H. CARRINGTON BOLTON, Chairman. 
F.W.  CLARKE,
ALBERT R. LEEDS,
ALEXIS A. JULIEN,
JOHN W. LANGLEY,
ALBERT B. PRESCOTT.

[Dr. Alfred Tuckerman was added to the committee at the Washington meeting to fill a vacancy.]

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THE FRENCH WINE LAW.

The French wine law (Journ.  Officiel, July 11, 1891) includes the following provisions: 

Sect. 1.  The product of fermentation of the husks of grapes from which the must has been extracted with water, with or without the addition of sugar, or mixed with wine in whatever proportion, may only be sold, or offered for sale, under the name of husk wine or sugared wine.

Sect. 2.  The addition of the following substances to wine, husk wine, sugared wine, or raisin wine will be considered an adulteration: 

1.  Coloring matters of all descriptions.

2.  Sulphuric, nitric, hydrochloric, salicylic, boric acid, or similar substances.

3.  Sodium chloride beyond one gramme per liter.

Sect. 3.  The sale of plastered wines, containing more than two grammes of potassium, or sodium sulphate, is prohibited.

Offenders are subject to a fine of 16 to 500 francs, or to imprisonment from six days to three months, according to circumstances.

Barrels or vessels containing plastered wine must have affixed a notice to that effect in large letters, and the books, invoices, and bills of lading must likewise bear such notice.

* * * * *

THE ALLOTROPIC CONDITIONS OF SILVER.

M. Berthelot recently called the attention of the Academy (Paris) to the memoirs of Carey Lea on the allotropic states of silver, and exhibited specimens of the color of gold and others of a purple color sent him by the author.  He explained the importance of these results, which remind us of the work of the ancient alchemists, but he reserved the question whether these substances are really isomeric states of silver or complex and condensed compounds, sharing the properties of the element which constituted the principal mass (97-98 per cent.), conformably to the facts known in the history of the various carbons, of the derivatives of red phosphorus, and especially of the varieties of iron and steel.  Between these condensed compounds and the pure elements the continuous transition of the physical and chemical properties is often effected by insensible degrees, by a mixture of definite compounds.

The following letter appears in a recent number of the Chemical News.