CHEMISTRY. 137 



cium. Barium cannot be obtained as a globule, its fusing- 

 point apparently being above that of cast iron. From amal- 

 gams of this metal, by distilling off the mercury, masses of 

 over 100 grams were obtained, sintered together. Lithium 

 was obtained in two-gram globules. Cerium has the pre- 

 cise properties given by Wuhler, burning with explosive 

 violence. 



Mallet lias described an aluminum nitride obtained by 

 acting upon sodium carbonate by metallic aluminum at 

 high temperatures. The remaining metallic regulus showed 

 projecting crystalline points, which were separated by solu- 

 tion in hydrochloric acid and examined. They were appar- 

 ently short rhombic prisms, with dihedral summits of a 

 bright honey yellow color and translucent. They were 

 brittle and not hard enough to scratch glass. On exposure 

 to the air for a week or two, ammonia is evolved and alu- 

 mina is left. Fused with caustic alkali, ammonia is given 

 off and an alkali aluminate formed. Analysis showed 67.9 

 to 68.27 per cent, of aluminum and 31.73 to 32.1 per cent, 

 of nitrogen, corresponding very well with the formula 

 A1 2 ~N" 2 , which requires 66. 18 per cent, of aluminum and 

 33.82 per cent, of nitrogen. 



Gladstone and Tribe have continued their researches on 

 the simultaneous action of iodine and of aluminum upon 

 ether and compound ethers. With ether the experiment 

 was made by taking twenty cubic centimeters and adding 

 to it twenty-seven grams of iodine and two grams of finely 

 cut aluminum foil. The temperature rose at once, and the 

 ether began soon to boil violently, being prevented from 

 escaping only by an inverted condenser. Ethyl iodide and 

 aluminum iodo-ethylate were the only products. The com- 

 pound ethers used were the acetates of ethyl and amyl, and 

 the results of the reaction were aluminum acetate and io- 

 dide of the alcohol radical. The authors use these reactions 

 to explain the action of aluminum and iodine upon water. 



Heumann has succeeded in producing an ultramarine con- 

 taining silver in place of sodium by heating the blue ultra- 

 marine with a concentrated solution of silver nitrate in seal- 

 ed tubes to 120 Fahr. for several hours. The product, wash- 

 ed with boiling water, and separated by agitation from the 

 metallic silver, appeared under a magnifier as a perfectly uni- 





