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Gas chromatography has been used to investigate the products accompanying tetrahydrofuran prepared by hydrogenation of furan, without isolating the latter pure from the gas mixture obtained by decarbonylating furfural over oxide catalysts. A number of unknown impurities accompanying tetrahydrofuran and furan, are identified. It is found that tetrahydrofuran contains isopropanol, along with furan,α-methylfuran, andα-methyltetrahydrofuran. Furan itself containsα-methylfuran, and a number of unknown impurities, among them acetone. Ethane is found among the gaseous products of decarbonylation. Thus over Zn and Mn oxide catalysts there is joint hydrogenolysis of the furan ring, and ring opening at positions 1–5 and 3–4.

1. Selective extraction of thin seams by excavators requires removal of a greater amount of overburden and greater expense on preparation of horizons than in the case of overall extraction. The minimum seam thickness for selective extraction by excavators is 1 m. 2. Overall extraction of thin seams leads to marked impoverishment of the coal, thereby limiting the applicability of this method. With overall extraction from the foot side, and preparation of the dirty coal in hydrocyclones, the minimum seam thickness is 2.5 m. 3. As the Central Kuzbass open-cut mines become older, the necessity of working thin seams will be increasingly felt. This is particularly true for the Novosergeevsk and Bachatsk opencut mines, in which up to 20% of the reserves of good coking coal is contained in thin seams.

The Venera 8 descent module measured pressure, temperature, winds and illumination as a function of altitude in its landing on July 22, 1972, just beyond the terminator in the illuminated hemisphere of Venus. The surface temperature and pressure is 741 ± 7°K and 93 ± 1.5kgcm −2 , consistent with early Venera observations and showing either no diurnal variation or insignificant diurnal variation in temperature and pressure in the vicinity of the morning terminator. The atmosphere is adiabatic down to the surface. The horizontal wind speed is low near the surface, about 35m/sec between 20 and 40km altitude, and increasing rapidly above 48km altitude to 100–140m/sec, consistent with the 4-day retrograde rotation of the ultraviolet clouds. The illumination at the center of the day hemisphere of Venus is calculated to be about 1% of the solar flux at the top of the atmosphere, consistent with greenhouse models and high enough to permit photography of the Venus surface by future missions. The attenuation below 35km altitude is explained by Rayleigh scattering with no atmospheric aerosols; above 35km there must be substantial extinction of incident light.

Measurements of the flux of downward solar radiation through the atmosphere of Venus and at the planetary surface are reported. These were obtained with the interplanetary spacecraft Venera 8 which landed on the surface of Venus on 22 July 1972 after a 55-min parachute descent through the atmosphere. A significant flux of solar radiation was found to penetrate the entire thickness of the atmosphere, with the amount at the ground ∼1.5% of that incident on the top of the atmosphere. The variation of flux with altitude indicates that the clouds have a lower boundary at an altitude of σ35 km.

Summary When mice were inoculated intravenously with Newcastle disease virus, interferon was formed, and the mice were protected against the lethal effects of a subsequent intravenous injection of a toxic strain of influenza A virus. Mice were similarly protected when injected intravenously with a suspension of mouse macrophages which had been stimulated to produce interferon by treatment in vitro with Newcastle disease virus. It is known that the reticuloendothelial system has a role in the production of interferon and in the development of non-specific resistance to virus infections. When this system was blocked completely by a thorotrast injection, or partially as the result of splenectomy, there was a sharp decrease both in the amounts of interferon formed in mice in response to an injection of Newcastle disease virus and in their resistance to the toxic effects of influenza virus.