CHEMISTRY. 407 



note the establishment of a manufactory of carbonate of soda by the 

 latter process in the United States. 



Solvay & Co. have established extensive works for conducting the 

 process with which their name is connected in Belgium, France, Ger- 

 man3% Eussia, and Austria; and a company of gentlemen, which has 

 secured the right to work under all the Solvay patents, has erected 

 works at Geddes, near Syracuse, New York State. These works pro- 

 ,duced in 1885 14,651,500 kilos, of 98 per cent, carbonate of soda, and 

 the production for 1886, with increased facilities, is estimated to reach 

 30,000,000 kilos. 



The purity of the product is shown by the following analysis of the 

 brand known as " Pure Soda : " 



Analysis of " Pure Soda." 



Per cent. 



Iron and aluminum oxides 025 



Silica 025 



Carbonate of lime . 404 



Carbonate of magnesia 175 



Chloride of sodium .904 



Carbonate of soda 93. 730 



100. 263 



This product, being very pure, is especially adapted for glass making, 

 soap making, paper making, scouring textile fabrics, and all the innu- 

 merable uses to which this adjunct of civilization is continually put. 



The product of all the works making soda under the Solvay patents 

 is over 220,000 tons per annum, and new establishments are rising in 

 several localities. 



Composition of a Crystalline Scale formed in the Ammonia- Soda Process^ 

 by George W. Leighton. — The crystalline scale, formed on the inner 

 surface of an iron tank, in which vapors consisting of ammonia, carbon 

 dioxide, and small quantities of hydrogen sulphide are passed through 

 brine holding in solution the chlorides of sodium, magnesium, and cal- 

 cium, with a small amount of calcium sulphate, has been examined. It 

 has the appearance of a boiler scale, from one to two inches thick, with 

 a vitreous luster and greenish-gray color, although sometimes black on 

 the surface. The scale is usually covered with crystal planes, which 

 prove to be the terminations of prisms (probably monoclinic). Analysis 

 gave results corresponding closely to the formula: MgG J^-, I^a2C03, 

 NaCl ; and impurities consisting chiefly of CaCOa. This is not a mixt- 

 ure, but an interesting triple salt analogous to some mineral species. 

 (Proc. Am. Acad. Arts and Sci., xxii, 158.) 



ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 



On the Formation of So called closed Chains, by Prof. Victor Meyer. — 

 Carbon atoms possess the marked peculiarity of combining to form 

 molecules in so-called chains, a property giving rise to the multiplicity 



