D. CHEMISTRY AND METALLURGY. 181 



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DISCOVERY OF THALLENE AND OTHER SOLID HYDROCARBONS. 



Professor Henry Morton, in a communication to the Ameri- 

 can Chemist, calls attention to a solid hydrocarbon lately 

 discovered by him, and which he names ThcdUne. In the 

 previous investigations of certain tarry matters left in the 

 bottom of the still in distilling petroleum for the manufacture 

 of illuminating oils, he also succeeded in extracting a solid 

 crystalline body of a yellow-green color, and of remarkable 

 fluorescence, which he described under the name of Yiridin. 

 This was very remarkable for the peculiar spectrum which 

 its fluorescent light yielded, resembling in a striking manner 

 that of anthracene, although the crystalline form, solubilities, 

 and fusing points of the two bodies were decidedly unlike. 

 He subsequently succeeded in separating another species 

 from viridin besides the thallene in question. The paper re- 

 ferred to contains a very copious account, accompanied by 

 diagrams of the peculiar phenomena of these chemical novel- 

 ties. America7i Chemist, November, 1872, 162. 



EXPLOSIVE ANTIMONY. 



Antimony is precipitated from its solution in hydrochloric 

 acid on copper foil attached to the negative pole of a battery 

 (the positive being platinum foil) as a brittle, lustrous film, 

 which, after being washed with distilled water, scales olT on 

 bending the copper foil, and by friction or percussion can be 

 made to explode, with the evolution of light and heat, on 

 account of its sudden passage from the ductile, homogeneous, 

 amorphous condition to the crystalline. 8 C, November 7, 

 1872,367. 



ACTION OF COLD CHARCOAL ON CHLORINE. 



According to Melsens, certain kinds of charcoal absorb 

 great quantities of chlorine even in the cold, one variety 

 taking up nearly its own weight. Charcoal thus charged, 

 when placed in contact with dry hydrogen in the dark, forms 

 hydrochloric acid, the combination being attended by a fall 

 of temperature. In contact with water, both hydrochloric 

 acid and carbonic acid, are formed. No trace was found of 

 the oxygen acids of chlorine, or of organic acids, among the 

 products of this action. 13 A, February 15, 1873, 70. 



