2639. Richard Archibald Brooman, Fleet Street, London, 66 Improvements in blast and other furnaces.' A communication from Auguste De Bergne, Madrid, Spain. -Petition recorded October 25, 1864.

2650. Bonnet Frederick Brunel, Brussels, Belgium, Improvements in treating titanic iron sands, and in apparatus employed therein."

2654. Richard Hart and John Fraser Calder, Dundee, Forfarshire, N.B., "Improvements in preparing jute."

2656. Peter Armand Le Comte De Fontaine-Moreau, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris, France, and South Street, Finsbury, London, "An improved composition for uniting iron with wood, and leather with leather, for waterproofing textile fabrics, paper, and cordage, for moulding and for various other purposes.' A communication from Henry Lemaistre and Company, Brussels, Belgium.Petitions recorded October 26, 1864.

Notices to Proceed.

1624. Charles Frielinghaus, King Street, Cheapside, "Improvements in the manufacture of starch and yeast, and the machinery employed therein."-A communication from Ignatz Ben, Uerdingen, Prussia.-Petition recorded June 29, 1864.

1638. Frederick Ludewig Hahn Danchell, Red Lion Square, Middlesex, "Certain improvements in apparatus by means of which air, gas, or vapour is to be removed from tubes, pipes, tunnels, pans, retorts, or other vessels." -Petition recorded July 1, 1864.

1663. George Holworthy Palmer, Queen's Crescent, Haverstock Hill, Middlesex, "Improvements in apparatus for heating and evaporating liquids and fluids."

over, he added, wicked people asserted that some men obtained their Doctor's cap who had never bled a patient, or even put on a bandage; that was very wrong. Il faut changer tout cela! He was grieved also sometimes to hear it said that doctors beyond the Rhine were more learned, and doctors on the other side of the Channel more practical, than their Professional brethren in France. "Gentlemen," cried his Excellency, "beat the Germans and the English for me!"

M. Tardieu, in his address, mentioned some facts which do not look well for the Parisian medical student. It seems that 2677 presented themselves for examination last year. Out of the number who passed, only one-third obtained a second class, and only 13 out of 1400 obtained a first-class certificate. That, said M. Tardieu, cannot be the normal state of the Faculty of Paris. Bestir yourselves, young gentlemen! Work; study; an ignorant medical practitioner is a public scourge; an ignorant practitioner is a dishonest man! M. Tardieu is evidently of the same opinion as Calonne, Minister of Finance under Louis XVI. Calonne, it is said, died of a pleurisy and "an ignorant practitioner ;" and when he was too far gone to be able to speak, he made signs for a pencil and paper, and wrote to

his medical attendant as follows:-" You have murdered me! and if you are an honest man you will never practise medicine any more.' I wonder whether Cavour wrote anything like that to his doctors!

Writing on education, I may mention that the scientific schools at Mulhouse. They seem to be a combination of journals notice as an event the opening of some evening your schools of design and an ordinary evening school. Besides reading, writing, common arithmetic, and bookkeeping, instruction is given in German and English and design. The classes are held in different factories after the day's work is over, and it seems that they are exceed

1668. William Lloyd, Dartmouth Street, Westminster, "Improvements in the manufacture of hydro-carbon gas, and in apparatus employed therein."-A communication from William Henderson, Valparaiso, South America.-ingly well attended. A public lending library has also Petitions recorded July 5, 1864.

1766. Richard Archibald Brooman, Fleet Street, London, "Improvements in the manufacture of fluoride of silicium."-A communication from Cyprien Marie Tessie du Motay and Edouard Karcher, Saarbuck, Rhenish Prussia. -Petition recorded July 14, 1864.

2073. James Allan, Dundee, in the county of Forfar, N.B., "An improved adhesive mixture."-Petition recorded August 22, 1864.

2097. Harold Potter, Manchester, "Improvements in bleaching fibrous substances."-Petition recorded August 25, 1864.

2230. Harold Potter, Manchester, "Improvements in bleaching fibrous substances."-Petition recorded September 13, 1864.

2326. Harold Potter, Manchester, "Improvements in bleaching fibrous substances."-Petition recorded September 22, 1864.

2420. Edward Loysel, Park Place, Middlesex, "Improved apparatus for obtaining extracts from tea, coffee, and other vegetable substances." - - Petition recorded October 1, 1864.

CORRESPONDENCE.

Continental Science.

been lately opened in the same city. These things are new here, and much good is expected of them.

I may return to the soirée at the Conservatoire mentioned last week, in order to notice some of the objects of interest exhibited. Among these was the apparatus used by Lavoisier in effecting the synthesis of water. This has been presented to the Conservatoire by the Academy of Sciences, who kept it in their cellars out of sight. The present proprietors, however, have had the apparatus cleaned up and made to look as good as new. Is Cavendish's eudiometer still in existence, and where is it to be seen? M. Tresca thinks it a good idea to make a collection of such objects, and I agree with him. The simple apparatus of some of the leading discoverers would look strange beside the magnificent display of apparatus which the public professors have at their disposal-paid for, however, out of the public purse. George Stephenson's "Rocket" is at South Kensington; why should they not have Cavendish's eudiometer, if they can get it, and Davy's battery, if the Royal Institution will part with it? How interesting, too, would be a sight of Wollaston's small and simple stock of apparatus.

As you are likely to be short of food for cattle this winter, I may mention that they are feeding pigs here on rice with great success. Porkers, it seems, gain 25 kilogrammes in weight for every 100 kilogrammes of rice consumed. They are allowed to eat the rice as we are PARIS, November 16. bread at the restaurants-à discretion. I did not think THE School of Medicine was opened for the session on the the discretion of a pig could be trusted in the matter of 3rd, in the presence of M. Duruy, the Minister of Public food. Instruction. M. Tardieu, the dean, delivered what you would call the introductory lecture, which consisted of the usual matter-a resumé of the discoveries of the past year, praises and regrets for the dead, compliments for the living who retire from the Faculty, and plenty of good advice to the students. M. Duruy added some of the latter on his own account. He was sorry to hear that the students did not attend their lectures regularly; that was wrong. More

The sewage question begins to be agitated here, and there is a loud outcry on the part of the engineers against contaminating the Seine like the Thames. To distribute the sewage over the country is the remedy proposed, as with you; but since Paris has yet to be drained, the country must wait.

Some people here have taken it into their heads that England is in a great hurry to adopt the metrical syst

252

Miscellaneous-Answers to Correspondents.

of weights and measures. Coupled with this come expressions of lively regret that the majority of French people in the provinces obstinately refuse to adopt these weights and measures, and stick to the local systems, which vary as much as they do in England. But, then, the people are used to them, and they have no wish to go to school again.

I have only one more piece of information, and that is that some spinners at Lille, MM. Mallard and Bonneau, state that China grass is a perfect substitute for cotton, or that the two may be mixed with great advantage. China grass, I believe, is well known in England, but I do not remember whether it has been used in this way. There is some difficulty, it seems, in the carding, but that they expect soon to get over. Equal weights of the grass and Surat cotton are said to make a first-rate yarn. The mixture, or the grass alone, will dye as well as the best American cotton. Some people believe that the grass may be acclimatised and grown in France and Algeria. The Americans had better finish their war.

Mineral Densities.

To the Editor of the CHEMICAL NEWS.

SIR,-My attention has been called to your report of the last meeting of the Chemical Society, in No. 258 of the CHEMICAL NEWS, in which allusion is made to a short paper of mine inserted in the Proceedings of the Royal Society (xiii. 64. 240). It appears that Mr. Church in repeating the experiments on garnet, &c., there recorded, has failed to arrive at the results consigned in my note. If the author publishes his observations in the Journal of the Society, I shall reply to them when they have appeared; if not, I shall do so, with your permission, in the CHEMICAL NEWS.

It may be, as Mr. Perkin stated at the meeting, that Mr. Church weighed his specimens before they had completely cooled (unless he adopted my method of taking the densities, when such an error would be impossible), but I think his failure is owing to another cause, which will be referred to hereafter. I am, &c.

London, November 14.

T. L. PHIPSON, Ph.D., &c.

Substitute for Photographic Yellow Glass.

To the Editor of the CHEMICAL NEWS. SIR,-I see in the Popular Science Review that you recommend gelatine treated with AgO,NO, as a substitute, when applied to slender fabrics, for yellow glass in the windows of photographic dark chambers and tents. I venture to suggest, as preferable, gelatine dissolved as usual, and mixed with a hot solution of KO2CrO3; it leaves no pinholes, gives a clear orange tint, is perfectly weatherproof, and is so firm that it admits of the use of a slight fabric which does not itself obstruct the light. The utility of the mixture for this and many other purposes recommended itself to me as a consequence of my use of it when working at photolithography with Mr. Osborne, Wincanton. Mixed with lampblack, it is a capital and lasting pigment. I use it on my blackboard, and it stands any amount of washing after it has been actinised. I jocularly call my blackboard a carbon print. The gelatine and KO2CrO,, either with or without pigments, is also a capital material for coating bottles for substances that require darkness, as the copper solution for sugar-testing, chlorine water, nitrate baths, &c. ; the bottle need only be dipped in a moderately strong solution. It will also do in some cases for repairing cracks in glass and porcelain (a matter of some importance here, where replacement is not easy as with you). When the salt is in excess it gives a pretty crystalline moiré appearance, which may have a decorative value, especially when pigments are used. Other uses suggest themselves as occasion requires.I am, &c. W. SYDNEY GIBBONS.

Melbourne.

MISCELLANEOUS.

{CHEMICAL NEWS,

to criticise the drama, but we may point out, among the
Lighting and Ventilation.—It is not our province
many improvements introduced by Mr. Horace Wigan
and ventilating it.
into the Olympic Theatre, the admirable mode of lighting
the auditorium, and the customary chandelier is replaced
Gas lights are entirely excluded from
is the only theatre in London wherein one does not
by a sunlight in the roof, protected by ground glass. It
breathe that curious, complicated mixture of carbonic
acid and animal effluvia of which the atmosphere of a
theatre is usually composed; the only theatre where one
escapes that brow-heaviness and lassitude so well known
to play-goers.

"Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid.”— We learn that the Astronomer-Royal for Scotland, armed with a firman giving him full powers, is about to visit the Great Pyramid, with a view of investigating the "Metrology" of that remarkable structure, to which he has has recently called attention. Professor Smyth takes out magnesium wire, in order to photograph the interior, especially the mysterious inner chamber and more myste

rious coffer.-The Reader.

Rapid Reproduction of Pencil Drawings.— Our attention has been called to a rapid method of reproducing pencil drawings, plans, and sketches, mentioned in the Invalide Russe as founded upon an observation made some time ago by M. Villani-Villanis. "Si on humecte avec une solution acidulée un papier sur lequel est tracé un plan ou de l'écriture au crayon de mine de plomb ordinaire," are his words, "et si on vient à encrer ce papier, il arrive que le trait de crayon prend seul l'encre, et qu'on peut ensuite opérer le transport du dessin sur métal ou sur pierre." Acting upon this hint, Captain Sytenko of the Imperial Artillery, Directeur du Service Photographique de l'Etat Major, found that pencil drawings, after the paper had been moistened with acidulated water and inked as suggested, could readily be transferred to zinc or stone. He has introduced some modifications into the process and invented a portable press, which will be particularly useful in campaigns, where it is often desirable to have a number of copies of a hasty pencil sketch. It does not take more than ten minutes to effect the transfer of the drawing upon a zinc plate or lithographic stone.-The Reader.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

** In publishing letters from our Correspondents we do not thereby adopt the views of the writers. Our intention to give both sides of a question will frequently oblige us to publish opinions with which we do not agree.

All Editorial Communications are to be addressed to the EDITOR, and Advertisements and Business Communications to the PUBLISHER, at the Office, 1, Wine Office Court, Fleet Street, London, E. C.

ready, price 10s. 8d., by post, 118. 2d., handsomely bound in cloth, Vol. IX. of the CHEMICAL NEWS, containing a copious Index, is now gold-lettered. The casos for binding may be obtained at our Office, price 18. 6d. Subscribers may have their copies bound for 2s. 6d. if sent to our Office, or, if accompanied by a cloth case, for 15. Vols. I. and II. are out of print. All the others are kept in stock. Vol. X. commenced on July 2, 1864, and will be complete in 26 numbers.

J. C. N.-No report so full as cur own has been published.

C. Eaves.-You might perhaps get it from Messrs. Bell and Co., Newcastle.

Dr. Adriani.-The letter is much too long for insertion, and is, moreover, almost undecipherable. It lies at our office.

Chemicus. The filtration suggested is practical on a large scale, but it would probably be too effective for your purpose. The distillation after digestion we know from experience would not answer.

or to a moderate heat; replaced in the dark, it resumes its amber colour.

However, two phials hermetically sealed, each containing the syrup of iodide of iron, one coloured by natural decomposition, the other by the addition of a small quantity of iodine, were exposed for a year to the sun's rays, then both the syrups were colourless; and they remained so for more than a year, though they were left in a dark cellar, and in half-filled bottles.

The first fact reverses the old theory of the decomposition of the syrup of iodide of iron, which was explained by the formation of a protoxide of iron and iodohydric acid, by means of the decomposition of the water into its two elements, and by the transformation of the protoxide of iron into sesquioxide of iron by the oxygen of the air. Evidently, should the decomposition of the water and of the iodide of iron operate thus, this process should continue to that point when all the iodide of iron is decomposed; this does not take place.

To explain the second fact I asked myself what became of the free iodine? for surely it could not combine itself with the proto-iodide of iron to form a sesqui-iodide ; the sesqui-iodide of iron being red, should have remained so; we know, upon the other hand, that water dissolves hardly more than 7th of iodine, which, according to some chemists, is transformed into iodic and hydriodic acids. The last question was, then, to know how free iodine acted upon sugar.

To elucidate this question, I made various experiments with iodine and simple syrup. I soon found that, with a moderate and prolonged heat, this metalloid added to the syrup was subject to a great chemical change.

One to ten grains of iodine, added to one ounce of simple syrup, in a strong bottle closed with a glass stopper, the whole exposed in a water bath at a moderate heat (60° C.), are dissolved little by little, and give the liquid a reddish brown colour; but after several hours, the whole being always kept at the same temperature, the syrup again becomes discoloured. The flask must be cautiously shaken from time to time. The whole operation occupies about forty-eight hours.

In operating with a syrup containing half a drachm of iodine to the ounce, I obtained, with some trouble, however, a similar colourless product.

The greater the proportion of iodine, the more attention is required; and towards the end of the operation, care must be taken to remove the syrup as soon as it turns

white.

Nov. 26, 1864.

Does the iodine, all or in part, combine with the sugar C12HOI, or to the glucose C12H14014I, to form iodides similar to the iodide of starch, CH10010?

11

14

Or rather, in presence of sugar acting as a catalytic agent, should not iodine decompose the water into its elements, hydrogen and oxygen, and unite with them to form hydriodic and iodic acids? If so, these acids, once formed, would decompose the sugar precisely in the same way as the mineral and some other acids.

If not so, what are these acids, and how are they formed? Is it from the decomposition of the sugar or of the water?

Bromine acts upon sugar in the same manner as iodine, with the difference that the diverse phenomena follow more rapidly.

Chlorine acts upon simple syrup still more promptly than bromine; into water freshly saturated with chlorine, at a very cold temperature, I have thrown sugar, and heated the liquor as I have described for iodine. In less than half an hour the chlorine had disappeared, and the liquor was acid.

Chlorine was probably transformed into hydrochloric acid.-American Journal of Pharmacy.

PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.

ROYAL SOCIETY.

Thursday, November 17.

General SABINE, President, in the Chair.

A PAPER, by Mr. Huggins, "On the Spectra of some of the Nebula" was read. The paper was a continuation of that on the spectra of the fixed stars by Mr. Huggins and Professor W. A. Miller. The former paper showed the stars, and between them and our sun. The present examisimilarity of essential constitution which exists among the nation was undertaken to ascertain whether the same similarity extended to the nebula. Prismatic analysis seemed to be a method of observation specially suitable for determining whether any essential physical distinction separates the nebulæ from the stars, either in the nature of the matter of which they are composed, or in the conditions under which they exist as sources of light. For increase of optical power alone fails to give the desired information, since the researches of Lord Rosse have shown at the same time that the number of clusters may be increased by the resolution of supposed nebulæ, other nebulous objects are revealed, and fantastic wisps and diffused patches of light all cases to the united glare of suns still more remote. are seen which it would be assumption to regard as due in The nebula selected for examination were those which present small round or oval discs, and therefore classed by Sir John Herschel as planetary nebulæ. They present but little indication of resolvability, have a green and sometimes bluish colour, and show no sign of central condensation. The first examined was a nebula in Draco 37, H. iv. The light of this nebula, unlike that of any other ex-terrestrial body examined by the author, was not composed of light of different refrangibilities, and therefore could not form a spectrum. A greater part is monochromatic, and, after passing through the prisms, remains The more the temperature is elevated, the larger is concentrated in a bright line, occupying in the instrument the proportion of iodine, and quicker is the sugar decom-the position of that part of the spectrum to which its light posed. corresponds in refrangibility. A more careful examination than the bright line, and separated from it by a dark interval, with a narrower slit showed that a little more refrangible a narrower and much fainter line occurs. Beyond this, again, at about three times the distance of the second line, a third exceedingly faint line was seen. The position of these lines in the spectrum were determined by a simultaneous comparison of these with the spectrum of the induction

Arrived at this point, if the preparation is left exposed to heat, it soon colours again; by-and-by the sugar is transformed into caramel; and this burned sugar, quickly destroyed in its turn, gives rise to carbonic acid and to a blackish, light, and spongy substance, partly soluble in water and alcohol. Treated by hydrochloric acid, potash, &c., this substance shows the same reactions as ulmin and ulmic acid. To carry on this operation to the entire decomposition of the sugar, all necessary care must be taken to prevent a fracture of the flask by the expansion of carbonic acid gas, which is formed in quantities,

and can be collected.

This white syrup of iodine, or iodinised syrup, has sometimes an aroma of fruit; it is acid, unalterable by air, heat at 100° C. decomposes it; it contains much glucose. Treated with the reagents, it behaves like iodides in general.

These are the facts; the theory remains to be given.

NEWS

SOCIETY.

CHEMICAL
Thursday, November 17.

in the Chair.

THE minutes of the previous meeting having been read and confirmed, and the donations to the library acknowledged,

the names of thirteen candidates for admission into the Society were read over for the second time, and Mr. Alexander Stuart, Apothecaries' Hall, London, was proposed for the first time.

We subjoin a complete list of the names which will be balloted for at the next meeting of the Society (December 1):-Clayton S. Beauchamp, Lieutenant Royal Engineers; Mr. John Bray, High Street, Mild Town, Sheerness; Mr. Charles Eken, Bath; Mr. Henry Haywood, Broomhall Park, Sheffield; Henry Montague Hozier, Lieutenant 2nd Life Guards, Topographical Department, New Street, Spring Gardens; Mr. Daniel Harmer Jay, Manufacturing and Analytical Chemist, Frog Island, Leicester; Mr. Joseph F. Payne, M.A., Magdalen College, Oxford; Mr. J. G. F. Richardson, Manufacturing Chemist, Leicester; Mr. William White Rouch, Norfolk Street, Strand; Lieut.-Colonel H. Y. D. Scott, Royal Engineers, Ealing and South Kensington Museum; Mr. J. Berger Spence, Pendleton Alum Works, Newton Heath, Manchester; Hermann Sprengel, Ph.D., Chemical Works, Kennington Common; and Mr. Alfred Phythian Tamar, 3, Upper Baker Street, London.

spark taken from electrodes of magnesium. The strongest line corresponds in position with the brightest of the air lines; this line is due to nitrogen, and occurs in the spectrum about midway between b and F of the solar Professor A. W. WILLIAMSON, Ph.D., F.R.S., President, spectrum. The faintest of the lines of the nebula agree in position with the line of hydrogen corresponding to Fraunhofer's F. The other bright line was compared with the strong line of barium 2075; this line is a little more refrangible than that belonging to the nebula. Besides these lines, an exceedingly faint spectrum was just perceived for a short distance on both sides of the group of bright lines. The author suspects that this is not uniform, but crossed with dark spaces; subsequent observations on other nebulæ induced him to regard this faint spectrum as due to the solid or liquid matter of the nucleus, and as quite distinct from the bright lines into which nearly the whole of the light from the nebula is concentrated. The colour of this nebula is greenish blue. In most of the other nebulæ examined the three bright lines were seen in the same positions, and in some a fourth line was observed. With regard to the nebula the spectrum of which we have just described, and some others, the author observes that they can no longer be regarded as aggregations of suns after the order to which our own sun and the fixed stars belong, but objects possessing a distinct and peculiar plan of structure. In place of an incandescent solid or liquid body transmitting light of all refrangibilities through an atmosphere which intercepts by absorption a certain number of them, such as our own sun appears to be, we must probably regard these bodies, or at least their photo-surfaces, as enormous masses of luminous gas or vapour; for it is alone from matter in the gaseous state that light consisting of definite refrangibilities only, as is the case with the light of these nebulæ, is known to be emitted. It is, indeed, possible that suns endowed with these peculiar conditions of luminosity may exist, and that these bodies are clusters of such suns; but there are considerations which are scarcely in accordance with the opinion that they are clusters of stars. One of these is found in the extreme simplicity of constitution suggested by the three bright lines, whether or not these are regarded as indicating the presence of nitrogen, hydrogen, and a substance unknown. With the exception of nitrogen, the author states that not one of the thirty elements, the spectra of which he has measured, has a strong line very near the bright line of the nebulæ. If, however, this line were due to nitrogen, other lines should be seen; for there are specially two strong double lines in the spectrum of nitrogen, one at least of which, if it existed in the light of the nebulæ, would be easily seen. In the author's experiments on the spectrum of nitrogen, he observed that the character of the brightest of the lines, that with which the line in the nebulæ coincides, differs from that of the two double lines next in brilliancy. It is more nebulous at the edges, even when the other lines are thin and sharp. The same phenomenon was observed with other elements. May not this

difference of character observable in the lines of the same element indicate a physical difference in the atoms in connection with the vibrations of which they are probably produced? The speculation presents itself whether the occurrence of this one line only in the nebulæ may not indicate a form of matter more elementary than nitrogen, and which our analysis has not yet enabled us to detect. The next paper was by Forchammer, on the composition of sea water at different depths, a report of which we are compelled to defer.

Simpson v. Holliday. This case is now before the Lord Chancellor on an application by the defendant for a new trial, or the reversal of the decision of Vice-Chancellor Stuart. Our readers are by this time well acquainted with the matters in dispute, and we shall not further allude to the case until the decision of the Chancellor is given,

A resolution of the Council, referring to the proposed removal from the list of Fellows some few members who have allowed their subscriptions to lapse for more than three years, was read a second time, and will likewise be decided by ballot at the next meeting.

The PRESIDENT then invited Dr. Marcet to favour the

Society with his promised communication " On the Brine of Salted Meat." The author commenced by pronouncing a graceful eulogium upon Professor Graham's researches on Liquid Diffusion or Dialysis. Very shortly after these results were made known Dr. Marcet conceived that the principle might be turned to account advantageously in connexion with the curing of meat, and two years ago he instituted experiments upon the treatment of meat brines with the view of removing the salt by dialysis. He evaporated the salt brine at a moderate temperature to onethird its original bulk, decanted from the crystals of common salt which had separated, and placed the liquid in a dialyser for the purpose of removing the rest of the salt. He obtained in this manner, in periods varying from eighteen to thirty-six hours, a palatable beverage, which had only to be warmed in order to furnish a good and cheap soup. So important did these results appear, that Dr. Marcet wrote at once to a friend in Liverpool advising him to make a trial of the plan for the benefit of the distressed Lancashire operatives; the author did not, however, entertain any intention of publishing his experience until he had found opportunities of further pursuing the matter, for although the liquid had the smell and taste of broth he could not then say whether there was a deficiency of nutritive ingredients, and later he found that much of the phosphates and lactates, kreatin and kreatinin were lost. In the meantime, however, a short account of his experiments appeared in the Family Herald, without his knowledge or sanction, early in the year 1863. Since then he had resumed the subject for the purpose of turning a waste commodity, if possible, to some prac tical account, and he considered that meat brine was admirably adapted to the preparation of kreatin and kreatinin, and could be used as a source of lactic acid. The process employed in the recovery of these constituents was first to boil the brine in order to coagulate the albumen; this being strained off the liquor was evaporated until much of the salt had crystallised out, alcohol was then added, and to the clear fluid a small quantity of a