20 JOURNAL OF THE 



which had been standing over the precipitated zircon- 

 ium sulphite, in a dessiccator and allowing' it to evapo- 

 rate over sulphuric acid. The bulk of liquid decreased 

 from about 200 cc. to live to ten cc. and then hard, 

 white, wart\^ cr3^stals beg'an to form, which were quite 

 difficult to remove from the crystallizint)- dish. In 

 appearance they resembled zirconium sulphate. The 

 solution had lost the odor of sulphur dioxide. The 

 time consumed m the evaporation was several months. 



The crystals were dried upon filter-paper and yielded, 

 on analysis: 



Zirconium 24.47 per cent, on a dry basis, So. 43. 



Sulphur dioxide 34.54 " '' " '' '' 51.42. 



Calculated for Zv{SO,),, Zr 3().25; SO, 51.20. These 

 crystals then seemed to be a h3'drated sulphite of the 

 composition Zr(S03)2 ^HgO. 



The nature of the precipitate o-otlen by means of 

 sodium sulphite was also examined. The sulphite used 

 was fairly pure. The zirconium chloride solution was 

 distinctly acid and the mixed solution was acid. A 

 transient precipitate w^as produced in the cold on mix- 

 ing* the two. On heating", a g"ood flocculent precipitate 

 was formed which settled well and was easily filtered. 

 The precipitate looked like the hydroxide, rather than 

 the white sulphite already described. The analysis 

 g-ave: 



Zii'coniuni dioxide 5,75 5.75 .... .... 



Sulphur dioxide 1.05 1.004 



Ratio of zirconium and sulphur dioxide is 4 : 1. 



Chancel,' in g-iving' a method of separation of iron 

 from zirconium, states that by means of a boiling- solu- 

 tion of sodium thiosulphite the zirconium is precipi- 

 tated as thiosulphite. Stromever' stated that if a dilute 



1 Ann. d. Cheiii. u. I'luvn.-i.. 1(«. 237: Watts Diction:, rv. 5. 1081. 1877. 

 1 Ibid. 113. 127. 



