60 
constitution of oi/-gas, when prepared for 
burning, to be as follows, viz, 
In Combustion, 
Takeof Andgive 
Vo- Specific Oxy- ofCarb. 
lumes. Gases. . Gravity. Wghts. gen. Acid. 
40 Carb.-hydrogen +555 2222 80° 40 
30 Superolefiant 1-293 *3879 120° 80 
10° Azote...+-+++++ 970 “0970 — = 
7 Hydrogen..---- 080 0056 35 — 
7 Carbonic Acid 1+530 1071 _— _— 
6 Carb. oxygen:: “970 0582 3 6 
100 *8780 206% 126 
— 
On reference to our 44th volume, p. 70, 
it will be scen, that the specific eravities in 
the third column of this table, differ rather 
considerably from the determinations of Dr. 
Thomson; and the numbers in the fourth 
column, as 75th multiples of those in cols. 
l and 3, are subject to the same remark. 
The fifth and sixth columns shew the quan- 
tities of oxygen consumed in combustion, 
and of carbonic acid resulting in each case. 
Mr. Dalton concludes his paper by say- 
ing, “I find one cubic foot of oil-gas (spec. 
gray. about °9) equivalent to 2 or 2} of 
coal-gas (spec. gray. about °6), for the pur- 
poses of illumination.”’ This averages | to 
2%: see our last vol., pp. 237 and 436.— 
Mr. Adam Anderson details his experiments 
in Jameson’s Journal, No. XXIII., and 
makes the illuminating power of coal and 
oil-gas, as 1 to 13; being himself a coal-gas 
maker, at Perth. 
A Hydro-pneumatic Lamp, of a most sim- 
ple description, has been invented by Dr. 
Andrew Fyfe, and described in Jameson’s 
Edinb. Phil. Journ. It consists of a bent 
glass tube, open at both ends, one of which 
is about five, and the other eight inches 
long; the middle or curved part of which 
syphon-like tube is fixed in a foot or stand, 
so as to support the legs in a vertical posi- 
tion. Around the top of the longer leg 
there is fitted a ring of brass; from which 
ring projects an arm of the same metal, ex- 
tending over the top of the shorter leg, and, 
beneath this arm, asmall mass of spongy 
platinum is fixed by a lapping of very fine 
wire. Into the top of the shorter leg, a 
ground glass stopper tube, furnished with 
a stop-cock, is fitted, terminating above in 
a jet-pipe, for throwing a small stream of 
hydrogen gas on the platinum. 
The stopper-tube being removed, a piece 
of small glass tube, about an inch long, is 
-dropped into the shorter leg of the tube; 
and on to this alump of zink, which latter, 
by this means, is prevented from falling into 
the bent part of the tube: diluted sulphuric 
acid is then poured in, so as to fill both 
legs of the tube to about the height of half 
the length of the larger leg. And now, the 
stop-cock being shut, the action of the 
acid on the zine soon generates hydrogen 
gas enough to expel the acid from the upper 
part of the short leg, and suspend it in the 
longer leg, until that the acid having sunk 
below the zinc, the action thereon ceases, 
Spirit of Philosophical Discovery. 
(Feb. I, 
and the lamp remains ready charged for 
use. On turning the cock, the gas’ is 
propelled in a stream up against the pla- 
tinum, which thereby becomes red hot, so 
that a common sulphur-dipped mateh can 
be lighted therefrom. ~ 
That Ammoniacal Gas is sometimes a pro- 
duct of Vegetation, has been proved by M. 
Chevallier, who, on enclosing a living plant 
of goose-foot (Chenopodium vulnaria) in a 
proper receiver, found, that the same rather 
copiously emitted ammoniacal gas ; he and 
M. Lassaigne had previously ascertained, 
that the leaves of this plant contained sub- 
carbonate of ammonia, which led to the 
above experiment. 
The Narcotic Principle of the Belladone 
Atropa, or deadly carrot, has been obtained 
in a separate state by M. Runge, by avoiding 
alkaline solutions, through which former 
attempts had failed, and using magnesia as 
are-agent: its form is crystalline ; it dis- 
solves in water, and in slight doses causes 
the dilation of the pupils of the patients’ 
eyes, which distinguishes the use of the 
plant itself. 
The Milk of the Cow-tree, which grows on 
the slopes of the Andes, in the Caraccas, 
and in Choco and other parts of South Ame- 
rica, of which M. Laet, and afterwards M. 
Humboldt, had given accounts, has lately 
been submitted to analysis by M. Bous- 
singault, who finds it to contain, 1. Wax; 
2. Fibrin; 3. Sugar, in small quantity; 4. 
A magnesian Salt, not the acetate ; and, 5. 
A colouring matter. It contains neither 
albumen, curd, nor ecatechu.—[ or an in- 
teresting account of this tree, see Supplement 
to Monthly Magazine, vol. 58. ] 
Good Steel may be made from Cast-iron, 
on a large scale, in the reverberatory fur- 
nace, according to the experiments and 
opinions of M. Breant, which are stated in 
the Ann. des Mines, an abstract of which 
appears in Brande’s Journal, No. 36. To 
pig-iron in fusion, he directs to be added a 
portion of the same metal oxidated, or else 
the native oxide of iron. One hundred 
parts of soft malleable iron, fused with two 
parts of lamp-black, will also make good 
cast steel. 
The true Deutovide of Iron, according to 
recent experiments by M. Berthier, re- 
corded in the Ann. des Chim», consists of 
Tron..,.. 100 or 74°5 
Oxygen.. 34°2 or 25°5 
Such being the composition of the dull grey- 
ish-black scales, which form on heated iron ; 
spec. grav. 3°5 at the least; being brittle 
and very magnetic. The ‘tritoxide is ob- 
tained by passing steam over red-hot iron. 
The oxygen, in the four oxides of this metal, 
has the ratio of 6: 7:: 8: 9. 
Zirconium, or the metal of Zirconia, or 
the Zircon-stone, has been obtained sepa- . 
rate by M. Berzelius, by processes de- 
tailed. 
