Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 585 
AMALGAMATION OF ZINC PLATES. 
In consequence of the great advantages pointed out by Mr. Fa- 
raday of employing amalgamated zinc plates in the voltaic pile, M. 
Masson recommends the tollowing simple and rapid method. After 
having placed on the zinc a little mercury, dilute sulphuric acid 
is poured upon it; the mercury is then rubbed over the surface of 
the zinc by means ofa piece of linen. The mercury spreads over 
the surface with great facility, and the amalgamation is very rapid: 
a small quantity of dilute acid should be added from time to time; 
this appears to act as a cleanser to the zinc, for in forming a vol- 
taic circuit with only one element, the operation does not go on so 
well or so quickly.— Annales de Chimie, November 1835. 
CRYSTALLIZED OXICHLORIDE OF ANTIMONY. 
M. Malaguti observes that when a large quantity of water is added 
to a solution of protochloride of antimony, there isimmediately formed 
a very white and bulky precipitate, and which, thrown upon a filter 
and washed, constitutes the powder of algaroth. This, according to 
Grouvelle, is composed of 2 atoms of protoxide and | atom of pro- 
tochloride of antimony. If, instead of filtering the precipitate, it is 
suffered to remain in the fluid from which it is precipitated, for 30 or 
40 hours, it contracts considerably, and is converted into a thick 
crystalline deposit. The supernatant liquor being poured off, the 
crystals are to be washed and dried by exposure to the air. 
The crystals thus procured are small, white, brilliant prisms, decom- 
poseable into oxide of antimony by boiling in water, by continued 
washing, or by an alkaline carbonate; they are entirely soluble in 
nitric acid ; they fuse by the heat of a common lamp, and lose the 
greater part of their chlorine. 
The method of analysis adopted was very simple : a given quantity 
of the salt was boiled in a solution of carbonate of potash; the solu- 
tion, after saturation with nitric acid, was treated with nitrate of 
silver; the residue gave the proportion of oxide of antimony. Another 
less simple method was also employed: a quantity of the oxichloride 
was heated by a spirit lamp in a bent tube, one end of which was 
blown into a bulb. The greater part of the chlorine was condensed 
in the cold part of the tube, which was separated from the bulb; the 
chloride was dissolved in muriatic acid, and the antimony was preci- 
pitated by tin. What remained in the bulb was dissolved by tartaric 
acid, and afterwards treated with nitrate of silver. The metallic an- 
timony on one hand, and the chloride of silver on the other, gave the 
quantity of protochloride contained in the oxichloride analysed ; these 
agreed perfectly with that obtained by carbonate of potash. 
The analysis by carbonate of potash gave 
Protochloride .... 24°72 .... 25°30..:... 25°19 
Protoxide ....;. TREE snc (ALU ns AAS 
Two analyses by fusion gave, 
Protochloride .... 25°50 
ARP ibe isle, 
