188 ANNUAL HECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



rine in the gaseous state, and by the pressure thus produced 

 the gas is condensed as a liquid in the short arm of the tube. 

 Several cubic centimeters of the gas may thus be liquefied 

 and shown in the lecture-room. Melsens also succeeded in 

 condensing to liquids, in the same manner, ammonia, sul- 

 phurous acid, hydrobromic acid, sulphureted hydrogen, ethyl 

 chloride, and cyanogen. The same investigator has also stud- 

 ied the thermal effects due to the absorption of various liq- 

 uids by charcoal. Five or ten grammes of charcoal were 

 treated with from seven to nine times as much bromine, and 

 the absorption of the latter developed an increase of temper- 

 ature of over 30 Centigrade. 6 B, 1873, 671. 



POSITION OF INDIUM IN THE CHEMICAL SYSTEM. 



The proper classification of the metals is a matter of great 

 importance to chemists. Indium has hitherto held a doubt- 

 ful iDosition, but at last seems to be definitely placed. Fol- 

 lowing Bunsen, who put the metal among those forming ses- 

 quioxides namely, iron, aluminum, etc. Roessler has suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining a true indmm-alum ^ perfectly analogous 

 to the well-known iron-aluminum and chromium-alums, crys- 

 tallizing in the same octahedral form, and having a similar 

 formula. Bull. Chem.Soc.^ Septemher 20, 1873. 



COPPER IN THE GREEN FEATHERS OF THE PARROT. 



The presence of copper in the red coloring matter of the 

 feathers of an African bird knowni as the 3Iiisophaga, or Tou- 

 raco, has long been known, and Mr. Sidney Lupton, in a com- 

 munication to the Chemical News^ states that the green feathers 

 of the Australian love-parrot {Melopsittams undulatus) also 

 contain this metal. He had frequently observed these :ir- 

 rots pecking at the brass mountings of their cages or in their 

 rooms, and was told that in Australia they abound chiefly in 

 the districts where copper is to be met with. In his experi- 

 ments he collected a quantity of the feathers, burned them, 

 and extracted the residual ash with nitric acid. On adding 

 a solution of ferrocyanide of potassium to the filtrate, a dis- 

 tinct precipitate of the color of copper ferrocyanide was form- 

 ed. Mr. Lupton suggests that a green pigment, of which cop- 

 per is a constituent element, analogous to Mr. Church's tura- 

 cine, may be extracted from these green feathers, and also 



