320 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



quantity with bismuth; and the following very simple process for 

 that purpose has occurred to me, founded on the known reduction 

 and precipitation of salts of bismuth by metallic lead — a method 

 which I have found to succeed perfectly with brittle alloys containing 

 upwards of 85 per cent, of bismuth. A small fragment or little 

 crystal of nitrate of bismuth is placed in a porcelain capsule, and 

 moistened with a few drops of water, the greater part of which is 

 afterwards poured off; and the metallic button of the mixed metals, 

 as obtained by the blowpipe, having been slightly flattened on the 

 anvil until it begins to crack at the sides, is then placed in the midst 

 of the subsalt of bismuth formed by the action of the water, when 

 in the course of a minute, or even less, according to the amount of 

 lead present, minute arborescent crystals of metallic bismuth form 

 and collect around the assay. Copper does not affect this reaction ; 

 but if either zinc or iron were present, the precipitation would ensue 

 from that cause alone. Zinc, however, if originally contained in the 

 assay-matter, would be volatilized by the action of the blowpipe, 

 especially if a little carbonate of soda were added to it before sub- 

 jecting the globule to the above test; and iron might be easily sepa- 

 rated by treating the assay in the reducing-flame with a mixture of 

 carbonate of soda and borax — the latter reagent serving to dissolve 

 the iron, and to prevent its reduction to the metallic state. If a 

 single operation do not effect this, the globule must be removed 

 from the saturated dark green glass, and treated with a further sup- 

 ply of the mixture on another piece of charcoal until the resulting 

 glass be no longer coloured. — From the Chemical Gazette for Sep- 

 tember 15, 1848. 



ON THE SEPARATION OF ANTIMONY FROM ARSENIC. 

 BY C. MEYER. 



The following method is founded on the insolubility of the antimo- 

 niate of soda, and the conversion of arseniferous antimony into 

 arseniate and antimoniate of soda. The author first convinced him- 

 self of the perfect insolubility of calcined anhydrous antimoniate of 

 soda. When antimony is deflagrated with nitrate of soda and the 

 mass exhausted with cold water, no antimony can be found in the 

 liquid. The residuous antimoniate of soda is NaO, Sb O 5 , and an- 

 hydrous. When a solution of antimoniate of potash is precipitated 

 with sulphate of soda, and the liquid after some time filtered off 

 clear, no antimony can be detected in it. The crystalline precipi- 

 tate was proved by analysis to be also NaO, SbO, but it contains 

 6 atoms or 21*23 per cent, of M-ater; experiment gave 21*5. The 

 antimony was estimated in some cases by precipitating it with sul- 

 phuretted hydrogen from a solution of the salt in a mixture of mu- 

 riatic and tartaric acids ; in others by the method recently proposed 

 by Hose*, igniting the salt with chloride of ammonium, which gave 



* Chem. Gaz., vol. vi. p. 166. 



