296 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



bisulphide of carbon, traces of insoluble matter were constantly found, 

 even when the greatest precaution had been taken to avoid elevation of 

 temperature; and this opacity appears to be due to the hardening of tfTe 

 viscid sulphur, and the consequent deposition of opaque matters in the 

 pores of the crystals, which is quite sufficient to account for it. It re- 

 mains, therefore, to ascertain the cause of the evolution of the heat ; and 

 on this point the author suggests that, when the sulphur is tempered, the 

 change takes place very slowly, and the heat evolved is not perceived. 

 This view is confirmed by a fact that the viscid sulphur possesses another 

 solid form. Sir B. C. B. has found, moreover, that when sulphur melted 

 at a high temperature is suddenly exposed to intense cold, such as the 

 cold of solid carbonic acid and ether, the sulphur formed is not viscid, 

 but solid, hard, and perfectly transparent. "When the temperature is al- 

 lowed to rise to that of the air, this sulphur becomes soft and elastic. 



OZONE. 



M. Meidinyer, at a recent meeting of the London Chemical Society, 

 described the results of some investigations which he undertook, with the 

 view of ascertaining the causes of irregularity in the formation of the 

 decomposition products of water in voltametric operations. He found that, 

 whenever ozone is produced in considerable quantity, the volume of the 

 evolved oxygen is much less than that which would correspond with the 

 hydrogen given off at the same time. " The strength of the current, the 

 temperature of the decomposing liquid, the strength of the acid, and the 

 size of the electrodes, were found to exert a marked influence on the results ; 

 but the deficiency in the evolved oxygen, which was sometimes very con- 

 siderable, could not be wholly accounted for by the quantity of ozone 

 present ; and the author considers that the large quantity of oxygen which 

 sometimes disappears during the electrolysis is retained in the liquid in 

 the form of peroxide t)f hydrogen. 



ARTIFICIAL PRODUCTION OF OIL OF CINNAMON. 



Strecker showed some years since that styrone is the alcohol of cin- 

 namic acid. He now finds that it may be readily transformed into its 

 aldehyde by the action of air and platinum black. This aldehyde is pure 

 oil of cinnamon. 



At a late sitting of the Paris Academy of Sciences, M. Casters, manu- 

 facturing chemist at Puteauz, presented a sealed paper containing a 

 description of the discovery which he had made of the artificial produc- 

 tion of quinine. 



