566 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



phuric acid, and the hyposulphurie acid formed combines with the mo- 

 dified naphthalin. 



The crystallized sulphonaphthalate of barytes contains an atom of 

 water, which it does not lose in vacuo j it is slightly soluble in water: 

 100 parts of water at 60° Fahr. dissolve 1*13 of this salt, and at 222° 

 Fahr. 4*76 parts. 



M. Reguault has analysed several other sulphonaphthalates, the 

 composition of which indicated the same formula as the sulphonaph- 

 thalate of barytes. The oxide of lead forms with sulphonaphthalic 

 aoid a neutral salt and several subsalts ; the latter are obtained by 

 boiling massicot in the neutral solution of sulphonaphthalate j the 

 sulphonaphthalate of potash crystallizes in very brilliant spangles : 

 it contains one atom of water. 



Free sulphonaphthalic acid is obtained by decomposing sulpho- 

 naphthalate of lead by means of sulphuretted hydrogen. This acid is 

 extremely soluble in water and in alcohol, and by evaporation it is ob- 

 tained in an irregular crystalline mass, and it is deliquescent in moist 

 air. Its taste is very sour, astringent, and metallic ; it readily fuses, 

 becomes black, and if the temperature is increased, the smell of 

 naphthalin begins to be perceptible; when more strongly heated it 

 swells and leaves a very brilliant and bulky coal. The acid dried in 

 vacuo contains three atoms of water of crystallization ■ it loses part of 

 this water by the action of heat, but it decomposes before it is entirely 

 dissipated. 



Anhydrous sulphuric acid exerts a much more complicated action 

 upon naphthalin; there are formed two acids producing soluble salts 

 with barytes, and an insoluble matter. One of these acids is the com- 

 mon sulphonaphthalic acid ; the other is a peculiar acid, which is di- 

 stinguished from the first by the greater solubility of its salts. The 

 salts formed by this acid cannot be obtained in crystals ; they remain 

 in an amorphous mass after the evaporation of the water, and there is 

 no certainty as to their purity. Several analyses of the barytic salt, 

 purified by solution in pyroxylic spirit, indicated its composition to be 

 C 14 H 10 . 2 SO 3 BaOj but it does not appear how this is deducible 

 from naphthalin. The insoluble matter, produced at the same time as 

 the preceding acid, is a viscid mass, which appears to be a mixture of 

 several substances. It has not been minutely examined. M. Re- 

 gnault intends to continue his researches. — Ibid. 



CONSERVATION OF LIVING PLANTS DURING LONG VOYAGES. 



Extract from a letter from M. d'Eaubonne. 



" Having constructed a case so that the air could not enter, by 

 carefully fixing several bands of linen on all the joints with a glue 

 not liable to alteration, 1 prepared," says M. d'Eaubonne, "with 

 potters' clay, cow dung, and water a somewhat liquid mortar, in 

 which I immersed the roots, having previously coated the stem j 

 this being done, I covered them with moss and placed them in the 

 case, filling the intervals carefully with straw, so that no friction 

 might take place from the pitching or rolling of the vessel. I closed 

 the case ; and, after having used the same precautions for the exte- 

 rior joints as for the inner ones, I had it placed in the hold of the ves- 



