784
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
the International Union of Chemistry recommended a postponement. The organization committee of the congress in Madrid concurred in the opinion that, because of the present world situation, it would be unwise t o attempt t o hold the
APRIL, 1932
meeting a t the present time. Consequently i t has been announced by radiogram that neither the meeting of the congress nor of the union, icheduled to he held in Madrid in April, will take place.N m E d . , Ind. Enp. Chem.
Cosmic rays again shown like radium gamma rays. Further support of the theory that the mysterious cosmic rays are waves, is offered by Dr. R. A. Millikan and Dr. I. S. Bowen of the California Institute of Technology in a letter t o Nature (London). The lona - s t r u--~ ~tloeestablish the real nature of these penetrating . radiations from outer space has engaged physicists both in America and Germany. Dr. Millikan's faction has favored the theory that the effects are caused by immaterial waves like light or radium gamma rays. His critics, led by Dr. Walther Bothe and Dr. Werner Kolhoerster in Germany, believe that the rays are corpuscles, probably electrons. A doubling of the signal strength was not found by D n . Millikan and Bowen when the air pressure in the recording electroscope was doubled contrary t o what might be expected. Radium gamma rays, however, they now find, show just this same behavior when they act on the electroscope. Thus changes of pressure in the electroscope affect the two radiations equally and support Dr. Millikan's idea that the rays are similar in nature. Lack of "saturation" in the currents flowing through the recorders is the cause of the observed absence of proportionality~ScienceService Potatoes that blacken detected by new test. If you have a Lot of potatoes that turn black when they are cooked, you can a t least partly overcome this troublesome tendency by putting a little vinegar in the water while they are being boiled. This practical household hint is a by-pradu$t of an investigation by Dr. C. K. Tinkler of King's College for Household and Social Science in London. His primary objective was to work out a simple chemical test which would enable large-wale handlers of potatoes t o detect such tubers as possess this value-damaging defect. The test, as he finally developed it, is carried out as follows. A very thin slice of potato is peeled, placed in a porcelain dish and covered with sodium nitrite solution. About two cubic centimeters of dilute hydrochloric acid is added and the mixture is left for five minutes. I t is then poured off and the potato slice is covered with 16 per cent. sodium hydroxide. If a red color develops about five minutes afterward, the potatoes of this hatch will blacken after cooking, and the deepness of the red coloration indicates the amount of blackening that will take place. It is probable that the hlackening is due to oxidation.-Science Service Scientists are forceful, skeptical, fair minded. "Ambitendence, anancasm, and paranoia." These formidable-sounding terms may be applied to the personality of the scientist. Dr. Eugene Kahn, of the Institute of Human Relations a t Yale University, told members of the National Academy of Sciences meeting recently in New Haven. The scientists were not angered, however, for the terms are not as uncomplimentary as they may sound. Quite the contrary. They mean that the scientist is able t o see fairly both sides of any question; that he has a forceful personality; and that he is skeptical or suspicious of circumstances that may go unquestioned by his less thoughtful neighbors.-Science Service
