102 M. Dexter on the Equivalent Weight of Antimony. 
By the action of water and of alkalies, this substance furnishes a 
body NC*(NO*)? (NH?), which is acetonitrile, NC* H®, im which 
two equivalents of hydrogen are replaced by 2(NO*), and one of 
hydrogen by NH*. " By boiling this body with potash, and sub- 
sequently treating the salt thus obtained with oxide of silver, a 
beautiful salt is obtained, to which the author gives the formula 
ce NON eae 04. This remarkable salt would thus belong 
to} 
4y73 
to the type acetic acid, u a don 
A new determination of the equivalent weight of antimon 
has been made by Dexter*, who has obtained numbers whic 
differ slightly from those obtained by Schneider and by Rosey. 
His determination deserves, however, great consideration, for it 
was made with all possible care and precision by the method ori- 
ginally used by Berzelius. The starting-point was the prepara- 
tion of pure metallic antimony; and for the purpose of obtain- 
ing this, advantage was taken of the insolubility of metantimo- 
niate of soda. Crystallized tartarized antimony was fused in a 
Hessian crucible with nitre and potash, and the fused mass poured 
out, allowed to cool, dissolved and filtered, and a solution of pure 
chloride of sodium added to it. The metantimoniate of soda pre- 
cipitated was well washed out, and then converted into hydrated 
antimonic acid by treatment with nitric acid. The hydrated 
antimonie acid, well washed out and dried, was placed in a 
porcelain crucible lined with pure charcoal and strongly ignited. 
The reduced metal was not quite pure; it contained traces of 
sodium, for it was impossible to extract all soda from the metan- 
timoniate by nitric acid. The metal was therefore finely pow- 
dered, mixed with some of the same antimonic acid, and again 
strongly ignited, The metal collected at the bottom in a regulus, 
covered with a slag of melted oxide of antimony. It was quite 
pure, as was shown by special experiments. Its specific gravity 
was 6°705 at a temperature of 3°°75. Scheerer for the same 
temperature found the specific gravity of antimony to be 6°708. 
For the purpose of the determination, the metal was converted 
into antimonic acid by treatment with pure nitric acid, the 
antimonie acid ignited and weighed as antimonious acid, ShO*, 
The number obtained as the mean of eleven very concordant ex- 
periments was 1529°4, or 122°3 on the hydrogen scale. This 
method of determination, although simple, has the disadvantage 
that a small error of observation has great influence on the result, 
and to avoid this source of inaccuracy Dexter made a great many 
experiments‘with another method. This consisted in determi- 
* Poggendorff’s Annalen, April 1857. + Phil. Mag. February 1857, 
