CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 191 



this cause. Mr. Bowditch discovered that though cold hydrate of lime 

 will not remove these impurities, they are, to a great extent, got rid of 

 by heating the hydrate of lime to a temperature varying from the boil- 

 ing point of water up to 400 or 500 Fah. ; a temperature of 400 

 being probably the most convenient for the development of the effects 

 of his process. This process has been found by repeated experiments 

 to remove all but about 2 or 3 grains of sulphur per 100 cubic feet of 

 gas, the quantity of sulphur originally contained in the gas varying 

 from 5 or 6 grains up to as much as 40 or 50 grains per 100 feet. 



CHEMICAL MEMORANDA. 



Remarkable Chemical Terms. The production of numerous new 

 organic bodies in chemical research, which are the derivatives of sev- 

 eral prior derivatives, have led chemists to the coining of terms, which 

 although expressive, are in some instances absurdly complicated and 

 unpronounceable. Thus, Messrs. Perkin and Church, English chem- 

 ists, who are devoting themselves to the preparation and practical ap- 

 plication of the various dyes and other derivatives of coal-tar, announce 

 in a recent communication to the London Chemical Society, that they 

 have discovered a new organic base, to which they have applied the 

 name " Azodinapthyldiamine ; " and to a derivative of the base, a new 

 organic acid, they give the still more remarkable name of " Azodinap- 

 thyldicitraconanaic." 



Mercuric Methyl, This name is given to a remarkable substance 

 discovered by Dr. Frankland, of London. It is formed by allowing 

 iodide of methyl to act upon sodium amalgam, in the presence of acetic 

 ether. When purified it forms a colorless, highly-refracting liquid, of 

 the specific gravity 3.060, being in fact the heaviest known liquid, with 

 the exception of mercury itself. . So dense is it that a piece of heavy 

 glass will float upon it. Dr. Frankland states that in the event of this 

 organo-mercuric compound being required in quantity, no difficulty 

 would be experienced. Upon seeing the specimen of mercuric methyl 

 handed round at a late meeting of the Chemical Society, London, the 

 idea occurred to a correspondent of the Chemical News to apply this 

 liquid to the manufacture of prisms. At present, the only liquid suit- 

 able for this purpose is bisulphide of carbon, which is not above half 

 the density, besides being objectionable from its offensive odor, its great 

 volatility and the ease with which it ignites. The mercuric methyl ap- 



g^ars to be superior to the bisulphide of carbon in all these respects, 

 esides its use for prisms, this liquid might be advantageously employed 

 in the manufacture of lenses. Formerly, compound lenses, in which 

 one of the constituents was a fluid held between outer meniscus lenses, 

 were somewhat in vogue, but were abandoned owing to the advantages 

 of their construction not being sufficiently great to counterbalance the 

 difficulties. 



New Source of Oxygen for the Animal Organism. At a recent 

 meeting of the Munich Academy of Sciences, Baron Liebig announced 

 what he considered as a very important discovery. The atmospheric 

 air has hitherto been regarded as the chief or only source of the oxy- 

 gen employed in the processes of nutrition and metamorphosis within 

 the animal organism. By the aid of an apparatus, for which the King 

 of Bavaria provided 7,000 florins from his private purse, it has now 



