INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1S7G. Ixxv 



of gas, of which 93.11 per cent, was carbon dioxide, the remainder 

 being carbon monoxide, marsh gas, hydrogen, and nitrogen, the two 

 latter in minute quantity. It also yielded ten per cent, of water, in 

 which chlorine and sulphurous oxide were detected. The question 

 of the manner of occurrence of the gases within the meteorite is also 

 discussed. 



Remsen and Southworth have made the curious observation that 

 carbon monoxide is not oxidized by ozone. The two were passed 

 into a flask, and then through lime-water ; but not a trace of tur- 

 bidity was i^erceptible in the latter, even when the entire apparatus 

 was placed in full sunlight. The authors discuss the bearing of this 

 fact upon the question of free attractions in carbon monoxide. 



Zoller has made a series of experiments ui)on the antiseptic and 

 disinfecting properties of carbon disulphide, from which it aj^pears 

 that this substance is quite remarkable in this direction. Since it 

 appears that mould and putreftiction can not take place in air con- 

 taining a comparatively small quantity of this vapor, the author es- 

 pecially recommends such an atmosphere for preserving meat and 

 other food during the process of transportation to the consumer. 



Houzeau has given a new method for the volumetric determination 

 of free carbonic acid, which consists in absorbing the gas in a titered 

 solution of sodium hydrate, precipitating the carbonate in an insolu- 

 ble form by a neutral solution of barium chloride, and then titering 

 back with a graduated solution of sulj^huric acid. To prevent the 

 formation of sodium bicarbonate a small c[uantity of zinc oxide is 

 dissolved in the soda solution before use. 



Bong has described a new class of prussiates, obtained from the 

 yellow prussiates in much the same way as the nitroprussiates, but 

 using chloric acid in place of nitric. The potassium salt is black 

 when solid. It dissolves readily in water, giving to it an intense vio- 

 let color, but is almost insoluble in alcohol. With metallic salts, even 

 with those of zinc, it gives dull green precipitates, more or less dark 

 a fact which distinguishes the new salt from the ferricyanide. 



Godeffroy has redetermined with care the atomic weights of rubid- 

 ium and caesium. The metals were separated from each other and 

 from potassium by crystallization as alums, the last traces of rubid- 

 ium being removed from the caesium salt by precipitation of the lat- 

 ter by means of antimonous chloride. As a mean of four closely ac- 

 cordant determinations, the atomic weight of ca-sium obtained was 

 132.627, and that of rubidium 84.525. 



The ammonia-soda process of Solvay has, according to German ac- 

 counts, been lately so much improved as to threaten the abandon- 

 ment of the standard method in Germany, 



Guyard has examined the residue left in the retort after the manu- 

 facture of sodium. Tlie mixture put in consisted of crude salt of 

 soda, 56.5; coal, 18.5 ; coke, 10.5; chalk, 14.5. The residue, after ex- 



