Abstract
Bulletin de l' Académic Royale de Belgique, No. 3.—Experimental demonstration of the purely accidental character of the critical state, by P. de Heen. A small quantity of amylene was introduced into the bottom of a tube, and surmounted by mercury, the tube being so thin that the mercury remained at the top. The tubs was placed inside a box with glass windows, which was then heated to temperatures ranging from 201° C, the critical temperature of amylene, to about 350°. The tube was connected at the top with a Cailletet compression apparatus. It was found that even under pressures less than 5 atmospheres the amylene could be heated to 350° without evaporating. The critical state, characterised by turbulent movements, was never exhibited, but if by some accident a small quantity of vapour was formed the critical state set in at once. The author concludes that the critical state consists of a non-homogeneous mixture of “liquidogenic” and “gazogenic” molecules. At a certain high temperature, estimated for most liquids at 800° or 900°, the tormer are completely dissociated, and the pressure-volume curve becomes a simple isothermal. But the state of a fluid is not defined by pressure and temperature alone, since at the critical temperature, and at zero pressure, the volume can vary from unity to infinity.—Facts relating to the properties of carbon bisulphide, by H. Arctowski. The boiling point of pure carbon bisulphide is 46°˙27, but this rises steadily during the process of determining it. The bisulphide is partially decomposed by the sun's rays, by moist air, and by a slight elevation of temperature continued for some time.—On the solubilities of the haloid salts of mercury in carbon bisulphide, by the same author. These salts show different solubilities, the iodide being the most, and the chloride the least soluble. The solubilities show a point of upward inflection at about 15°C. From 15° to – 10° the lines of solubility converge in such a manner that if produced they would meet the axis of solubilities at a point corresponding to –25°.—Some experiments in experimental pathological embryology, by P. Francotte. Some ova of Leptoplana tremellaris were opened with a find steel point to admit schizomycetes. The microbes were either digested or excreted. The author concludes that microbian diseases cannot be transmitted by either ova or spermatozoa.
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Scientific Serials. Nature 50, 165 (1894). https://doi.org/10.1038/050165a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/050165a0