Chemical Science. 1 63 



obtained by adding oxalic acid to a solution of gold. Thus, it seems 

 proved, that the steam acts in producing these effects by deoxidizing, 

 the salts of silver and gold. Muriate of platina, or either of the ni- 

 trates of mercury, were unaffected by similar treatment. 



6. Change of Musket Balls in Shrapnell Shells. — Mr. Marsh of 

 Woolwich gave me some musket balls, which had been taken out of 

 Shrapnell shells. The shells had lain in the bottom of ships, and pro- 

 bably had sea water amongst them. When the bullets are put in, the 

 aperture is merely closed by a common cork. These bullets were 

 variously acted upon : some were affected only superficially, others 

 more deeply, and some were entirely changed. The substance pro-> 

 duccd is hard and brittle, it splits on the ball, and presents an ap- 

 pearance like some hard varieties of earthy haematite; its colour is 

 brown, becoming, when heated, red; it fuses, on platinum foil, into 

 a yellow flaky substance like litharge. Powdered and boiled in water, 

 no muriatic acid or lead was found in solution. It dissolved in nitric 

 acid without leaving any residuum, and the solution gave very faint 

 indications only of muriatic acid. It is a protoxide of lead, perhaps 

 formed, in some way, by the galvanic action of the iron shell and the 

 leaden ball, assisted, probably, by the sea water. It would be very 

 interesting to know the state of the shells in which a change like this 

 has taken place to any extent ; it might have been expected, that as 

 long as any iron remained, the lead would have been preserved in the 

 metallic state. — M. F. 



7. Action of Gunpowder on Lead. — Mr. Marsh gave me also some 

 balls from cartridges about fifteen years old, and which had probably 

 been in a damp magazine. They were covered with white warty ex- 

 crescences rising much above the surface of the bullet, and which, 

 when removed, were found to have stood in small pits formed beneath 

 them. These excrescences consist of carbonate of lead, and readily 

 dissolve with effervescence in weak nitric acid, leaving the bullet in 

 the coroded state which their formation has produced. It is evident 

 there must have been a mutual action amongst the elements of the 

 gunpowder itself, at the same time that it acted on the lead ; and it 

 would have been interesting, had the opportunity occurred, to have 

 examined what changes the powder had suffered. — M. F. 



8. Inflammation of Gunpowder by Slaking Lime. — In consequence 

 of the application of quick-lime to the dessication of various sub- 

 stances, the Comite consvltatif de la Direction des Poudrcs ct Sal- 

 pet res, made some trials of the temperature produced by slaking lime. 

 They found that it frequently rose so high as to inflame gunpowder 

 thrown upon it ; and that, even when enclosed in a glass tube, and the 

 tube put in among the lime, the heat was sufficient to fire the gun- 



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