rubidium and cæsium only became apparent after repeated washings in boiling water. The quantity of these bodies contained in the second precipitate, which weighed 1.260, was nevertheless very notable. I have, moreover, recognised in the precipitate yielded by carbonate of ammonia the presence of strontia and of lithia, and I likewise think, arguing on the known reactions of boracic acid, dare not state it positively on account of the uncertainty that I shall discover the presence of this body; but I which still exists in the method of determination of boron, when it exists in small quantities mixed with many foreign substances. I have also examined a certain number of mineral waters, which have given me negative results as to the presence of cæssium and rubidium. I will return hereafter to the results of their spectral analysis. salts. THE research of which the present note is an abstract has been commenced for many months, by the advice and with the assistance of M. Bunsen, who has kindly kept me au courant with all the practical details of the admirable method which he has published jointly with M. Kirchhoff. I ought first to say that if I now publish the principal results of my researches, it is after having M. H. Troost prepared, some years ago, in the laboraexperimented for a long time under the direction of the illustrious chemist of Heidelberg, and after having sub-tory of the Ecole Normale, several kilogrammes of lithia mitted to him almost all the results of my analyses. I at first sought for the two new alkaline metals, rubidium and cæsium, in the mineral waters, and the minerals presenting some analogy with the waters, of Durckheim, which furnish caesium, and with the lepidolite of Rozena, whence M. Bunsen has extracted rubidium. I then successively examined the salt mother liquors of the Meurthe, the water of the Mediterranean, of the ocean, of the Dead Sea, and, finally, of the mineral waters of Bourbonne-les-Bains and of Vichy. The waters of the sea and of the salt-springs have only hitherto yielded me lithia, as already announced by MM. Kirchhoff and Bunsen. The water of the Dead Sea, recently sent me by M. Delesse, gave me the characteristic rays of lithia and strontia. He operated upon about 100 kilogrammes of lepidolite of Bohemia, of petalite from Uto, and of triphylline from Finland. He took the precaution to preserve intact all the residues derived from the attack of these different minerals-residues which amount to a considerable bulk of material, which he has kindly placed at my disposal with a generosity for which I here beg of him to accept my thanks. With these residues I have been enabled to prepare considerable quantities of the two new alkalies. I was struck, in performing the analysis of these last-named materials, to find cæsium and rubidium present in almost equal quantities. I have performed the same experiment on the products of a special attack of lepidolite This lepidolite was furwhich was used by M. Troost. nished to the Ecole Normale by M. Batka, of Prague, and it differs essentially by its richness in cæsium from and Bunsen, who only found in it rubidium with but the lepidolite of Rozena, analysed by MM. Kirchhoff traces of cæsium. salt obtained on treating some residues in the manufacture of Belgium saltpetre, in which I have recognised much rubidium, but no trace of caesium. However, Chili nitrate of soda, as MM. Kirchhoff and Bunsen have stated, and as I have myself verified on specimens met with in commerce, only contains soda and traces of potash.-Comptes-Rendus." The mother liquors obtained from the evaporation of many thousands of litres of Vichy water, which I owe to the kindness of M. J. Lefort, yielded me nearly two grammes of double chloride of platinum and cæsium, and of platinum and rubidium in an unknown proportion. That shows that the new alkalies only exist in small quantities Finally, among the artificial products which I have in Vichy water. It is not the same with the thermal examined, are some residues of the manufacture of saltwaters of Bourbonne-les-Bains. I have been enabled. petre obtained from a Paris refinery. M. Captain Caron thanks to the kind assistance of M. le Dr. Cabrol and extracted from it a platinum salt, which he has been M. le Dr. Tamissier, to evaporate down forty hectolitres good enough to send to me, and in which I have deterof mineral water obtained from the new source in the mined the presence of considerable quantities of the Jardin des Bains Civil. By this evaporation, made in a new metals, and in almost equal proportions. I have tinned copper vessel of about the capacity of a hecto-likewise submitted to spectrum analysis the platinum litre, the water deposited considerable quantities of chloride of sodium and lime salts containing a small quantity of strontia. The mother liquors contain much lithia and chlorides of caesium and rubidium, which have served to prepare a portion of the products which I have the honour to submit to the Academy. Ten litres and a-half of Bourbonne water were reduced by evaporation to 250 cubic centimètres. This mother liquor, treated by an insufficient quantity of chloride of platinum, furnished inmediately a sightly coloured precipitate, weighing 1029 grammes, which introduced into the spectrum apparatus directly made evident the rays Lia, Ka, (s1, Csß, Rba, and Rbs, characteristic of lithia, potassa, cæsia, and rubidia. The quantities of lithia and of potassa rendered evident by spectrum analysis were so small that these salts may be considered as being almost pure salts of cæsium and rubidium-a fact which leads M. Buusen to think that I have found in the Bourbonne waters the most abundant source hitherto known for the two alkaline metals. On precipitating the mother liquor by an excess of chloride of platinum, I obtained a yellow salt, in which the presence of TECHNICAL CHEMISTRY. On the Coloured Derivatives of Naphthaline, by M. Z. ROUSSIN. IN a former paper I stated that by the reaction of metals and of carbon on binitro-naphthaline dissolved in concentrated sulphuric acid an intense bright red colouring matter is produced, analogous in all its various properties, and even in the formula of its formation, with the colouring principle of madder (alizarine or purpurine). The foliowing table exhibits this similitude: CHEMICAL NEWS, Colouring matter of madder Is precipitated in the form of jelly from its solutions. Sublimates between 215° and 240°. But little soluble in water; soluble in alcohol, ether, and solution of alum. Unalterable by sulphuric acid heated to 200°, and by hydrochloric acid. Alter'able by nitric acid. Soluble in caustic or carbonised alkalies, to which it gives a purple colour. Ammoniacal solution yields purple precipitates with salts of baryta and lime. On the Oxides of Iron and Manganese. Artificial red matter Unalterable by sulphuric Soluble in caustic or carbonised alkalies, to which it gives a blue-violet colour. Ammoniacal solution yields purple precipitates with salts of baryta and lime. On the Oxides of Iron and Manganese and Certain It results from this succession of effects that the peroxide of iron is in an unstable and transitory state of 9 equilibrium, by turns partially reduced and re-oxidised. For the production of this succession of reductions and oxidations it is necessary that the oxide should be in the state of peroxide, for were it only in the state of magnetic oxide the oxidation would not spread to fresh parts of the metal. A covering of magnetic oxide, instead of inducing alteration, would be, on the contrary, a most efficacious preservative against oxidation. Such is the opinion of M. Thiraut, of Saint-Etienne, who first succeeded in utilising this property. His process consists in rusting the surface of iron artificially, and then changing the peroxide to the state of magnetic iron, probably anhydrous, by plunging the oxidised pieces into water at 80° or 100°. Under these circumstances," says M. Thiraut, "a new phenomenon is produced. No more peroxide is formed. In fact, the peroxide itself is modified and magnetic oxide Fe O, is formed. This magnetic oxide being almost unalterable, and no longer forming a voltaic element with the iron, the metal when covered is preserved from oxidation." Some experiments previously described by me support this opinion, and show that magnetic oxide is the most stable of all the oxides of iron, best resisting in contact with the water the deoxidising action of certain bodies and the oxidising action of others. Moreover, this is the opinion already generally accepted by geologists. I have recently applied the oxidising properties of sesquioxide of iron to a subject which forms a sequel to my researches touching the hygienic improvement of chemical manufactories. After having studied the condensation of acid vapours, which in these manufactories are too often allowed to escape into the air, to the great prejudice of vegetation, and having advised, as a complementary means of condensation, the employment of natural carbonate of baryta, witherite, I turned my attention to the means of freeing these manufactories of chemical products, from the acid residues proceeding from the production to an industry altogether new-that of the wholesale of chlorine. These various researches have given rise fabrication of salts of baryta by processes so economical that several of these salts, before employed only as reagents, have been put to the most important uses. Oxysulphide of calcium, residue from the washing of rough soda, has also particularly engaged my attention. Many attempts have already been made to utilise profitably the sulphur of this oxysulphide. Without the complication of practical processes or of the expense exception, ail have hitherto failed on account either of of the application of these processes. Thus the residues of soda have continued to embarrass our manufactories by quickly accumulating in considerable masses and emitting fetid emanations which spread through the air to some distance. Spontaneous combustion often takes place on various points of this mass of residue and then a large quantity of sulphurous acid is added to the constant disengagement of hydrosulphuric acid: These local combustions, which give rise to a high degree of heat, are made manifest to the eye by octahedral crystals of sulphur, like those of the solfateros which are deposited at the orifice of volcanic fissures, where hydrosulphuric acid is decomposed by sulphurous acid. In the interior of a mass of residues which or several years has been exposed to the air are found cavities, or géodes, adorned with beautiful gold-coloured crystals, whose composition may be represented by a combination of one equivalent of sulphite of lime, two equivalents of sulphide of calcium, and six of water. Exposed to the air, these crystals lose their yellow colour, and they whiten as oxidation progresses, My first experiments with the view of utilising the residues of soda were devoted to the decomposition of these oxysulphides by the chlorine residues, after satu rating them by means of chalk. In effecting this reaction in a reverberatory furnace, a fritted mass is obtained, which when washed yields very pure chloride of calcium. As yet this chloride has been but little used for manufacturing purposes; and sulphide of manganese, another product of the re-action, I have hitherto used only for the construction of footways. A remunerative utilisation of the residues of the washing of crude sodas was yet to seck, when it occurred to me to test the value of another residue not less embarrassing-oxide of iron, resulting from the combustion of pyrites, which in the fabrication of sulphuric acid has lately been pretty generally substituted for sulphur on account of the dearness of the latter mineral. application where lime alone would have a salutary effect. Lime which has been used for purifying gas is equally good. 31 As to the theoretical question touching this transformation, it has no further difficulty from the moment it is shown with what facility oxide of iron transports atmospheric oxygen to combustible matters by a chemical shuttle movement on which I have sufficiently insisted. The formula of the composition of oxysulphide of calcium (residues of soda) is generally 3 CaS+ CaO. That of sesquioxide of iron being F20, if it were admitted that the oxygen of sesquioxide of iron ought exclusively to serve for oxidising oxysulphide of calcium, it would be necessary to employ 12 equivalents of sesquioxide before passing to the state of protoxide; but it has been seen that the reaction cannot be so interpreted. As soon as one equivalent of sesquioxide is transformed into two equivalents of protoxide, more sesquioxide is formed at the expense of atmospheric oxygen, which oxidises a fresh quantity of oxysulphide. I naturally supposed that if the action of oxide of Sesquioxide of iron acts, then, under these circumiron as a combustible is energetic enough to burn organic stances continuously exactly the same as when it takes bodies, it must also suffice to burn the sulphur of oxy-part in the combustion of organic matters. sulphide of calcium, and to transform this oxysulphide into sulphate of lime. These expectations have been satisfactorily realised. I mixed equal parts of the residues of soda just as it came from the vars, and of the residues of the combustion of pyrites, and make of them a homogeneous paste by crushing them under vertical grinding wheels. By moulding this paste while cold into the form of bricks or architectural ornaments, I obtained by a speedy consolidation substances as hard as baked bricks, which became harder the longer they were exposed to slightly humid air, and in the end acquired great sonority. The colour is a brown red, like earthenware. When the new cement has been sufficiently hardened by several months' exposure to the air, it resists the action of frost, especially if, in the first instance, it has been rendered less porous by compression. For greater security against the action of extreme cold, the surface of this kind of pottery should be washed with a solution of silicate of potass, but only after solidifying for some time in the air. Residues of soda recently obtained give better results than those which have been long exposed to the air. In all cases, the addition of a tenth part of slaked lime to the mixture of the two residues is a great improvement. I trust that manufacturers of artificial soda will generally benefit by the results of my observations on this subject. I am convinced they will be found not only a means of economically freeing factories of two inconvenient and cumbrous residues, but of giving to them a value, whether they are employed in a concrete state for road mending, for stonework foundations, or for the constructions themselves, to the replacing of walls en pisé to the making of bricks, architectural ornaments, mosaic flooring, or objects modelled on the spot. There are, in fact, an infinite number of building purposes in which the new cement may supersede lime, plaster, and mortar. If used as bricks, they can be connected together by the cement itself serving as mortar. For agricultural purposes, residues of soda, treated by my method of oxidation, will be found of profitable 1 I have sometimes applied the residues of soda to the same purpose, but it cannot be used where the roads are bordered with trees, as it is pernicious to vegetation. In Schevingen's factory, near Brunswick, a fence in the form of a thick wall has been made of these residues compressed, but it is not very substantial. The phenomenon of the oxidation of the residues of soda can also be proved in another way. As soon as sesquioxide of iron comes in contact with oxysulphide of calcium, instead of passing to the state of protoxide, the sesquioxide loses all its oxygen and passes to the corresponding state of sulphide. This sulphide is gradually transformed by contact with the air into sulphate of iron, which yields its sulphuric acid to lime, whence sulphate of lime and oxide of iron. The final result, however, is always the same. It is always the atmosphere which yields the oxygen necessary to burn the sulphur of oxysulphide of calcium. No doubt more complicated reactions than simple oxidation take place in the new cement. There are some points of resemblance between it and iron cement. Some modifications are perceptible on breaking cakes which have been prepared for some months. The exterior becomes denser by time, and has a different molecular arrangement. This gradually reaches the centre. It remains for me to complete this inquiry on the oxides of iron and manganese considered as means of oxidation to connect in a résumé the result of my former and recent investigations, and to determine the relation existing between the phenomena of combustion, of nitrification, of the fertilization of the ground, of decoloration, and of disinfection. This resumé will be the object of an early communication to the Academy.-Comptes-Rendus. PHARMACY, TOXICOLOGY, &c. Preservation of Proto-Iodide of Iron, by M. VEZU. SINCE M. Blancard made the use of pills of iodide of iron general, by indicating a sure means of preserving them, many persons, in whose hands his formula did not succeed, have proposed other methods, now forgotten. M. Vezu proposes to shield the iodide from contact with air, by dissolving it in a fatty body-cocoa-nut butter. To four parts of iodine, dissolved in the melted butter of cocoa-nut, he adds six parts of reduced iron, and keeps the mixture in a semi-liquid state for three or four hours, until it takes a bottle green hue, and does not colour moistened starch paper, when a thin layer is spread CHEMICAL NEWS Jan. 4, 1862. On the Solidification of Certain Substances. over it. According to M. Vezu, the iodide dissolves in | It was to be inferred that other bodies under similar butter of cocoa nut without sensibly attacking it. conditions behave in the same manner. The following Repertoire de Pharmacie. are three examples : On Chinese Chemistry and Medicine, from a Letter from R. P. HELLOT to M. BARRESWIL. THE chemistry of the Chinese is a subject which had already excited my curiosity. I expected to find something in the books of medicine or pharmacy, or in the drug shops themselves, for in China physics and chemistry are absolutely unknown-but my expectations were unfulfilled, for in the books I only found a series of receipts analagous to those of our ancient medicine; the basis of these receipts is almost always roots, gums, stalks of simples; and it is remarkable that the more elements it contains, the better is the receipt; this makes it exceedingly difficult to distinguish the efficient element. Furthermore, the Chinese theory of medicine is very limited. For this reason it is difficult to find out from it the effect expected to be produced by each medicament, which would enable one to understand a formula. Another difficulty is the identification of the plant which enters into the receipt, which is not easily done. There are many books, or kinds of dictionaries, wherein the names of Chinese plants are translated into English, Latin or French; but as regards the plants not exported by Europeans, these books afford no reliable information. You will now understand why the work I commenced has not been finished. I could only translate formulas dom. I of which I understood as little as did the Chinese doctor who assisted me. "This is not the way to proceed," was the answer the good fellow made to my questions; "these plants are known to the apothecary; take this written formula to him, he will give you each of the substances indicated, in packets, with no mistake in the weights; then by boiling or infusing them according to the prescription, you will have a good medicine." went myself to an apothecary's; it was a plain shop, with simples broken into little morsels, no laboratory and scarcely any medicaments from the mineral kingEverything of any importance which could be learnt from these formulas is already known to and has been translated by, former missionaries; and if Chinese pharmacy is but little considered in Europe, it is, in fact, because it is so difficult to get at the principal substance in the receipt, in order to study it chemically, as we study simples and roots. What may be done when the opportunity occurs, is to observe their manufacturing processes, as I have already done in the case of Chinese green. But for this we must see with our own eyes, examine and follow the operations, which can only be done when a fitting occasion presents itself. As for myself, I not only miss no opportunity, but seriously pursue my researches, and if I make any discovery, I shall have great pleasure in communicating it to you. PHYSICAL SCIENCE. On the Solidification of Certain Substances, by M. DUFOUR, of Lausanne. IN a recent communication, I showed that water held in suspension in the midst of a liquid of equal density would reach a degree of cold below o° without freezing. Sulphur.-It has been already shown by MM. Person and Faraday that it is possible to preserve this body in a liquid state below 1150-an exceptional phenomenon authors rarely mention. It is easy to prepare a solution of chloride of zinc of the same, or of a density rather greater than that of liquid sulphur. This solution can be heated without boiling beyond 115°, and balls of sulphur floating in it are melted. In order to keep these balls surrounded with a fluid, pour a layer of oil on the solution. On cooling it is very seldom sol dified at the melting temperature. The liquid globules generally reach 70°, 50°, &c., before becoming solid, Solidification is spontaneous, or can be produced by contact with a solid body, particularly with a fragment of sulphur; but under the peculiar circumstances of these experiments, the liquid state of the body is remarkably persistent. It is sometimes possible to introduce at 60° into globules, six millimètres in diameter, saline crystal wire, &c., without inducing immediate solidification. Globules half a millimètre in diameter frequently remain fluid at a temperature of 5°, and continue in this state for many days. When these balls of sulphur again become liquid at 50° or 60 below their ordinary solidifying temperature, it becomes exceedingly interesting to watch their change of state. A transparent dark red liquid mass is sudstance. This clear and easily performed experiment is denly transformed into a hard, yellow, and opaque subeminently calculated to show the curious phenomenon of superfusion. Phosphorus.—M. Desains has already described the preservation of this body in a liquid state at a temperature below 44°. The same method is applicable to both sulphur and phosphorus. The solution of chloride of zinc of the proper density is covered with a layer of oil to keep it from contact with air. The liquid and transparent globules of phosphorus will be clearly visible, and will remain liquid below 44°. Globules from half to two millimètres in diameter easily reach 5° and even oo. Phosphorus in its liquid state is also remarkably stable, and its change of condition gives rise to phenomena analogous to those which sulphur exhibits. take place at 79°. This body has evidently the same Naphthaline.—Its fusion and solidification generally density as water, but it is, however, somewhat less in the liquid state. With proper precautions, the pheno menon of superfusion will also take place. The body must be melted in a globe quite full of boiled water. Then incline the balloon so that the liquid naphthaline may come to the top of the vessel, and slightly pressed against the sides of the glass. Owing to the very little difference of density, the liquid takes an obviously spherical form, and does not adhere to the side of the glass. I have also seen globules eight millimètres in diameter remain liquid to 55°. Many other bodies under fitting circumstances would probably present a phenomenon similar to that which is so marked in the case of water. It is unfortunately difficult with numerous bodies to realise the essential condition, which is to exceed the ordinary temperature of change of state, during the time the body is suspended in a liquid of the same density. The liquid used as a medium should realise the four following conditions:It should have the same density as the body experimented upon, it should remain liquid above and below its fusing temperature, and should neither penetrate the body nor exercise on it any chemical action. Notwithstanding these requirements, I have no doubt that means will be devised to apply successfully to yet other substances the method which succeeds so easily and surely in retarding the solidification of water, sulphur, and phosphorus.-Comptes-Rendus. PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. MANCHESTER LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. Ordinary Meeting, December 10, 1861. Dr. J. P. JOULE, President, in the Chair. Mr. Wm. K. Deane was elected an Ordinary Member. Mr. BAXENDELL made the following communication:A paragraph, headed "Rain following the Discharge of Ordnance," appears in the number of the London Review for November 16, 1861. In this paragraph some new facts, drawn from the American war, are adduced by Mr. J. C. Lewis, in support of the view that a violent concussion of air by the discharge of heavy artillery has a tendency to cause a copious precipitation of rain. Now, if we may be allowed to regard this effect as an established fact, it seems to me to be one of some interest in connexion with the disputed question whether, in thunderstorms, a discharge of lightning is the cause or the consequence of the sudden formation of a heavy shower of rain. Almost every day's experience, in this climate at least, shows that the production of rain is not dependent upon sudden discharges of electricity from the clouds; and no evidence has ever been brought forward to prove that a high degree of electrical tension in a cloud has a tendency to prevent the resolution of the cloud into rain. Heavy showers often fall from highly electrified clouds without any visible discharge of electricity taking place. We are, therefore, not entitled to assume that the sudden diminution of the electrical tension of a cloud by a lightning discharge can have any material influence upon the rain-forming processes going on in the cloud. As, however, very heavy showers of rain do almost invariably follow lightning discharges, it seems necessary to seek some other cause to account for them. that a violent concussion of the air has a tendency to facilitate the conversion of rain-forming material into actual drops of rain, then we may well suppose that the violent concussions produced by lightning discharges, acting on such enormous and dense masses of rain-forming material as are usually collected in heavy thunder clouds, are amply sufficient to produce these sudden and heavy showers of rain. I am aware that the effect of a discharge of ordnance is usually supposed to be produced by an But if we admit upward current of air caused by the heat and the gases evolved during the combustion of the gunpowder; but as an hour's sunshine through an opening in the clouds, especially when the sun is at a considerable altitude, would produce a much greater effect in heating and increasing the bulk of the air, this cannot be received as the true explanation of the mode in which the effect of a discharge of heavy artillery is produced. Mr. FAIRBAIRN stated that he had been making experiments on the process of cold rolling, as applied to iron. He had tested specimens of cold rolled iron manufactured both by Mr. Lauth and Earl Dudley. In the former case, a black bar from the rolls broke with 26.173 tons per square inch, a similar turned bar with 7119 tons, and a cold rolled bar of the same iron ustained 39 388 tons. The elongations, which may be considered as the measure of ductility, were 200 and 220 per unit of length in the case of the ordinary iron, and 079 in the cold rolled iron. A plate of cold rolled iron, from Earl Dudley, sustained no less than 513 tons per square inch. Endeavours were being made to apply the invention to railway bars. Mr. BROCKBANK described the Bessemer process of manufacturing iron and steel, and stated his belief that the variously-coloured flames on the surface of newly run steel would afford the means of detecting the presence of metals and other bodies by the new method of spectrum analysis. A Paper entitled, "Nouveau Système de Communication Télégraphique, rendant impossible toute collision de trains sur les chemins de fer, by Professor Baulet, of Perpignan, communicated by William Fairbairn, Esq., LL.D., &c., was read by Professor Roscoe. In this plan an insulated wire placed between the rails, and divided in its middle, affords a connexion between the instruments at the stations and others situated in the trains themselves. The details of the arrangement could not be understood without the drawings accompanying the Paper. Mr. DODWELL, the Superintendent of the Magnetic Telegraph, described Mr. Clark's system, which is now in full operation between London and Rugby, and which, he thought, left little further to be desired. Professor Clifton, B.A., F.R.A.S., was elected Secretary of the Section, in place of Mr. Heelis, resigned. A letter from Mr. HEELIS, F.R.A.S., was read, communicating the following observation of the Zodiacal Light, recently made by him at Smyrna. "September 13th, the breadth of it was not observed, but the position of the 1861, 4h. a.m. Observed the Zodiacal light very distinctly; apex was ascertained, as carefully as an eye unaccustomep to such observations would permit, to be in a line and give an approximate length of 75° 11'. The cluster Præabout midway between Pollux and Procyon. This would sepe was seen distinctly through the light shining like a white cloud, and many meteors about equal in light to the brightness of any point in the Præsepe, (by which I would be understood to mean not the aggregate light of the cluster, but the light which any part of it, if separated from the rest would appear to have,) were seen crossing the beam of light in various directions. The sky was quite clear the morning just dawning, and the horizon to seaward covered, as is usual at that hour in summer at Smyrna, with a low fog bank. Few or no meteors were at the time of observation noticed in any other part of the sky." Mr. W. L. DICKINSON read a Note "On the Transit of Mercury," giving the results of his calculations for Manchester. In these calculations he had used the Nautical Almanac Elements, and found that the planet would leave |