? It has established a standard of training and qualifications, and has enrolled a voluntary fellowship-in the sense of brotherhood-of over 7,000 highly qualified professional men and women,-one of 130 the most remarkable of the professional bodies of modern times- to which the State and the public can look for valuable service.It affords these 7,000 Fellows and Associates the means of obtaining appointments, and of improving their positions. In addition to providing the JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS,the “Register,” the ‘‘List of Official Chemical Appointments,” and usehl lectures, it secures valuable library privileges, not only at the Institute, but at the Chemical Society’s Library. All Fellows and Associates, except those resident in certain places abroad and in isolated districts, become automatically members of Local Sections, whose Committees arrange lectures, social meetings, works visits, and opportunities for the discussion of matters of professional importance. Those of us who travel abroad are given introductions to Local Sections and Honorary Corresponding Secretaries.In addition to these privileges, Fellows and Associates are at liberty to consult the Officers of the Institute, who from their accumulated experience are often able to give advice and assistance in matters of difficulty, and in fact a very large number of Fellows and Associates constantly avail themselves of this service. The Benevolent Fund, too, has often proved, thanks to the generosity of their fellow members, very helpful to those who have been temporarily in difficulties, apart from the ready assistance afforded by the Committee to widows and children of our members. The question may be asked, then, whether any other pro- fessional body of the same standing does as much or more for the same annual subscription ? It may again be emphasised that none of these privileges which I have just enumerated, or those of using distinctive letters, or of voting, would be available to the proposed third grade of members; they would be on the Register merely because they wished to have their names recorded, without participating in our work; but, if and when they become actually engaged in the profession, it seems to me to be very unlikely that they Will neglect to apply for the Associateship.I hope that what I have said regarding the Proposed Supple- mental Charter will be carefully weighed, I have endeavoured to Show that some of the arguments advanced by the opposition are untenable and I think, in any case, I have given you views concerning those arguments which have not been brought to light.It is probable that the new Council may submit, for your consideration, a revised proposal, but for the present I would ask the Local Sections and the Fellows and Associates generally to give further consideration to the matter. Just a few words as to the general lines of policy of the Institute,-The Council will continue to organise and to register, after separate and careful scrutiny of the qualifications of each in&-vidual-this is most important-those chemists who are com- petent, within the meaning of the Charter and By-laws, as Fellows and Associates, and do all that is possible to advance the prestige and interests of the profession. I want to emphasise particularly that anyone admitted to the Institute is admitted only after there has been a separate scrutiny of his or her quali- fications.The Institute will render such assistance as it can to the State, to industry and to commerce, by encouraging to the full the right employment of the chemical talent of the country and the utilisation of scientific knowledge in legislation and public affairs. The Institute will also be ready to co-operate with other bodies in furthering the interests of our Science and of chemists. In this connexion, I need hardly remind you that the Institute is actively working in close co-operation with the other two Char- tered Chemical Bodies,-the Chemical Society, and the Society of Chemical Industry,-with a view to solving the difficulties with regard to library and the cost of publications.New know- ledge is very largely provided by the research workers in the Universities, but the cost of publication of results falls almost entirely upon members of the profession, Although large funds for furthering Research are available through the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, the Royal Society, the Chemical Society and many Universities, grants are rarely made to meet the expense of paper and printing. On this subject the Chemical Council will also have something to say in due course, but for the present I would remind you that the Institute is doing what it can and, in addition to giving substantial help along with the Society of Chemical Industry, to the Chemical Society for maintenance of the Library, is giving to chemistry the secretarial and clerical services necessary for the work of the Chemical 132 Council, and the work of the Chemical Council so far, has resulted in raising for chemistry a sum of nearly -&,ooo.(Applause.) Before formally moving the resolution, I should like to call your attention to the fact that Mr. Elkington, our retiring Vice-president, has been on the Council for the past five years, and I should like to thank him in your name for his valuable services. I should also like to thank the other members of the Council who, in compliance with the By-laws, are retiring at this Annual General Meeting. I have pleasure in formally moving- “That the Report of the Council for the year 1937-38 be received and adopted.” That will be seconded, I hope, by Dr.Dyer, and there will then be an opportunity for questions. 133 Proceedings of the Council. Council Meeting, 18th February, 1938.-Before pro-ceeding to the business of the meeting, Professor Jocelyn Thorpe tendered the congratulations of the Officers and Council to the President, on his admission to the Freedom and Livery of the Worshipful Company of Leathersellers. A resolution was received from the Cardiff and District Section, referring to the difficulties which had arisen with regard to the Proposed Supplemental Charter, and requesting the Council to consider the advisability of lowering the Entrance Fee for Associates, with the object of increasing the proportion of grad- uates who joined the Institute, and also of lowering the age of entry. The Section recommended that the Entrance Fee and first Annual Subscription should together amount to flz zs., provided that the application for admission as Associate be made within three years of the date or conferment of the exempting degree or diploma.The suggestions were referred to the Special Committee appointed to review the situation arising from the adverse Postal Vote on the Proposed Supplemental Charter. The Council received a report from Dr. Gilbert J. Fowler on the Silver Jubilee Meeting of the Indian Science Congress Association held from 3rd to 9th January, an abstract of which was published in JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS,Part I.The Rules of the East Anglia Section were approved. The Finance and House Committee reported that the existing scheme for providing members of the staff with an endowment on retirement compared very unfavourably with the schemes in force with other professional bodies of a similar type to the Institute. The Committee was instructed to bring up a further report together with a scheme of establishment. The Publications Committee reported that the supply of the Institute’s handbook-The Profession of Chemistry-was nearing exhaustion, and recommended the early production of a new edition, the chapters to be referred to selected Fellows for revision. The Committee also reported that arrangements had been completed for Dr.R. Alan Morton’s lectures on “The Practical 134 Aspects of Absorption Spectrophotometry ” to be given on 18th and 25th March, and that it was proposed to invite Professor F. M. Rowe to give during the next session two lectures on development in the chemistry of dyestuffs. The publications Committee was requested to consider the insertion of a supplement to the Register (a new edition of which is now in preparation) consisting of the list of Fellows and Associates who have passed the examination of the Institute in Branch E: the Chemistry (and Microscopy) of Food and Drugs, and in Therapeutics, Pharmacology and Microscopy. The Council gave consideration to the unsatisfactory con-ditions of certain public appointments. The matter was referred to a Local Committee for consideration and report. The Council confirmed the appointments of Examiners, Honorary Corresponding Secretaries, and the Executive Officers for the ensuing year.The thanks were accorded to the retiring Vice-president and to the Members of Council who would com- plete their term of office at the Annual General Meeting on 1st March. Council Meeting, 18th March, 1938.-The President welcomed the new Members of Council who were in attendance for the first time,-Mr. A. L. Bacharach, Mr. Wm. Godden, Dr. A. A. Hall, Mr. J. W. Hawley, Mr. D. W. Parkes, Dr. W. S. Patterson, and Dr. B. Wylam, and also those who had served on the Council before and had been re-elected,-Dr. P. F. Gordon, Dr.H. H. Hodgson and Dr. J. Weir. A resolution was received from the Committee of the Bristol and South-Western Counties Section expressing the opinion that only in very exceptional circumstances should candidates be exempted from passing an approved preliminary examination. The Council directed that the Committee be informed that the resolution was in accordance with the Regulations; that such exemptions were exceptional, and candidates were not, in any case, exempted without personal interview by a Committee. Professor Robinson, Chairman of the British National Com- mittee for Chemistry, referred to the invitation addressed to the Council of the Institute by Professor N. Parravano and the Organising Committee in Rome to nominate representatives to the 10th Congress of Chemistry, to be held in Rome from 15th- zIst May.Professor Robinson expressed the hope that as many Members as possible would endeavour to attend. The President, Professor Thorpe, Vice-president, and Dr. F. H. Car, Member of Council, were appointed as representatives of the Institute. The Council concurred in the suggestion that the next Inter- national Conference be held in London, at the same time as the celebration of the centenary of the foundation of the Chemical Society, and that the Institute should co-operate in promoting its success. A letter was received from the Home Office acknowledging the observations received from Fellows of the Institute and others engaged in Hydrogen Cyanide (Fumigation) work.The Institute was informed that the Department would shortly proceed to review the Draft Regulations for the fumigation of buildings, in the light of the representations which had been received; that the Regulations had been the subject of prolonged discussion with two of the chemists concerned; and the suggestion that persons actually engaged in fumigation work should be called into conference would not be overlooked. A further letter was received from a Fellow abroad protesting that Overseas Members could not participate in a postal vote. The Council directed that the matter be noted in the event of the revision of the By-laws. Committees for 1938-39 were appointed, and dates of future Council Meetings were fixed (see pp.103-106 et seq.). The Council received a preliminary report from the Special Committee appointed to consider the situation arising from the adverse postal vote on the Proposed Supplemental Charter. The Committee expressed the opinion that the Council should make further endeavours to meet the views of the Vice-Chancellors of the Universities in the matter, possibly by compromise or modifi- cations on lines suggested during the discussion at the Special General Meeting. 136 Local Sections. [The Institute is lzot responsible for the views expressed in papers read, or irt speeches delivered during discussion.] Belfast and District.-A meeting of the Section was held in the Department of Chemistry of the Queen’s University of Belfast on 15th February.The meeting took the form of a symposium on micro-chemical methods, and was held in collaboration with members of the Departments of Chemistry, Bio-chemistry and Agricultural Chemistry of the University. A large attendance of both members and guests testified to the interest which chemists are taking in micro-chemistry. Dr. C. L. Wilson opened the meeting with a short general address on the subject of micro-chemistry. He traced the de- velopment of micro-chemistry during the present century into a fully-fledged branch of science with its own tradition, technique and journal. He mentioned the important part which personal contact with the great masters, such as Pregl, Emich and Leh- mann, had played in the development.He described briefly the scale of micro-chemical operations, the nature of the special apparatus used-in particular the micro-chemical balance and the microscope-the special reagents employed in addition to the ordinary qualitative reagents and the economy of time and material to be effected by the adoption of micro-technique. His address was illustrated by photomicrographs showing various typical micro-chemical tests for metals. The meeting was then transferred to the laboratories, where a series of representative demonstrations was given. A wide range of standard micro-chemical apparatus was displayed, including the Pregl micro-Kjeldahl apparatus, the Pregl micro-Dumas nitrogen train, filtration apparatus and apparatus for conducting distillation and steam distillation on the micro-scale. The Kuhlmann micro-chemical balance was explained to successive parties in the special balance room, although in the circumstances actual weighings could not be demonstrated.Dr. S. Andrews had arranged an interesting demonstration of optical apparatus employed in micro-chemical work. This 137 included a Spekker photo-electric colorimeter, a Leitz “Universal ” colorimeter fitted with micro-plungers and cups, another Leitz “Universal ” colorimeter fitted as a micro-nephelo- meter, a standard Duboscq pattern colorimeter, a B.D.H. pattern Lovibond tintometer with artificial daylight attachment, a Zeiss direct-vision micro-spectroscope fitted for observations on the oxidation and reduction of cytochrome, a Leitz micro-polarimeter’ and a Hartridge reversion spectroscope fitted for observations on the absorption bands of blood pigments.Mr. Toms demonstrated a simple separation of silver, lead and mercurous mercury, using one drop of solution and, by the use of capillary tubes, eliminating filtration. The drop is treated on a microscope slide with one drop of hydrochloric acid. The slide is warmed, and the solution of lead chloride removed in a capillary and transferred to another slide. The lead is pre- cipitated with potassium iodide, and the lead iodide crystals are identified under the microscope. The residue of silver chloride and mercurous chloride is then washed with water, warming and removing the wash water by means of a capillary and thus freeing the residue from nearly all lead chloride.The residue is then treated with ammonia solution, and the ammoniacal silver chloride solution is transferred to a cover slip, where it is evapo- rated and the silver chloride crystals identified under the micro- scope. The blackened mercurous residue is washed with water, and transferred by a wide capillary to a quartz spatula, whence it is sublimed on to a cover slip. The sublimate is treated with bromine water, excess being removed by evaporation, and a characteristic Nessler brown developed by addition of caustic soda and ammonia. Dr. Wilson demonstrated his modification of Middleton’s method (AnaZyst,40,154)for the identification of the elements in very small amounts of organic compounds.The neatness and simplicity of the method suggests that it might well replace the much less convenient sodium fusion generally employed in the examination of organic compounds by Lassaigne’s method. Volumetric work was also represented in the demonstrations. The Conway horizontal micro-burette (Biochem. J., 28, 283) was used to show the ease with which titrations can be carried out using dilute acids and alkalis (Nlrooo and weaker). The total capacity of this burette is only 0.25 ml., the burette tube being graduated into 0.001 ml. divisions. Nevertheless the burette is extremely convenient in use. It is best used in conjunction 138 with the Conway micro-absorption unit (Biochem. J., 27, 419) and it is advisable to make up the acid solutions as recommended by Conway.The elegant micro-volumetric technique of Wigglesworth (Biochem..I., 31,1719)was demonstrated by Dr. R. H. Common. This technique exemplifies the extraordinary results which may be achieved through the use of this simple apparatus. In the demonstration, volumes of 0.5 per cent. silver nitrate of the order of 0.003 ml. were quantitatively titrated with N/IOOammonium thiocyanate. The burettes and pipettes are made from fine capillary tubes lined with paraffin wax, and the titration is performed on a single drop which rests on a paraffined microscope slide and is spun rapidly by a filtered air jet to secure mixing during titration. The burettes and pipettes are calibrated in arbitrary units, and a set of burettes and pipettes standardised by carrying out a determination on a known solution.The Belfast Section of the Institute has found that practical symposia are not merely popular, but are frequently of great practical interest to the members, and it would seem that micro- chemistry has a special fascination nowadays to judge by the keen interest which is taken in it. Birmingham and Midlands.-At a meeting of the Section held on 19th January, Dr. H. W. Brownsdon, delivered an address on- “Some Problems of Lubrication.” Dr. Brownsdon described a simple type of wear and lubricant testing machine. The outstanding feature of this machine was a revolving wheel, the periphery of which was radiused so that when the wheel was brought into frictional contact with a flat piece of metal it made an oval impression, the length of which could be accurately measured and formed a basis for comparing between the wear shown by different metals when using various lubricants under controlled conditions of viscosity, time, temperature, hardness, and surface polish.The effect was shown of adding small quantities of chemicals to a mineral oil used as lubricant between a revolving hardened steel wheel and a 70/30 brass flat sample, and some speculations as to the chemical and physical reasons for the widely different behaviour of different substances were put forward. Many of the most active addition agents for reducing wear 139 were found to be acidic; of the organic fatty acids, formic acid was the most active, the activity decreasing with the increase in molecular weight.Ammonia additions also gave very marked wear reduction, showing that acidity was not necessary in an effective addition agent. Chlorinated hydrocarbon additions reduced wear ,but if small amounts of water were present the effect was increased. Dr. Brownsdon suggested that this behaviour was due to decomposition products liberated under conditions existing at the seat of friction-hydrolysis being important. Many of the more effective added substances were either reducing agents or substances which, by reaction with the metals, produced reducing salts of the metals. Tin salts had a marked effect on wear reduction, being much more active as inorganic salts in the presence of water than in the form of salts of the fatty acids.In this case it was assumed that films of metallic tin were formed on the metal surfaces. Sulphur additions were also considered, it being shown that a trace of hydrogen sulphide (-005 per cent.), was just as effective in reducing wear as a hundred times more dissolved sulphur or organic sulphur compounds. The sulphide films produced were thought to play an important part in wear reduction, the formation of such films being facilitated when sulphur was in ionised or gaseous form, as in hydrogen sulphide. The effect of such additions as traces of water, carbon dioxide, or sulphur dioxide was put forward as providing some evidence that insoluble gases or vapours, acting under the high local temperature and pressure conditions existing at the seat of friction could, on purely physical grounds, help in preventing that intimate metallic contact between the rubbing surfaces which leads to wear.An application of some of the observations made was illustrated by reference to load measurements taken during the production of a small brass cup from a circular blank. In the discussion which followed, one speaker referred to the commonly recognised important part played by addition-agents having strong polar characteristics in improving the lubricating properties of mineral oils. In reply, Dr. Brownsdon agreed that any addition which would cause the lubricant to adhere more strongly to the surfaces in frictional contact would naturally be helpful, but that, in his opinion, the behaviour of a large majority of the most active 140 addition agents must be attributed to chemical or physical causes, rather then to polar characteristics.Another speaker referred to corrosive electro-chemical effects which could arise under high local pressures, giving rise to rust formation in the case of steels and leading to possible excessive wear. Dr. Brownsdon in reply, considered that, in cases where wear was attributed to corrosion, it was necessary to take into con- sideration the nature of the corrosion product; for, if this happened to be of an abrasive nature such as iron oxide, the abrasive effects would naturally lead to heavy wear. On the other hand it was possible to conceive that the corrosion product might be of such a nature as to produce a superficial film which would prevent wear and, viewed from this aspect, many of the active addition agents might strictly be considered as corrosive agents, producing corrosion products which acted as wear protective films instead of wear accelerating abrasives. On 10th February, Dr.Olaf Bloch, lectured before the Section on Some Scientific and Technical Applications of Photography.” In recent years the speed and the colour sensitivity of photo- graphic emulsions have both been greatly increased, so that it is now possible to produce plates and films which are highly sensitive over a wide spectrum range-from X-rays to infra-red. At the same time, research has enabled manufacturers to make these fast and highly colour-sensitive materials with very he grain, so that one may obtain extremely fine resolution in photo- micrography and in astrospectrography. One result of this improvement is added knowledge of the composition of the atmospheres of planets.The emulsion possesses the property of adding up small light impulses which reach it, until a point is attained at which their images can be developed, so that objects which the eye cannot see may be photographed. About 500 new stars are recorded annually as a result of this application to astronomy. The use of the photographic plate for the direct investigation of atomic breakdown was illustrated.Actual transmutation of the elements occurred within the thickness of the emulsion: on development of the plate, the tracks of the products of the reaction could be seen and measured. 141 In X-ray work much that has been achieved could never have been done by visual examination of the usual fluorescent screen. The X-ray film made permanent many an otherwise fleeting picture. Further, the great increase recently achieved in emulsion speed had secured further advances in cinematography by means of the fluorescent screen. A cin6 film (kindly lent for this lecture) of X-ray pictures- showing the passage of an opaque substance down the alimentary tract of a rat, in which deglutition, peristalsis, and other physio- logical processes were clearly seen ,-was exhibited. Slides were shown illustrating the use of infra-red photography in medicine, in elimination of haze in aerial survey, and in revealing detail not seen by visual examination in microscopical preparations.The use of photography in ultra-violet light in forensic chemistry-the examination of finger prints, forgeries of docu- ments and paintings-was also demonstrated. Dr. Bloch said that the photographic industry was one of considerable importance: each year it used something like 500 tons of silver for preparing the layer of silver bromide which covers the photographic plates, films, and papers, many thousands of tons of cotton for making the celluloid film, and large quantities of specially prepared gelatine and wood pulp.Many thousands of workpeople were employed in it, and in some respects photo- graphy was a key industry. The scientific and technical applica- tions were so important that there was scarcely any manufactur- ing industry which did not employ photography as a means of making records or as a tool for research, and there was hardly a laboratory of any importance that did not employ photography for some scientific purpose. Dr. Bloch claimed, therefore, that there was a strong case to be made out for the establishment of a Chair of Photography at one of our Universities, and he expressed the hope that this might soon be effected. Bristol and South-Western Counties.-Mr. F. E. Needs presided over a meeting of the Section held at Bristol University, on 17th February, when Dr.Lewis-Dale, late Chief Chemist to the London, Midland & Scottish Railway, gave a lecture on “The Work of a Railway Chemist.” Dr. Lewis-Dale traced the history and growth of chemistry in the railway service, mentioning that the first chemist on the railways was engaged in 1864, and thus the railways were among 142 the pioneers of the application of chemistry in genera1 industry. Even now he was often asked what use could be made of chemistry on the railway and those who recognised the necessity of chemistry often thought the chemist’s duties would be confined to the analysis of stores supplied to the railways. Whilst recognising the importance of such analysis and emphasising the need for accurate chemical analysis in all appli- cations of chemistry, the lecturer showed that the work was by no means restricted to analysis.Railways were huge manu- facturing concerns and chemistry was involved in many of the operations. He gave examples of the chemist’s work in connexion with the construction and maintenance of the permanent way, the manufacture and upkeep of locomotives, carriages and wagons, the operation of safety devices, such as fog signals, and, perhaps, the most important, the actual conveyance of passengers and goods. Examples were cited of the way in which railway chemists had contributed to improvements in analytical methods, to research in metallurgy, to great advances in the technique of painting and cleaning, especially of carriages, to the better understanding of the conditions of combustion in the locomotive furnace, to the scientific treatment of water for steam-raising, to the lubrication of rolling stock generally, and to many other problems.Dr. Lewis-Dale said that it was impossible, in a summary, adequately to describe the railway chemist’s work in connexion with the actual conveyance of goods, but he remarked there was not a single commodity carried by rail which might not come under the observation of the chemist. In particular, the chemist had to advise the commercial departments as to the conditions for carrying dangerous goods and, in this, methods had to be devised which were both practicable asd safe. In general, he claimed that the chemist had no mean share in the safety, speed and convenience of carriage by rail.At the Annual General Meeting of the Section, held on 17th March, the following were elected Officers and Committee for the ensuing year :-Chairman : Dr. E. L. Hirst, F.R.S. ; Committee : Mr. R. H. Ellis, Mr. A. Marsden, Dr. A. C. Monkhouse, Dr. E. Vanstone, Mr. W. B. Walker; (Ex-officio) District Member of Council: Mr. E. Lewis; Hon. Auditor: Dr. H. F. Dean; Hon. Secretary and Treasurer: Mr. F. P. Hornby. 143 The Chairman, Mr. F. E. Needs, gave an address on “Atmospheric Pollution,” of which he has kindly provided the following summary- Bituminous coal was first used for fuel purposes in this country in the 13th century, but the smoke to which it gave rise roused such indignation that its use was forbidden in 1306.Two more attempts were made to introduce it, and it was not until 1648 that the third attempt proved successful. The consumption of coal as fuel slowly ipcreased, until the last century saw the use of coal firmly established, not only as a fuel for domestic con- sumption, but also as the great source of power. Towards the end of the last century, the cumulative effect of smoke began to make itself appreciable. Not only were the buildings of our large cities covered with soot and tar, but the hours of sunshine were greatly diminished and fogs of remarkable density were encountered. Smoke is caused by the incomplete combustion of fuel and is comprised of many substances, such as soot, tar and other oily materials, grit, acids and several gaseous products.Realisation that the smoke problem is also a problem in economics has led in later years to much action in the industrial world. No longer is smoke a sign of industrial activity, but rather one of industrial inefficiency. Legislation has been responsible for a considerable reduction in industrial smoke, and it is estimated that the smoke from industrial chimneys is only about a quarter of that emitted a generation ago, due to more up-to-date methods of stoking, and the introduction of special apparatus to remove grit, etc. The form of smoke which is perhaps the most injurious is that produced by burning raw coal in an open grate; and the consequent smoke emission of dust, soot and tar into the air- so necessary for all forms of life-is little short of a national scandal.The measurement of pollution of the atmosphere by smoke has been systematically carried out in this country for the past 25 years. The air of Bristol was comparatively clean as compared with some large industrial towns in the Midlands and North. But it was not known by actual measurement how clean or how dirty the atmosphere was until experiments were carried out in the Public Analyst’s Department. Two deposit gauges have been set up, one in the centre of the city, and the other at the 144 Zoological Gardens. The deposit of soot, tar, and grit is washed into a reservoir by rain, the insoluble and soluble matter analysed at the end of each month, and the amount of the various con- stituents expressed in tons per square mile.There are about 130of these deposit gauges in this country, and very interesting information can be obtained by comparison of these figures from different towns. Increasing attention is being paid to the problem of atmospheric pollution. In the centre of the city nearly 290 tons of total solid matter (suspended and dissolved) were deposited per square mile, including nearly 34 tons of tar, 57 tons of soot, and 112 tons of grit per square mile during last year. At the Zoological Gardens during 1937, 133 tons of total deposit including 1-7 tons of tar, 19tons of soot, and 34tons of grit per square mile were estimated for this purely residential area.In addition, the sulphur gases, produced mainly from the combustion of coal, yielded in terms of sulphuric acid, something like 30 tons and 20 tons per square mile respectively. In comparing the figures of other towns, much depends, of course, on the situation of the deposit gauge. Usually it is presumed that one gauge is in a favourable position and the other representative of bad conditions. The annual total deposit varies between IOO and 700 tons per square mile, so that Bristol would appear to occupy a position approximately midway between the worst and the best of the places where information is obtainable. The total deposit in the centre of the city is at least twice as great as that collected at the Zoo, and the constituents of the deposit are more or less in the same ratio.The significant fact is that, in Great Britain alone, the total annual cost of the smoke nuisance has been estimated to be at least ~50,000,000.Advisory Boards say that the cost of smoke is equal to EI per head of the population. The problem must be considered in four main aspects:- (I) The actual fuel and heat waste involved in the unscientific combustion of raw coal; (2)the material damage and destruction caused by the soot, dust and acid discharge of domestic chimneys ; (3)the loss of valuable chemical compounds contained in raw coal; and (4) the effect on health. (I) Of a ton of coal only 5 cwt. is utilised for heating, the (2) The cleaning and maintenance cost of buildings could remaining 15 cwt.may be regarded as completely wasted. 145 probably be reduced by 50 per cent. were the air to be purified of soot and acid pollution. (3) The waste of valuable chemical compounds contained in raw coal, such as dyes of a 1000 shades and colours, road tar, phenols, creosote, benzole, sulphate of ammonia, etc. (4) The quality of the air we breathe is as vitally important as the water we drink and the food we eat. We eat about 2.7 lbs. of food, drink 4-5 lbs. of water, and breathe about 30 lbs. of air per day, yet despite every precaution being taken for the purity of our food and water supplies, the air is left to take care of itself.Chronic colds, catarrh, bronchitis and other more serious respiratory diseases are aggravated by, if not caused by, air poisoning, and the indirect effects, through smoke-laden air, which cuts off a large portion of available sunlight and ultra- violet rays, probably lessen our normal resistance to infection. Only by the use of smokeless fuels, coke and gas in our open grates, and electricity, can we hope to obtain a clean and pure air supply. Future generations will wonder at our inconsistency in that we steadfastly refused to consume raw meat, yet we con- sumed millions of tons of raw coal in our open grates. Millions of tons of smoke are emitted into the atmosphere every year, and it is time that the smoke barrage over our large towns should cease.It is not so much a cause for congratulation that the air pollution of our cities has been slightly reduced, but rather that legislation in the case of industrial smoke, and the use of gas and electricity in the case of domestic smoke, have called a halt to increased pollution of our atmosphere. Cardiff and District.-At a meeting of the Section held on 1st February, at the University College, Cardiff, with Mr. S. B. Watkins in the Chair, Mr. A. G. Fishburn gave a paper on "Some Recent Investigations on Natural and Synthetic Drugs." The lecturer has kindly provided the following summary- From the viewpoint of the pharmaceutical chemist the exami- nation of a drug involves the following stages:- (I) The isolation of the active constituents in a pure state, (2)The determination of the chemical constitution of these substances 146 and then a method of estimating them, and (3) The attempted synthesis of similar but less complex substances in which un- desirable properties are suppressed, and useful properties emphasised. If successful the final stage provides a more valuable drug and, at the same time, makes us independent of the natural supply.Two good examples of a complete and successful investigation are provided by the work carried out on the alkaloids of coca leaf and cinchona bark. The active principle of coca leaf is cocaine and this alkaloid fulfils nearly all the requirements for an ideal local anaesthetic. Cocaine was isolated in 1860 and it was later shown by Willstatter and others to be the methyl ester of the benzoyl derivative of ecgonine, thus possessing the following groupings :-(I) a carboxyl group, as methyl ester, (2) a secondary alcohol group, as benzoyl ester, and (3) a piperidine ring.These have been investigated in turn to determine which group or combination of groups con- tributes the anaesthetic property, and it has been found that a local anaesthetic is generally the ester of an aromatic acid (usually benzoic) and must contain an amino grouping. The evolution of synthetic local anaesthetics thus shows a gradual simplification of the cocaine formula into one of three types:-(I) esters of amino-acids (benzocaine, orthocaine) , (2)esters of amino-alcohols (amylocaine, amhydricaine) , and (3) esters of amino-alcohols with amino-acids (procaine).These provide a range of local anaes- thetics for use in dentistry, etc., and we are for many purposes independent of cocaine. In the case of synthetic drugs derived from the cinchona alkaloids, we are concerned with chemotherapy, that is, the curing of disease by attacking the pathogenic organisms with chemical substances. Chemotherapeutic research involves cer- tain stages in addition to the chemical processes, notably the isolation and cultivation of the micro-organism, and the study of the action of the synthetic compound “in vitro.” Owing to the well-known value of cinchona bark in the teatment of malaria, the cinchona alkaloids have always been attractive starting materials in the synthesis of anti-malarials.Demethylation of dihydroquinine yields the corresponding phenol, dihydrocupreine, and certain ethers derived from this compound have been used in medicine, notably opiquine (ethyl ether), eucupin (isoamyl ether) and vuzin (isooctyl ether). Demethylation of quinine 147 yields apoquinine, a mixture of three phenols, and one of these has been found to yield a series of ethers of anti-malarial activity. Other investigators have started from quinoline and have built up complex molecules; in this group atebrin and plasmoquin are important examples. Turning to recent work on vegetable drugs, the chemical examination of which is in an earlier stage, we find that a con- siderable advance has been made during the last five years in the knowledge of the ergot alkaloids and their constitution. The first ergot alkaloid to be crystallised was ergotinine, which was isolated by C.Tanret in 1875. This alkaloid was found to be physiologically inactive, but in 1906 Barger and Carr obtained an isomeric active alkaloid named ergotoxine. Since then three further pairs of isomeric alkaloids have been isolated, ergotamine and ergotaminine, ergometrine and ergometrinine, and ergosine and ergosinine. In each case the first named isomer is physio- logically active and laevorotatory, while the second is inactive and dextrorotatory. A study of the products of hydrolysis under different conditions has shown that all these alkaloids yield a complex acid, lysergic acid, which contains the indole nucleus.This throws light on the colorimetric method for the estimation of ergot alkaloids, using P-dimethylamino benzaldehyde. Since the colour is due to the indole nucleus, equimolecular amounts of all the alkaloids will give colours of equal intensity. Ergometrine differs to a certain extent from the other alkaloids in physio- logical action and, having an action closely resembling ergot itself, may therefore be described as the active principle. In constitution it is simpler than the others, since on hydrolysis it yields lysergic acid and a simple amine, whereas the other alkaloids yield lysergic acid and certain amino-acids. A process has been recently devised for the estimation of ergometrine in different samples of ergot, based on-the fact that ergometrine is soluble in water.The amount of the alkaloid in the aqueous solution is estimated colorimctrically against a standard ergotoxine solution, and the apparent percentage of ergotoxine is multiplied by 0.538, which is the ratio of the molecu- lar weights. Since the ratio of ergometrine to total alkaloids is fairly constant, the colorimetric test for total alkaloids can be taken as a useful guide to the ergometrine content, 148 East Midlands.-A meeting of the section was held at Lough- borough College on 10th February, Dr. G. Malcolm Dyson in the chair. Professor H. V. A. Briscoe gave a lecture on- ''Some Properties of Dangerous Industrial Dusts." Professor Briscoe stated that silicosis was until recently attributed to the presence of free silica, but colliers who are disabled by disease which is obviously silicosis are exposed to only relatively small amounts of free silica.It was then found that the dusts were much richer in silica than the material from which they came. Up to this time no analysis of the dust had been made. For this purpose it was necessary to collect the dust in such a way that it was not altered chemically. Professor Briscoe dealt with the various ways of doing this and described how the dust could be filtered from the air by means of a filter pad of cane sugar, the filter pad was then dissolved in water and the suspended dust filtered off. This method had obvious disadvantages and filters were then tried of volatile materials such as anthracene or naphthalene, which after the collection of the dust could be removed by sublimation.A difficulty was experienced in making these large enough for any dust, and recourse was had to a filter composed of salicylic acid which could be dissolved in alcohol, and the residue washed and dried at 50" C. Dusts so collected revealed a difference in composition between the dust and the granite from which it came: The samples of dust had acquired water and liberated a corresponding amount of alkali. This showed that further experiments were necessary and other methods of collection were employed. The "Labyrinth " method had proved the most satisfactory-the dust-laden air being led through a chamber with baffles, such that the air was made to deposit its dust in the chambers.It was shown, from figures obtained, that this method was efficient and that the size of the dust particles decreased along the labyrinth. Analysis of the various sized dust particles showed that the composition was similar for the various sizes, but that the solubility in water varied. This led to the supposition that the injury sustained from these dusts might not be mechanical, but due to the silica solubility. Methods were shown of decreasing the solubility of the dusts and it was demonstrated that this reduced the liability to silicosis of people subjected to them. It was further shown that the liberation of silica and alkali 149 from the dust were connected.Professor Briscoe concluded by stating that further work on the subject was in progress. On 16th February by invitation of the Nottingham Section of the Society of Chemical Industry, Members of the Section attended a meeting at the Technical College, Derby, when an address on ‘‘The Molecular Structure of Cellulose,” was given by Mr. G. F. Davidson, the chair being taken by Mr. J. F. Briggs. Mr. Davidson gave a general account of recent develop-ments in the knowledge of the chemical constitution and fine structure of cellulose. A meeting of the Section was held at University College, Shakespeare Street, Nottingham on 10th March,-Dr. G. Malcolm Dyson in the chair-when Professor R. A.Peters, F.R.S., gave an address on 44 Brain Biochemistry and Vitamin B.” Research upon brain biochemstry can proceed either by analysis of the chemical compounds present in the actual brain at death, or by relating changes in the enzyme systems present to obvious changes in brain activity, such as those inducing convulsive states in the live animal. The former method, due to Thudichum, is fundamental; and has revealed the presence of numerous very complicated compounds, but also some simpler ones such as lactic and succinic acids. Speed of analysis is essential ; because phosphocreatine can be broken down within 5-10 seconds after the death of the animal, and lactic acid appears within 1-5minutes. One attempt to arrive at some of the detail of the active metabolism of the smaller molecules by the latter method has been pursued intensively in Oxford, in relation to symptoms of vitamin BI deficiency in pigeons.In the brain of the deficient animal, the course of the reactions glucose -+lactic acid --f pyruvic acid 3: degradation products + CO, + H,O is interrupted at the stage marked A. Hence pyruvate accumulates abnormally in vitro, and even appears in the blood. At the same time there is a lowered rate of respiration in pyruvate solutions in vitro, which is reversed by the addition of minute amounts of vitamin Bx; O.OOO,OOI M produces maximum effects; this is the only case known of specific interaction of a vitamin with tissue 150 from an avitaminous animal.It occurs only with the intet- mediary substances of carbohydrate metabolism and not with substances such as succinic acid; the metabolism of the latter is independent of vitamin deficiency in the systems studied. Further stages in the oxidation of pyruvate can now be accounted for quantitatively, owing to work by McGowan and by Long. In yeast, co-carboxylase,-found by Lohmann and Schuster to be the pyrophosphoric ester of vitamin Br,-is the cofactor for conversion of pyruvic acid into acetaldehyde + CO,; this is an essential step in alcoholic fermentation. Probably vitamin BI must be also esterified for action in brain; S. Ochoa has found that the co-carboxylase normally present in pigeon’s brain is much reduced in the avitaminous condition.The significance of pyruvic acid in relation to active metabolism is clear, but such studies as these must be regarded as merely intro- ductory to wider problems. A discussion ensued to which the Chairman, Mr. Hall, Pro-fessor Gulland and Dr. Barnes contributed. Edinburgh and East of Scotland.-An ordinary meeting of the Section was held on 17th February,-Mr. A. M. Cameron presiding. Dr. A. M. Smith, chairman of the Section, gave a lecture entitled Recent Investigations in Agricultural Chemistry.” The address took the form of a resum6 of some of the more important lines of advance in recent years. Dr. Smith drew attention to the comprehensive nature of the work under-taken by the chemist in the production of home grown foodstuffs and, by way of illustration, stated that, although the study of soil occupied only a small proportion of the time in a normal course on agricultural chemistry, soil science, or pedology, itself was already divided into a large number of special sections. A brief description was given of the difficult problem of assessing soil fertility, and the merits and limitations of the more commonly used pot-culture, chemical and biochemical methods were discussed.The question of augmenting the available plant nutrients of the soil by using artificial fertilisers was dealt with, particular stress being laid upon the modern tendencies towards the production of more concentrated forms of fertiliser compounds toreduce freight charges and farm labour.The effect of fertilisers 151 upon the quality of the crop, rather than the yield, was then emphasised with special reference to the improvement in the food value of oats by delaying the time of application of nitrogen. Recent work on the importance of the minor elements in controll- ing plant diseases was mentioned, and a word of caution was directed towards the exploitation of growth-regulating sub- stances, such as indolylacetic acid, which are now being prepared in quantity. Reference was also made to the fact that the relatively simple determination of ascorbic acid, which may be regarded as a phytohormone, provided a useful means of differentiating variety in potato tubers and of separating healthy tubers from those from plants infected with virus disease.Of the animal foodstuffs, attention was confined to grass and the different methods of conserving it for winter feeding. The carotene and crude protein figures for hay, silage and rapidly- dried young grass were compared to demonstate how much valuable food material might be saved by departing from the traditional practice of hay-making. In connexion with the nutrition of the animal, evidence was submitted to show how the variation in the efficiency of proteins from different sources had led to the present ideas upon biological values, and the urgent necessity for further investigation on suitable methods of estimating individual amino acids was emphasised. During the discussion following the address, Dr.Smith dealt with many matters such as the value of the Land Fertility Subsidy, the importance of calcium in maintaining soil fertility, the blackening of potatoes on cooking, the food value of sprouted grain, the deterioration of fatty foods on storage and the economic aspect of grass drying. Dr. A. M. Smith, chairman of the Section, presided at a meeting held in the North British Station Hotel, Edinburgh on 20th January, when Mr. James Sandilands and Dr. H. B. Nisbet, of the staff of the Heriot Watt College, Edinburgh gave a lectue- demonstration on ‘‘Micro-Chemical Analyses.” Mr. Sandilands spoke on the application of micro-chemical analysis to the identification of inorganic radicals. The “alarming” mass of literature on this subject was commented on, also the common difficulty of repeating the results of the original worker.This was frequently the result of not following exacay the instructions of the original experimenter. The microscopic method 152 of Behrens and Emich was noticed but as the technique was difficult, the later method, using special reagents to give coloured reactions with drops of the substance under review, was normally to be preferred. Mr. Sandilands demonstrated methods used for the identifica- tion of mercury, aluminium, antimony, tin, bismuth, cobalt, copper, zinc, lead, chromium, manganese and magnesium ; nitrite, sulphide, silicate, borate, oxalate, bromide and acetate. Dr. Nisbet dealt with the application of micro methods in organic chemistry, and stated that these were used for qualitative and quantitative analysis and for preparation.The particular difficulties of organic analysis, non-ionic and slow reactance and steric hindrance were noted; but it was shown how, for many groups, these difficulties had been overcome,-usually by employing some means to increase the reactivity of the reacting groups. Among groups discussed and demonstrated were the following : nitroso-, nitro-, unsaturated and aromatic aldehydes, hydrazines, esters, carboxylic acids and acid chlorides, alcohols, acid anhy- drides, sulphonic acids and ketones. The detection of nitrogen, preparation of fluorescent compounds and micro-methods of determining melting and boiling points were explained and demonstrated.Dr. Nisbet concluded by stating that the literature now contained methods for the analysis of practically all organic radicals and groups of compounds. Members of the Section were invited to participate in a meeting held jointly with the Local Section of the Society of Chemical Industry and local Fellows of the Chemical Society, in the North British Station Hotel, Edinburgh, on 14th March, when Dr. J. A. V. Butler, local representative of the Chemical Society, presided and Professor N. V. Sidgwick, C.B.E., F.R.S., spoke on the subject of Multiple Links.” Professor Sidgwick discussed how strengths of single, double and triple bonds between atoms of various elements may be determined, and showed that the relative values were markedly dependent on the nature of the element.He showed how these results may be employed to explain a number of familiar facts, such as the contrast between the physical properties of carbon dioxide and silica. Professor Sidgwick demonstrated how these 153 results explained satisfactorily the tetrahedral form of the P4molecule, the stability of the 0, and N, molecules, and that the stable state of sulphur is S,. In conclusion, the structures of the common oxides of nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur were interpreted in a similar manner. An interesting discussion ensued, in which a large number of members took part. Glasgow and West of Scotland.-Members of the Section have attended, by invitation, meetings of-The Oil and Colour Chemists’ Association (Glasgow Section), on 21st January, when Professor F.M. Rowe gave a lecture at the Royal Technical College, Glasgow, on “Colour, Constitution and Properties of Insoluble Azo-Colouring Matters”; The Food Group and Glasgow Section of the Society of Chemical Industry, on 4th February, when Professor J. C. Drummond and Dr. Cuthbertson dealt with the subject of “Nutrition ”;and The Chemical Society, on 11th February, when three papers were read-by Professor G. Barger, on “The Structure of the Alkaloid Calycanthine ”; by Dr. J. Bell, on “Heavy Water of Crystallisation and the Elucidation of the Structure of Salt Hydrates”; and Dr. A. B. Crawford, on ‘‘Semi-Carbazido-salts of Copper.” On 18th February, a meeting of the Section to which Fellows of the Chemical Society and members of the Society of Chemical Industry were invited, was held in the Royal Technical College, Glasgow,-Dr. P.F. Gordon presiding. Professor H. V. A. Briscoe delivered a lecture on Chemical Examination of Dusts causing Silicosis.” Professor Briscoe commented on the dangers of silicosis in several industries and pointed out that, although a medical study of the disease had been made over the past twenty or thirty years, little had been done by way of chemical examination of the offending dusts. A number of factors had probably been the cause of this omission. One was that it was assumed that, although particle size had some connection with silicosis, the disease was produced by the action of free silica; the other factor was the necessity of examining the dusts in the same form as they were inhaled by the sufferers.The fact that the disease was not necessarily due to free silica was shown by Dr. W. R. Jones and this gave an impetus to 154 the chemical investigation of the dusts. There was no evidence that the dusts from limestone and cement caused silicosis; but those from flint, felspar and asbestos quite definitely did do so, and even low concentrations of the latter were harmful, Professor Briscoe next discussed the types or apparatus which he and his co-workers had devised and used for collecting dust samples. These were of three main types : (a) filters composed of volatile solids-such as benzoic acid, naphthalene and anthracene.(b) filters composed of substances soluble in solvents other than water-such as salicylic acid and acenaphthene. (c) mechanical separators-of a special baffle or ‘labyrinth ’ type. Professor Briscoe described carefully how each type was used, mentioning that type (c) had to be used to collect large samples of freshly formed dust. This was necessary since results from the other types had shown that dangerous dusts had a high “silica solubility” and that some “age,” or lose their dangerous activity quite rapidly. The “labyrinth” method of collecting the dusts enabled the particles to be graded according to size. In this way it was found that the larger particles, deposited at the first baffies, had a lower silica-solubility than the smaller particles collected at the last baffles, although in both cases the alkali solubility was much the same.The solubilities were expressed as the weight of silica or alkali dissolved from I gm. of dust by IOO cc. of water at 100’C., over a period of three hours. This standardisation of conditions was necessary, because these solubilities varied with temperature and time of contact with the water. The results of such determinations had shown that silica solubility did not depend on the liberation of alkali, since the maximum solubility of silica was obtained before that of the alkali was reached. In cases of asbestosis it has been shown that at the affected parts of the lung, yellow clots of mineral matter were localised at the ends of small needles of asbestos.A similar localisation of solubility at the ends of the fibres could be shown very simply by laying such fibres on neutral agar jelly containing phenolphthalein, when alkalinity was shown to be developed at the fractured ends 155 and not along the sides. Professor Briscoe pointed out that this localisation might be explained by assuming that at these points there existed free or unsatisfied valency forces which could attract water and hold it as water of constitution. This solubility could be minimised by several methods, e.g. grinding the siliceous minerals under benzene, or by admixture with finely divided sugar charcoal, anthracite, or bituminous coal.The admixture of sugar charcoal affected silica solubility of quartz but had no effect on that of asbestos. Professor Briscoe in conclusion pointed out that while many interesting and important results had been obtained much still remained to be done. The lecture which was freely illustrated by lantern slides was followed by an interesting discussion. Huddersfie1d.-At a meeting of the Section held on 19th January,-Dr. A. E. Everest presiding-Dr. J. W. Whitaker, principal of the Huddersfield Technical College, gave a lecture entitled-(( Coals and their Impurities.” Dr. Whitaker first compared the composition and calorific values of various types of coal with those of wood and peat. By means of a table it was shown that the percentage of carbon increased from approximately 50 per cent.in wood and 55-65 per cent. in peat to 92-95 per cent. in anthracite, but the per- centage of hydrogen remained nearly constant. The oxygen content fell from 42-44 per cent. to 0.5 per cent. in the true anthracites. It was, in fact, doubtful if there was any oxygen present in anthracite. It was remarkable that coals of, for example, such widely different compositions as gas coals (85 per cent. carbon, 40 per cent. volatile matter) and anthracite (95 per cent. carbon, 2 per cent. volatile matter) had almost the same calorific values. The lecturer gave a scheme of classification of coals showing the relationship of the content of volatile matter to the calorific value.Passing to the combustion of fuel the lecturer showed that by a simple measurement of the percentage by volume of COz in the cold flue gases it was possible for any particular class of fuel to determine the amount of air being supplied in terms of the 156 minimum theoretical number of pounds of air required for I lb. of fuel burnt. The effect of moisture in coal was discussed and it was shown that the effect of wetting coal in improving its rate of combustion was due to a decrease in resistance to passage of air through the mass. This had been demonstrated experimentally and it was, of course, well known that coal stacked in a moist condition had a greater tendency to fire spontaneously. Discussing the nature of impurities in coal the lecturer showed by means of tables that these were mainly nitrogen, mineral matter and sulphurs, the proportion of the latter being practically constant for all classes of coals.The bearing of the distribution of the impurities in various classes of coals on their geological age was also discussed. On 14th February Mr. W. D. Scouller presided over a meeting held in Field’s Caf6, Huddersfield, where Dr. R. P. Linstead gave a lecture on- ‘(New Theories in Colour Chemistry.” Dr. Linstead showed the marked differences between the constitutions of the natural, widely distributed colouring matters of the carotinoid and porphyrinoid groups, and those of the earlier types of synthetic colouring matters. The relationship of the structure of the natural colouring matters of the above groups with that of Vitamin A were outlined and the results of the recent work on the structure of chlorophyll and of the colouring matter of blood were summarised.The main features of the chemistry of the recently discovered phthalocyanine pigments were outlined and their resemblances to the natural pigments of the porphyrin group were discussed. The most recent developments in phthalocyanine chemistry were dealt with and illustrated by a number of interesting specimens. The Eighteenth Annual General Meeting was held on 15th March, in Field’s Caf6, Huddersfield, under the chairmanship of Dr. A. E. Everest. The reports of the Hon. Secretary and Hon. Treasurer were adopted. The Hon. Secretary mentioned that the standard of interest in lectures and visits had been well maintained. MT.H.S. Pink was elected hon. auditor, and a vote of thanks accorded to the retiring hon. auditor, Mr. Norman Hall. 157 Dr. A. E. Everest then gave a brief talk on Institute matters with particular reference to the Benevolent Fund, the work of the Nominations, Examinations and Institutions Committee and the proposed Supplemental Charter. With regard to the latter, Dr. Everest said that he thought the proposals might be submitted in a modified form which would be acceptable to members. He mentioned some suggestions that had been made to him, which he proposed to put before the com- mittee appointed to discuss the matter. He thanked those members of the Section who had made the suggestions, which he thought would be useful.At the conclusion of the business meeting, a selection of industrial films was exhibited, and also a film taken at the summer outing of the Section held in July, 1937. Irish Free State.-Professor A. O’Farrelly presided at a meeting of the Section held on the 16th February, in Trinity College, Dublin, when Dr. A. E. Werner delivered an address on ‘‘Modern Developments in Protein Structures,” of which he has kindly furnished the following synopsis. The chemical investigation of the proteins may be said to have started in 1820, when Braconnot isolated glycine from among the products of the acid hydrolysis of gelatin. This was followed by the isolation of other amino-acids from among the degradation products of proteins, and up to the present about 26 of these acids have been identified.The first indication of the manner in which the amino-acids are incorporated in the protein molecule was given by Fischer and Hofmeister, who proposed the now classical peptide linkage as the fundamental characteristic of protein structure. This hypothesis was strongly supported by brilliant syntheses of complex polypeptides, compounds inter- mediate in their properties between the simple amino-acids and the proteins. The application of X-ray crystallography to the problem of the structure of proteins brought valuable information as to the way in which the polypeptide chains are arranged in the protein molecule.At first the fully extended chain was recog- nised in such proteins as silk fibroin, and this was followed by the discovery of the regularly folded chains present in the hair protein, keratin ; furthennore the reversible change of a-keratin (folded) into /3-keratin (fully extended) was shown to be responsible for the elasticity of this substance. 158 A new chapter in the elucidation of the structure of proteins was opened by the investigations of Svedberg using the ultra- centrifuge. He showed that in solution many proteins are monodisperse, that their molecular weights are not distributed at random but fall into a sequence of about 12 widely separated classes, within which the molecular weights are fairly constant and are multiples of 34,500.The molecules are also approximately spherical in shape, and this has led to the designation, globular proteins. A careful X-ray study of the crystalline proteins pepsin and insulin by Bernal and Crowfoot and a similar study of the denaturation of certain proteins by Astbury proved that there is no essential difference between the fibrous and the globular proteins. The proteins now appear as a class ofsubstances based on the polypeptide chain and the way in which it is folded. The question of the folding of the polypeptide chains has been treated from the mathematical point of view by Wrinch, who has evolved the “cyclol” theory of protein structure. This theory is essentially an extension of Fischer’s idea to include double and triple peptide linkages uniting respectively two and three pairs of carbon and nitrogen atoms.It was originally developed to interpret the structure of protein films and multilaminar aggregates, but can also be extended with special reference to space-enclosing protein molecules. The results are in very good agreement with the experimental facts obtained by Svedberg, and more recent analytical data obtained by Bergman con- cerning the stoichiometrical proportions of amino-acids in certain proteins are also in accord with the deductions of the theory. Leeds Area.-A meeting of the Section was held on 14th February in the Chemistry Lecture Theatre of the University of Leeds,-Dr. H. Burton in the Chair. Owing to the indisposition of Mr.F. N. Harrap, of Shell-Mex and B.P., Ltd., his paper on b4 Petroleum Solvents” was read by his colleague, Mr. G. L. Coles. The following summary has been supplied by the author:-The world output of petroleum in 1937 was 275 million tons, and although Iran has trebled her production in the last fourteen years and the Venezuelan output is now equal to the 159 Russian, the United States still accounts for rather more than 3 gallons out of every 5 gallons produced. In the latter country the natural gas industry has attained remarkable dimensions ; there are 60,000 miles of gas pipelines and as far back as 1928 the consumption of natural gas was 14 million million cubic feet, equivalent in heat value to about 50 million tons of coal.In considering petroleum products as solvents, the main concern is with the petrol fraction, which to-day has a distillation range of 3oOC. to 2oo0C., with rather more than 40 per cent. IOOOC.distilling up to The chemical composition of this fraction has an important influence on its solvent power, since the aromatic hydrocarbons are better solvents than the naphthenes, which in turn are more effective than the paraffins. American straight run petrol contains a high proportion of paraffins and the content of aromatics can be further reduced by intensive sulphuric acid refining. Borneo petrol contains a high percentage of aromatics, while Miri (Sarawak) petrol contains as much as 80 per cent. naphthenes. Petroleum solvents may vary in volatility from the 40-60" C.petroleum ether of the laboratory, to white spirits of distillation range 150-200' C. A particularly volatile spirit is required for the petrol-gas plants which provide an inflammable air-vapour mixture for heating and lighting country houses and hotels. The solvent used for extracting perfumes from flower petals must also be readily volatile on account of the instability of the per- fume waxes to heat, and it must be carefully freed from sulphur compounds and other malodorous impurities. Similar character- istics are desirable in the solvents which extract the vegetable oils from crushed seeds, and for this purpose the aromatic content is varied according to the user's requirements. For the extraction of bones and other animal refuse, prior to the prepara- tion of glue, a maximum boiling point of about 105' is necessary in order to avoid excessive or too rapid dehydration of the residue.Petroleum solvent spirits find wide application in the various branches of the rubber industry. Volatile fractions are available for the quick-drying rubber cements, used to stick together boot soles and uppers prior to stitching, while higher boiling types are used in the processing of proofed goods where it is desirable to minimise fire risks and losses by evaporation. For this latter purpose petroleum spirits have almost entirely replaced the coal-tar solvents formerly employed, and can be prepared to 160 rigid purchasing specifications. In the manufacture of tyres the basic cord fabrics are impregnated with rubber by dipping in a solution, and the layers of rubbered fabric, cushion, tread and beads are fastened together by a similar solution prior to vul- canisation. Rubber gloves are built up on a forrner by dipping.The interior of a tennis ball is a hollow sphere built up of seg- ments of sheet rubber cemented together with rubber solution, and enclosing pellets of sodium nitrite and ammonium chloride. The heat of the vulcanisation liberates nitrogen which inflates the ball. In the preparation of nitrocellulose lacquers petroleum solvents are used to dilute the more expensive materials in which the nitrocellulose is initially dissolved. For this purpose the volatility must be such that the diluent evaporates at approximately the same rate as the true solvent and the percentage of aromatics should be high so as to increase the solvent power.A similarly high aromatic content is desirable in solvents for printing ink and in this case the volatility must be sufficient to enable the ink to dry off completely in a fraction of a second, for in high-speed presses the paper may travel at anything up to 1,200feet per minute. On account of their higher distillation range and flash point (over goo F.)white spirits are not subject to the legal restrictions which govern the storage and use of petrols. They are widely used in the dry-cleaning industry, but their main application is as a thinner in paints and varnishes, and though originally regarded as "turpentine substitute " they have proved themselves fully equal to genuine turpentine for this purpose.The absence of sulphur compounds and non-volatile residue is, of course, essential. Solutions of waxes in white spirits enter into the manufacture of shower-proof garments, oiled-silks and tar-paulins and form the basis of the various polishes for furniture, floors and boots, while many metal polishes and polishing pastes consist essentially of mixtures of white spirit with abrasive earth. The lecturer dealt briefly with the comparatively new syn- thetic chemical industry which the petroleum companies are building up. One plant in the U.S.A. chlorinates the pentanes from natural gas on the scale of IOO,OOO gallons per day, pro- ducing amyl chlorides which are hydrolysed to the alcohols and thence converted into the acetates which are used largely in cellulose lacquers.The main field of chemical development 161 lies, however, in the gases from the cracking plant. The amount of petrol produced by decomposing gas oil or fuel oil at high temperatures and pressures now actually exceeds that obtained by straight distillation, and the gaseous by-products, which may amount to 20 per cent. or more by weight of the intake, are rich in ethylene, propylene, butenes and pentenes. These are selectively absorbed in varying strengths of sulphuric acid and the resulting alkyl sulphates are hydrolysed to the alcohols, so that isopropyl, secondary and tertiary butyl, and the isomeric amyl alcohols are now available in bulk.The corresponding acetates are important as solvents, while acetone and methyl ethyl ketone are manufactured by the catalytic oxidation of isopropyl and secondary butyl alcohols respectively. Ethylene is converted into ethylene chlorhydrin by chlorine and aqueous alkali, and the product is hydrolysed to ethylene glycol (used as an anti-freeze) or transformed to ethylene oxide by the action of lime. The action of alcohols on ethylene oxide (in autoclaves at 150’C.) gives the glycol ethers, of which the mono-ethyl (cello- solve) is now one of the most important solvents used in the cellulose lacquer industry. Within a few years it is more than likely that the petroleum companies will be the main suppliers of industrial organic solvents.A keen discussion followed, during which members were informed that petroleum solvents could be suitably blended for almost any purpose, ranging from material used by the Royal Air Force and for the estimation of water content in heat- sensitive materials by distillation at precise temperatures, down to the needs of the humble but capricious petrol-lighter. Liverpool and North-Western.-A meeting of the Section was held at the Constitutional Club, on 10th February,- Mr. L. V. Cocks in the Chair. The Chairman welcomed members of the Society of Chemical Industry, the British Association of Chemists, the Chemical Society and the British Medical Associa- tion, together with other guests.Dr. G. Roche Lynch, O.B.E., gave a lecture entitled ‘(Some Medico-Legal Experiences.” The Chairman, Mr. E. T. Williams, Mr. V. Biske, Mr. R. K. Matthews, Mr. E. Gabriel Jones and Mr. E. S. Hawkins partici- pated in the discussion. 162 London and South-Eastern Counties.-An ordinary meeting was held on 19th January, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine,-Dr. E. B. Hughes, Chairman of the Section, presiding. Dr. H. Spencer Jones, F.R.S., Astronomer Royal, gave a lecture on '' Our Nearest Star-The Sun" which was profusely illustrated by a very fine collection of slides. The following abstract has been kindly prepared by the lecturer :-The sun is of great importance to the astronomer, being the only star whose surface can be studied.All other stars are so distant that they show no disc in the telescope but appear merely as points of light. The sun is a large gaseous globe, with a diameter of over 865,000 miles and a mass of 2.10~~tons. The surface temperature is about 6,000" C. and theoretical in- vestigations indicate that the temperature at the centre is of the order of ~o,ooo,ooo~C. Characteristic features of the disc are the sunspots, first studied in detail by Galileo in 1611. The largest spots have an area of 40 to 50 times the total surface area of the earth. It was found by Schwabe, an apothecary of Dessau, who studied the sun for some 50 years, commencing in 1826, that the frequency of sunspots fluctuates in a cycle of about 11 years.This cycle is not perfectly regular, as the period may vary between extremes of g and 13years. At the beginning of a cycle, the spots appear in middle latitudes, north and south of the sun's equator and as the cycle progresses and spots become more frequent, the mean latitude progressively decreases. After the maximum has been passed, the mean latitude continues to decrease, the spots at the end of a cycle appearing close to the equator. Strong magnetic fields, detected by the Zeeman effect, are associated with sunspots. The leading spots in the two hemi- spheres have opposite polarity, the polarities persisting for all spots of one cycle. In the next cycle, the polarities are reversed in each hemisphere.This enables the first spots of a new cycle to be separated from the last spots of the previous cycle and confirms that the high latitude spots belong to the new cycle. Photographs in the light of calcium or hydrogen vapour, representing upper levels in the sun's atmosphere, show strong 163 circulatory motions around sunspots ; the directions are opposite in the two hemispheres. The temperature of a spot is appreciably lower than that of the surrounding disc. The spots appear to be vortices, with matter streaming spirally outwards, and becoming cooler by expansion. Prominences, great jets of flame extending out from the sun, and extending across the sun for distances up to 300,000 miles, have the same periodicity as the spots, and are most numerous when spots are most numerous.They may persist in a fairly stable state for several months, but may be suddenly dissipated, with the violent ejection of matter from the sun. The diurnal movement of a magnet needle correlates closely with the frequency of sunspots. Magnetic storms and aurorae are most frequent when spots are numerous. These terrestrial phenomena are produced by electrically-charged particles shot out from the sun, which enter the earth’s atmosphere and produce electric currents in the upper atmosphere, with which the magnetic effects are associated. The sun rotates with respect to the earth in about 27 days and there is a marked tendency for magnetic disturbances and auroral displays to recur after an interval of 27 days.The terrestrial effects occur on an average about 30 hours after the passage of the disturbed area on the sun across the central meridian of the disc. A phenomenon now being studied is the “bright eruption,” when an area,-usually but not invariably, near a spot ,-becomes intensely bright. This appearance coincides with sudden fading on short-wave radio transmission. The coincidence in time indicates that the agent producing the fading travels with the speed of light. It is probable that the intense output of energy in the ultra-violet causes strong ionization in the layer of the atmosphere which reflects the radio waves, making it conduct- ing and transparent to the waves. The sun is surrounded by a faint corona or “glory” extending to a distance of more than 2 million miles.The form of the corona at sunspot maximum differs from the form at sunspot minimum. The reason for this is not known. The spectrum of the corona shows lines that have not been produced in the laboratory. The name coronium was formerly given for the unknown element but it is now recognised that it must be a known element in a condition that is not easily obtained in the laboratory; the true nature of coronium remains one of the un- solved problems of astronomy. 164 The composition of the sun can be studied by spectrum analysis. No element is found in the sun that is not known on the earth and the only terrestrial elements not detected in the sun are elements that have no suitable lines within the available spectral range, or that have very low abundance. The relative abundance of elements in the sun agrees closely with their relative abundance in the earth.Every square inch of the sun’s surface radiates energy at a rate of 62 h.p. The age of the earth is a few thousand million years and the sun must be at least as old. The most probable source of energy in the sun is the building up of heavier elements out of hydrogen. Mass disappears and energy is produced. The energy that the sun radiates in one second involves a decrease of 4,000,000 tons in the sun’s mass. The sun is therefore gradually consuming itself; in 1o12years it will have lost 7 per cent. of its mass. Though the process is a slow one, the time must inevitably come when the sun will have used up its available store of energy and will no longer be able to radiate.A meeting of the Section was held on 16th February at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine,-Dr. E. B. Hughes (Chairman of the Section) presided. A lecture was given by Dr. C. Ainsworth Mitchell on “Some Recent Advances in the Scientific Examination of Documents ” of which the following abstract was provided by the lecturer. Dr. Mitchell referred briefly to the recent work of Carter and Pollard and of Grant on the dating of documents from the compo- sition of the paper. He then described in detail the methods that could be used for the microchemical differentiation of inks in writing. In one method a drop of the reagent was applied to part of a stroke in the writing by means of a capillary tube, and the course of the reaction, if any, in the periphery of the drop was followed with the aid of a magnifying glass.This method had afforded conclusive evidence in the case of Rex v. Rogers, the application of a drop of hydrochloric acid having proved that a silver ink had been used to produce on a parchment document of 1688 brown writing that would appear old; silver ink was not, of course, in use at that date. In Ward’s method a minute drop of reagent was applied 165 to the writing, and after two minutes was transferred to a micro-scope slide and allowed to evaporate spontaneously. A suitable reagent was a I per cent. solution of acetic acid, which did not, as a rule, dissolve the dye that had been mordanted by the tannin in the ink.Microchemical tests applied to the residue on the slide enabled various constituents of different inks to be identi- fied, such as, for example, chromium, copper, chloride, sulphide, oxalic acid, phenol and salicylic acid. Ultra-violet light, in the lecturer’s experience, was not of great value for distinguishing different inks, with the exception of typewriter inks, in which the medium, as well as the pigment, might contribute to the fluorescence. In one case it was proved by the fluorescence that an addition had been typed on a document in a different ink. The use of infra-red rays for distinguishing between different ink pigments, particularly in printing inks, was also discussed.Incidentally a description was given of a new type of light- filter cell, devised by Mitchell and Ward, for attachment to the flange of a camera. For ultra-violet photography the cell was filled with a I per cent. solution of cerium ammonium nitrate, and for infra-red photography with a 11.5 per cent. solution of iodine in potassium iodide. Although infra-violet light was invaluable for detecting erasures on documents, it was possible with care to remove by mechanical means writing in pencil, or in certain inks, so effect-ively that no trace of the erasure could be detected by any test. In connexion with the bleaching of inks, Dr. Mitchell referred to a recent case in which the fading of the writing and typescript upon a deed had been traced to the action of ammonia liberated by moulds that had grown upon the parchment.The methods of deciphering indentations left on the paper in a note book, when the writing had been done upon a leaf above the indented page, were discussed. So far, the only method permissible for Court purposes was photography by oblique light as was used in the case of Rex v. Podmore. Such indentations could be brought out, however, much more clearly as white characters on a black background by cautiously rolling a pigment such as graphite, or a thin printing ink, over the surface of the paper, as suggested by Mezger. Finally an account was given of the possibility of drawing deductions as to the origin of an ink from a study of the sediments conveyed from the inkpot to the writing.In one case the 166 presence of black deposits in the ink in the writing was consistent with the character of the ink with which the document was alleged to have been signed. Manchester and District.-On 8th February, the Section was invited to a meeting held under the auspices of the Chemical Society, at the University,-Professor J. Kenner, F.R.S., pre- siding-when Professor E. C. Dodds, M.V.O., gave an address on ‘*The Significance of Synthetic Oestrogenic Substances.” Newcastle uponTyne and North-East Coast.-Members of this Section attended the Forty-First Bedson Lecture, given by Professor J. Kenner, F.R.S., on 4th February, on ‘(Aliphatic Diazo Compounds.” Professor Kenner prefaced his remarks upon the subject by considering its historical aspect.The observation that the naturally occurring amide asparagine lost nitrogen when nitrous acid was present in nitric acid used for its hydrolysis led to the discovery of the general affect of nitrous acid upon aliphatic amines. The work of Griess on aromatic diazo compounds was followed by the discovery of diazoacetic ester by Curtius who turned to good account the suggestion of Baeyer that the acid part of glycerine should be esterified while investigation of the amino-group was proceeding. Together with Buchner, Curtius described the properties of the new substance which are respon- sible for the importance of its congeners to-day.With regard to the formula of the aliphatic diazo compounds Curtius favoured the cyclic structure, R. CH II ;but Thiele was <: led by observations of Staudinger and himself to propose R.CH = N = N. Modern theory regarded these compounds as examples of mesomerism, and the suggestion was now put foward that their formation from the diazo-hydroxides first produced, e.g. in the preparation of diazomethane from nitrosomethylurethane, was due to the peculiar stability of the mesomeric state. The lecturer’s active interest in the subject arose from his investigations of the tendency of the nitroso-group to pass whenever possible into the oximino-group. This led to an improvement of the early von Pechmann preparation of diazo 167 paraffins, consisting in brief in the alkaline decomposition of the N-nitroso-derivative of the addition product of mesityl oxide and a primary aliphatic amine.On the larger scale certain difficulties were encountered. Loss was occasionad by the liberated diazoparaffin combining with the mesityl oxide simultaneously formed, but was reduced by working at lower temperatures and by separating mesityl oxide from the distillate by means of a fractionating column. In the case of higher homologues whose boiling points ap-proximated to that of mesityl oxide, pulegone could with advantage be substituted for the latter, in the preparation of the nitroso-compound. Ether, first used to carry away the diazo-compounds, was recognised by Meerwein to inhibit their reactivity, but a very satisfactory technique was developed in which anisole was used as solvent and nitrogen as a carrier gas under reduced pressure.Vinyldiazomethane and its methyl derivative exhibited a com- paratively feeble reactivity towards acids; this was attributed to internal saturation, and in agreement with this the vinyl compound readily passed by monomolecular reaction into pyrazole. After a reference to some of the properties of the aliphatic diazo-compounds, their chemical behaviour was discussed more particularly towards ketones. The inertia of these towards diazomethane was first overcome when Meerwein activated acetone by means of methyl alcohol. The initial attack of the diazo-compound at the carbon atom of the carbonyl group was followed by loss of nitrogen and stabilisation, either by formation of an ethylene oxide ring or by a Wagner-Meerwein type of rearrangement. This latter, in the particular case of cyclic ketones, resulted in ring enlargement ; cyclohexanone, for ex- ample, gave on treatment with diazomethane, 46 per cent.cyclo heptanone. Similar reactions had been carried out with the homologues of diazomethane (which are more reactive than the parent substance), and numerous 6-, 7-, and 8-membered a-alkylcyclo-ketones have thus been prepared. The same pro- ducts were prepared directly from the corresponding nitroso-urethanes by a procedure applied by Meerwein to nitrosomethyl-urethane, and this had the advantage of applicability in cases in which it might not be possible to prepare the diazo-compound itself.By this device also it was possible to introduce groups into a ketone which might be of use in further synthetic operations, 168 New Zealand.-The Annual Meeting of the New Zealand Section was held at Canterbury University College, Christchurch, on 20th and 21st January. The Chairman of the Section, Mr. F. H. V. Fielder, gave an address on the “Age of Dissipation,” of which the following is a verbatim report. ‘‘The Dissipation of Natural Resources.” The Age of Dissipation.-It may be truly said that we live in a chemical age. Chemistry in some form enters into the majority of our industries, whether they be concerned with the preparation of food, clothing, shelter, or means of transport.The chemist utilises and transforms the chemical substances supplied by nature and sythesises others which do not occur naturally, or are in insufficient quantity. It is with some feeling of pride that the chemist can look back on the achievements of the last century. If, however, we stop to consider the manner in which the world’s natural resources have been, and unfortun- ately still are being, exploited, we cannot but feel that scientific methods are being used none too soon, and the realisation of the need for still greater effort is necessary, if the fearful waste of these resources is to be curtailed. The utilisation of our natural resources has only become intense during the period of great industrial development, say, during the last two hundred years, but the rate has been an accelerating one, and the rate of acceleration has increased enormously during the last thirty or forty years.If the ac-celerating consumption of raw materials continues as at present, we might be inclined to ask, “When will the natural supplies of this or that material be exhausted?’’ No doubt, supplies of many materials will last for hundreds or perhaps thousands of years, and consequently we may think that we need not concern ourselves with this question, as it will not affect our generation or those of the near future. One cannot help wondering, however, as to whether distant posterity may not look back at our time in a manner similar to the way in which we regard past eras, such as the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, etc.These eras covered periods of several thousand years and, if the depletion of natural resources continues unabated at present rates for a similar period, I think it probable that our era, as far as our use of natural resources is concerned, will be called the “Age of Dis- sipation.” We now deplore the fact that our kauri forests are becoming exhausted and realise that they have been ruthlessly and waste- fully exploited in the past, and it is considered that they are irreplacable, as the larger trees were two or three thousand years old. In the case of mineral deposits, however, two or three thousand years is a very short time, and we have to think in millions of years.For example, how long did the phosphate deposits on Nauru Island take to form? It is quite certain that the time that will be taken for us to dissipate them will be only a very small fraction of the time taken for their formation. The same may be said of all other mineral deposits, and it is a matter of considerable interest to study in a little more detail our position with regard to the continuity of supply of some of the chemical elements. Time will not permit of dealing with more than a few, and with many there appears to be little data available. The Nitrogen Problem.-Firstly, we might consider the position in regard to food, as from time to time fears have been expressed as to the possibility of a world shortage of food.It is well known that such fears were expressed by the late Sir Wm. Crookes in 1898, in his presidential address to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, when, after drawing attention to the possible failure of the world’s wheat crops due to exhaustion of the natural supply of nitrate fertilisers, which at that time were mainly obtained from the Chilean Nitrate deposits, he appealed to the chemists of the world to find a way of utilising atmospheric nitrogen. We all know the way in which this has been accomplished, and the capacity for nitrogen fixation now greatly exceeds the demand, as is shown by a consumption for the year 1934-1935 of a tonnage slightly in excess of two million out of a production capacity of about 36 million tons.The supply of nitrogen is practically inexhaustible, as it has been estimated that the earth’s atmosphere contains about 4 x 1015 tons of nitrogen, and it is available to every nation, as the atmosphere covering each square mile of territory contains about twenty million tons of nitrogen. The only other raw materials required in quantity are coal and water, and so every nation is practically assured of an inexhaustible supply of nitrogenous compounds. By far the greater part of the com- pounds of nitrogen produced from the atmosphere are either explosives or nitrogenous fertilisers. In use, explosives are decomposed into nitrogen and returned to the atmosphere. In 170 the case of fertilisers, the same result is produced by the working of the nitrogen cycle, the nitrogen being returned to the atmos- phere by the death and decay of the plant or animal which has used the fertiliser in building up its structure.We see that, in the case of nitrogen, not only is the supply practically inexhaus- tible, but it is eventually returned to the source from which it was obtained and can be used again. We may thus consider the nitrogen problem solved, but how many elements that are necessary for our well-being are available either in inexhaustible supply or are returned to the source in a form suitable for re-use? What is our position, for instance, in regard to phosphate? Phosphate and International Relationship.-The world supplies of phosphate are large, being estimated at eighteen billion tons and, at the present rate of consumption of nearly twelve million tons per annum, would last about 1500 years.There is not, however, a very equable distribution of phosphate deposits, more than one-third of the known supply being in the United States, another third in the territory of the Soviet Union and the greater part of the remainder in Northern Africa. We can see that international complications, due to shortage of phosphate, could easily arise should political or economic causes prevent its distribution from the comparatively few sources of supply. For instance, Japan uses over one million tons of phosphate rock annually and with mandated islands has an estimated reserve of about forty million tons so that if supplies from other sources were unavailable Japan would, in a few years, be without supplies of phosphate and would consequently be faced with gradual st arva!ion.New Zealand’s Position in regard to Phosphate.-What is our position in New Zealand? Our soils are naturally poor in phos- phate we have no phosphate deposits of any consequence, and almost all our exports are agricultural products which contain more or less phoshate. We are, therefore, dependent on supplies of phosphate imported from overseas, if we are to ward off eventual starvation due to lack of soil phosphate. We are fortunate in having a share in such valuable sources of phosphate as the deposits on Nauru and Ocean Islands. These islands contain phosphate of the highest quality found anywhere in the world, Nauru phosphate averaging over 85 per cent.and Ocean Island phosphate over 88 per cent. tricalcium phosphate. The quantity available is really not large, however. Mr. A. F. Ellis, in his 171 book Ocean Island and Nauru, gives a conservative estimate of ninety million tons, and twenty million tons on Nauru and Ocean Islands, respectively,-a total of IIO million tons. Although this quantity may seem large, it is small when compared with a recent American estimate of world supply at 18,000 million tons. If the total world consumption were drawn from these islands alone, the supply would not last ten years. The quantity of phosphate shipped from Nauru and Ocean Islands for the year 1936 was 966,000 tons; so that at this rate of pro- duction the deposits would last for the comparatively short time of 114years, but, with increasing consumption, they will probably be worked out within the next hundred years.Losses of Phosphates in New Zealand.-We look upon an ex- panding production as a sign of progress and a cause for a feeling of satisfaction, but we must not overlook the fact that we are drawing on our natural capital, and it is not sound business to do this, unless we are assured that we are making full use of the drawings and that there is no avoidable waste. Unfortunately this is not the case. As practically the whole of New Zealand’s exports are agri- cultural products, a considerable tonnage of phosphate is ex- ported annually. It has been estimated that the phosphate content of the bones in the meat exported is approximately 7,000 tons P,O,, the equivalent of this in Nauru phosphate being 17,000 tons.This can be regarded as a justifiable loss, being the phosphate content of goods exported, but when it comes to the losses of phosphates in sewage and by soil erosion, it is a different matter. As an example of the loss in the former category, I might mention the position obtaining in Auckland. The recent proposal to spend a large sum of money in improving the sewerage system by taking the outfall further out to sea, has given rise to considerable controversy as to the merits or otherwise of the scheme, and various other systems of sewage disposal, such as sewage farms, etc., have been proposed.I have no intention of entering this discussion, but from the fiwre of 4 grams of P,O, per person per day given by Sir John Russell in an article in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, I have calculated that the sewage from zoo,ooo people for a year (which is approximately the population served by the sewerage system in Auckland) contains an amount of phosphate equal to that contained in nearly 750 tons of Nauru Rock Phosphate. The value of this amount 172 of phosphate if in the form of superphosphate (which is the principal fertiliser used in New Zealand) would be approximately E5,ooo. The population of New Zealand is small and, dowing that the sewage from only two-thirds of the population (that is, from one million persons) is discharged into the sea, we find we are pouring into the sea each year the phosphate equivalent of ;G25,000worth of superphosphate. The amount recovered from the sea in fish is small, as the people of this country are not large consumers of fish or other marine products. The losses in coun-tries of large population are colossal.These figures are small, however, compared with the loss by soil erosion. Soil Erosion.-I here wish to digress from the more chemical side af the question to consider erosion, which form of wastage of one of our greatest natural assets-the soil-threatens to become one of the most serious problems in this country and our greatest menace. In the old world, soil erosion was recognised centuries ago.To prevent land from being made useless for agricultural purposes steps were taken by the adoption of mthods more or less primitive which were, none the less, effective. In new countries, such as America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand, the vast areas of undeveloped land caused the matter of soil erosion to be almost entirely neglected; in fact, one might truthfully say it was scarcely recognised, so busy were the people of these newer countries in breaking in virgin land and settling and exploiting the natural fertility that existed. The reckless and ruthless felling and burning of the natural forest cover, and the depredations of imported animals such as deer, goats and rabbits, and the grazing of sheep, have suddenly exposed the soil, which had been weathered to a fine texture, and was possessed of a high organic content and good fertility, to the action of wind and rain.All over the country we can see evidence of where the top soils have been literally washed away, leaving raw intractable subsoil exposed on the surface, which is of little use for agricultural purposes. The concentration of the run-off has resulted in gullying to an enor-mous degree, and this accelerated erosion is proceeding apace throughout the Dominion to-day. As far as I know, no actual survey of the extent of erosion has been made in this country; so I can refer only to figures from the United States, where erosion has assumed enormous proportions.It is reported that 590 million acres, representing 29.9 per cent. of the area of the U.S.A., have been subjected to sheet erosion, resulting in the 173 loss of nearly three quarters of the top soil. 115 million acres of this area have been practically destroyed for agricultural pur- poses by gullying. Some idea of the enormous quantities of plant foods lost from the soils of the United States of America annually, through leaching and erosion, may be gathered from the following figures :-II,OOO,OOOtons Nitrogen 13,000,000 '3 Phosphorus 29,000,000 Potassium'J 51,000,000 Calcium9' 10,500,000 Sulphur'9 170,000,000 Organic Matter 9' So serious has this problem become, that the United States Government has established a Soil Conservation Service and is spending millions of dollars in research work, and in educating and assisting farmers in the means of preventing and checking soil erosion.Should we be content to wait until our problem becomes of similar proportions, before taking energetic measures to combat the menace? I have dealt with the phosphate question at some length, in order to show that, unlike the nitrogen problem, it is not solved. It is true that it is not so pressing a problem as the continuance of an adeqate supply of nitrate seemed to be when Sir William Crookes drew the attention of the world to it. Never-theless, it appears that the world will eventually be faced with the problem of how to maintain adequate supplies of food in the face of an ever decreasing supply of natural phosphate.We are drawing on natural concentrations of phosphate which have taken probably millions of years to form, and are dissipating them into the sea. No doubt, natural processes are at work again concentrating this phosphate, but having regard to the extreme slowness characteristic of such geological processes, it seems inconceivable that during the next one thousand years, important deposits could be formed. In that time, however, unless new large deposits are discovered, we shall have used up the bulk of the present known deposits, and the position will be becoming acute. It is quite possible that new deposits will be discovered in such places as Siberia or South America, where there are large areas of practically unexplored land, but, if we axe going to maintain our agricultural lands at their present state of fertility, very much larger applications of phosphate will have 174 to be made, and the large increase in consumption may cause a serious shortage of phosphate in very much less than one thousand years.Shall we by that time have discovered a way of obtaining our phosphate supplies from the sea? The Sea as a source of Supply of Materials.-This utilisation of natural concentrations and their dissipation into the sea is, unfortunately, the method we follow in using many of our natural resources, and it suggests giving a little consideration to the question as to what elements we at present obtain from the sea, and whether there are any others which we might obtain in the near future. The most common elements present in sea water, apart from the oxygen and hydrogen of the water itself, are of course, chlorine and sodium.Sodium chloride, the parent material for all chlorine and sodium compounds, is obtained from the sea, and larger quantities could be produced from the same source if necessary, so that unlimited quantities of both chlorine and sodium are available. The next most common element in sea water is magnesium and, in view of the relative abundance of magnesium compounds in the lithosphere, which contains about 2.24 per cent. of mag- nesium, it would hardly seem a payable proposition to obtain magnesium from the ocean, which contains as little as 0.14 per cent.Yet, at a factory near San Francisco, about 10,000lbs. of magnesium compounds per day are produced from water drawn from the bay. In operating practice, I lb. of magnesium oxide is obtained from IOO gallons of water. The most striking recent development in connection with the recovery of chemical substances from the ocean is the recovery of bromine. When we consider that sea water contains but 0.008 per cent. of bromine and that 45,000 lbs. of bromine are recovered daily, necessitating the treatment of 137,000 gallons of water per minute, the magnitude of the task and the wonderful efficiency of the plant erected a few years ago in North Carolina can be realised. Apparently there are many localities suitable for the erection of bromine plants and it is reported that another plant is being erected in the Dutch West Indies.It would seem, therefore, that, if all other sources failed, the sea could yield inexhaustible quantities of magnesium and bromine at a cost competitive with that of other sources. The only other elements present in sea water in quantities greater than bromine and less than magnesium are calcium, potassium 175 and sulphur. In view of the abundance of calcium in the litho- sphere, it does not appear likely that it will ever be necessary to draw on the ocean for supplies. The same remark applies to sulphur, which occurs in sea water as calcium sulphate. Because of the vast deposits of gypsum which occur in many parts of the world, and contain 184per cent.of sulphur, these can be looked upon as a potential source of sulphur, should supplies of elemental sulphur and iron pyrites (which contains about twice as much sulphur as gypsum, but the deposits of which are not so extensive) become exhausted. At the present time, the United States supplies about 75 per cent. of the world’s requirements of elemental sulphur from the so-called salt domes of the coastal plain of Texas and Louisiana, the annual production being over two million tons. The total production to date is about 39 million tons, and the known reserves are said to exceed this amount, but the region has been pretty thoroughly explored and there does not seem to be much prospect of finding further domes containing large amounts of sulphur.It appears, then, as if the world’s principal source of elemental sulphur will become exhausted within a few years. During the last few years, several methods have been put into operation for the recovery of sulphur in the free state from low grade gases obtained in the process of roasting various sulphide ores. Previously, the only use that could be made of the sulphur dioxide given off in roasting operations was to turn it into sulphuric acid, but in many cases the gases were of too poor a quality, or no economic use could be made of the sulphuric acid produced. Now, the sulphur content of these gases can be concentration by absorption in suitable solutions such as basic aluminium sulphate, liberated again in concentrated form and reduced in special coke furnaces to elemental sulphur, which finds a ready market.At present, the Boliden Co. in Sweden produce twenty to twenty-five thousand tons of sulphur per annum from smelter gases, and similar processes are in operation in England, Finland and other countries. Formerly, these gases were allowed to escape into the atmosphere, causing much damage to vegetation and buildings, as well as wasting the sulphur. The wastage of sulphur in smelting operations in the past must have amounted to millions of tons. Ocean water contains 0.04 per cent. of potassium, an amount too small to permit of economic recovery at present-day prices of potash. Many of you will remember the world shortage of 176 potash following the commencement of the war in 1914,because of the dependence of the world on the German deposits at Stassfurt.The shortage caused the rest of the world eagerly to seek alternative sources of supply, and the present position is that the Stassfurt deposits are no longer the sole suppliers. The work- ing out of suitable methods of recovery of potash from saline waters such as Searle’s Lake in California, and the Dead Sea, and the discovery and opening up of deposits in the State of New Mexico, The United States of America along with the French deposits in Alsace, have provided ample alternatives to the Stassfurt deposits. It is in Russia that the most striking discoveries have been made. In pre-revolutionary Russia, the existence of potash deposits was unknown, and the country depended entirely on supplies imported from abroad. In 1925, rich deposits were discovered, and in 1934it was estimated that the total deposits in the Soviet Union amounted to zg,zoo million tons, or several times the estimated deposits of the rest of the world; so that it does not appear as if we shall have to have recourse to the ocean for supplies of potash for a very long time.Iodine is another element recovered from the sea, through the ashes of marine vegetation, though the quantity produced is small, and not equal to the production from natural brines in several parts of the world. The iodine market is controlled, however, by the supplies from Chili, where iodine occurs as sodium iodate in the extensive nitrate deposits of that country.It is generally well known that’ sea water contains gold in quantity variously estimated from a few milligrams up to one grain per ton. I am not going to suggest gold from the ocean as a source of wealth for the solution of our financial difficulties, but I should like to make one observation regarding gold. It is said there is an exception to every rule, and gold seems to be the exception to the general rule for the treatment of nature’s concentrations of the various metals. Gold is of very widely distributed occurrence, but does not occur in high concentration in any one place. Instead of dissipating the metal as we do with practically all the others, we are busily engaged in concentrating it in a comparatively few countries where it is stored at great expense.The reason for the different treatment of gold seems to lie in the fact that we do not use it. Formerly gold was ex- tensively used for coinage purposes; now our economic system demands that it be stored and not used. 177 The im9ortance of Conserving Ore Deposits.---I have dealt at some length with the principal elements contained in food, but time will not permit me to attempt to deal individually with the others, which are usually referred to as trace elements. Up to the present time some fifty-five of the ninety-two elements have been detected in plant and animal organisms, and it seems quite possible that the whole ninety-two elements may play a part in the maintenance of animal and vegetable life.These elements are distributed throughout the lithosphere and, by the action of various physical, chemical and biological processes, local concentrations are formed which are termed ore deposits. These deposits form our source of supply and we should endeavour to prevent undue depletion of them. Our economic system seems to be such that we select the richest and most readily available of them and in many cases work them without due regard to the importance of obtaining the utmost yield, simply because it does not pay to do so. But what of the future? Posterity will have to make it pay to work the present unpayable reefs and our tailings dumps, or find ways of doing without many metals.Copper may be quoted as an example. The present known copper ore reserves of the world aggregate 3,875 million short tons, but the average assay is only 2-90 per cent. of metal, giving a total reserve of 80,874,000 tons of copper, which is equalto seventy years’ supply at present rates. Copper will become a comparatively rare metal when ores poorer than these have to be worked. Seawater contains about one part per million of copper, but it is said that the oceans of the world contain about two trillion tons. Perhaps in the future huge selective absorption systems will be invented which will concentrate the copper in a manner similar to that of an oyster, which contains about two hundred parts per million in its own body. It is clear that every incentive should be given to encourage the efficient working of low grade deposits, but we find the opposite taking place.The gold export tax applied in this country is an example of the direct discouragement of the working of low grade reefs, and we may find future and more scientifically enlightened governments doing the opposite and offering a bonus on metals produced from low grade deposits. The effect of price on the ore reserves of a rnine, where mineralisation is not confined to a sharply defined area, is strikingly shown in the case of a large South African gold mine. Since the ore reserve of a mine includes only that material which can be treated profitably at the current price of 178 the metal, any increase in the price must add to the tonnage available, with consequent extension of the life of the mine.A tax of so much per unit imposed directly on the output of the mine reduces the available price and consequently the life of the mine. In the case of this particular mine the ore reserves at the standard price of gold were estimatcl at 5,750,000 tons, but an increase in the price of gold to E7 per 02. raised the ore reserves to g,3oo,ooo tons, an increase of over 61 per cent. Geological and Biological Cycles.-I mentioned just now that, in favourable places, concentrations of the elements occurring throughout the lithosphere are formed. In the majority of situations, however, the elements are gradually being removed from the land or lithosphere, and transferred by leaching and erosion to the ocean or hydrosphere, which tends to become more and more concentrated, but eventually, by sedimentation and evaporation combined with geological uplift, are transferred back to the lithosphere.Plants growing on the land remove these elements from the soil, animals in turn eat some of the plants, but eventually, by the death of the plants and animals and the returning to the soil of animal excreta, the elements removed are returned to the soil and the natural cycle is continued. It is when man uses his so-called intelligence that this natural cycle is upset. He creates conditions which enormously increase soil erosion, and by the transference of agricultural products from one country to another tends to impoverish the soil of the exporting country.By means of sewerage systems he transfers excreta and other waste products from the land to the sea, and so a gradual depletion of the minerals occurring in the soil takes place, a speeding up of the transference from the lithosphere to the hydrosphere. As I have already shown, our efforts in the reverse direction are very small. Food Values in Relation to Trace Elements.-With the gradual depletion of the soil minerals must come a similar depletion of the minor elements in our food and consequent deterioration in its quality and its ability to maintain health at its optimum level. What are we doing to remedy this? There are two methods and, no doubt, best results will come from a combination of the two.The first is to reduce losses to as small a level as possible by reducing erosion, and returning sewage to the soil, and the second the application of fertilisers containing the necessary elements. In dealing with the second method first, 179 it may be asked, “What are the necessary elements?” So far as our present knowledge goes, this may involve at least fifty or sixty of the ninety-two known elements and, when it comes to the question of the proportions in which they should be applied, we realise that our present knowledge of this important and vital matter is extremely meagre. So far, our efforts in supplying the elements to correct soil deficiencies have been confined to four-nitrogen, phosphorus, potash and calcium,-but even then the quantities used have been very inadequate.No doubt, in the case of phosphate and potash fertilisers, derived as they are from natural materials, a large number of trace elements are also added, but in quantities too small to balance the losses occurring in the soil. Experiments are being made in this country with fertilisers containing added amounts of boron and cobalt, for use in particular areas where a deficiency of these elements has been shown, but it can be seen that we are only at the beginning of this great problem. In dealing with phosphate, earlier in this address, I gave some examples of the loss of this element in sewage and by soil erosion, but this was not half the story.From experiments made in America, it has been calculated that well over 2,000 tons of the less common elements per million of population are lost through the sewerage systems per year. I have calculated the approximate tonnages of the various elements given on a basis of a population of zoo,ooo people, so that one may visualise the amounts lost in a city the size of Auckland. They are as follows:- Tom CopperCalcium .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 40 105 MagnssiumSulphurChromium .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 80 160 23 LeadManganese .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 11 11 Aluminium .. .. .. .. .. 11 Titanium .. .. .. .. .. 11 Arsenic .. .. .. .. .. 2 Zinc .. .. .. .. ..2 Miscellanoous.. .. .. .. .. 30- Total 486 - The actual intrinsic value of these elements is quite consider-able; the value of the 40 tons of copper may be about fI1,500, but its value to the community in the soil and subsequently 180 in the food of the people is inestimable. Experiments have shown the functions performed by many of the minor elements in the animal and vegetable organism, but time does not permit me to go into this in detail. We do know, however, that some plant and animal diseases are caused by mineral deficiencies, and claims are made, especially by American authorities, that various human diseases can be traced to this cause. In fact, one authority states that, from recruiting statistics of the United States Army, it can be shown that the average stature of the recruits offering enlistment has decreased by six inches in the past 120years.The average stature of the Japanese race, who do not dispose of sewage to the ocean, but return it to the soil, is on the increase and has increased by two inches in a compara-tively few years. It is also stated that Japan is a country practically free from cancer, and the study of heart disease in America shows that it is increasing at an alarming rate in those States which have been farmed the longest, and in which the soils are becoming depleted. My personal opinion is that it would be very difficult to prove that lack of minor elements in the soil is the sole cause of these. There are many other natural materials with the wastage of which time does not permit me to deal-such as forests, coal, oil, natural gas, etc.-but on every hand one can see wastage and dissipation of natural resources.To the scientist many ways of reducing this wastage are evident, but he is always compelled to consider the economic side and the question “Will it pay? ” which has to be interpreted in terms of pounds, shillings and pence, and not in terms of the ultimate good of humanity. This “Will it pay? ” is, according to our present ideas, the con- trolling factor, and so our “Age of Dissipation” goes merrily on. Discussions were arranged on the following subjects : “The Status of the Chemist in New Zealand” and bb The Training of Laboratory Assistants.” Most of those present took part and many controversial points were raised.It was felt that as a result of the dicussions certain points had been clarified and that the way was somewhat clearer as to what action should be taken along both lines. A visit was made to the Wheat Research Institute. The organisation and aims of the Institute were explained by the Director, Dr. Nilgendorf, who stressed the importance of 181 co-ordinating the work in the interests of the wheat grower, the miller and the baker. Mr. E. W. Hullett, chief chemist, explained and described the work being carried out in the laboratories and members saw actual tests being carried out. Other visits were made to the Davis Gelatine Co.’s Works and to the Christchurch Gas Co.’s works.The following officers and Committee were elected for the ensuing year:--Chairman, Mr. R. L. Andrew, Acting Dominion Analyst; Secretary and Treasurer, Mr. P. White, Director, Leather and Shoe Research Association. ;Hon. Auditor, Mr. T. A. Glendenning; Committee, Mr. F. H. V. Fielder (Auckland); Mr. G. A. Lawrence, Mr. A. D. Monro, Dr. G. M. Moir, and Mr. M. L. H. Stewart (Wellington) ; Mr. T. H. McCombs (Christchurch) ; Dr. R. Gorner (Dunedin); Dr. H. 0. Askew (Nelson). The Annual Dinner held at the New’City Hotel, followed by a Theatre Party, brought to a conclusion another successful conference. As in recent years, the meeting was arranged to coincide with that of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry. The President of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry, Mr.G. A. Laurence, a past chairman of the New Zealand Section of the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland, entitled his presidential address “The Chemist and the Community.” “The products .of scientific discovery,” said Mr. Laurence, “must not be allowed to dominate man: man must develop a higher order of intelligence to prepare and meet advance in knowledge. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Discovery, gradual as it may be, will cause a certain amount of distress and dislocation in the established order of things. In order to minimise this dislocation we must be constantly preparing for what is to come by an intelligent estimation of what is likely to result from scientific discovery.’’ He referred to the reaction of the synthesis of indigo on the growing of natural indigo, and made a comparison with the possibility of the production of synthetic wool.The provision of a competitive product does not necessarily mean establishing protection for the product which is likely to be replaced, but includes a wise review of the possibility of consolidating the 182 position of the threatened product by improvement of quality or reducing the cost of production. Such provision also includes the possibilities of supplying the raw material for the production of the competitive product and as a last resource of producing something in place of the threatened product. The impact of science-made changes on the public-an impact which includes great dislocations of industry affecting perhaps half a million men-might be lessened and humanised if science and the people became better acquainted.It is by keeping the community in touch with scientific developments and by an intelligent interpretation of the trend of things that the shock- impact of science can be reduced to a minimum. South Yorkshire.-A meeting of the Section was held in the Rotherham College of Technology on aznd February,- Dr. E. Gregory presiding in the unavoidable absence of Dr. G. Lawton, Chairman of the Section. Mr. W. W. Stevenson, Chief Chemist of the Central Research Laboratories of the United Steel Companies, Ltd., gave a lecture entitled-‘‘The Selection and Testing of Oils for Industrial Purposes .” After referring to the fatty oils which were available before the discovery of crude petroleum oils, Mr.Stevenson men-tioned the tests applied for their chemical identification. He gave a brief description of the crude oils now obtainable from various parts of the world and described the methods of distillation employed for obtaining the several useful commercial fractions, also the acid-refining process, and the subsequent liquid alkali and alkaline-earth methods of treatment. He then dealt with solvent extraction and its effect on the constituents of the oils treated by these processes. The methods available for testing oils were described, with particular reference to the more recent tests of “practical” application, such as the tendency to sludge, the Air Ministry oxidation test, the Ramsbottom coke test, etc.A number of examples were given of the relative importance of these and other tests in connexion with the requirements for general lubricating oils, turbine oils, steam cylinder oils, internal combustion engine oils, and quenching oils. The lecture was illustrated by slides. 183 Notes. The Radio Research Board of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research desires to bring to the notice of those engaged in physical and chemical research, the great importance to the electrical industry of dielectric materials and of fundamental knowledge capable of application to the development and production of new and improved dielectric materials.A dielectric of normal permittivity and low power-losses having good mechanical properties over the practical range of temperature, combined with ease of working and machining, has not yet been produced. This is true also of a dielectric of abnormally high permittivity suitable for the construction of condensers of large capacity and small bulk. Further, of available materials which are outstanding in respect of one or more of the desired characteristics, many, if not most, are of foreign origin. Up to the present time, new dielectrics have been developed by methods which are mainly empirical. For example, recent advances in the chemistry of plastics have resulted in the pro- duction of numerous synthetic resins, some of which have been found to have satisfactory characteristics as dielectrics for particular applications.Again, certain ceramic materials have been found to have very satisfactory electrical and mechanical characteristics, but their field of application is severely limited by the impossibility of working or machining such materials in their finished state. It is possible that materials having the desired properties, may be found by these empirical methods, but it is also desirable that there should be an active prosecution of the study of the relations between dielectric and mechanical properties and physi- cal structure, the latter including both molecular and atomic structure and molecular aggregation. Certain fundamental investigations on the subject have been in progress at the National Physical Laboratory on behalf of the Electrical Research Association. These include experiments on dielectrics containing polar molecules and free ions ;the dielectric properties of semi-conductors ; measurements over a very wide 184 range of temperature and frequency, etc.Publications include a critical r6sum6 by Dr. Hartshorn, Dielectric Properties of Celhlose Acetate and Power Losses in Mica. Other reports, not yet published, relate to the properties of various pure synthetic resins and the effects of impurities and of the nature of the cata- lyst. In much of this work the National Physical Laboratory has been in close collaboration with the Chemical Research Laboratory.Work of a similar fundamental character on the relation between dielectric properties and molecular structure has been and is being carried out at Oxford University under the direction of Mr. E. B. Moullin. The work is directed to the study of the effects of polar molecules on dielectric behaviour, on lines sug- gested by Debye’s theory of liquid dielectrics. It has already been shown that solid solutions of certain esters containing polar molecules, in loss-free paraffin waxes, behave in accordance with Debye’s theory of liquid dielectrics, i.e., they show something in the nature of “resonance-curves” of dielectric loss at any given frequency as a function of temperature, the power factor rising to high values over a comparatively narrow band of temperatures, the critical temperature being itself a function of frequency.It appears that the use of polar molecules is necessitated by considerations of the mechanical and thermal properties re- quired in practical dielectrics, and existing synthetic dielectrics contain in general much polarised molecular material. The dielectric-loss variation of these materials with temperature is quite different from that recorded above for the polar esters, and it is suggested that the determination of the reason for this difference is a matter of great technical importance. One possibility would appear to be the co-existence of a multiplicity of simple “resonances” leading to a substantial uniformity with respect to temperature. There is, however, the additional possibility that some other factor related to the mode of molecular aggregation is involved.Certain materials of abnormally high dielectric constant, embodying titanium dioxide, have recently been introduced and have assumed considerable commercial importance. It is believed that this property of titanium dioxide is due to atomic polarisation and not to permanent dipoles. It has been shown on theoretical grounds that the border line is small between a good insulator of high dielectric constant and a poorly-conducting material; also that the temperature coefficient of a high dielectric 185 constant is likely to be large. It is not known whether the usual association of high dielectric constant and comparatively low breakdown voltage is inherent or is due to technical imperfec- tions.In addition to the above, there is another possible line of investigation with a field of application of considerable industrial importance,-namely, the development of a paramagnetic dielectric material with a permeability comparable with compo- sitions of very finely divided iron, The usefulness of iron at radio-frequencies as a means of obtaining inductances associated with very low loss of power is limited principally by its conductivity and consequent eddy- current losses, which necessitate fine sub-division and dilution with a dielectric to such an extent that the effective permeability is reduced to a very low figure-generally from 5 to 10.This suggests the question whether the useful characteristic of iron from the present point of view,-i.e., permeability,-is necessarily and inherently associated with the undesirable characteristic,- i.e., conductivity. It is understood that in the light of the exist- ing theory of the subject, this association is not inherent. Thus, the possibility of a dielectric material with a permeability appreciably greater than I does not seem to be excluded. It will be apparent from the above that in the field of di-electric materials there is very wide scope for research of a fundamental character in atomic and molecular physics and physical chemistry, with the possibility of industrial applications of great and widespread importance. Short Courses for Teachers : Chemistry.-The Board of Education have made arrangements for a Short Course in Chemistry for teachers in recognised Technical Colleges and Evening Institutes, under the direction of Dr.F. A. Mason, H.M.I., assisted by Mr. G. M. Painter and other Inspectors of the Board, to be held at Manchester from 18th to 29th July. The purpose of the course will be to consider the methods of instruction in chemistry courses, but a proportion of the time will be devoted to a discussion of the teaching of chemistry in relation to other technical subjects and to the study of recent advances in pure and applied chemistry. The course will include :-(a) Lectures and discussions on teaching methods and devices. (b) Discussions in connection with the teaching of chemistry.186 Special lectures by experts on recent developments in chemistry and chemical industry. Visits to works and laboratories, including Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., Dunlop Rubber Co., Ltd., and the British Cotton Research Association. Exhibition of recent books on chemistry and chemical Industry. Practical work in modern methods of electro-chemical analysis (including potentiometric, conductometric and polarographicmethods) or micro and semi-micro analytical methods, or modern methods used in textile chemical analysis (including microscopic examination), or modern methods of volumetric analysis, etc. Accommodation will be provided at Hulme Hall, Victoria Park, Manchester, at an inclusive charge of 6s.6d. per day for bed and breakfast. Other meals will be charged separately according to tariff. Teachers coming from a distance are ex- pected to avail themselves of the accommodation provided. APPLICATIONFOR ADMIssIoN.-Teachers who desire to attend the course must make application to the Board of Education, on Form 106 U (T),as soon as possible. If the applicant is teach- ing in a school working under the direction of a Local Education Authority, the Form must be returned through the Authority. The number of teachers who can be admitted to the course is limited and it is essential that teachers should apply only if they are sure that, apart from unforseen circumstances, they will be able to attend if admitted.Considerable inconvenience, as well as injustice to others, may be caused if any of those who have been offered admission fail to attend. All communications to the Board should be addressed to the Secretary, Board of Education, Whitehall, London, S.W.I. Air-Raid Precautions.-The Home Office recently issued to local authorities the householders’ handbook on protection against air-raids. Among the contents are simple directions in the preparation of a refuge room, explanations of the purpose and use of a respirator and an outline of precautions against fire. Sir Samuel Hoare, in a foreword to the handbook, submits that the target of the enemy would be the staunchness of the people at home and he asks for the assistance of volunteers to the air-raid precautions services, in helping every householder to make his home more safe against air-attack.Other points of advice are- to study precautions against fire by incendiary bombs, to collect materials for gas-protecting your refuge room, to collect simple 187 fire appliances, to make arrangements for the removal of children, invalids and pets to a place of safety, and to ascertain from the local council offices particulars of air-raid precautions organisation and fire-brigade arrangements in the district. The refuge room should have as few windows as possible, be soundly constructed and easy to reach. A cellar or basement is specially recommended. The refuge room should contain a lamp, old newspaper, brown paper, adhesive tape, airtight tins for storing food, a bottle of disinfectant and first-aid supplies.The second section of the book deals with “Things to do if there should be a war ”:-prepare and equip a refuge room, make preparations for darkening the house at night, and clear the top of the house of all inflammable stuff. Instructions are given for the preparation of a refuge room against gas and the effect of explosive bombs. Additional things to be placed in the refuge room are-water, tinned food, a simple hand-pump, sand, a long handled shovel, and spare blankets, for re-sealing a window should it be blown in. A third section describes the duties of the householder, who should take command, see that everyone is provided with a respirator, shut all doors and windows, extinguish all fires in grates, turn off all gas points, and fill the bath with water as a precaution in case of fire.Finally, a section deals with the immediate treatment of wounds and injuries. Fellows and Associates, who are disposed to offer their services in answer to the appeal recently made by the Home Secretary, should communicate with their local authorities. Many are doubtless able to render assistance as Air Wardens or Instructors, but it would be advisable for them to indicate that, in an emergency, their services might be required for duties in which their scientific knowledge could be more usefully employed. SCIENCEIN PARLIAMENT Water Su$$Zies.-In the House of Commons on 3rd February, the Minister of Health was asked whether he was aware that the water supply of New Zealanders, Australians and South Africans in rural and semi-rural areas is derived from rain, stored in large corrugated tanks, attached to each house; that such water is purer than that that comes from the earth, is free from all typhoid or other germs, and when boiled makes the best tea; that those 188 that drink it after boiling are never afflicted with rheumatism; and whether he would take steps to provide similar tanks for rural areas in this country, in order that those districts which experience droughts may be provided with a pure and adequate supply ? The Minister replied that he was aware that rain water, stored in properly constructed tanks, might provide an adequate supply of pure water for rural houses, but he was not aware of its peculiar dietetic and medicinal qualities.It was the duty of a local authority to require that every house in its district had, within reasonable distance, a sufficient supply of wholesome water, and this requirement might be satisfied by adequate storage of rain-water in tanks constructed in accordance with the local authority’s by-laws. Pasteurization.-On the 4th February, the Minister of Agri- culture was asked whether his attention had been drawn to the investigations carried out by the Hannah Institute of Dairy Research into the feeding of calves on raw and pasteurized milk by experiments with two groups of calves-the first group with ordinary commercial milk in its raw state, the second group with the same milk after it had been submitted to ordinary com- mercial pasteurization in a local dairy; thit the result shewed that of the 36 calves fed on ordinary commercial milk in its raw state, 23 were ultimately found to be infected by tuberculosis mainly in the lungs, and of the 37 calves fed on the same milk, after it had been submitted to ordinary commercial pasteurization in a local dairy, no case of tubercular infection had been found; and, in view of this, whether he would take steps to make com- pulsory pasteurization of all milk marketed ? The Minister of Agriculture, in reply, stated that the answer to the first part of the.question was that the Government’s proposals regarding the compulsory pasteurization of milk were outlined in the White Paper on Milk Policy issued in July last and as already announced, it was the Government’s intention to bring forward legislation this Session on these lines.Agricultural Research Couficil.-On the 15th February the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, as representing the Lord President of the Council, was asked whether he was aware that the Agricultural Research Council had issued no report on its proceedings for any period since September, 1935; and whether and,if so, when a further report might be expected? 189 The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster replied that, after the constitution of the Agricultural Research Council, it was decided that, having regard to the content of other Government publications dealing with agricultural research , the report of the Council could most usefully take the form of a critical review of research in progress, to be published at intervals of two years.The Report of the Council for the two years ending the 30th September, 1937,was in the press. Water Su$$Zies.-The Minister of Health was asked how many local authorities covering a population of zoo,ooo and over, employed an engineer for water purposes only? The Minister stated that, according to his information, all such authorities, other than the Croydon Corporation, had a water engineer, who was employed solely for the purpose of supervising their water supply undertaking. Scientijc Research (Gra~~ts).-On the zznd February, the Financial Secretary to the Treasury was asked what was the total annual grant that had been made from State funds towards scientific research; how this sum was allocated between the various research boards; how the amount spent by this country on research out of State funds compared with the amounts spent on the same objects by other European countries and the United States of America; and whether any reorganisation of these services was contemplated ? The Financial Secretary stated that he was collecting the information asked for in the first two parts of the question, and promised to supply it at an early date.Comparable figures on expenditure on scientific investigation by other countries were not available.He was unaware that any general re-organisation of the State research services was in contemplation. Research (Vegetables).-On the 24th February the Minister of Agriculture was asked whether, in view of the fact that there was no research station in the country to deal with vegetables only, the Government were prepared to consider setting up a research station for this purpose, in connection with the cultivation of better varieties of vegetables and the control of disease? The Minister replied that the Horticultural Research Station attached to the University of Cambridge was mainly concerned with vegetables. The question of extending the provision for vegetable research was at present under consideration by the 190 Agricultural Research Council, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Scottish Department of Agriculture.Honours.-Among the New Year’s Honours, Mr. Theodore Rigg, Fellow, Director of The Cawthron Institute, Nelson, New Zealand, was created a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (K.B.E.). Sir Theodore Rigg has been intimately associated with investigations, conducted in New Zealand, relating to soils, and animal and plant diseases attributed to mineral abnormalities of the soil, in addition to problems connected with fruit cultivation. He is also an active member of the Council of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in New Zealand, of which he was Chairman during 1936. Dr. Reginald Sydney Gilbert Knight, Fellou, was appointed an Officer, and Mr. William Alexander Fyffe, Fellow, a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.Professor I. M. Heilbron, F.R.S., FeZZow, Sir Samuel Hall Professor of Chemistry in the University of Manchester, has been appointed Professor of Organic Chemistry at Imperial College of Science and Technology, to succeed Professor J. F. Thorpe, C.B.E., F.R.S., Fellow, who will retire from that Chair in October next. Professor G. M. Bennett, Fellom, Firth Professor of Chemistry in the University of Sheffield, has been appointed University Professor of Chemistry in King’s College, London, arising from the retirement of Professor Samuel Smiles, O.B.E., F.R.S., Fellow. Professor James Wilfred Cook and Dr.Frank Sturdy Sinnatt, C.B., M.B.E., Fellows, have been elected Fellows of the Royal Society. Dr. Henry Winder Brownsdon, Fellow, was presented with the Thomas Turner Gold Medal, at a meeting of the Birmingham University Metallurgical Society on 8th February. 191 Codes of Ethics.-The American Institute of Chemists has lately re-stated its professional code, which is here reproduced. For the most part, this would undoubtedly be endorsed by British chemists; but it may be remarked with regard to clause 6 that the association of the names of professional men and women with any form of general advertising matter is dis- couraged in this country. The profession of chemistry has become an increasingly important factor in the progress of civilisation, and in the welfare of the community. Chemists are entitled to the position and authority which will enable them to discharge their responsibilities properly and to render effective service to humanity.In order that the honour and dignity of the profession be advanced and maintained, The American Institute of Chemists has prepared the following code to define the rules of professional conduct and ethics, binding on its members. I. Every individual, on entering the profession of chemistry and thereby becoming entitled to full professional fellowship, incurs an obligation to advance the science and art of chemistry, to guard and uphold its high standard of honour, and to conform to the principles of professional conduct.2. It is the duty of a chemist to bear his part in sustaining the laws, institutions, and burdens of his community. 3. The chemist shall not knowingly engage in illegal work or co-operate with those who are so engaged. 4. A chemist shall carry on his professional work and act in a strict spirit of fairness to employers, contractors, and clients, and in a spirit of personal helpfulness and fraternity toward other members of the chemical profession. 5. He shall refrain from associating with or allowing the use of his name by any enterprise of questionable character. 6. Advertising matter containing his name shall be dignified in tone and characterised by due scientific restraint. Such advertising matter shall not contain any statements which may tend to bring himself or his profession into disrepute.Equivocal or false statements, or statements which are liable to mislead shall not be permitted. The use of personal photographs or self-laudatory statements is condemned. If a title is used, it must be definitely characterised. 192 7. He shall co-operate in upbuilding the profession by ex-changing general information and experience with his fellow chemists, and by contributing to the work of technical societies and the technical press, where such information does not conflict with the interests of his client or employer. It is very desirable that the first publication regarding inventions or other scientific advances be made through the technical societies and technical publications and not through the public press.Care shall be taken that credit for technical work be attributed as far as possible to the real authors of the work. 8. If in his opinion, work requested of him by clients or employers seems to present improbability of successful results, he shall so advise before undertaking the work. 9. He shall be conservative in all estimates, reports, testi- mony, etc., and especially so if these are in connection with the promotion of a business enterprise. 10. He shall not accept compensation, financial, or otherwise, from more than one interested party without the consent of all parties concerned, and shall not accept commissions from outside parties on sales to his client or employer without their knowledge. He is, however, in no way debarred from accepting employment from more than one employer where there is no conflict of interests.11. He shall not use any unfair, improper, or questionable met hods of securing professional work or advancement, and shall decline to pay or accept commissions for securing such work. 12. He may use all honourable means in competition to secure professional employment but shall not, by unfair means, injure directly or indirectly the professional reputation, prospects, or business of a fellow chemist ;and shall not attempt to supplant a fellow chemist after definite steps have been taken toward the latter’s employment. 13. He shall not knowingly accept employment by a client or employer as substitute while the claim for compensation or damage, or both, of a fellow chemist previously employed by the same client or employer and whose employment has been termi- nated, remains unsatisfied, or until such claim has been referred to arbitration, or issue has been joined at law, or unless the chemist previously employed has neglected to press his claim legally.193 14. He shall be diligent in exposing and opposing such errors and frauds as his special knowledge enables him to recognise. 15. Any infractions of these principles of professional conduct, coming to his attention, shall be reported to the Ethics Committee of The American Institute of Chemists. 16. He shall not attempt to compete with a fellow chemist on the basis of professional charges, by reducing his usual charges in order to underbid, after being informed of the charges named by the competitor.17. He shall not accept any engagement to review the professional work (except journal articles and similar scientific publications, and in litigation) of a fellow chemist without the knowledge of such chemist, or unless the connection of such chemist with the work has been terminated. 18. When undertaking work for a client or employer, he should enter into an agreement regarding the ownership of any and all data, plans, improvements, patents, designs, or other records which he may develop or discover while in the employ of such a client or employer. This agreement should include a restriction of the use of reports for advertising purposes.In the absence of a written understanding the following principles are held to apply: If a chemist uses information obtainable only from his client or employer which is not common knowledge or public property, any results in the form of designs, plans, inventions, processes, etc., shall be regarded as the property of the employer. If a chemist uses his own knowledge or information or data which by prior publication or otherwise are public property, then the results in the form of designs, plans, inventions, processes, etc. ,remain the property of the chemist, and the client or employer is entitled to their use only in the case for which the chemist was retained. All work and results accomplished by the chemist outside of the field for which he was employed or retained are the property of the chemist. Special data or information obtained by a chemist from his client or employer or which he creates as a result of such information, are to be considered confidential, and 194 while it is ethical to use such data or information in his practice as forming part of his professional experience, its publication without permission is improper.(e) He shall not suppress information or unduly accentuate statements in reports for the purpose of making gain or profit to himself or others. 19. He shall as far as possible in consulting work fix fees at a point high enough to warrant complete and adequate service. Unreasonably low charges for professional work tend toward inferior and unreliable work.In fixing fees it is proper for him to consider: (a) The time and labour involved, the novelty and difficulty of the matter, and the experience and skill necessary. (b) Whether the employment precludes other employment in similar lines or will involve the loss of other business while engaging in the particular work. (c) Customary charge of chemists for similar services. (d) The magnitude of the matter involved, and the benefits resulting to the client from the services. (e) The character of the employment, whether casual or for an established and constant client. 20. While it is desirable that chemists engaged in teaching and research should be permitted to use their special knowledge and skill in direct service to individual clients, it is prejudicial to the welfare of the profession for such services to be rendered at rates which ignore ordinary costs of equipment, supplies, and overhead expenses.21. Having established a fair fee and billed same to a client, he should oppose any effort of a client to have such fee reduced without real and sufficient cause. Wherever compatible with self-respect and the right to receive a reasonable recompense for services rendered, controversies with clients regarding compen- sation are to be avoided. There should, however, be no hesitation to apply to the courts for redress to prevent injustice, imposition, or fraud. Under section 16 of the Charter of the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland : If any person while he is a member of the Institute- 195 Allows any person not being either a member of the Insti- tute or in partnership with himself as an Analytical or Consulting Chemist to practise in his name as an Analytical or Consulting Chemist, or Is convicted of felony or misdemeanour or is finally declared by any court of competent jurisdiction to have committed any fraud, or Is held by the Council on the complaint of any member of the Institute or of any person aggrieved to have been guilty of any act or default discreditable to the profession of Analytical or Consulting Chemistry, or Is adjudged bankrupt or individually or as partner makes an assignment for the benefit of creditors or under the Order of a Court of Bankruptcy or under any deed or document has his estate sequestrated or placed in liqui- dation for the benefit of creditors or makes any arrange- ment for payment of a composition to creditors, or Shall engage in any occupation which in the opinion of the Council shall be inconsistent with his remaining a member of the Institute, or Fails to pay any subscription or other sum payable by him to the Institute for one year after the same has become due, or Fails after suspension to deliver up his certificate of Fellowship or Associateship to the Council upon demand.Such persons shall be liable to be excluded from membership or to be suspended from membership for any period not exceeding two years by a resolution of the Council. ., . , . By-law 57 of our Institute prescribes that- “The following acts are such as shall be deemed to be discreditable within the meaning of Section 16 (3) of the Charter :-“(a) Unprofessional soliciting for practice. “(b) Unfair competition. “(c) Supplying to other persons not being qualified chemists, reports or certificates with the knowledge that these persons will issue such reports or certificates as their own work. “(d) Issuing or allowing to be issued reports or certificates intended for publication containing unjustifiable state- ments. 196 “Provided that the above enumeration of acts shall not be treated as exhaustive or in any manner limiting the inter- pretation of Section 16 (3) of the Charter.’’ The Australian Chemical Institute has similar provisions and has lately reminded its members that in 1920 it adopted the following resolution which had been decided by a general meeting of the Home Institute held in April, 1893-“That the following acts, or any of them, shall be held to be discreditable to the profession of Analytical and Consulting Chemist : “ ‘ (I) Undertaking through another person or agency the performing of professional work at fees representing only a small fraction of the usual recognised scale of fees for analytical work.‘( (2) Supplying to persons not being qualified chemists reports upon samples or processes with the knowledge that these other persons will issue such reports as their own work.(3) Issuing or allowing to be issued certificates of purity “ or superiority concerning advertised commodities, such certificates being either not based upon the results of an analysis or containing exaggerated, irrelevant or merely laudatory expressions designed to serve the purpose of a trade puff. c‘ ‘ (4) The unauthorised use of letters indicating University degrees.’ ” 197 Obituary. Information has recently been received that JUAN CHARLESPEDIGE CHANDRASENA,of Colombo, died in 1934, at the age of 47 years. He received his early education at Ananda College and the Training College, Colombo, where he matriculated in 1911. He qualified as a trained teacher at the Government Technical School and in 1914 was appointed demonstrator in chemistry at the Ceylon Medical College, being one of the first to graduate B.Sc.(Lond.), in Ceylon. In 1920 he came to England, with a Government Scholarship, and studied organic chemistry at the Imperial College of Science for two years under Professor Jocelyn Thorpe. He was later awarded the Ph.D. and the D.I.C. In 1922, on his return to Ceylon, he was appointed lecturer in chemistry at the University College, Colombo and, in 1933, on the retirement of Professor N. Rae,he wa's appointed professor of chemistry, and held the chair until his death. He was elected to the Associateship of the Institute in 1922. ERNESTGOULDINGdied at Wood Green, London, on 15th February, in his 67th year.He received his general education at Tollington Park College and, on gaining a Jacob Bell Memorial Scholarship, entered the School of the Pharmaceutical Society in 1892. He graduated B.Sc. (Lond.) in 1898 and proceeded to D.Sc. in 1903. From 1896 until 1935, he was msociated with the Imperial Institute. He participated especially in the scientific and technical work on Empire raw materials, both in labora- tory investigations and intelligence service. He was a recognised authority on vegetable fibres, and largely responsible for pre-war investigations of Empire-grown cottons carried out at the Imperial Institute in the pioneer stage of cotton cultivation in the Empire. In more recent times, he was associated with the extension of the use of Empire-grown Sisal and other hard fibres for marine cordage and other purposes.At the time of his retirement, he was Vice-principal of the Plant and Animal Products Department, and since 1923 he had been responsible for editing the Bulletin of the Institute. He also acted as Secretary to the Advisory Committee on Vegetable Fibres from its formation in 1926. He published several papers on pure chemistry and many on plant products, chiefly in conjunc- tion with Professor Sir Wyndham R. Dunstan. He was the author of a well-known book on Cotton and Other Vegetable Fibres, published in 1917, and in 1936, received the Mather Medal of the Textile Institute. His address on that occasion gave a valuable resume of Empire production of bast fibres.He was elected an Associate of the Institute in 1899 and a Fellow in 1902. DENIS VERNONJONESdied on 31st January at Abadan, Iran, in his 40th year. He was educated at the High Pavement Secondary School, Nottingham, and in 1916 proceeded to University College in the same City. A few months afterwards, he joined the University O.T.C., and in 1918 saw active service in Mesopotamia, He returned to the College in March, 198 1919, where he studied chemistry for three years, graduating B.Sc., with honours in 1922. In the following year he was appointed to the staff of the Anglo-Persian Oil Co., Ltd., at Abadan, Iran, later becoming Senior operator, a post he held until his death. He was elected an Associate in 1922. EDGARPERCIVAL KING, died on the 5th March in his 55th year.He was born at Stroud, Glos., in 1883, and was educated at the Marling En- dowed School in that town, where he passed the Intermediate Science Examination in chemistry of the London University. In1902 he pro-ceeded to Leeds University where he specialised in colour chemistry and dyeing, gaining the diploma in dyeing in 1907 and the Silver Medal and Prize of the City and Guilds of London Institute in the subject of Coal Tar Dyestuffs. In 1908 he joined the staff of Messrs. Courtauld, Ltd., at Braintree, Essex. Here he remained for eight years, gaining wide ex- perience as works chemist in connection with the methods of dyeing silks and artificial'silks. In 1917 he became lecturer in dyeing and research assistant to the late Professor A.G. Perkin at Leeds University, where he continued until shortly before his death. He was elected to the Associateship in 1922. LOUISJOHNE. RILEY died at Kensington in May, 1937, in his 59th year. Born in Trinidad, he was educated at St. Mary's College, Port of Spain, proceeded to Edinburgh University in 1898, and to the Glasgow and West of Scotland-now the Royal-Technical College, in 1900. After some experience in the laboratory of Mr. A. Chaston Chapman, and with Dr. Frank Clowes in the laboratory of the London County Council, he became assistant to Mr. A. Gordon Salamon, by whom he was entrusted with the control of industrial experiments connected with the brewing industry and with whom he remained until Mr.Salamon's death in 1918. In 1922, he returned to the West Indies, but came back again in the following year and waa engaged with Messrs. A. Duckham & CO., Ltd., until his death. He was elected an Associate of the Institute in 1904, and a Fellow in 1907. 199 Books and their Contents. The following books have been kindly presented by the authors and publishers and may be seen in the Library of the Institute:-“Chemical Analysis, Outlines and Methods of.” G. E. F. Lundell and J. I. Hoffman: Pp. xii + 250. (London: Chapman & Hall, Ltd.; New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) 15s. net. Part I : Introduction; Occurrence of the elements and the classification of materials; sampling; preparation of the solution for analysis.Part 11: introduction ; distribution of the elements in the general procedure ; separation of the acid, hydrogen sulphide, ammonium hydroxide, ammonium sulphide, ammonium oxalate and ammonium phosphate groups; elements that are not adequately covered in the general proce- dure; separation of the alkali group; of members of the hydrogen sulphide group from one another, and of members of the ammonium hydroxide group from one another ; precipitation by the basic-acetate method, by means of zinc oxide, and by phosphoric acid in strong acid solution; electrolysis with a mercury cathode; extraction with ether. Part 111: General; gravimetric methods based on the use of inorganic reagents; determination by weighing as the element; as the oxide; as the sulphide; as the sulphate; as the phosphate; determinations based on properties of the chlorides ; determinations based on reactions with silver ;precipitation by dimethylglyoxime ;by 8-hydroxyquinoline ; by cupferron; by a-nitroso- /3-napthol; by cc-benzoinoxime; and by phenylthiohydantoic acid ; standard solutions and indicators used in volumetric methods ; acidimetry and alkalimetry ; oxidation and reduction ; iodimetry, iodometry and similar methods ; potentiometric,elect>rolytic, colorimetric and spectrochemical methods.Part IV : Analysis of limestone; determinations of alkalies in feldspar ; routine determination of Al, 0, in bauxite; analysis of a wet-process enamel for cast iron; analysis of steel, brass, German silver, bronze, and phosphor bronze bearing metal.Part V: Evaluation of results obtained in chemi- cal analyses ; standard analysed samples ; subject index. “Dipole Moments : Their Measurement and Application in Chemistry.” R. J. W. Le Fevre. Pp. vi + 110. (London: Methuen & Co., Ltd.) 3s. 6d. net. Dielectric polarisation and the calculation of dipole moments ; practicalmethods for the measurement of dipole moments; solvent effect in dipole moment measurements ; dipole moments and molecular structure ; intramolecular rotation and flexibility of molecules; some anomalous dipole moments; table of dipole moments; index. 200 “Matter, The Fine Structure of.” The bearing of recent work on crystal structure, polarisation and line structure, polarisa- tion and line spectra.Vol. I1 of a comprehensive treatise of Atomic and Molecular Structures,-Part 11,Molecular Polarisa- tion. C. H. Douglas Clark. Pp. i to XXXVI; Pp. 217 to 458; Pp. xxxvii to lxxii. (London: Chapman & Hall, Ltd.) 15s. net. Part I: X-rays and the structure of matter; the crystal structure of elements; the crystal structure of inorganic compounds of type AB ; the crystal structure of inorganic compounds of type AB, the crystal structure of compounds of further inorganic types, of compounds of organic types, of colloids and amorphous substances, and of alloys,inter-metallic compounds and solid solutions ; crystal structure and molecular constitution. Part I1: Dielectric constants; the Debye theory of polarisation ;molecular refraction ;polar molecules ;molecular fields.Part 111: The quantum theory and line spectra; the general principles of line-spectra; the multiple structure of lines; line spectra and the periodic classification. “Reagents, Organic, for Metals and for certain Acid Radicals.” By the staff of the Research Laboratory of Hopkin & Williams, Ltd. Foreword by A. D. Mitchell and A. M. Ward. 3rd Edition. Pp. 156. (London: Hopkin & Williams, Ltd.) “Rubber Latex, The Chemistry and Technology of.” C. Falconer Flint. Foreword by B. J. Eaton. Pp. xx + 716. (London: Chapman & Hall, Ltd.) 42s. net. Historical; the sourco of rubber latex ; composition and properties of latex ;coagulation of latex and preparation of rubber ;the preservation, shipping, and concentration of latex ;the compounding and vulcanisation of rubber by latex processes; manufacture of dipped goods from latex; electro-deposition of rubber in latex ;impregnation of fibres and fabrics; latex in the textile industry ; various applications of rubber latex ; physical t8esting of latex rubber ; artificial dispersions of rubber ; additional notes ; author index ; subject index.The volume is based on Georges G6nin’s “Chimie et Technologie du Latex de Caouthouc.” “Solvents.” Thos. H. Durrans. Volume IV of a series of Monographs on Applied Chemistry. Edited by E. Howard Tripp. Fourth revised and enlarged edition. Pp. xviii+ 238. (London: Chapman & Hall, Ltd.). 15s. net. Part I:Introduction; solvent action; solvent power ;plasticising solvents; solvent balance ; viscosity ; vapour pressure ; inflammability ; toxicity.Part I1: Introduction ; abbreviations ; hydrocarbons and sundry sol- vents ; alcohols and their ethers ; ketones ; esters ; glycols and their ethers;cyclohexane derivatives ;chloro-compounds ;furfurals ;plasticisingsolvents ;appendices ;trade names j solubility tables ;plasticiser propor- tions ;index.201 ‘‘Volumetric Analysis, an Intermediate Course of.” G. E. Watts and C. Chew. Pp. viii + 224. (London and Glasgow: Blackie & Son, Ltd.) 3s. 6d. General principles ;apparatus and its use ; neutralisation; precipitation ; oxidation by potassium dichromate ;oxidation by iodine ; miscellaneous methods ; examination questions ; answers to numerical questions ; appendix ; logarithms ; index.British Standards Institution.-The following British Standards have recently been received (2s. each; 2s. zd. post free) :-NO. 255-1938 Asbes t ine 260-1 938 Baryt es 1 Extenders for Paints 281-1938 Blanc Fixe I 301-1938 Silica I NO. 331-1938 Paste Driers ) Driers for Paints. 332-1 938 Liquid Driers NO. 370-1938 Venetian Red for Paints. NO. 776-1938 Materials for Use in the Manufacture of Magnesium Oxychloride Flooring Com-positions. NO. 769-1938 Chemical Analysis of Butter. NO. 770-1938 Chemical Analysis of Cheese. No. 771-1938 Synthetic Resin (Phenolic). Moulding Materials and Mouldings. No. 773-1938 Ostwald-Folin Pipettes.No. 783-1938 Japanese and/or Korean Sardine Oil (Pale). NO. 784-1938 Methods for the Testing of Chemical Stone- ware. Addendum to Methods of Testing Gelatines. (B.S. NO. 757-1937.) The following Addendum slips have also been received:- C.E. (B) 6366 Asbestos-cement slates. Unreinforced flat sheets and Corrugated sheets. (B.S.S. No. 690-1936.) C.E. (C) 1480 The Sampling and Analysis of Coal and Coke. (B.S.S. No. 496-1933.) C.E. (C) 6926 Methods for Testing Gelatines. (B.S. No. 757-1937.) 202 Science Library: Central Agricultural and Scientific Bibliography.-Mr. W. P. Dreaper, Hon. Secretary, C. A. S. B., has lately issued cyclostyle copies of a “List of Bibliographies” prepared since March 1938,many of which are of interest to chemists concerned with agriculture and allied industries, industrial chemistry and physics.Recently prepared bibliographies include-under Section I : Agriculture and Allied Industries : “The Mechanical Application of Fertilizers and Manures,” and “The History of Early Agriculture, with Special Reference .to the Introduction of Implements.” Under Section 5 : “Industrial Chemistry and Physics ”: “The Drying of Eggs”; “The Use of Synthetic Plastics for Binding Abrasives ”; “Wood Gas ”; and “The Production of Benzine from Water Gas.” The Comtk International des Tables Annuelles de Constantes et Dormkes Numeriques announces the publication of a new series of Monographs of Annual Tables of Constants and Numerical Data (1931-36,Vol.XI and XII), obtainable from Hermann & Cie, 6,rue de la Sorbonne, Paris. The Cambridge University Press has notified the proposed production of a new series under the title of The Cambridge Library of Modern Science to be edited by C. P. Snow. The first book of the series will be--“ The Evolution of Physics,” by Professor Albert Einstein and Dr. L. Infeld, and the published price, about 10s. 6d. In the Cambridge series of Physical Chemistry a new volume on iiCombustion, Flames and Explosions of Gases,” by Bernard Lewis and Guenther von Elbe, will be published at about 21s. The National Smoke Abatement Society announces the publication of “The Law of Smoke Nuisances,” by W. A. Hornby Steer, being the late Mr. Randolph Glen’s book- “The Law Relating to Smoke and Noxious Fumes ”-revised in accordance with the Public Health Acts, 1936,and extended.(Paper: IS.; Cloth: 2s. 6d.) 203 Oxford University Press has published “The Science of Petroleum,”-a comprehensive treatise of the Principles and Practice of the production and refining of Mineral Oil, edited by Dr. A. E. Dunstan, Professor A. W. Nash, Dr. B. T. Brooks, and Sir Henry T. Tizard; published in 4 Volumes, 4t0, fully illustrated, Fifteen guineas net. Messrs. Macmillan & Co., Ltd., announce the publication of Ad Isaac Newton 1642-1727”by J. W.N. Sullivan,-8s. 6d.net; and“Catalysis from the Standpoint of Chemical Kinetics,’’ by Georg-Maria Schwab,-18s. net ;also, “Laboratory Methods of Bio-Chemistry,” by A.Bertho and W. Grassmann, trans- lated by W. McCartney. Messrs. Routledge, Kegan and Paul, Broadway House, 6872, Carter Lane, London, E.C.4, will publish, in April, “Modern Aspects of Inorganic Chemistry,” by H. J. Emelbus and J. S. Anderson. About 15s. University of London Press: In the New General Science Series published by the London University Press,-in addition to “CHEMISTRY ”(WITH SOMEGEOLOGY)by J. A. Lauwerys and J. Ellison, which was noticed in Part I of the JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS,1g38,-the publishers now announce a ‘‘First Book of General Science,” by W. J. Gale,-Part I.:-Mainly about Matter, 2s. 6d.; Part II.:-Ma.inly about Energy, 3s. 6d.; General Biology, by M. E. Phillips and C. E. Cox, 3s.; and General Physics.by F. Oldham and E. Langton--irt the press. The Burgess Publishing Company (426, South Sixth Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A.) announces the publication of “Determination of the Amino Acids,” by Richard J. Block, Department of Chemistry, New York State Psychiatric Institute and Hospital, New York City. $2.00. 204 The Library, 1937-38. Since the issue of the JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS,Part 11, 1937,the Council has had much pleasure in acknowledging the following gifts:- MESSRS. EDWARD & Co.:ARNOLD Chemistry, Matter and Life. S. Miall and L. M. Miall. London,1937. MESSRS.BLACKIE& SON,LTD.: An Intermediate Course of Volumetric Analysis. G. E. Watts and C. Chew. London,1938. MESSRS. BRITISH DRUG HOUSES,LTD.: “Analar ” Standards for Laboratory Chemicals.2nd Edition. London, 1937. The B.D.H. Book of Organic Reagents for Delicate Analysis and “Spot” Tests. 6th Edition. London,1937. CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITY :PRESS Elasticity, Plasticity and Structure of Matter. R. Houwink. Cam-bridge, 1937. Perspectives in Biochemistry. Edited by J. Needham and D. E. Green. Cambridge, 1937. Qualitative Inorganic Analysis. A. J. Berry. Cambridge, 1938. The Newer Alchemy. Lord Rutherford, F.R.S. Cambridge, 1937. MESSRS.CHAPMAN& HALL, LTD.: Analytical Chemistry. Vol. I. Qualitative Analysis. 9th English Edition. F. P. Treadwell and W. T. Hall. London, 1937. Canning Practice and Control. 0. Jones and T. W. Jones. London, 1937. Catalytic Processes in Applied Chemistry.2nd Edition. T. P. Hilditch and C. C. Hall. London, 1937. Colloid Chemistry. Principles and Applications. 4th Edition. J. Alexander. London, 1937. Drugs and Galenicals. Their Quantitative Analysis. D. C. Garratt. London, 1937. Organic Chemistry. F. C. Whitmore. London, 1937. Outlines of Methods of Chemical Analysis. G. E. F. Lundell and J. I. Hoffman. London, 1938. Outlines of Theoretical Chemistry. F. H. Getman and F. Daniels. London, 1937. Protective Films on Metals. E. S. Hedges. London, 1937. Quantitative Analysis. W. C. Pierce and E. L. Haenisch. London, 1937. Reagent Chemicals and Standards. J. Rosin. London, 1937. Solvents. T. H. Durrans. 4th revised and enlarged Edition. London, 1938. The Analytical Chemistry of Tantalum and Niobium.W. R. Schoeller. London, 1937. 205 The Biochemistry of the Lipids. H. B. Bull. London, 1937 The Chemistry and Technology of Rubber Latex. C. F. Flint. London, 1938. The Drama of Chemistry. S. J. French. London, 1937. The Fine Structure of Matter. Part I. X-Rays and the Structure of Matter. C. H. D. Clark. London, 1937. The Fine Structure of Matter. Part 11. Molecular Polarization. C. H. D. Clark. London, 1938. MESSRS.CONSTABLE8: Co., LTD.: Systematic Organic Chemistry. W. M. Cumming, I. V. Hopper and T. S. Wheeler. 3rd Edition. London, 1937. MESSRS. COPPER DEVELOPMENT :ASSOCIATION Copper in Cast Steel and Iron. London, 1937. MESSRS.J. M. DENT& SONS,LTD.: Higher School Qualitative Analysis.F. A. Meerendonk. London, 1938. Notes on Qualitative Organic Analysis. F. R. Storrie London, 1938. MESSRS. GERALD &.cO., LTD. :DUCKWORTH A Hundred Years of Chemistry. A. Findlay. London, 1937. MESsRS. A. GALLENKAMP & CO., LTD.: Sand, Gravel and other Aggregates. Methods of Testing. J. Watson. London, 1938. MESSRS. CHARLESGRIFFIN& Co., LTD.: Inks : Their Composition and Manufacture. C. Ainsworth Mitchell. London, 1937. MESSRS.HIGH DUTY ALLOYS, LTD.: Aluminium Alloys. From the book by A. Von Zeerleder. Translated by A. J. Field. SEough, 1936. MESSRS. HOPKIN& WILLIAMS, LTD.: Organic Reagents for Metals and for certain Acid Radicals. By the Staff of the Research Laboratory of Messrs. Hopkin & Williams, Ltd.London, 1938. MESSRS. HUTCHINSON’S AND TECHNICAL :SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS Modern Rubber Chemistry. H. Barron. London, 1937. MESSRS. ILFORD,LTD.: Criminal Investigation and Evidence by Photography. 0. Bloch. London, 1937. THEIMPERIAL :INSTITUTE Barium Minerals. 2nd Edition. J. Simpson. London, 1937. Strontium Minerals. 2nd Edition. E. H. Beard. London, 1937. The Mineral Position of the British Empire. London, 1937. INSTITUTION TECHNOLOGISTSOF PETROLEUM : Petroleum Technology in 1936. F. H. Garner. London, 1937. A. W. KNAPP,EsQ.,M.Sc., F.I.C.: Cacao Fermentation. A. W. Knapp. London, 1937. MESSRS.LIBRAIRIE COLIN:ARMAND Les MBthodes actuelles de la Chimie. P. Jolibois. 3rd Edition revised. London, 1938. MESSRS.LONGMANS,GREEN& Co., LTD.: A Comprehensive Treatise on Inorganic and Theoretical Chemistry. Vol. XVI. Sir J. W. Mellor. London, 1937. A Text-Book of Qualitative Chemical Analysis. A. I.Vogel. London, 1937. Metallography. C. H. Desch. London, 1937. Thorpe’s Dictionary of Applied Chemistry. J. F. Thorpe, C.B.E., F.R.S., and M. A. Whiteley. 4th Edition. Vol. I. London, 1937. MESSRS. METWEN & Co., LTD.: Dipole Moments. Their Measurement and Application in Chemistry.R. J. W. Le Fkvre. London, 1938. The Electrochemistry of Solutions. S. Glasstone. London, 1937. MESSRS. THOMASMURBY & Co.: Mother Earth. Being Letters on Soil addressed to Professor R. G. Stapledon, C.B.E. G. W. Robinson. London, 1937. OXFORD UNIVERSITY :PRESS.The Biochemistry of Cellulose, The Polyuronides, Lignin, etc. A. G. Norman. Ozjoord, 1937. PUBLISHINUMESSRS. PENTON Co., LTD.: High Temperature Welding Flames. D. S6fBrian. London, 1937. THE PHARMACEUTICAL PRESS : A History of Pharmacy. J. Grier. London, 1937. SIRISAAC AND SONS, LTD.: PITMAN Patents for Inventions. R. Haddan. London, 1937. SAFETYIN MINES RESEARCHBOARD: Publications of the Safety in Mines Research Board. Vol. XI, 1936. London, 1937. Dr. W. R. SCHOELLER,F.I.C. : The Analytical Chemistry of Tantalum and Niobium. W. R. Schoeller. London, 1937. THE SCIENCE MUSEUM: Very Low Temperatures. Books 1, 2 and 3. London, 1937. THE SOUTH METROPOLITANGASCo.: The Preparation of Thin Tar Carpets. London, 1937.MESSRS. E. &. F. N. SPON, LTD.: The Cosmetic Formulary. H. Bennett. London, 1937. THE TECHNICAL PRESS, LTD.: Colloid Systems. A. Von BurzBgh. London, 1937. UNIVERSITY PRESSOF LONDON : Chemistry (with some Geology). Part I, and complete volume also. J. A. Lauwerys and J. Ellison. London, 1938. MESSRS. WIGHTMAN & CO., LTD.: Weeds, Weeds, Weeds. Sir C. Vernon Boys, F.R.S. London, 1937. Books Purchased. The Mineral Industry during 1936. Vol. XLV. Edited by G. A. Roush. London, 1937. 207 The Register. At the meeting of Council held on 18th February, 1938, 3 new Fellows were elected, 7 Associates were elected to the Fellowship, zg new Associates were elected, and 40 Students were admitted. The Council regrets to record the deaths of I Fellow and I Associate.New Fellows. New, Archibald Alan, M.Sc. (Leeds), 77, Footscray Road, London, S.E.9. Seshadri, Tiruvenkata Rajendra, M.A. (Madras), Ph.D. (Manc.), Andhra University, Waltair, S. India. Walker, Thomas Richard, M.A. (Cantab.), The Priory, Oughtibridge, nr. Sheffield. Associates elected to the Fellowship. Barker, Professor William Francis, Ph.D. (Liv.), Rhodes University College, Grahamstown, S. Africa. Hayhurst, Horace, A.M.I.Chem.E., Fouray, Parkfield Road, Didsbury, Manchester. Ingham, John, 17, Harrissmith Road, Penylan, Cardiff. Johnston, William, 185a, Priory Road, London, N.8. Mathur, Krishna Gopal, M.Sc. (Allahabad), D.Sc. (Punjab.), University Chemical Laboratories, Lahore, India.Powell, Arthur Dudley, 64, Park Side, Derby Road, Beeston, Nottingham. Scott, William Errington, Ph.D. (Dun.), Windyhaugh, Friar Road, Brighton. New Associates. Bruce, Joseph, B.Sc. (Leeds), 69, Royal Park Avenue, Hyde Park, Leeds, 6. Burrows, Sydney, B.Sc. (Lond.), 57, Overdale Avenue, New Malden, Surrey. Carpenter, Miss Blanche Rosemary, Ph.D. (Lond.), Chipcot, Eastbury Road, Northwood, Middlesex. Cone, Edgar, B.Sc. (Lond.), A.R.C.S., D.I.C., 33, Redcliffe Gardens, London, S.W.10. Cossey, James, M.Sc. (Lond.), A.R.C.S., D.I.C., 7, Whittaker Street, London, S.W.l. Dawtrey, Sydney, B.Sc. (Lond.), 28, Albert View, Pellon, Halifax. Edge, Herbert Allan, B.Sc. (Lond.), 8, Reeves Road, Chelston, Torquay. Elston, Eric Stanley James, B.Sc.(Lond.), A.R.C.S., 65, Cavendish Drive, Rock Ferry, Birkenhead. Evans, Edward Michael, B.Sc. (Lond.), A.R.C.S., Kinsale, Sea View Road, Cliffs End, nr. Ramsgate. Fairlie, Andrew Miller, B.Sc. (Glas.), 18, Mount Stuart Street, Shawlands, Glasgow. France, Harold, B.Sc. (Glas.), Department of Chemistry, The University, Manchester, 13. 208 Fyfe, Robert, B.Sc. (Glas.), 4, Alexandra Terrace, Kilbirnie, Ayrshire. Gardner, Eric Richard, B.Sc. (Lond.), 6, Diamond Terrace, London, S.E.lO. Haworth, Ernest, M.Sc. (Mane.), 99, Stanhill Lane, Oswaldtwistle, Lancs. Hawthorne, John Russell, M.Sc. (Q.U.B.), 2, Breda Park Newtownbreda, Belfast. Holness, Reginald Frederick George, B.Sc. (Lond.), 734a, High Road, Tally Ho Corner, London, N.12. Holyday, Leslie Charles Horace, B.Sc.(Lond.), 30, Grosvenor Road, London, N.9. Lewis, John Richard, B.Sc. (Wales), 54, Cambria Street, Holyhead, Anglesey.Martin, Thomas Hamilton, M.Sc. (Manitoba), c/o The Refinery, Anglo- Iranian Oil Co., Ltd., Abadan, Iran. Nefdt, Harry Mathys, B.Sc. (S.A.), Medical Research Laboratory, P.O. Box 141, Nairobi, Kenya, Africa. Pennington, Joseph Donald, B.Sc. (Mane.), 5, Stanley Road, Walkden, nr. Manchester. Robb, Charles Alexander, B.Sc. (Q.U.B.), Chemical Engineering Depart- ment, King’s College, Strand, London, W.C.2. Roberts, Denys Thomas, B.Sc. (Bris.), 276, Pershore Road, Edgbwton, Birmingham, 5. Short, Miss Eileen Isobel, B.Pharm., Ph.D. (Lond.), 15, Trinity Street, Brighton.Stevens, William Stanley, B.Sc.(Lond.), Chester House, High Street, Castle Donington, nr. Derby. Summers, Donald, B.Sc. (Lond.), 28, Garrick Avenue, London, N.W.ll. Watson, Thomas Anderson, B.Sc. (Glas.), 64, Hotspur Street, Glasgow, N.W. Williams, Norman Edgar, B.Sc. (Lond.), 25, Vine Avenue, Sevenoaks. Woods, Douglas Eric, B.Sc. (Lond.), Ph.D., 3, Meadway, Hough Green, Widnes. New Students. Baird, Kirk, 6, Langdale Road, Wallasey. Barclay, Alexander Duff, 7, School Terrace, Bellsquarry, West Calder, Midlo thian. Berry, Robert Langley Page, Belvoir, Longford Lane, Longleavens, Glos. Brentnall, John Boyre, 30, Vine Street, Kersal, Manchester, 7. Brown, Norman Maurice, 98a, Wrotham Road, Gravesend. Carpenter, William James, 1, Gloucester Road, Hambrook, Bristol. Donald, Horace Lindley, 69, Welfare Road, Woodlands East, nr.Doncaster. Dunmore, Eric, 41, Sinclair Grove, London, N.W.ll. Evans, Ronald Major, 4, Springfield Street, Wigan. Gent, William Lawrence Greenwood, 81, Avalon Road, London, W.13. Gilroy, Patrick Eric, 17, Goldington Crescent, London, N.W.l. Gilson, Albert Ralph, 2, Denison Road, Victoria Park, Manchester, 14. Harrison, Kenneth Henry, 9, Stanley Road, London, E.18. Hartz, Lionel Samuel, 42, Cambridge Road, London, E.l. Henness, John Rowntree, 14, Devon Drive, Sherwood, Nottingham. Hensman, Jack, 46, Stretton Road, Leicester. Hulme, Harry, 8, York Road, Denton, Manchester. Hurst, Geoffrey, 54, Parkdale Road, Tonge Park, Bolton. James, William, 20, Park Road, Great Sankey, Warrington. Lloyd, Ronald, 38, Jubilee Street, Shotton, nr.Chester. Nicholson, Ernest Edward, 87, Sheringham Avenue, London, E. 12. Peabody, John Colin, Husband’s Bosworth, Rugby. Perry, Sidney Arthur, 137, High Street, Staple Hill, Bristol. Phillips, Dennis Herbert, 31, Alfred Road, Sparkhill, Birmingham, 11. 209 Rees, Anthony, 154, Highlever Road, London, W.10. Reid, James Hamilton, 11, Barns Crescent, Ayr. Riley, Victor Harry Beaumont, 10, Allendale Road, Stockton-on-Tees. Selfe, Francis Leslie, 4, Fallow Court Avenue, London, N.12. Sharples, Kenneth, 69, Rockliffe Street, Blackburn. Smith, Edward Leslie, 18, Carnarvon Road, Redland, Bristol, 6. Soby, William, 58, Morant Street, London, E.14. Sweeney, Herbert, 5, Bolton Road East, New Ferry, Cheshire.Tailby, Sydney Russell, St. Aubyns, Barrowfield, Dyke Road, Hove. Tomlinson, Russell Frederick, 75, Wash Lane, Warrington. Turner, Hubert Alfred, Flat 1, 2, Arthur Avenue, Lenton, Nottingham. Wall, Leslie Lakey, 54, Strathmore Crescent, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 4. Watt, James Dennis, 4, Morley Road, Southsea. Whitcroft, Robert John, 5, Ashbourne Grove, London, S.E.22. Williams, Alexander Francis, 19, Yardley Wood Road, Moseley, Birming- ham, 13. Young, Donald Peter, Green Woods, Essendon Road, Sanderstead, Surrey. DEATHS. Fellows. Ernest Goulding, D.Sc. (Lond.). Louis John Eczekiel Riley. Associates. Percival Edgar King. Juan Pedige Charles Chandrasena, Ph.D. (Lond.), D.I.C. CHANGE OF NAME. James Henry Davies, Associate, to James Henry Wootton-Davies,-by Deed Poll.(Miss) Betty Norrie Grandison, Associate, to (Mrs.) Betty Norrie McLean,- on her marriage. 210 Coming Events. 1938 April 4 SOCIETY (London Section and Chemical OF CHEMICAL INDUSTRY Engineering Group): “Modern Trade Mark Law.” MajorH. J. W. Bliss, at the Rooms of the Chemical Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W.l, at 8 p.m. 5 BRITISH ASSOCIATION OF CHEMISTS: Notts. and Derby Section Annual Meeting, at Irongates, Derby. INSTITUTION “The Work of the Paint Re-OF CIVIL ENGINEERS: search Laboratory of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway.” Mr. F. Fancutt, at 6 p.m. SOCIETYOF CHEMICAL INDUSTRY(Birmingham and Midland Section): Annual Meeting.SOCIETYOF CHEMICAL INDUSTRY(Birmingham and Midland Section): “A New Absorbent for the Recovery of Carbon Dioxide.” Mr. D. W. Parkes and Mr. R. B. Evans. OF CHEMICALINDUSTRYSOCIETY (Manchester Section) : Annual General Meeting, at the Constitutional Club, St. Ann’s Street, Manchester, at 7 p.m. BRITISH ASSOCIATION OF CHEMISTS: Liverpool Section Annual Meeting, at the Exchange Hotel. OF PUBLICANALYSTS:SOCIETY Ordinary Meeting at the Rooms of the Chemical Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W.l, at 8 p.m. INSTITUTEOF CHEMISTRY (Liverpool and North-Western Section) : Annual General Meeting; “Ventilation in the Mersey Tunnel.” Dr. W. F. Higgins. Visit to the Tunnel Control Room and Ventilation Station, George’s Dock, at 6 p.m.INSTITUTEOF FUEL:“Manufacture of Coal Gas from Fuel Oil.” Mr. Leon B. Jones, at the Junior Institution of Engineers,39,Victoria Street, London, S.W.l, at 6 p.m. INSTITUTEOF CHEnrIsTRY (East Midlands Section) :Annual General Meeting, at the Bell Hotel, Leicester, at 7.45 p.m. “Forgersand Forgeries.” Dr. C. Ainsworth Mitchell, at 8 p.m. Informal Dinner, 6.46 p.m. OILAND COLOUR CHEMISTS’ ASSOCIATION(Manchester Section) : Annual General Meeting and Hot-pot Supper. OIL AND COLOUR CHEMISTS’ ASSOCIATION(Scottish Section) : Annual General Meeting and Smoker, at Sloan’s Arcade Cafe,Glasgow. SOCIETY ANDCOLOUR;:TS (Manchester Society) :AnnualOF DYERS Meeting and Symposium on Dyeing Difficulties and Faults,” at the Lecture Room of the Literary and Philosophical Society, 36,George Street, Manchester, at 7 p.m.11 INSTITUTEBREWINUOF : Informal discussions on “SterilisingFilters” and “Fast and Slow Types of Yeast.” At the Horse Shoe Hotel, Tottenham Court Road, London W.l. Supper Meeting, 6.30 for 7 p.m. 211 April 12 SOCIETYOF CHEMICAL INDUSTRY(Plwtics Group) : Members’ Meeting:“Colourless Ketonic Resins.” Members of the Chemical Research Laboratory, Teddington, at the Rooms of the Chemical Society, Burlington Home, Piccadilly, London, W.l, at 7.30p.m. OF13 INSTITUTECHEMISTRY (London and South-Eastern Counties Section): Visit to Southend Water Works, Maldon, Essex. SOCIETY INDUSTRYOF CHEMICAL (Food Group) :Members’ Meeting, at the Rooms of the Chemical Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W.l, at 8 p.m.14 OILAND COLOURCHEMISTS’ASSOCIATION:“Factory Testing of Paints and Varnishes.” Mr. E. W. Plowman. OF27 INSTITUTECHEMISTRY (Aberdeen and North of Scotland Section): “Canned Foods.” Mr. W. Godden, in the Chemistry Dept., Marischal College, Aberdeen, at 5.15 p.m. INSTITUTEOF CHEMISTRY (Belfast and District Section): Visit to the B.B.C. Transmitting Station, Lisburn. 28 THECHEMICALSOCIETY:Ordinary Scientific Meeting, at BurlingtonHome, Piccadilly, London, W.1, at 8 p.m. OFINSTITUTEFUEL:Annual General Meeting. “Removal of Suspended Matter from Industrial Gases.” Mr. Robert R. Harman, at the Junior Institution of Engineers, 39, Victoria Street, London, S.W.1, at 6 p.m.OF CHEMISTS29 BRITISH ASSOCIATION : London Section Annual Meeting. INSTITUTEOF CHEMISTRY (Cardiffand District Section) and the CHEMICAL SOCIETY: “Some Recent Developments in the Reactions of Surfaces.” Professor E. K. Rideal, M.B.E., F.R.S., in the Physiology Inetitute, Newport Road, Cmdii3, at 5.45 p.m. SOCIETY OF CHEMICAL INDUSTRY(London Section): Annu~l General Meeting followed by Joint Meeting with the Road and Building Materials Group: “The Decay of Building Materials through Micro-Biological Agencies.” Mr. Thomas McLachlan, at the Rooms of the Chemical Society, Burlington Home, Piccadilly, London, W.1, at 8 p.m. 46 IRON AND STEELINSTITUTE:Annual Meeting and Symposium on Steel Making, at the Institution of Civil Engineers, Great George Street, Westminster, S.W.l, at 10 a.m.each day. 4 SOCIETY ANALYSTS:Ordinary Meeting at the Rooms ofOF PUBLIC the Chemical Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W.l, at 8 p.m. 5 THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY:“Some Carbohydrate Problems.” Professor W. N. Haworth, at Burlington HOW, Piccadilly,London, W.l, at 8 p.m. 11 BRITISHASSOCIATIONOF CHEMISTS(Birmingham and Midland Section): Annual Meeting. OF C~MICAL (Food Group): Annual General SOCIETY INDUSTRY Meeting and Chairman’s Address, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London, W.C.1, at 8 p.m. SOCIETYFOR THE STUDYOB ALCHEMY AND EARLY CHEMISTRY: “Alchemy under James IV of Scotland.” Pmfeaor John Read, F.R.S., at 8 p.m.212 May12 INSTITUTEOF FUEL:“The Synthesis of Hydrocarbon Oils: Process of Synthetic Oils, Ltd.” Dr. F. W. Myddleton, at the Junior Institution of Engineers, 39, Victoria Street, London, S.W.l, at 6 p.m.OIL AND COLOURCHEMISTS’ ASSOCIATION: “Driers.” Mr. H. L. Howard. CONGRESSOF CHEMISTRY,15-21 TENTH INTERNATIONAL at Rome. OF CHEMICAL AND THE INSTITUTION17 INSTITUTION ENGINEERS OF MECHANICAL : “The Improvement of Atmospheric ENGINEERS Air Conditions in Deep and Humid Mines.” Dr. J. H. Dobson and Professor W. J. Walker, at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Storey’s Gate, Westminster. 19 THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY : Discussion on “Organic Intermolecular Complexes,” to be opened by Professor G.M. Bennett, at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W.l, at 8 p.m. 23-25 RUBBERTECHNOLOGY held under the auspices ofCONFERENCE, the Institution of the Rubber Industry. At the Edward VII Rooms, Hotel Victoria, Northumberland Avenue, London, w.c.2. May-Oct.SCOTLAND’SEMPIRE EXHIBITION : Glasgow.June 2 THECHEMICAL Ordinary Scientific Meeting, at BurlingtonSOCIETY: House, Piccadilly, London, W. 1, at 8 p.m. 9 INSTITUTEOF CHEMISTRY (London and South-Eastern Counties Section):Visit to The South-Eastern Agricultural College, Wye. 21 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESSENGINEERING : Glaagow. 29 THESOCIETYFOR THE STUDYOF ALCHEMYAND EARLYCHEMISTRY: “The Name of Plat0 in Alchemy.” Miss D. W. Singer, at 8 p.m. JdY 11-16 ROYAL SANITARY INSTITUTE: Health Congress, at Portsmouth.12 REFRIGERATION in the Rooms of the Royal Society, CONFERENCE, London. Aug. 17-24 BRITISHASSOCIATIONFOR TEE ADVANCEMENTOF SCIENCE: Cambridge Meeting. Aug. 25 to WORLD POWERCONFERENCE: Vienna Sectional Meeting:SEPT.2 Subjects for discussion: The supply of energy for agriculture,small-scale industries, household purposes, public lighting and electric railw8ys. Study tours,-approximately a week. In-formation obtainable from the Austrian National Committee of the World Power Conference, Lothringerstrasse 20. (Konzerthaus), Wien. 111. Sept. 19-23 SEVENTHINTERNATIONAL CONGRESSMANAGEMENT : Washington,D.C., U.S.A. 2 1-26 INTERNATIONAL FOR at Oxford. FEDERATION DOCUMENTATION, 23-26 AS6OCIATION OF SPECIAL LIBRARIESAND INFORMATION BUREAUX, at Oxford.Sept. and INSTITUTE22 to IRON AND STEEL INSTITUTE OF METALS: Joint OCT.2 Autumn Meeting: 22 Sept. (Quebec); 2 Oct. (New York,U.S.A.). 213 General Notices. Lectures.-Professor F. M. Rowe of the Department of Colour Chemistry and Dyeing in the University of Leeds has kindly consented to give two lectures before the Institute, on 14th and zrst October next, on “The Development in the Chemistry of Dyestuffs.” Professor Rowe will deal with the life and work of Sir William H. Perkin (1838-1907) and will review, under their respective chemical classes, the progress that has been made in the production of synthetic dyes of improved properties, limiting the whole to the chemistry of dyes that have proved to be of commercial value.Examinations .-Examinat ions for the Associat eship will be held from 12th to 17th September.* The list of entries will be closed on Monday, 11th July. (Notebooks can be received up to 2nd September.) Examinations for the Fellowship will be held from 19th to 24th September.* The list of entries will be closed on Monday, 11th July, except for candidates in Branch G, Industrial Chemistry, or for those desiring special examinations, whose applications should be received before 10th June. Forms of Application and further particulars can be obtained from the Registrar. Notices to Associates.-The Council desires to encourage all Associates to qualify for the Fellowship. Copies of the regulations and forms of application can be obtained from the Registrar.Appointments Register.-A Register of Fellows and Associates who are available for appointments, or are desirous of extending their opportunities, is kept at the offices of the Institute. For full information, inquiries should be addressed to the Registrar. Fellows and Associates are invited to notify the Institute of suitable vacancies for qualified chemists. * When the number of Candidates renders it necessary, Examinations may also be held during the succeeding week. 214 Students who have been registered as Students of the Institute for not less than six months and are in the last term of their training for the Associateship, may receive the Appointments Register of the Institute, provided that their applications for this privilege are endorsed by their professors.Lists of vacancies are forwarded twice weekly to those whose names are on the Appointments Register. Fellows and Associates who are already in employment, but seeking to improve their positions, are required to pay 10s. for a period of six months. Members and Students who are without employment, are required to pay 6s. 6d. for the first period of six months, and, if not successful in obtaining an appointment, will thereafter be supplied with the lists gratis for a further period if necessary. The Institute also maintains a List of Laboratory Assistants who have passed approved Preliminary Examinations and, in some cases, Intermediate Science Examinations. Fellows and Associates who have vacancies for Registered Students or Laboratory Assistants are invited to communicate with the Registrar.The Library.-The Library of the Institute is open for the use of Fellows, Associates, and Registered Students between the hours of 10a.m. and 6 p.m. on week-days (Saturdays, 10a.m. and I p.m.), except when examinations are being held. The Library is primarily intended for the use of candidates during the Institute’s practical examinations. Under the Deed of Agreement between the Chemical Society, the Institute of Chemistry and the Society of Chemical Industry, dated July, 1935,the comprehensive Library of the Chemical Society is available, for the use of Fellows and Associates and Registered Students of the Institute wishing to consult or borrow books, from 10 a.m.to g p.m. on week-days (Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.), except during August and the early part of September, when the hours are from 10a.m. to 5 p.m. Members and Students of the Institute using the Library of the Society are required to conform to the rules of the Society regarding the use of its books. The Institute has entered into an arrangement with The Science Library, Science Museum, South Kensington, S.W.7, whereby books may be borrowed on production of requisitions signed by the Registrar or the Assistant Secretary of the Institute. In addition to its comprehensive sets of literature on cognate 215 subjects, which are not available in specialised libraries, this Library contains an exceptionally extensive collection of works on chemistry.Nine thousand scientific and technical periodicals are received regularly in the Library. All publications added to the Library are recorded in its Weekly Bibliography of Pure and Applied Science, which has a wide circulation among research workers and institutions. Boots’ Booklovers Library.-Under the arrangements made on behalf of Fellows and Associates of the Institute, current subscriptions expired on 1st March. All who wish to continue the use of the Library, or to subscribe de novo, should obtain application forms from the Registrar of the Institute. Members who do not wish to renew their subscriptions to the Library should return to the most convenient branch library any volume of the Library which they may have in their possession and also their Library member- ship tokens.Lewis’s Lending Library.-Any Fellow or Associate who is not already acquainted with this Library of Scientific and technical books may obtain a copy of the Prospectus from the Registrar of the Institute. A copy of the Catalogue of the Library (revised to December, 1927,with Supplements 1928-30 and 1931-33) is available in the Library of the Institute. A Bi-monthly list of Additions is also issued. Covers for Journal.-Members who desire covers (IS. zd. each) for binding the Journal in annual volumes, are requested to notify the Registrar of their requirements, indicating the years for which the covers are required. Arrangements may be made with Messrs. A. W. Bain & Co., Ltd., 17--19, Bishop’s Road, Cambridge Heath, London, E.2, to bind volumes of the JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGSon the following terms: buckram cover, IS.zd.; binding, 2s. 9d.;postage and packing, gd.; in all, 4s. 8d. Lptern Slides for Lecturers.-A collection of slides is kept at the Institute for the use of members who are giving lectures. Enquiries should be addressed to the Registrar. As the slides are frequently in demand, members are requested to notify their requirements at least 14 days before the date on which the slides are to be used. 216 Changes of Address.-In view of the expense involved through frequent alterations of addressograph plates, etc., Fellows, Associates, and Registered Students who wish to notify changes of address are requested to give, so far as possible, their permanent addresses for registration.A new edition of the Register of Fellows, Associates and Registered Students is now in preparation. The cards issued for the entry of particulars, if not already returned to the Registrar, should be sent in without delay. Any Fellow or Associate who has not received the card or who has mislaid it, should apply forthwith to the Registrar for a duplicate. All requests for changes in the Register should be addressed to the Registrar, and not to the Honorary Secretaries of Local Sections. "The Profession of Chemistry " (Third Edition, 1g35),will be supplied gratis to any Fellow, Associate or Registered Student, on application to the Registrar.