1 !• Intelligence and Miscellaneous A rticles. 



'S 



sand Greeks, as having produced the effect of temporary madness or 

 rather drunkenness on the whole of the army who ate of it, without, 

 however, causing any serious consequences. It is supposed to be 

 from the flowers of the Azalea Pontica that the Bees extract this 

 honey, that plant growing in abundance in this part of the country, 

 and its blossom emitting the most exquisite odour. The effect which 

 it has on those who eat it is, as I have myself witnessed, precisely 

 that which Xenophon describes : when taken in a small quantity it 

 causes violent head -ache and vomiting, and the unhappy individual 

 who has swallowed it resembles as much as possible a tipsy man j a 

 larger dose will completely deprive him of all sense and power of 

 moving for some hours afterwards." A portion of the honey accom- 

 panied the letter, and was exhibited. 



The other objects presented by Mr. Keith Abbott were also exhibited. 



At the request of the Chairman, Mr. Gould brought the Birds se- 

 verally under the notice of the Meeting. Their principal interest 

 rested on the assistance afforded by a collection formed in such a loca- 

 lity towards the determination of the geographical limits of certain 

 species. Those among the Birds of Europe which are found in India 

 also would, it is reasonable to anticipate, occur in the intermediate 

 locality of Trebizond ; but there are, among the Trebizond Birds, 

 various European species which do not, as far as is yet known, occur 

 in India, and the existence of which in so eastern a range is conse- 

 quently interesting. A list of them, with remarks by Mr. Gould as 

 to their localities, is given in the Proceedings of the Society. 



XLIII. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



PREPARATION OF OSMIUM AND IRIDIUM. BY M. PERSOZ. 



THE method of separating these metals depends, 1st, upon the ac- 

 tion of crude platina upon mixtures of carbonate of potash or soda 

 with sulphur, which produce sulphurets of iron, osmium and iridium, 

 and a silicate of these bases, and which collect in the form of scoriae 

 on the surface of the mass in fusion j 2ndly, upon the action of 

 oxygen at a high temperature on the sulphuret of osmium, and from 

 which results a blue volatile compound, described by Berzelius. 



The process of sulphuration for acting upon metals has already 

 been employed with so much success by MM. Berthier and Wohler, 

 that I had every reason to hope it might be applied to the extraction 

 of osmium and iridium, the alloy of which is one of the most refrac- 

 tory known. 



A perfect mixture is to be made of one part of the ore of platina, 

 after the action of aqua regia, two parts of carbonate of soda, and three 

 parts of sulphur: this mixture is to be gradually projected into an 

 earthen crucible previously made red hot, and when the whole has 

 been put in, the crucible is to be covered, and kept white hot for a few 

 minutes. When cold the bottom of the crucible will be found to 

 contain a button formed of small crystals having the appearance of 

 pyrites j these are the sulphurets of all the metals which the ore con- 



