196 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



" Devil's-tears " and the lozenge-shaped crystals of bichromate of 

 ammonia, which may chance to prove too inviting to children's 

 tastes. The instructions direct us to crimp or ibid the yellow 

 papers backward and forward, so that when opened out they may 

 be supported upright in a zigzag form. One of these slips is 

 then placed upright on a plate, and ignited in two or three places 

 along the upper edge, but without being allowed to blaze. It 

 will burn slowly down with a red glow, diffusing an agreeable 

 perfume, while the ash of the paper assumes the most fantastic 

 arborescent shapes, together with a green color, which, to a lively 

 imagination, may be suggestive of the growth of ferns or lichens. 

 We had no difficulty in imitating this effect by saturating thin 

 cartridge paper, in the first instance, with an alcoholic solution of 

 gum benzoin, and, when dry, applying an aqueous solution of the 

 bichromate of ammonia. The decomposition of the latter sub- 

 stance by heat, in contact with burning paper, affords an explana- 

 tion of the phenomena observed. Chemical News. 



% 



CRYSTALLIZATION OF RED PHOSPHORUS. 



M. Blondlot has succeeded in crystallizing red phosphorus, 

 which has hitherto been considered amorphous, by sublimation in 

 an atmosphere of nitrogen. He introduces about 2 grammes 

 into a small matrass, and then closes the neck hermetically by 

 fusion, which can be done without igniting the phosphorus, pro- 

 vided the matrass be held vertically. Allowing the apparatus to 

 stand, it fills with white vapors, luminous in the dark, which are 

 due to the oxidation of the phosphorus, and in 24 hours all the 

 air is absorbed. The phosphorus may then be melted in a water- 

 bath, while the upper part of the matrass is protected from theth eat. 

 The phosphorus is deposited in transparent crystals of a cubical 

 form, which, in a few days, form magnificent arborescences, and 

 shine with the lustre and color of the diamond. This state may 

 be preserved by avoiding the light, but by the sunlight, or even 

 by diffused light, they pass to a -brilliant garnet-red color, and re- 

 semble rubies. A crop of colorless crystals may be got upon the 

 surface of these. Journal of the Franklin Institute. 



THE CRYSTALLIZATION OF GLYCERINE. BY WM. CROOKES, F.R.S. 



My attention has been drawn to the hitherto unobserved fact 

 of the crystallization of large masses of glycerine during the re- 

 cent cold weather. 



About 5 tons of glycerine, in casks of 8 cwt. each, were re- 

 cently imported from Germany. When they left the factory the 

 contents were in their usual state of viscid fluidity ; but, on arriv- 

 ing in London, they were found to have solidified to a solid mass 

 of crystals, so hard that it required a hammer and chisel to break 

 it up. 



A large block of this solid glycerine, weighing several hundred 

 weight, suspended in a somewhat warm room, took two or three 

 days to liquefy, and a thermometer inserted in the fusing mass in- 

 dicated a constant temperature oi' 45 F. In small quantities the 



