Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles, 145 



" Sulphur presented the same phenomena as phosphorus ; frag- 

 ments of sulphur always produced the crystallization of cold fluid por- 

 tions. Having withdrawn the bulb of a thermometer which had been 

 plunged into sulphur at 120°, it came out covered with small gobules 

 of sulphur, which remained fluid at 60° j and having touched these 

 One after another with a thread of glass, they became solid : although 

 several seemed in contact, yet it required that each should be touched 

 separately. A drop of sulphur, which was made to move on the bulb 

 of a thermometer, by turning the instrument in a horizontal position, 

 did not congeal until nearly at 30° j and some drops were retained 

 fluid at 15° i. e. 75° of Reaumur below the ordinary point of lique- 

 faction." — Quarterly Journal, Jan. 1828, p. 469. 



ELEMENTARY NATURE OF BROMINE. 



Iodine colours a solution of starch blue, bromine renders a similar 

 solution orange colour. M. A. de la Rive added a few drops, of bro- 

 mine to a solution of starch coloured blue by iodine, and obtained a 

 compound which gave two distinct colours with starch — one brown, 

 the other yellow j the difference of colour corresponding with the two 

 bromides of iodine described by M. Balard. These compounds of 

 iodine and bromine, dissolved in a solution of starch, were subjected 

 to the voltaic pile : immediately the yellow solution became blue 

 about the negative pole and orange about the positive pole, indicating 

 the separation and places of the iodine and bromine. Thus the small- 

 est quantity of iodine may be discovered in bromine ; but when the 

 experiment was resorted to, to prove whether the idea thrown out, 

 that bromine was a compound of chlorine and iodine, was founded in 

 fact or not, it gave no such indication, and a solution of bromine in 

 starch electrified for a long time together, gave no appearance of iodine. 

 Hence M. de la Rive concludes, that bromine contains no iodine, but 

 is an element analogous to iodine and chlorine. When bromine and 

 iodine are combined, the former passes to the positive pole, and is 

 consequently more negative than the latter j which accords with the 

 observation of M. Balard, that it should occupy a place between chlo- 

 rine and iodine. According to the Bulletin Universel, when the 

 letter to M. Arago, containing an account of the facts above referred 

 to, was read to the Academy of Sciences, that body decided that the 

 assertion of M. Dumas, that bromine was a compound of chlorine and 

 iodine, should be considered as retracted, and that it should be so 

 entered upon the proces-verbal of the sitting. — Ibid,, p. 466. 



QUANTITY OF BROMINE IN SEA WATER. 



One hundred pounds of sea water, taken up at Trieste, treated by 

 chlorine, ether, &c. according to M. Balard's process, produced five 

 grains of bromide of sodium, or 3*278 grains of bromine. It would 

 appear, that in the sea water of Trieste, the bromine is unaccompanied 

 by any iodine j and the same is the case, according to M. Hermbstadt 

 with the waters of the Dead Sea. In the water of the Mediterranean, 

 on the contrary, iodine always appears with the bromine. — Ibid.y.466. 



New Series. Vol. 3. No. 14. Feb. 1828. U sale 



