524 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



sulphate of iron, the use of ammonia in considerable excess, 

 and the taking care not to allow the heat above that just in- 

 dicated. The resulting powder should be a pale red, slightly 

 tinged with yellow. 



PURIFYING BENZOLE. 



Professor Hoffman informs us benzole can be purified more 

 readily than in any other way by first freezing it, and then 

 subjecting it to pressure. For this purpose it is placed in a 

 tin or brass vessel, in which an iron rod, having attached a 

 close-fitting piston, perforated with numerous small holes, is 

 made to play. On forcing this down, the liquid portions are 

 separated and can be drawn off, and, on melting the frozen 

 benzole, the hydrocarbon is obtained in a state of purity. 1 

 C\ xxiii., 368. 



FLUOR-ANILINE. 



A substance, named fluor-aniline, has been discovered to 

 possess fluorescent properties. It is obtained as a secondary 

 product, with aniline red or aniline chloride of mercury. 

 After triturating the mass resulting from this reaction, and 

 adding a little water and washing it with ether, a solution 

 of fluor-aniline is obtained, which is almost insoluble in cold, 

 and but slightly so in warm water. It is soluble in hydro- 

 chloric, nitric, sulphuric, and acetic acids, and, combined with 

 them, forms liquids equally fluorescent. In aniline red pre- 

 pared with chloride of zinc there has also been discovered 

 another substance similar to fluor-aniline, which presents a 

 blue fluorescence. 1 _Z?, December, 1871, 175. 



IRON TANKS EOR WHALE-OIL. 



The use of iron tanks of large dimensions for transporting 

 petroleum from the oil wells to great distances was justly 

 looked upon as one of the greatest improvements in the busi- 

 ness, on account of the saving of expense in the way of casks, 

 and the avoidance of danger in consequence of leakage. An 

 ingenious firm in Cincinnati, Messrs. A. Gunnison and Co., 

 have introduced this same feature into the transportation of 

 lard-oil, and especially of whale-oil ; and it is more than prob- 

 able that in a very short time the cargoes of the whalers in 

 the Pacific will be shipped at San Francisco in such tanks, 



