Abstract
LONDON Chemical Society, April 17.—Dr. Roscoe in the chair.—The following communications were made:—On heptane, from Pinus subiniana, by T. E. Thorpe. Wenzell, in 1872, described, under the name of abietene a hydrocarbon obtained by distilling the exudation of the Californian “nut pine.” The author has subjected the crude oil (which occurs in commerce in San Francisco) to an exhaurtive chemical and physical examination, and finds that it consists of nearly pure heptane. This discovery, that a paraffin is playing the part of oil of turpentine in a tree now living is exceedingly interesting, as our only natural sources of this hydrocarbon are petroleum and fossil fish oil.—On the determination of tartaric acid in lees and inferior argol, by B. J. Grosjean. The author suggests several improvements in the well-known oxalate process of Warington. The employment of the method of filtration suggested by Casamajor, the addition of potassium chloride to render the precipitation of the potassium bitartrate complete, precipitation of the latter salt by stirring, & c. By these improvements the author has shortened the time required for an estimation to four hours.-Conditions affecting the equilibrium of certain chemical systems, by M. M. P. Muir. The author has carefully studied the influence of time, temperature, and mass on certain reactions: I. Bismuthous chloride, hydrochloric acid, and water. 2, Calcium chloride and potassium or sodium carbonate.—On the action of oxides on salts, Part II., by E. J. Mills and J. W. Pratt. The authors have examined the actions of aluminic, ferric, and stannic oxides on potassic carbonate at a temperature of 735°—Examination of substances by the time method, by J. B. Hannay. The author has arrived at the following conclusion:—Two hydrated salts, in forming a double salt containing the normal amount of water, expend one-half of the affinity of the anhydrous salt for its water of crystallisation, in combining with each other, showing that the formation of double salts is comparable with other forms of chemical action.—Preliminary note on certain compounds of naphthalene and benzene with antimony chloride, & c., by “Watson Smith.” The author has obtained white needles, which he believes to be trinaphthylstibine or naphtbyloxystibine. He has obtained other crystalline compounds, which have not yet been examined.
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Societies and Academies . Nature 19, 595–596 (1879). https://doi.org/10.1038/019595a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/019595a0