Abstract
PARIS. Academy of Sciences, December 6.—M. Henri Deslandres in the chair.—G. Lemoine: The mutual reaction of oxalic and iodic acids: the influence of heat and dilution. Oxalic acid in aqueous solution is slowly oxidised by iodic acid to carbon dioxide, iodine being set free. The reaction is a slow one and well suited for the study of its velocity. Diagrams of the effects of dilution and temperature are given.—P. Termier and W. Kilian: The overlapping fragment at Mont Jovet (Tarentaise): the glistening schists to the north of Bourg-Saint-Maurice. This fragment is shown to have come neither from the north-west nor from the west; its probable origin is from the east or the south-east, and appears to have been carried from the Briancon layer.—A. de Gramont: Table of lines of high sensibility of the elements, arranged for analytical work. A table of wave-lengths for use in the spectroscopical detection of the elements in analytical work. The most prominent and the most persistent lines are given, both for eye observation and for photography with uviol and with quartz prisms.—M. Laubeuf: The application of the Pitot tube to the measurement of the velocity of ships. M. Mesnager has recently commented on a note on this subject by the late M. Yves Delage. A note on the same subject was communicated to the Academy so far back as 1901 by MM. Raverot and Belly, and the apparatus there described has been tested on three French ships. It was found to be impossible to correct on theoretical grounds for the numerous sources of error, and the instrument had to be calibrated by running over measured distances and drawing a curve giving the relations between the readings of the instrument and the actual velocities.—G. Dumas and J. Chuard: The homologies of Poincaré.—P. Humbert: Laplace's equation in hyper toroidal co-ordinates.—A. Egnell: Congruences of right lines the mean surface of which is a given surface.—B. de Fontviolant: Calculation of the strengths of bridges.—J. Guillaume: Observations of the sun made at the Lyons Observatory during the third quarter of 1920. The observations made on eighty-qoe days during the quarter are classified in three tables, showing the number of spots, the distribution of the spots in latitude, and the distribution of the faculae in latitude.—A. Danjon: A relation between the light of the eclipsed moon and solar activity. The luminosity of the eclipsed moon is known to vary. Adopting a scale of 50 of brightness, this has been plotted against the date of the eclipse. The resulting curve rises from one solar minimum to the next, with a sudden fall at each minimum. The passage through a maximum of solar activity is marked by no peculiarity.—P. Menard: A reversible mercury manometer with damped oscillations.—A. Pérard: The interference method for the determination of quartz standards of length. A description of the modified Michelson method employed, in wrhich any silvering of the surfaces of the standard is avoided, and a table showing the refractive indices of two standards for wave-lengths between 435.8 μμ and 643.8 μμ—G. Ribaud: Wide continuous absorption bands of light.—L. de Broglie: The absorption of the Rontgen rays by matter.—F. Brocq: A general method of continuous electrical integration.—A. Damiens: The subiodide of tellurium, Tel2. Contribution to the study of the system iodine-tellurium. A curve of the melting points of mixtures of iodine and tellurium is given. The only definite compound appears to be Tel4; no substance Tel2 exists, the mixture having that composition being a mixture of the tetraiodide and a solid solution of tellurium and tetra-iodide. Both thermal and metallographic analyses lead to the same conclusion.—M. Barlot: A complex combination of thallium and hydrofluoric acid. The double fluoride H2T1F3 has been isolated. The thallium can be precipitated by the usuar reagents, but the solution gives no precipitate with the usual reagents, such as calcium salts, and does not attack glass, although strongly acid to indicators.—M. Geloso: The reduction of permanganate by arsenious acid.—G. Mignonac: The catalytic hydrogenation of hydrobenzamide. Method for the preparation of benzylamine. From a study of the reduction of hydrobenzamide in alcoholic solution by hydrogen in presence of nickel, it wrould appear that the addition product described by O. Fischer is not formed; the products are benzylamine, benzalbenzylamine, and ammonia.—P. Robin: The oxidation of arisaldoxim: the peroxide of arisaldoxim.—A. Mailhe and F. de Godon: The preparation of the methyl derivatives of the xylidines and naphthylammes by catalysis.-L. Bertrand: The mode of formation of the Pyrenean strata.—F. Gomez-Llucea: The geology of Cabrera, Conejera, and other neighbouring islands. —P. T. de Chardin: The succession of the mammalian fauna in the lower European Eocene.—H. Joly and N. Laux: The fauna of the lower layers of the Aalenian of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.—A. Boutaric: The variation of nocturnal radiation during clear nights. The intensity of the nocturnal radiation during clear nights passes through a maximum shortly after sunset, and then decreases slowly and regularly until dawn.—H. Courtonne: The opposed action of soluble chlorides and sulphates on starchy materials. A saturated solution of magnesium chloride rapidly and completely converts, in the cold, starchy matter into soluble starch. Magnesium sulphate exerts a contrary action and prevents the formation of soluble starch in solutions heated in closed vessels to 115° C.—W. Kopaczewski: The mechanism of the Bordet-Wassermann reaction.—A. Lumiere and H. Couturier: The shock produced by the introduction of insoluble substances into the circulation. The injection of barium sulphate suspended in an artificial isotonic serum into the carotid of a dog caused the typical symptoms of anaphylactic shock.—A. Bach and B. Sbarsky: The estimation of the degradation products of proteid materials in blood serum. The reducing ferment of milk may be utilised for the detection and estimation of small quantities of degradation products of proteids.—MM. Desgrez, Guillemard, and Saves: The purification of air contaminated with certain toxic gases. A solution containing sodium sulphide and soap when used in the form of a fine spray has been found to be capable of removing chloropicrin, chlorine, phosgene, methyl chloro-formates, acrolein, bromoacetone cyanogen chloride, and benzyl iodide, bromide, and chloride. Various mixtures were tried, but none proved to be capable of such general application as the above.—M. Kohn-Abrest: General method for the detection and estimation of arsenic.
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Societies and Academies. Nature 106, 586–588 (1920). https://doi.org/10.1038/106586a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/106586a0