398 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



Cotton treated only with boiling water, hydrochloric acid, and 

 dilute solution of potash, cold : — 



I. II. 



Carbon 43-46 43*10 



Hydrogen .... G'38 6-43 



Oxygen 50-lG 50-45 



100-00 99-98 

 Flax, treated like cotton : — 



I. II. 



Carbon 43-92 43'33 



Hydrogen 6-01 6 41 



Oxygen 50*07 50*26 



100-00 100-00 



Papyrin. — In employing sulphuric acid to determine the purity of 

 lignin, the authors have discovered a new substance which consti- 

 tutes a very curious modification of ligneous tissues. It results from 

 the first action of sulphuric acid on lignin, and is the product which 

 arises before its conversion into dextrin. 



Let blotting-paper be immersed for not more than half a minute 

 in concentrated sulphuric acid, and then be immediately washed with 

 a large quantity of water to prevent the action of the acid ; and if 

 it be then immersed for a few moments into water containing a few 

 drops of ammonia, a substance is obtained which possesses all the 

 physical characters of an animal membrane. When moistened with 

 water, it has the soft and greasy feel of animal membrane softened 

 in water ; when dried it has the appearance and the toughness of 

 parchment, and when glazed it has considerable transparency. 



This substance, which the authors call j^apijr'm, is identical in 

 composition with lignin. It was found to yield— 



I. II. III. 



Carbon 43*30 43*89 44*44 



Hydrogen 6*28 6-27 6-23 



Oxygen 50-42 49*84 49*33 



100*00 100-00 100-00 



Journ. de Ph. et de Ch., Aout 1847. 



SOLUBILITY OF CHLORIDE OF SILVER IN HYDROCHLORIC ACID. 



M. Pierre states that concentrated hydrochloric acid is capable of 

 dissolving j-i-^dth of its weight of chloride of silver ; when it has 

 been diluted with twice its weight of water, it is capable of retain- 

 ing more than -^i^dth of its weight. 



M. Gerhardt observes that this fact is important, and says he 

 had previously stated it ; and it appears to him to be the cause of 

 the difference of the numbers obtained by MM. Berzelius and Ma- 

 rignac as to the theoretical number expressing the atomic weight of 

 chlorine according to Dr. Prout's law of multiples. — Ibid. Sept. 1847. 



