Ludwig Mond Research Articles

The Schorlemmer Memorial Laboratory

AN interesting ceremony took place at the Owens College, Manchester, a few days ago, when Dr. Ludwig Mond formally opened the Schorlemmer Laboratory for Organic Chemistry, together with a large laboratory for medical students and a room for the preparation and storage of reagents. It may be remembered that, after the death of Prof. Schorlemmer, his friends and pupils, under the lead of Sir H. E. Roscoe, late professor of chemistry at the College, took steps with a view to fittingly commemorate his services to the College and to the advancement of organic chemistry. It was generally felt that the best memorial would be the erection of a laboratory for organic chemistry, to be called after his name, and a subscription list was accordingly opened. The appeal, which was generously headed by Dr. Mond, was so well responded to, both in this country and in Germany, that in a short time a sum of £2500 was subscribed. Meantime the Council of the College had to take into serious consideration the rapid growth of the chemical department. Originally designed for 100 students, the laboratories had for several years been overcrowded, and the private rooms built for research work had to be given up for the general instruction of the students. The number of the students in the chemical laboratories has steadily increased during the past five years, and, in view of this increase, the Council became convinced of the necessity of extending the chemical department. They accordingly accepted the fund raised by the Schorlemmer Memorial Committee, and instructed Mr. Alfred Waterhouse to prepare plans for a “Schorlemmer” Organic Laboratory, and for a new laboratory for elementary students, on a plot of land adjoining the present laboratories acquired by the College for the purpose of their extension. The Schorlemmer Laboratory, designed by Mr. Waterhouse, is at the end of the main corridor in the old chemical building. It measures sixty feet by thirty feet, and has an arched roof thirty feet high. The laboratory is designed to accommodate a professor, two demonstrators, and thirty-six students. It is fitted in the most complete manner with every requisite for the important work which is to be carried on within it, and in some particulars is arranged after the plan of the Munich organic laboratories. The lower laboratory is designed for forty-five students. The fittings are similar to those in the old laboratories designed by Sir Henry Roscoe. The total cost of the new building was £4800.

Societies and Academies

LONDON.Chemical Society, June 18.—“Prof. A. Crum-Brown, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—The following papers were read:—A note on some new reactions of dehydracetic acid, by Dr. J. Norman Collie. In preparing dehydracetic acid, by passing ethyl aceto-acetate through a red-hot tube, it is stated that alcohol is formed; the author finds that large quantities of ethylene gas and acetone are also produced. Dehydracetic acid is also volatile to a considerable extent with steam, and is decomposed by boiling with water to a small extent into carbon dioxide and dimethylpyrone. This latter decomposition is more readily effected by boiling the acid with strong hydrochloric acid. If 50 grams are boiled with ordinary fuming hydrochloric acid, the whole is converted into carbon dioxide and a soluble compound of dimethylpyrone with hydrochloric. acid. The barium salt of dehydracetic acid, (C3H9O5)2Ba, seems to be not a salt of the compound C3H8O4, but of the true tetraetic acid, C8H10O5. A very stable copper salt of the formula C24H25O9N3Cu is obtained if dehydracetic acid be added to a solution of copper acetate in a large excess of ammonia “The lactone of triacetic acid, by Dr. J. Norman Collie. In a former paper on the constitution of dehydracetic acid (Trans. Chem. Soc., 1890, 189) the author pointed out that if the formula which he proposed for dehydracetic acid was correct, it would be the δ lactone of tetracetic acid. And the following list was given showing the connection between the condensed acids formed from acetic acid: CH3CO.(CH2CO)2. CH2COOH, tetracetic acid; CH3CO.CH2CO.CH2COOH, triaeticacid; CH3COCH2COOH, diacetic acid; CH3COOH, acetic acid. At that time no acid corresponding to the triacetic acid was known. Since then the author has obtained the lactone of this acid by the action of 90 per cent. sulphuric acid on dehydracetic acid at a temperature of 130°-135°. The properties and reactions of the new compound are described.—The refractive power of certain organic compounds at different temperatures, by Dr. W. H. Perkin, F.R.S. The magnetic relations of substances when examined at temperatures wide apart show that certain variations take place after allowing for change of density. Experiments have been made by the author in reference to the refractive power of liquids under similar circumstances. The results show that the specific refractive power is not con tant for all temperatures. By comparing the lines A and F it was found that the dispersion was slightly diminished by rise of temperature. The results were calculated by the formula μ – I/d. When calculated by Lorentz's formula the numbers gave higher results for high temperatures than for lower ones.—Note on a volatile compound of iron and carbonic oxide, by Ludwig Mond, F.R.S., and Dr. F. Quincke (see NATURE, July 9, p. 234).—The formation of salts, a contribution to the theory of electrolysis and of the nature of chemical change in the case of non-electrolytes, by H. E. Armstrong. The author draws attention to the recent researches of Claisen, W. Wislicenus, and others, which clearly show that ethereal salts form compounds with sodium ethylate, and to the bearing which these results have on the theory of the formation of salts generally. It may be supposed that the acid and the “base” in the first instance combine, and that the salt is formed by subsequent interactions within the molecule. In like manner, acids form dissociable compounds with water, and by the occurrence of change within such systems, under the influence of electromotive force, electrolysis is effected. When the compound is highly unstable, the opportunity for change within its sy-tem is slight, the acid is a weak one, and its solution of relatively low conducting power. In the case of non-electrolytes, the occurrence of change may be supposed to occur within complex systems formed by the union of the interacting substances.—Dibenzyl ketone, by Dr. S. Young. The author finds that, in preparing the ketone by heating calcium phenyl acetate in a combustion furnace, only 27 per cent, of the theoretical yield is obtained. However, if the calcium salt be heated by means of the vapour of boiling sulphur, the yield of pure ketone amounts to 76˙6 per cent.—The vapour-pressures of dibenzyl ketone, by Dr. S. Young.— The vapour-pressures of mercury, by Dr. S. Young. Two additional observations of the vapour-pressures of mercury at 183°˙75 and 236°˙9 have been made, and, from the previous results of Ramsay and Young, the boiling-point and the vapour-pressures of mercury have been recalculated.