measurements of the photographs of the two series of spectra agreeing almost perfectly. The investigation of these compounds was undertaken solely with reference to their suspected homology, but it was at once seen, on examining their spectra, that a close resemblance subsisted between them and the spectra of corydaline and tetrahydropapaverine. The photographs of the spectra of corydaline and laudanosine in particular are almost indistinguishable, and suggest a very close structural relation between these two compounds. Laudanosine differs from tetrahydropapaverine by CH, and may simply be a homologue of this substance, possibly having a methyl group attached to carbon atom 4. (See papaverine, p. 127.) Apart from the closer resemblance of their spectra, however, there is some ground for believing that laudanosine is more nearly related to corydaline than to tetrahydropapaverine. It differs from corydaline only in having one atom of carbon less in its molecule; the two substances cannot therefore be homologous, if the formulae of both have been correctly determined. Corydaline has recently been analysed by numerous investigators, with concordant results, and its formula may be regarded as well established. Laudanine and laudanosine, on the other hand, have been but little examined, and there is a possibility that their formulæ may not yet have been definitely settled. Assuming, however, as we are bound to do for the present, that the analyses are correct, cases are known in which substances, other than homologues, which are nearly related structurally, show as close an agreement between their spectra even when their formulæ differ more widely than those of corydaline and laudanosine. Unfortunately, very little is known of the chemistry of laudanosine, but that little is entirely in favour of the view expressed as to its close relationship with corydaline and tetrahydropapaverine. Like those substances, it contains four methyl groups, and yields metahemipinic acid as one of its products of oxidation. It further resembles corydaline in being optically active and in the ease with which, when heated with dilute nitric acid, it undergoes oxidation to a yellow base. This substance, which has not been analysed, may be identical with meconidine,' an alkaloid associated with laudanosine in opium. The formula of meconidine, C21 H23O4N, bears the same relation to that of laudanosine that the formulæ of dehydrocorydaline and berberine bear to those of corydaline and tetrahydroberberine respectively, as the following table shows: Whether the yellow substance produced by the oxidation of laudanosine is identical or not with meconidine, the mere fact of the existence of a coloured base in opium having a formula differing from that of laudanosine by four atoms of hydrogen lends some support to the view of the relationship of these substances set forth in this paper, and this hypothesis receives some additional support from a comparison of the melting-points of the substances. The question, however, as to whether laudanosine is more closely related to corydaline or to tetrahydroberberine can only be settled by further chemical investigation. The point which we wish to emphasise is that it must, from the similarity of the curve plotted from its spectra, be built on the same plan as these two closely related compounds, 1 milligram-molecule in 500 c.c. 25, 20, 15 & 10 Spectrum transmitted to Spectrum transmitted from 3824 to Spectrum transmitted from 3824 to Spectrum transmitted from 3754 to Spectrum transmitted from 3638 to But very weak in position of absorption On the Possibility of Making Special Reports more available than at present. Report of the Committee, consisting of Mr. W. A. SHENSTONE (Chairman), Dr. M. O. FORSTER (Secretary), Professor E. DIVERS, Professor W. J. POPE, and Dr. A. W. CROSSLEY. The Committee recommend : 1. That at the close of each annual meeting the Sectional Committee shall request its secretaries to compile a list of the Special Reports, other than those of Standing Committees, which have been presented to the Section during the previous five years, and which have been published in extenso, this list (see Appendix) to include those Reports of the character specified which have been presented at the annual meeting just terminated. 2. That the secretaries of the Sectional Committee be requested to forward copies of the list to the secretaries of the Chemical Societies of London and Berlin, with the suggestion that the councils of these bodies might be disposed to bring such Reports to the notice of Fellows by inserting the references in one of the issues of their publications. APPENDIX. List of Special Reports presented to Section B during 1898-1902, indicating the type of Special Report to which attention might be drawn in the manner indicated by the Committee 1900. The Constitution of Camphor.' By A. LAPWORTH. 1901. Methods of Determining the Hydrolytic Dissociation of Salts.' By R. C. FARMER. 'On the Equilibrium Law as applied to Salt Separation and to the Formation of Oceanic Salt Deposits.' By E. F. ARMSTRONG. 1902. Hydro-aromatic Compounds with Single Nucleus.' By A. W. CROSSLEY. 'Our Present Knowledge of Aromatic Diazo- Compounds.' By G. T. MORGAN, Duty-free Alcohol for Scientific Research.-Report of the Committee, consisting of Sir H. E. ROSCOE (Chairman), Professor H. B. DIXON (Secretary), Sir MICHAEL FOSTER, Sir A. W. RÜCKER, Dr. T. E. THORPE, Professor W. H. PERKIN, and Professor W. D. HALLIBURTON. THE Committee appointed at the Glasgow meeting in 1901 were unable to report in 1902, as they were at the time of the Belfast meeting in the midst of their negotiations with the Board of Inland Revenue. After a preliminary meeting and correspondence in the winter of 1901-2 the Committee received information that the Government were willing to adopt a clause in the Budget Bill of 1902 which would permit the use of duty-free alcohol under conditions to be laid down by the Board of Inland Revenue. When the Budget Bill was passed a deputation from the Committee waited on the Chairman of the Board, and after full discussion the Committee agreed to confine their application at the present time to the use of duty-free alcohol (ethyl and methyl) and of alcoholic derivatives for the purposes of research work and higher teaching in the laboratories of universities, colleges, and public institutions. At the request of the Chairman of the Board of Inland Revenue the Committee drew up the following statement : 'To the Chairman of the Board of Inland Revenue, August 6, 1902. SIR,-At the meeting of the British Association held at Glasgow last year a Committee was appointed to approach the Inland Revenue Com missioners to urge the desirability of securing the use of pure alcohol duty-free for the purposes of scientific research. It was pointed out at the Glasgow meeting that the low price of pure alcohol and its derivatives on the Continent and the high duty payable in the United Kingdom severely handicapped research workers here in chemistry, physiology, and pathology, and to a smaller extent in zoology and botany. In the recent debates on the Budget Bill this disadvantage was recognised, and steps were taken with a view to remedy the evil. 6 In the United States, where alcohol is taxed, permits are granted to scientific institutions of certain rank enabling them to obtain duty-free alcohol for use in their laboratories. The conditions under which these permits are granted by the United States Treasury have been obtained by this Committee. A copy of these regulations was placed in your hands at the interview you were good enough to grant on the 9th inst. to members of this Committee. In accordance with your request we have obtained some statistics as to the amount of alcohol (and its derivatives) used in English laboratories for higher teaching and research work. It has not been possible to obtain complete details, but the following figures, which are the average number of gallons used per annum during the last three years in the laboratories at Cambridge, at Owens College, and the Yorkshire College, may be taken as typical :- It should be pointed out that if pure alcohol could be obtained duty-free more would be used in scientific work instead of the methylated spirit now used whenever possible. 'From the table given it will be seen that the chief demand in scientific laboratories is for pure ethyl alcohol and pure ethyl ether. But other alcohols (e.g. methyl alcohol) and other derivatives of alcohols (e.g. methyl and ethyl iodides) and ethereal salts (e.g. malonic ether) are largely used in organic chemistry. These reagents are at present mainly imported |