1866. | Chemistry. 89 
M. Campisi has announced* the formation of a new organo- 
metallic body, a compound of mercury with benzyl H (€, H,),. 
The author has not yet published the process by which it is 
prepared. 
It must suffice to mention the discovery by MM. Friedel and 
Crafts of a new alcohol, in which a part of the carbon is replaced 
by silicium,} a discovery which adds another illustration of the re- 
semblances in the chemical behaviour of carbon and silicium. 
Among the few practical improvements in manufacturing che- 
mistry published we find a ready method of converting gallic into 
pyrogallic acid. By the usual process, that of sublimation, it is 
well known that only from 30 to 40 per cent. of the gallic becomes 
changed into pyrogallic acid, the remainder being lost in the empy- 
reumatic matters generated. MM. V. De Luynes and Esperandieu 
therefore heat the gallic acid with water under pressure up to 
210° C. for about an hour-and-a-half, and so obtain a solution con- 
taming exactly the theoretical amount of pyro-acid, which ought to 
be yielded by the amount of gallic acid employed. 
M. Pelouze has published a method of making a glass which is 
said to exceed in beauty Venetian aventurine. He fuses together 
250 parts of sand, 100 parts of carbonate of soda, 50 parts of car- 
bonate of lime, and 40 parts of bichromate of potash. The result- 
ing glass contains from 6 to 7 per cent. of chromium, about one- 
half of which is combined with the glass, communicating a magnifi- 
cent greenish yellow colour, while the other is distributed through 
the mass in the form of extremely brilliant crystalline scales. The 
new glass, it should be said, is exceedingly hard. 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 
At the opening of the meeting of the current season, Professor 
Church gave an account of his chemical researches on some Cornish 
minerals. Among these he found three which had not been previ- 
ously described :—1, a hydrated phosphate of cerium ; 2, a hydrated 
phosphate of calcium and aluminium; and 38, a hydrated arseniate 
of copper and lead. The last of these the author proposes to call 
Bayldonite. For the first the name Churchite has been proposed 
by Mr. Greville Wiliams, who by optical tests discovered the pre- 
sence of didymium in the same mineral. 
At the same meeting a paper “On Caprylic and Oenanthylic 
Alcohols,” by Mr. E. T. Chapman, and one “On the Absorption of 
Vapours by Charcoal,” by Mr. Hunter, were read. The experi- 
ments of the latter author confirm those of Dr. Stenhouse, who 
found that the denser forms of vegetable charcoal possessed the 
greatest absorptive power. Mr. Hunter stated that the charcoal 
* «Comptes Rendus,’ Nov. 13, 1865. + ‘Comptes Rendus,’ Nov. 6, 1865. 
