may be considered established. He also announced that analogous substances (as, for example, the tritolyl compound) have recently been prepared, showing that triphenylmethyl is only one example of a class. The only hypothesis so far that explains the facts is that carbon is trivalent in these compounds. Specimens and some simple experiments added to the interest of the talk. The speaker was warmly applauded.

After the Tuesday morning session, held in the chemical laboratory of Case School, the Grasselli Chemical Company generously treated the members of the society to a drive through some of Cleveland's beautiful parks, followed by a luncheon at the Hollenden Hotel.

A subscription dinner in the evening was attended by forty-five. The toastmaster, President Long, to use his own phrase, 'swung round the circle,' and called on representatives from the various sections.

There were several excursions to manufacturing establishments of interest to chemists. All in all, the meeting was one of the most enjoyable the society has held, and the vote of thanks to Professor Hippolyte Gruener, to the Cleveland Chemical Society and to other local men who contributed to the enjoyment of the visiting members was hearty and unanimous.

The total attendance was 107, 70 of whom were from places outside of Cleveland.

The next meeting will be held in St. Louis during the first week of January, 1904, in affiliation with the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Following is a list of the papers presented:

Contributions to the Chemistry of Hydronitric Acid: L. M. DENNIS and A. W. BROWNE.

ammonia gas to bubble through molten sodium kept at 350°, and treating the resulting sodium amide with nitrous oxide at a temperature of about 90°. In the second reaction a 90 per cent. yield of the sodium salt, NaN,, is obtained. Ferric chloride is a good reagent for qualitative

tests.

The Transport Number of Sulphuric Acid: O. F. TOWER.

An apparatus was described having a platinum cathode and a cadmium anode. At a dilution of one fifth normal the transport number changes only very slightly with increasing dilution, indicating that at the point named practically all the HSO ions have been broken up into H and SO,.

Electrolytic Conduction with Reference to the Ion Theory: NEVIL MONROE HOPKINS. (By title.)

The Role of Water in the Electro-deposi

tion of Lithium from Pyridine and from Acetone: H. E. PATTEN and W. R. MOTT. Lithium may be deposited, from pyridine and acetone solutions of its chloride, on platinum, iron, aluminum and copper. The deposition is interfered with by the presence of water; in the case of pyridine very seriously so, owing to the formation of a high-resistance film.

The Viscosity of Solutions of Metallic Salts: Its Bearing upon the Nature of the Compound between Solvent and Solute: ARTHUR A. BLANCHARD and MORRIS A. STEWART.

Change of viscosity with change of concentration is believed to follow a linear formula in cases where no definite hydrates are formed. The formation of a compound with ammonia decreases the viscosity of a metallic salt solution, while pyridine has

acid; even here 10 per cent. of the product is sulphate.

The Action of Dissolved Oxygen on Cuprous Chloride: W. M. BLANCHARD and BERT D. INGLES.

As previously shown by Vogel, water containing air acts on cuprous chloride according to the equation

2Cu,Cl2+0=Cu2O+2CuCl2,

but not more than 97 per cent. of the
amount present can be so converted. If,
however, gaseous oxygen is passed into
water containing cuprous chloride in sus-
pension, a bluish basic chloride results.
The Action of Hydrogen Peroxide on Cup-
rous Chloride: W. M. BLANCHARD.
A chocolate-colored basic chloride is first
formed which soon changes to a greenish
blue basic chloride supposed to be
CuO.CuCl,.4H2O.

Oxygen is simultaneously evolved.
On the Changeable Hydrolytic Equilibrium
of Dissolved Chromic Sulphate: T. W.
RICHARD and F. BONNET, JR.

The authors confirm the conclusion of Whitney and Recoura that a green basic substance exists in the green solution, but they show further that the substance is much more basic than was previously supposed. The investigation will be continued. On the Deposition of Sodium from a Solution of Sodium Iodide in Acetone: H. E. PATTEN and W. R. MOTT. (By title.) On the Deposition of Zinc Chloride Dissolved in Acetone: H. E. PATTEN. (By title.) Derivations of Trichlorethylidene-dinitrophenamine: ALVIN S. WHEELER and M. R. GLENN. (By title.)

Some Salts of Triphenylmethyl: M. GOмBERG and L. H. CONE. (By title.) Triphenylmethylacetate: M. GOMBERG and J. T. DAVIS. (By title.)

2-Amino-3,5-bibrombenzoic Acid, its Nitrile, and Synthesis of Quinazolines from the Latter: MARSTON T. BOGERT and WILLIAM F. HAND.

Both anthranilic acid and its nitrile can be brominated directly by the nascent bromine obtained by the interaction of potassium bromide, potassium bromate and hydrochloric acid. Anthranilic acid gives, in this way, 2-amino-3,5-bibrombenzoic acid. The nitrile gives the corresponding bibrom compound.

The Acids of the Colophonium of the Northern Pine: G. B. FRANKFORTER and CLARA HILLESHEIM.

The colophonium of the northern pine, instead of being, as Luce thinks, a single compound corresponding to the acid C20H30O2 (abietic acid), is found to contain two acids, C2,H,,O, and C3H5504, which can be separated in the form of the ammonium salts by passing dry ammonia into a dry ethereal solution.

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The field is comparatively new. Nineteen specimens collected from various parts of the state show the unusual variation of from 0.84 to 0.94 S. G., and a very low sulphur content. The bromine absorption is greatest for the heavy oils.

The Determination of Sulphur in Iron: ALLEN P. FORD and OGDEN G. WILLEY. A review of the methods in common use. Evolution methods usually give results entirely too low; oxidation methods give good results when worked by men who under

The butt of this tree is unusually rich in pitch, containing as high as 41.6 per cent. Of the pitch, 21 per cent. is turpentine. The latter has about the same boilingpoint as that from the northern pine (150°) but differs from it in other properties. The turpentine and other products (pyroligneous acid, charcoal, etc.) from one such butt discarded by the lumbermen would have a value of $275.

This paper elicited much interesting discussion, especially with reference to the decrease in the production of turpentine in the south.

The Derivatives of Eugenol: G. B. FRANKFORTER and MAX LANDS.

Eugenol forms a di-, tri- and tetrabromide, in each of which all but one bromine atom enter the ring. In the case of chlorine derivatives all but two atoms

mended as being generally applicable, and deserving of more attention than it has

received.

The Toxic Limits of Acid for Some Seedlings: FRANK K. CAMERON.

The results of these experiments show clearly that, owing to variations caused by the effects of light, temperature and the individual characters of plants, methods of this nature do not furnish safe conclusions in physical-chemical investigations.

On the Chemistry of the Colon Bacillus: MARY F. LEACH. (By title.) Nitrification in Arable Soils: W. A. WITHERS and G. S. FRAPS. (By title.) Analysis of Sea Water from Woods Hole, Mass.: A. P. SAUNDERS.

Analysis of a small sample showed a total of solid constituents much lower than that usually given for Atlantic water.

The Determination of Starch: W. A. NOYES and R. B. ARNOLD.

One of the objects of this work was to determine the best conditions for hydrolysis. One hour is the most favorable length of time with 0.5 per cent. acid at a temperature of 100°, or half an hour at 111°. Solutions giving 2 per cent. glucose give better results than those giving 0.5 per cent. glucose. In neutralizing the acid, it is much more desirable to stop a little short of the exact point rather than to overstep it. The greatest hydrolysis that could be obtained was 96-99 per cent. of the theoretical.

AUSTIN M. PATTERSON.

THE CASE FOR VACCINATION. THE recent appearance of an admirable book entitled 'A Concise History of Smallpox and Vaccination in Europe,' by Edward J. Edwardes, has aroused new enthusiasm among British sanitarians in their efforts to undo the evil effects of the last Vaccination Act, which permitted the exemption of those persons known as 'conscientious objectors.' Its lesson is equally

salutary in this country, where the vaccination laws are at present far too lax, and where the opponents of vaccination are conducting an active campaign for their repeal.

It should be frankly acknowledged that the responsibility incurred by the state in compelling its citizens to submit to the introduction of vaccine matter is a grave one. It is, in the first place, a serious infringement of personal liberty; and, in the second place, it must be owned that the process is attended with a certain, though an almost inappreciable, amount of danger. When arm-to-arm vaccination was practised, loathsome diseases were occasionally conveyed from one human being to another, but the general introduction of calf lymph now prevents the possibility of any such contingency. The transmission of tuberculosis, too, is effectually precluded by the tests to which the calves are submitted and by the addition to the lymph of glycerin. Erysipelas and tetanus, on the other hand, still sometimes follow vaccination. In a very large majority of cases these complications are due to secondary infection by the removal of dressings from the vaccination wound; in a few instances they have been traced to infection of the lymph itself. The extent of these dangers is, however, very slight. Dr. McFarland* in a careful review of all previous medical literature, was last year only able to find 95 cases of tetanus recorded as due to vaccination. The total number of deaths from erysipelas in the United States in 1900 was 2,861, and the total number from tetanus, 1,664, in a. population of 75,994,575 with 1,039,094 deaths from all causes; and it can scarcely be claimed that any large proportion of this insignificant number was due to vaccination.

On the other hand, the benefits which *Tetanus and Vaccination,' Journal of Medical Research, VII, 1902, p. 474.

vaccination has bestowed upon the human race may best be estimated by comparing the popular dread of smallpox prior to 1800 with the indifference with which it is regarded now. The 'Concise History,' referred to above, begins with a series of citations from the earliest medical writers, and we note that Rhazes, in the tenth century, attempted to explain how it happened that scarcely any one could escape the disease, and Mercurialis (born in 1530) said that 'almost every person must have it once.' In the eighteenth century statistics first became available from the works of Süssmilch, De la Condamine and others. The most important are those of Sweden, where in the period from 1774 to 1800 the annual smallpox death rate averaged 2,049 per million living and accounted for about one thirteenth of the total deaths from all causes. The statistics for Copenhagen, for London, for Berlin, for Liverpool and for Glasgow show in general the same relations, although in the latter city from 1783 to 1800 smallpox caused nearly one fifth of the total deaths. Nine tenths of the fatal cases of smallpox occurred in children under ten years of age.

Towards the end of the eighteenth century the struggle against this dread disease seemed almost hopeless. The practise of inoculation, which consisted in the introduction of actual smallpox matter under the skin, in order to induce a mild attack at a time when the body was in condition to meet it, had failed to effect any reduction in the general death rate. Just when it seemed that 'the continued raging of that pitiless plague' was the only prospect for mankind, Edward Jenner proved that an attack of the mild disease of cattle known as cowpox furnished protection against infection with the smallpox. He suggested 'vaccination' with cowpox material as a simple prophylactic against smallpox, and it is the introduction of this process which

Dr. Edwardes calls 'the greatest sanitary fact which the world has ever known.' It was in June, 1798, that the physician of Gloucestershire published his 'Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolæ Vaccinæ,' and by 1801 it had been translated into Latin, German, French and Dutch. "As if an angel's trumpet had sounded over the earth, thus spread the good tidings into all lands, that a preventive had been found against the horrible disease smallpox, so long the scourge of humanity.'

The protective effect of vaccination was at once established by actual experiment, and on a very large scale, by inoculating those who had been vaccinated with the true smallpox virus. Woodville stated in 1802 that of 7,500 persons vaccinated at the smallpox hospital, about one half had been since inoculated, without any effect being produced. Dr. Charles Creighton and Alfred Russel Wallace, the chief authorities of the 'anti-vaccinationists,' have attempted to discredit these tests by claiming that Woodville's lymph was contaminated and that the vaccination was really inoculation in itself. It is amusing to note that Wallace adopts this explanation on page 8 of his 'Vaccination a Delusion,' and on page 76 of the same book seriously maintains not only that vaccination exercises no protective effect, but that after a previous attack of smallpox 'instead of there being any immunity, there is really a somewhat increased susceptibility to a second attack.' It is odd that this startling fact was not noticed in the days when every one had the smallpox at least once! Woodville's account of his experiments shows that only a very small proportion of his cases-and those all prior to June, 1799lay open to the objection mentioned above, and his conclusions were confirmed by similar tests, notably by 8,000 cases treated at the Medical College in Berlin. A small but