898 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



lowish crystals are obtained, of an empyreumatic odour \ these are to 

 be pressed between several folds of filtering paper j they are then to 

 be redissolved in water, and the boiling solution treated with animal 

 charcoal. By these means pure crystals of pyrotartaric acid are 

 obtained on cooling. 



Pyrotartaric acid obtained by this process has the following pro- 

 perties : It is white, inodorous, very soluble in alcohol, strongly sour 

 to the taste, like tartaric acid itself. It is fusible at about 212° Fahr., 

 it boils at 360° ; and as it decomposes at a temperature a little higher 

 than this, it is difficult to volatilize it without leaving a residue. 



A concentrated solution of this acid does not render lime, barytes, 

 or strontia water turbid ; it forms in a solution of acetate of lead a 

 very abundant white precipitate, insoluble in water, but very soluble 

 in an excess of acetate ; it does not precipitate either neutral acetate 

 or nitrate of lead. None of the following salts are precipitated by free 

 pyrotartaric acid : proto- and per-salts of mercury, persulphate of iron, 

 the salts of lime and barytes, the sulphates of zinc, manganese, and 

 copper. The neutral pyrotartrate of potash is a deliquescent salt. 

 Pyrotartaric acid is represented by C 3 , H 8 , O l ; by combining with 

 bases it loses an atom of water, and becomes O, H 6 , O 3 . — Journal de 

 Chimie Medicate, Sept. 1834, p. 497. 



ON THE EXISTENCE OF TITANIUM IN ORGANIC MATTER. BY 

 MR. G. O. REES. 



To the Editors of the Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, 

 Gentlemen, 



Being lately engaged in the chemical examination of the organs of 

 the human body, I was struck by a peculiar yellow colour which the 

 salts of the renal capsules afforded when subjected to a red heat, this 

 colour gradually disappearing as the mass (which was a fused one) 

 cooled. In order to investigate the cause of this phenomenon, the 

 following experiments were made t 



1st. The mass was digested and boiled in water, and the aqueous 

 solution being decanted, was tested with hydrosulphuret of ammonia, 

 which, after a few minutes had elapsed, afforded a scanty dark green 

 precipitate. I now began to suspect the presence of titanium. 



2nd. That portion of salts which was insoluble in water was di- 

 gested in dilute hydrochloric acid ; and the solution being neutralized 

 by ammonia, and tested with the hydrosulphuret, afforded a copious 

 dark green precipitate. A second portion of this acid solution was 

 tested with infusion of galls, which produced a reddish brown preci- 

 pitate, care having been taken to neutralize the excess of acid. 



3rd. The matter which was insoluble in water and acid was tested 

 on platina and charcoal before the blowpipe, and afforded a yellow 

 transparent bead in the outer flame, which became of a dark purple 

 colour when heated in the inner flame. 



4th. The green sulphuret, on being exposed to heat, afforded a 

 white powder ; and a similar effect resulted on exposing it for seven 

 or eight days in the liquor from which it was precipitated. 



