58 



E. DIVERS AND T. HAGA. 



Most of them occur only in very small crystals, sometimes microscopic, 

 generally aggregated in hard crusts and nodules. They were all 

 however obtained in trans[jarent though minute prismatic crystals, 

 and under the microscope appeared to be liomogeneous. 



Normal sodium potassium salt. — Our attempts to produce normal 

 mixed salts by adding the hydroxide of one metal to a hydrogen 

 oximidosulphonate of the other metal have been unsuccessful. With 

 any great excess of alkali, evaporation leads to the destraction of the 

 oximide and crystallisation of potassium sulphite. With moderate 

 excess of alkali and evaporation in vacuo, uncrystallisable or nearly 

 uncrystallisable solutions are obtained. Such mixtures also fail for 

 the most part to give a solid precipitate with alcohol ; at most, liquid 

 droplets form which then sometimes slowly solidity to granules of 

 microscopic crystals. Besides this, sodium oximidosulphonate in 

 presence of alkali is largely soluble in strong spirit. When the alkali 

 is used in only slight excess, salts are formed on evaporation, but these 

 generally fall short of normal salts in composition. However, from 

 the two sinffle normal salts we did succeed in <'ettin(i- a mixed norm;d 

 salt nearly pure, which we now describe. 



This mixed normal salt, SNasNSoO^, SKgNS.O;, 2E.0, but with 

 one-fourth of the water replaced by its equivalent of potassium 

 hydroxide, was obtained by evaporation in the desiccator of a solutic^n 

 of normal sodium and normal potassium oximidosulphonates in 

 molecular proportions together with a little sodium and potassium 

 hydroxides alsc^ in molecular proportions to each other. The salt 

 appeared as a powdery deposit of microscopic crystals, and was drained 

 dry on a tile, out of free contact with air. Reference to the descrip- 

 tion of the normal potassium salt, as obtained both by Raschig and 

 by ourselves, will show that the small excess of potassium in the 

 mixed salt is not peculiar to this preparation. Potassium tind sodium 



