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Endowment of research
15q
~Jnd,,wme~t of l(ese,trch, etc.
[Jou,.. Frank. hast.,
Endowment o2 R e s e a r c h . - - T h e British Government, on the reeommendatign of the Royal Society, has appropriated £3935 in aid of scientific research during the present year. The largest appropriations are of £300 each, to Prof. Parker, for morphological rese,~rches ; to Dr. H. E. Armstrong, for researches into tile Phenol Series and the effect of nitric acid on metals; and to W. Crookes, for researches connected with repulsion resulting from radiation.--Nature. C. The J a b l o c h k o f f L i g h t . - - I n late Parisian experiments the kaolin bar, ignited by induction spark, was 8 eentimetres long, and fully equal to 8 gas burners. At the same time 3 electric candles were operated, each equaling about 40 gas-burners. The light is admirable for constancy and duration. The thickness of the kaolin plate is not more than 4 millimetres, and the quantity consumed is not more than I ram. per hour. The agitation of the candlestick does not interrupt the current. The graphite pencils are consumed at the rate of 8 centimetres per hour, but it is thought that any length required may be supplied by proper clockwork.--Nature. C. Vegetable F e r m e n t , - - M . C. Kosmann cuts plants into small bits, which, when macerated in cold water, evaporated, and placed in thrice their volume of alcohol, give a white precipitate which is redissolved in a small quantity of water ; after filtration it is precipitated anew in a triple volume of alcohol, and a ferment collected, which, when dry, is in the form of translucent amorphous grains, brownish, insipid, soluble in water, decomposable by boiling, and containing nitrogen. This ferment seems to be a general principle common to all plants, which plays an important part in the formation of proximate principles and their metamorphoses in the interior of the organized tissue. Kosmann regards it as a universal motor in the vegetable kingdom, which is developed at the same time as the cell, and which is probably secreted by the protoplasm. The chemical disturbance which arises on the decomposition of the ferment, and which is communicated to the starch, sugar, and glucosides, is not a fact peculiar to the ferment ; the same thing occurs in the chemical action consequent upon the oxidation of iron in colitact with air and water. Metallic iron, in oxidizing, converts starch into dextrine, glucose, or butyric acid; moist iron, oxidizing at the surface of water, stimulates the decomposition of stareh.--Zes Mondes; Soe. de Ghim. de Paris. C.
~Jnd,,wme~t of l(ese,trch, etc.
[Jou,.. Frank. hast.,
Endowment o2 R e s e a r c h . - - T h e British Government, on the reeommendatign of the Royal Society, has appropriated £3935 in aid of scientific research during the present year. The largest appropriations are of £300 each, to Prof. Parker, for morphological rese,~rches ; to Dr. H. E. Armstrong, for researches into tile Phenol Series and the effect of nitric acid on metals; and to W. Crookes, for researches connected with repulsion resulting from radiation.--Nature. C. The J a b l o c h k o f f L i g h t . - - I n late Parisian experiments the kaolin bar, ignited by induction spark, was 8 eentimetres long, and fully equal to 8 gas burners. At the same time 3 electric candles were operated, each equaling about 40 gas-burners. The light is admirable for constancy and duration. The thickness of the kaolin plate is not more than 4 millimetres, and the quantity consumed is not more than I ram. per hour. The agitation of the candlestick does not interrupt the current. The graphite pencils are consumed at the rate of 8 centimetres per hour, but it is thought that any length required may be supplied by proper clockwork.--Nature. C. Vegetable F e r m e n t , - - M . C. Kosmann cuts plants into small bits, which, when macerated in cold water, evaporated, and placed in thrice their volume of alcohol, give a white precipitate which is redissolved in a small quantity of water ; after filtration it is precipitated anew in a triple volume of alcohol, and a ferment collected, which, when dry, is in the form of translucent amorphous grains, brownish, insipid, soluble in water, decomposable by boiling, and containing nitrogen. This ferment seems to be a general principle common to all plants, which plays an important part in the formation of proximate principles and their metamorphoses in the interior of the organized tissue. Kosmann regards it as a universal motor in the vegetable kingdom, which is developed at the same time as the cell, and which is probably secreted by the protoplasm. The chemical disturbance which arises on the decomposition of the ferment, and which is communicated to the starch, sugar, and glucosides, is not a fact peculiar to the ferment ; the same thing occurs in the chemical action consequent upon the oxidation of iron in colitact with air and water. Metallic iron, in oxidizing, converts starch into dextrine, glucose, or butyric acid; moist iron, oxidizing at the surface of water, stimulates the decomposition of stareh.--Zes Mondes; Soe. de Ghim. de Paris. C.