116 Chronicles of Science. [ Jan. 
The already known elementary bodies are being gradually brought 
within the domain of spectrum analysis. Phosphorus, which has been 
long known to communicate, under some circumstances, a green colour 
to flame, has been shown by MM. Christofle and Beilstein * to possess a 
very definite spectrum, consisting of three distinct green lines. This 
new test is likely to be of considerable use, as, by its means, this dele- 
terious body has been shown to exist in many samples of good com- 
mercial iron, which were supposed to be free from this impurity. 
Our knowledge of the recently discovered element, cesium, has been 
greatly enlarged by its discoverer Bunsen.t For the original isolation 
of this interesting alkali, nearly 100,000 lbs. of the mineral water of 
Dirkheim were evaporated down, yielding, however, only 30 to 40 
grains. He has since determined the atomic weight to the metal with 
great accuracy upon a somewhat larger quantity, and has obtained 
the same number as those given by Messrs. Johnson and Allen, { 
namely 133. 
M. Rose has announced a no less important discovery than that of 
an entirely new series of metallic oxides.§ In his memoir he pro- 
poses a new nomenclature which, were it generally adopted, would be 
of great convenience to chemists. The new series, which he has dis- 
covered, consists of 1 of metal with + of oxygen, and this he proposes 
to call quadrantoxide ; the compound of 1 of metal with + of oxygen, 
variously named the suboxide or the protoxide, he proposes to call 
semioxide ; the compound of equal atoms of metal and oxygen he calls 
isowide ; the compound of 1 of metal to 14 of oxygen retains its name, 
sesquiowide ; whilst the ordinary binoxide is called the diplowide. 
Only one quadrantoxide has as yet been formed and analysed, but 
reasons are given for supposing that the suboxide of silver is really 
the quadrantoxide, and it is very probable that quadrantichlorides 
of the alkali metals are also known. As might be expected from their 
composition, these new oxides are difficult to prepare, and are easily 
decomposed. 
The mysterious body ozone, respecting which so much has been 
done but so little is known, is still occupying the attention of chemists. 
Schonbein has already shown that this body is formed when evapora- 
tion takes place, and M. Morin || considers that the good effects ob- 
served when water is artificially evaporated during the ventilation of 
rooms, may be due to the formation of a certain quantity of ozonized 
oxygen. English writers on Ventilation always advocate the intro- 
duction of a certain amount of moisture into the air supplied to inha- 
bited places, and this has been well carried out in the ventilation of 
the Houses of Parliament. 
Few chemical manufactures have been developed so much of late 
years as that of the barium compounds, and its prospective applications 
are most numerous and important, although at the present day their 
* «Comptes Rendus.’ t ‘Phil. Mag.,’ vol. xxvi. p. 241. 
t ‘Silliman’s Journal,’ vol. xxxv. p. 94. § ‘ Poggendorff’s Annalen,’ 
|| ‘Comptes Rendus.’ 
