S7% Scientific Intelligence. 



properties of carbonate of soda. The chlorine had disappeared. The cry- 

 stals had no bleaching power, and contained but a very minute quantity 

 of the chlorate of soda and chloride of sodium. 



From the researches of JNIr Faraday, it appears that Labarraque's disin- 

 fecting liquid contains a peculiar compound of chlorine, carbonic acid, and 

 soda, the two latter being in the ?ame proportion as in the common carbo- 

 nate. The name at first applied to it is therefore not applicable, and gives 

 an erroneous idea of its nature. Carbonic acid gas may be transmitted 

 in large quantity through the solution without carrying off the chlorine ; 

 but stronger acids displace it readily. The chlorine is also displaced by the 

 force of crystallization. The compound resists the action of boiling ; not 

 only is chlorine not disengaged, but very little chloric acid is generated. 

 The liquid deteriorates, however, by keeping. In a portion of it kept in 

 a well-stopped bottle for six weeks during summer, reaction was proved to 

 have taken place between the alkali and the chlorine, some of the chlorate 

 of soda and chloride of sodium having been formed. 



Mr Faraday has shown, that the phenomena are quite different when 

 a solution of carbonate of soda is saturated with chlorine. At first, Labar- 

 raque's liquid is formed ; but when more chlorine is transmitted through 

 the solution, carbonic acid gas is freely disengaged, and the saturated liquid 

 contains only a trace of carbonate of soda, and has all the properties of a 

 solution of caustic soda changed with chlorine. Accordingly, on the ap- 

 plication of heat, free chlorine is disengaged, and the liquid becomes 

 colourless, yielding by evaporation the chlorate of soda and the chloride of 

 sodium. — Journal of Science for July 1827. p. 84. 



25. On the Means of ascertaining the Purity of Sulphate ofQuina. By 

 Mr Phillips. (From the Philosophical Magazine and Annals for Fe* 

 bruary 1828.) — The great demand which has arisen for this important me- 

 dicine, and the high price at which it is necessarily sold, have excited some, 

 who are careless as to the means by which they acquire gain, to sophisti- 

 cate it in a vast number of ways, and by every means which talent misap- 

 plied could suggest. 



Having repeatedly of late been requested to examine various samples 

 of sulphate ol" quina, I thought it might be useful to state the several 

 modes which may be employed for that purpose : and I make the present 

 communication with the greater confidence, because I have received the 

 very able assistance of my friend, Mr John T. Barry of Lombard Street, 

 to whose chemical skill, and the opportunity of frequently applying it, 

 I am indebted for the greater number of hints and facts detailed in this 

 paper. 



Pure sulphate of quina has the form of minute fibrous crystals, it is ino- 

 tlorous, and its taste is bitter. If certain vegetable products, such as starch 

 or sugar, be mechanically mixed with it, they may possibly be observed 

 by merely inspecting the preparation with a glass. 



l.v^. If the sulphate of quina be mixed with a considerable proportion 

 of foreign matter, it may probably be detected by dissolving the salt in 

 question in about three hundred times its weight of water, — say one grain 

 ]f\ about five fluid drachms of boiling distilled water. On cooling, pure sul- 



