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be curbcd, and an additional check on the authenticity of the analysis thus afforded. In the light of the educational and administrative merits of the study of organic qualitative analysis, only a few of which have been discussed in the time here available, i t must confidently be expected that the next clccade will witness a profound growth in its appreciation and development.
Brauner, Investigator of Rare.Earths, Honored by Czechoslovakia. Prof. Bohuslav Drauuer, the eminent Czechoslovak man of science. distin~uishedfor his investiaations . in the chemistry of the rare earth elements, has just attained the jubilee of his "promotion" as doctor of philosophy a t the Charles University of Prague. This event was celebrated according to the traditions of the University by solemn renewal of his diploma on February 28th. Prof. Brauner has also recently been made an honoran member of the Polish Chemical Society, thus adding t o the long list of foreign distinctions which have been conferred upon him in recognition of his researches in inorganic and analytical chemistry. Among his more important discoveries mention may be made of his independent isolation of fluorine, carried out a t Manchester in the early 'eighties, the recognition of the complexity of didymium and its fractionation into praseodymium, neodymium, and samarium. He was among the first to realize the full significance of Mendeleeff's periodic classification of the elements and in support of i t he undertook the redetermination of the atomic weights of many rare earth and other metals. He had deduced, so early as 1877, that beryllium must be bivalent and therefore has the atomic weight 9, thus bringing it into line with Mendeleeff's scheme. Prof. Brauner's interest in the classification of the elements brought him into close contact with .the Russian savant, and their intimate frienaship only terminated on Mendelbeff's death. Prof. Brauner shares his countrymen's talentgofor languages, and mites with equal facility in six or seven European languages. Many of his original researches have appeared in Engl~shjournals, including Nature. Mention must also be made of his influcncc in Central Europe, for he has established, a t the Chemical Institute of the Charles University of Prague, a school of research which maintains the high traditions associated with his work.-Nature (London)
Xylose from Seed Waste. Xylose, a sugar so rare that it has heretofore been a lahoratory curiosity a t $100 a pound, can now be turned out cheaply a t a few cents a pound, requiring no raw material other than waste cottonseed hull bran, water, and sulfuric acid. At the meeting of the chemistry section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Warren E. Emlcy, of the U. S. Bureau of Standards, described the process by which seed waste is changed into sugar. Xylose is different from its nearest neighbors in the sugar world, the hexoses or glucose type of sugars, in t h a t it contains five carbon atoms to the malccule instead of six. Because it has always been so rare and expensive, it has never been possible t o perform any extensive experiments with it, and consequently it has no known uses. But the experimental plant a t Anniston, Alabama, can turn out a hundred pounds a day, and when larger units are built they will have an annual production of about a million tons of cottonseed hull bran t o work on. So t h a t if xylose has any uses i t should not take long now t o discover them. Mr. Emley suggested that i t might he used directly in food products, or possibly industrially as a raw material for alcohol, acids, and other chemicals.-Science
