192 Anthracen Testing. CHEMICAL NEWS, well satisfied if my experiments should in some degree | alkaline filtrate remains of a deep orange colour, even contribute to an improved manufacture, the whole of which after very prolonged washing with hot alkaline soluis, after all, in a very primitive state. It will then be in- tion. teresting to prove the difference in value by actual experiment, and with that object the following results were obtained : As There are two methods of improving the quality of anthracene, viz., by simple strong pressure, and by washing with suitable solvents of a number of impurities. much oil as ever possible should be separated by pressure, because the oil retains much of the impurities which afterward yield the powder instead of quinone crystals; and, further, if an oily sample is washed at once much anthra cene is lost by solution. Two very oily and poor samples were therefore first strongly pressed, the first once and the second twice, with the following result, viz. :— It will be unnecessary to further summarise the result of the above tables because it is very evident that the reduction in percentage formed by the usual quinone test is an apparent loss only, for the crystals alone show a sensible increase, and the powder a remarkable diminution. anthracene, viz., by washing, I have taken two samples Now to the second method of improving the quality of of very different percentages, and have purified them in a similar manner as is usual on the large scale; the first table on next page gives the results. 1000 grms. of anthracene were taken in each experiment, and the quantities obtained were as follows: CHEMICAL NEWS, Nov. 3. 1876. New Nickel Mineral from New Caledonia. Effect of Purifying two Samples of Anthracene by two Consecutive Treatments. 193 270 Crystals. 277 showing it to be principally a hydrated double silicate of nickel and magnesia. Through the kindness of Mr. T. Loram, F.C.S., Mr. Valentin received a splendid specimen of the new nickel ore which had come into the London market, and at his instigation I submitted the ore to a fresh investigation. As the results which I obtained differ in many respects from those obtained by Professor Liversidge, I thought you might perhaps, think them of sufficient interest to publish them in your valuable journal. A glance at the ore showed that its composition was not uniform. The greater portion consisted of an emerald green, brittle substance, which could be easily scratched with the knife, and exhibited, when broken up, an uneven fracture. This green mineral was coated in places where the water had acted upon it with a brown powdery substance, and exhibited layers or thin greenish white strata of disintegrated portions of the mineral, containing quartz crystals. Other portions of the ore showed dark brown to black with the lustre and appearance of radiated heavy spar, and contained much ferric hydrate. A qualitative analysis of the several portions of the ore -the apple-green and the dark brown-showed that the latter differed from the former in containing more ferric hydrate and a little more alumina. Both contained principally silicic acid and nickel oxide, with little ferric oxide and alumina, and less even of lime and magnesia. The 30'0=30000 or 1000 38.3=27576 or 919 53'9 27489 or 916 Powder. 7'7 7700 or 1000 6'1=3124 or 406 4'7 893 or 116 4'64600 or 1000 3'3 2376 or 515 2.6=1326 or 287 green portion contained mere traces of ferric oxide and alumina, also mere traces only of lime and magnesia. The different portions of the ore were specially tested for carbonate, but traces only were found in each case, largest in the brown substance. The hard and greenish white portion constituting the layers or strata already referred to, and resembling magnesic silicate, contained principally insoluble silica (quartz) with small quantities of the constituents of the soft green and brown parts of the mineral. I more especially examined the green mineral, as the qualitative analysis had shown that it formed the more important constituent of the ore. It was amorphous and of uneven fracture. Its colour was of a bright apple-green to olive-green; streak light green; hardness about 3; sp. gr. =2'468; lustre dull vitreous; heated in a closed tube it gave off water and darkened in colour; heated before the blowpipe flame it left a brown magnetic powder, and on platinum wire with borax gave the ordinary nickel bead. Quantitative Analysis. In order to ascertain whether nickel existed as hydrate in the mineral I boiled up a portion with ammonic carbonate, filtered, and passed sulphuretted hydrogen through the filtrate. No nickel sulphide was obtained, showing that the whole of the nickel was combined with the silica. Percentage composition of the Mineral dried at 100? C. A portion, o'473 grm., of the mineral was boiled with pure sodic carbonate in a platinum dish, and the filtrate evaporated to dryness with hydrochloric acid, when it left 0'0225 of silica =4'33 per cent of uncombined silica. There is a considerable range left between Mr. Liversidge's 47 236 per cent of silica and my 66'97, or even 55'90 per cent of silica, as found in the two samples picked and selected with equal care; and we can therefore only come to one conclusion, viz., that the mineral is probably the result of the action of hydrated or soluble silicic acid upon some nickel compound, and that the pro CHEMICAL NEWS, Nov. 3, 1876. portions of silicic and nickel oxide vary, and do not justify us in fixing upon a mineralogical formula, or making out a distinct species of a nickel mineral. Royal College of Chemistry, October 16, 1876. ESTIMATION OF BARLEY IN OATMEAL. By Messrs. PATTINSON and STEAD, Analytical Chemists, Middlesborough-on-Tees. As the practice of adulterating oatmeal with the less valuable barley-meal is much resorted to by millers and others, it becomes of the greatest importance to have some systematic method of analysis by which to determine the proportion of barley so introduced. We there. fore beg to lay before your readers the following methods, practised by ourselves, which we find to give very good results. In order to obtain an average sample from the parcel of meal received for analysis, the whole contents of the parcel are thoroughly mixed in a large porcelain mortar. A quarter of the meal mixed in this manner is now pounded to twice its original fineness, which is then spread evenly over the surface of a piece of paper. When this is done, 10 grms. (taken over the whole of the meal) are weighed off, pounded, and passed through a brass sieve containing thirty meshes to the linear inch. In order to expedite the pounding, which is a tedious process, after each pounding the oatmeal is transferred to the sieve, and is there rubbed with an india-rubber pestle, which has the effect of causing the fine meal to separate from the epidermis, to which it adheres very pertinaciously, and thus makes it difficult to pound. After the whole has passed through the sieve it is very well mixed up, and about 2 grms. placed in a 3-inch glass or porcelain mortar with sufficient milk-warm water to make a moderately thin paste. The mortar and con tents are kept slightly warm during the pounding in order that the cellular matter may be softened, and the starch thus made easy to separate. The pestle is kept gently working for about five minutes, care being taken not to press too hard, for if too much pressure is applied the barley starch granules will be broken up. We find that the weight of the pestle itself is quite sufficient for the purpose. The sample after this treatment is ready for mounting. A small quantity of the paste is taken on the end of a glass rod, and is transferred to the slide of a microscope. A drop of water is allowed to fall on the paste, and a thin glass cover placed over the whole. Pressure is now applied to the cover, which is at the same time rubbed backward and forward. The excess of the substance in water is removed from time to time by means of blotting-paper. The pressing and rubbing actions are continued till the outline of surrounding bodies can just be observed with the naked eye with an equal degree of distinctness through every part of the slide covered by the object. Great care is taken not to allow too much water to be under the cover, for when an excess of water is present the starch grains run together into groups, which at once renders the object useless. The slide prepared, it is now examined under the microscope, and the barley granules, in ten dif ferent fields, counted. Standard samples are now examined, one containing 5 and the other io per cent barley. These we always have ready for mounting. They are prepared by mixing 9.5 grms. and 9 grms. of pure oatmeal with 0'5 and I grm. barley respectively, and treating the mixtures in all respects as detailed above. If the sampling and mounting has been properly executed, the number of barley granules found in ten different fields of the 10 per cent sample slide will be twice the number found in ten similar fields of the 5 per cent sample. This having been obtained, we have now only to calculate from the results obtained. CHEMICAL NEWS Nov. 3, 1876. Chemical Notices from Foreign Sources. he says CORRESPONDENCE. DYSODILE. To the Editor of the Chemical News. 195 SIR,-I think you will find in Prof. Church's article on "0328 grm. gave o‘098 grm. Fe2O3, or 29·87 p.c. Fe2O3.” To the Editor of the Chemical News. SIR, In the CHEMICAL NEWS (vol. xxxiv., p. 154) you were good enough to insert a query for me asking for inphosphates in mixed manures. formation respecting the estimation of mineral and organic I had some slight hope of an answer, for I hear that there is an agricultural chemist who professes to do this. Perhaps, sir, by the insertion of this letter in your valuable journal we may derive information respecting the metnod of estimation, and test its accuracy.-I am, &c., E. CHRIS. POTTER. The great objection to microscope analysis has been due, first, to the great difficulty of obtaining a fair average sample in the minute amount mounted on the slide. Second, to the still greater difficulty of getting the same proportion of meal on comparative slides. It will be clear that the number of granules must depend on the amount of meal in any given area, and that unless the proportions are the same good results would be impossible. We, how ever, find that by the method of mixing with warm water, and stirring for a considerable time, a very thorough mixing is ensured, inasmuch that portions taken from different parts of the mixture when examined under the microscope give very concordant results. Also, that by CHEMICAL making the comparative slides have an equal degree of transparency through those parts over which the meals are spread, the difficulty of obtaining similar amounts of meal on different sildes is overcome, as we find that when the transparency is equal the amount of meal is also equal. Second Method. This method is based on the great differences in appearance and hardness of coarsely ground oat- and barleymeal. We proceed as follows, viz.:-After thoroughly mixing the sample, we sieve off the finer parts of the meal, and examine only the coarse portions, as we find that, as a rule, the coarse portions contain the same proportion of barley as the fine. 3 or 4 grms. are spread out on the surface of a piece of glazed paper, and with the aid of a pocket-lens and by pressing with the finger-nail, the harder barley particles are detected, and may be completely separated from the oats. It is only necessary to weigh the barley so obtained to arrive at the proportions in which it exists in the sample. This is a very excellent method, and is always used by us in conjunction with the microscope method, with which it agrees very closely. It is best, however, not to depend on this method alone, as the sellers of oatmeal might take the precaution to mix what they sold with finelyground barley, in which case the whole of the barley would pass off with the fine portion when being sieved, and more would therefore be found in the coarser part, 3. Romney Terrace, Greenwich, S.E., NOTICES FROM FOREIGN NOTE. All degrees of temperature are Centigrade, unless otherwise expressed. Moniteur Scientifique, du Dr. Quesneville, The Chemical Force of Light.-An abstract of a work on this subject, recently published by M. E. Marchand. chemical action of light is studied especially from a climatological point of view. Spectrum Analysis.-A notice of Prof. Bunsen's recent paper inserted in Poggendorff's Annalen, vol. clv. Theory of Spectral Rays.-M. G. Salet finds that many chemical elements, especially the non-metallic, have two spectra-one formed of lines, which is due to atoms, and one with bands, which pertain to molecules. Iodine in the state of vapour at the ordinary pressure gives an absorption-spectrum composed of channelled bands of the beautiful colour peculiar to this element, and which cannot be due to an unknown compound of iodine. But if an electric spark of high tension is caused to strike through the vapour there is obtained a totally different spectrum, composed of brilliant rays, the arrangement of which stands in no relation with that of the absorption-bands, and which do not coincide with those of any other known element. From analogous reasons M. Salet considers that it must be admitted that bromine, sulphur, &c., have each two distinct spectra. A spectrum with bands is also obtained with nitrogen, however it has been purified. The vapours of the alkaline metals yield also by absorption spectra quite similar to those of the non-metallic elements. The multiplicity of spectra appears, therefore, a general fact. The band-spectra, due to complex molecules, appear at temperatures where certain atomic groupings may still exist. The line-spectra appear when a very elevated temperature has disaggregated these combinations, and forced the atoms to arrange themselves in a more simple manner. It is to some extent a spectral allotropy. 196 Chemical Notices from Foreign Sources. Observations on the Last Work of M. Pasteur on the Fermentation and Manufacture of Beer.-M. Charles Blondeau.-A lengthy dissertation, unfit for abstraction. Historical and Chemical Survey of the Manufacture of Turkey-Red.-M. Theodor Chateau.-The conclusion of this treatise. The author in summing-up gives the following as his theory of the process of Turkey-red dyeing: The oil employed brings with it a fatty acid, the oleic acid, or gives rise to the same or to a similar fatty acid, or to a mixture of fatty acids in which oleic acid predominates. In the process of aluming this fatty acid, simple or compound, combines with a certain quantity of alumina set at liberty in the operation, forming a fatty salt with an aluminous base, which may also be formed by double decomposition between alkaline fatty salts and salts of alumina. This fatty acid at the same time forms a kind of combination with albuminoid matter, whether the sort of vegetable albumen found in the emulsive oils (huiles tournantes), or with the animal albuminoid matters of yolk of egg, blood, gall, when these are employed, or with those of the dung of cows, sheep, or goats. This threefold compound of fatty acid, alumina, and albuminoid matter has not the stability of a definite compound, for neutral liquids like aceton, oils of turpentine and petroleum, and sulphide of carbon split it up, or rather divide it into several parts, some soluble in these media, and the others insoluble or merely viscid. This triple compound does not combine intimately with the fibre of the cotton, since the above-mentioned neutral solvents remove it, proving that it is merely deposited on the surface, or at any rate penetrates but to a small depth, a fact which constitutes one of the physical characters of the brightness of Turkey-red. This triple compound unites, or rather is dyed, on contact with the colouring matter of madder without forming any intimate combination with the fibre of the cotton, such as takes place in the operations of dyeing upon tissues prepared with ordinary mordants. The lake thus formed on the outer surface of the cotton two silicates of alumina are serviceable in the manufac may be brightened by the ordinary methods of "clearing." Manufacture of Ultramarine.-C. Furstenau.-Only ture of ultramarine, 2Al2O3,3SiO3 and Al2O3,2SiO3. These silicates yield colours having different properties according as they are treated with the bisulphide or pentasulphide of sodium, thus :-(1.) 2Al2O3,3SiO3 treated with NaS2 give a light blue product of feeble colouring power. (2.) 2Al2O3,3SiO3 with NaS, gives a pure deep blue of great colouring power. These two colours do not contain alum. (3.) Al2O3,2SiO3 treated with NaS2 gives a reddish light product not very pure. (4.) Al2O3,2SiO3 treated with NaS, gives a deep violet-blue of great colouring power. China clays in which the alumina and silica are found in other proportions than those indicated above give mixtures of different ultramarines. For a pure blue the following mixture may be taken :— 2Al2O3,3SiO3+4NaO,CO2+4C+7S. For reddish products of great colouring power Al2O3,2SiO3+4NaO,CO2+8C16S. Salicylic Acid and its Applications.-Dr. F. von Heyden. A very long paper, not suitable for abstraction. Certain Derivatives of Dimethyl-Protocatechuic Acid and of Vanillic Acid.-MM. F. Tiemann and Kaeta Oukimori Matsmoto.-Taken from the Ber. der Deut. Chem. Gesellschaft. The authors have given vanillic acid the more formidable name of mono-methylproto-catechuic acid. Coniferyl and Vanillin.-F. Tiemann. Sulphur in Lighting-Gas.-M. A. Vérigo.-Already noticed. Litigation on the Use of Aniline-Black in America. -The action brought by M. J. J. Müller Pack, purchaser of the patent-rights of the late Mr. J. Lightfoot, against the Merrimack Manufacturing Company has been decided in his favour. MISCELLANEOUS. The Research Fund of the Chemical Society.A sum of £1000 has been voted to the Chemical Society by the Goldsmith's Company, in aid of the fund for the promotion of original research. New Scholarship in Chemistry at Owens College. Manchester, by Mrs. Crace Calvert, for the foundation of -The sum of £700 has been presented to Owens College, in memory of her late husband, Dr. Crace Calvert, F.R.S a Scholarship in Chemistry of the annual value of £25, Lead Poisoning. In a late number of The Lancet a somewhat singular case of cumulative lead-poisoning is reported, which tends to show that early rising has its pains and penalties as well as its profits and pleasures. A cab-washer who was in the habit of drinking deeply during the day, and of sleeping in an omnibus until the time came for him to wash forty cabs, was brought into St. Mary's Hospital, in February, 1875, suffering from phthisis and delirium tremens. He recovered from the latter complaint and got better of the former, but it was found that he had completely lost the use of his upper extremities, while his voice was reduced to the merest whisper. On being questioned he stated that, as he usually finished his work just as the public-houses opened, he always had the very first glass of beer or gin that was served in the morning; that is to say, the liquor which had remained all night in the drawpipe in contact with the lead. His gums showed the well-known blue line indicative of lead poisoning, and other confirmatory symptoms existed which need not be detailed here. His urine gave 1-3400th of a grain of lead per fluid ounce, and some of the gin which he drank every morning having been procured and tested gave 1-430th of a grain per fluid December he was treated with iodide of potassium in ounce. From the beginning of June to the beginning of large doses, and was galvanised and faradised daily, but all to no purpose. Mr. S. J. Knott, M.R.C.S., the medical superintendent of galvanism at St. Mary's Hospital, suggested that a thorough trial of galvanic_baths should be made on the patient. Accordingly, on December 4th, he was placed in a warm bath, and the water charged with twenty-eight cells of a voltaic battery. At first the current was passed from the positive pole, placed at the nape of the neck, to the negative, which was placed at the feet. After ten minutes the negative pole was moved along his legs and arms for twenty minutes more. The treatment was continued daily, and at the end of a fortnight he was so much better as to be able to raise his arms fairly, and flex them pretty well. From this time he continued to mend, the baths being still kept up three times a week, and finally returned to his work in February. The fourth bath was acidulated and tested by Dr. Handfield Jones, who found well-marked traces of lead in it, which were absent in the water supplied to the bath. If lead can be thus eliminated from the body by the electric current, why not arsenic, mercury, and silver? In ordinary cases of lead colic and dropped wrists the electric bath has proved efficacious in a few days without any medicine. If this method of administering electricity be equally efficacious in other cases of plumbism as in those treated by Mr. Knott, medicine will have to thank physical science for putting into her hands an additional weapon for counteracting human disorders. TO CORRESPONDENTS. W. Wallace. The tables will be inserted in an early number. J. B. Lindsay.-Reece's machine is a good one. ERRATUM.-On page 185, col. 1, line 30 from top, for "2000 grammes" read 2000 grains. |