388 CHEMISTRY. 



tends to oxidize the iron and destroyed by any cause which tends to 

 deoxidize it. At the outset the passivity appears to be due to the sim- 

 ple layer of oxygen which is condensed on its surface; but gradually a 

 layer of oxide forms and the passive condition is more permauent. (•/. 

 Fhys., May, 1881, x, 201; Nature, July, 1881, xxiv, 249.) 



Seubert has redetermined with great care the atomic weight of phit. 

 inum. The chloride prepared from the pure metal was precipitated by 

 the chlorides both of potassium and of ammonium, four difierent pro- 

 cesses being followed. The products were then analyzed. The results 

 by the platinum determinations were 194.68405, 194.03928, 194.06507, 

 195.03374; by chlorine estimation, 195.33013 for the ammonium salt, 

 and for the potassium 194.39190, 194.49368, 194.63088, or 194.62003. 

 After making the necessary corrections and reduction to vacuo the 

 value becomes 194.34050. {Lieh. Ann., February, 1881, ccvii, 1.) 



ORGANIC. 



Lunge and Steinkauler have obtained a new hydro-carbon from the 

 stems and twigs of S'equoia gigantea Torr. On distilling the needles 

 with water, agitating the distillate with ether, removing the excess of 

 ether, and distilling, a solid substance was obtained, soluble in alcohol, 

 ether, benzine, and chloroform, less readily in naphtha, and in glacial 

 acetic acid only on heating. By covering its solution in this acid with 

 water the gradual solution of the acid caused the new body to separate 

 in small crystal plates, which fused at 105°, were white with a bluish 

 fluorescence, and possessed the penetrating odor of the Sequoia in a 

 high degree. It boiled between 290° and 300°, and, on analysis, it 

 afforded the formula O13H10. The authors give it the name sequoiene. 

 {Ber. Berl. Chem. Gcs., September, 1880, xiii, 1656; Am. J. ScL, Jan- 

 uary, 1881, III, xxi, 68.) 



Michaelis and SchuUe have succeeded in the preparation of a body 

 of analogous constitution to azo-benzene, but in which arsenic takes the 

 place of nitrogen. The new comi)ound is produced by acting with re- 

 ducing agents, preferably phosphorous acid, upon an alcoholic solution 

 of phenyl-arsenous oxide, CeHgAsO. Before the temperature has reached 

 the boiling-point of the alcohol, the whole liquid solidifies to a mass of 

 crystals, which, when drained and dried over sulphuric acid, are pure. 

 Its formula is C6H5As=AsC6H5, corresponding to azo-benzene C6H5X= 

 NCeHs, and phospho-benzene CeHsP^PCells. Naphthyl-arsenous oxide 

 treated in the same way gives an analogous arseno-naphthalene C10H7AS 

 =AsC,on7. [Ber. Berl. Chem. Ges., April, 1881, xiv., 912.) 



Bechamp has studied the production of chloroform by the action of 

 calcium hypochlorite upon alcohol in the ordinary way. From his ex- 

 periments he concludes that the first action of the hypochlorite is an 

 oxidizing one, oxidizing the alcohol to aldehyde. Then the second 

 action produces from the aldehyde chloral and calcium hydrate; and, 

 finally, under the action of the lime, the chloral breaks up into calcium 



