50? SCIENTIFIC RELORI) FOR 1884. 



facture 50,000 tons of ammonia-soda annually ; and if the above process 

 were applied to the whole of 'the product, he would- not only produce 

 128,000 tons of ammonium sulphate, but he would be obliged to consume 

 one-third more ammonia than the total quantity at present produced in 

 all Great Britain and Ireland. Obviously the process cannot be exten- 

 srvely ajiplied so long as we depend on the distillation of coal for am- 

 monia. 



A combination of the first step in .he Leblanc process, and the sub- 

 stitution of sodium sulphate for the chloride in the subsequent treat- 

 ment bj' the ammonia process, has been found theoretically possible, but 

 its commercial merits remain to be proven. The natural objection to 

 this modification is that the first step of the Leblanc process is tbe 

 costly one. 



Messrs. Carey, Gaskell, and Hurter have devised a more practicable 

 process, based upon the decomposition of sodium sulphate by bicarbo- 

 nate of ammonia, and the recovery of both tlie ammonia and the sul- 

 phuric acid. These chemists find that if a mixture of equivalent quan- 

 tities of ammonium sulphate and sodium sulphate be heated to fusion, 

 and steam be injected into the liquid mass, the whole of the ammonia is 

 set free, and the sulphuric acid combines with the sodium salt, forming 

 hydro-sodium sulphate, which alone remains behind. This hydro-sodium 

 sulphate can then be used to decomjiose sodium chloride. The nor- 

 mal sodium sulphate resulting is decomposed by bicarbonate of an.«io- 

 nia, with i)roductiou of bicarbonate of soda and ammonium sulphate, 

 which last can be used to repeat the first step.* These processes have 

 the advantage of no waste, a merit not shared by the Leblanc process, 

 invented ninety-seven years ago by the immortal Nicholas. [Ghem. 

 News, L, 41.) 



Use of Nickel Vessels for Operations icith fixed Alkalies, by Professor 

 Dittmar. — Fleitmann, in 1879, suspecting that the brittleness of nickel 

 was due to the presence of occluded carbonic oxide, had the happy 

 thought of fusing the metal with a small proportion (one-eighth part) of 

 magnesium, and obtained thereby a regulus capable of being rolled into 

 thin sheets and drawn into fine wires. • Since this important discovery 

 the inventor has made a business of manufacturing kitchen utensils 

 which are nickel inside and outside, with a core of iron between. Basins 

 of this make are found by Professor Dittmar very useful in operations 

 with caustic alkali solutions, and they are far cheaper than silver. 

 These nickelized vessels cannot be used with fused potassium or so- 

 dium hydroxides, since the latter attack strongly every metal save 

 gold. {Ghem. News, L, 3.) 



Gonstifuents-of Snow- Water, by Dr. Elwyn Waller. — A sample of snow 

 was carefully collected in a stoi)pered bottle after snow had been fall- 

 ing foi" three or four hours and the ground was well covered. After 



