348 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



positive statement as to the composition of sulphocyanogen, MM. 

 Fordos and Gelis propose to make a comparative examination of the 

 two bodies, as soon as they can obtain them in sufficient quantity. 



Analysis of the sulphuret of nitrogen. — Every means was taken in 

 searching for hydrogen, and in all the experiments considerable 

 quantities of the matter were employed, in order to diminish as much 

 as possible the chances of error. 



First experiment : 0'5 gr. of sulphuret of nitrogen gave 0'015 gr. 

 of water. 



Second experiment : 05 gr. of sulphuret of nitrogen gave 0045 

 gr. of water. 



Third experiment : 1 gr. of sulphuret of nitrogen gave 0"004 gr. 

 of water. 



These results, and especially the last, sufficiently prove that the 

 substance examined contains no hydrogen, and consequently that 

 the formula given by M. Aug. Laurent ought to be rejected. 



The authors add that the formula S'^ NH, which had been pro- 

 posed by this chemist for sulphuret of nitrogen, appears to belong to 

 another substance ; it being proved that the compound in qtiestion 

 contains no hydrogen, and consequently that it is a sulphuret of 

 nitrogen, it is easy to show that it has not the composition indicated 

 by M. Soubeiran ; the formula which he proposes would give 77"32 

 of sulphur and 22'68 of nitrogen. ■ - ;_: 



The numbers obtained by MM. Fordos and XJeliS'iare far from 

 being the same ; they con-espond to S* N, or — -I'lu; /•) '.' 



Calcula- Experi- Experi-, ;. ijljigerir, .. Experi- 



tion. ment. mei^t,,,,, , ; mient, ment. 



Sulphur 69 56 69-47 63-a^.„ un^'^^ 69-06 



Nitrogen .. 3044 MM^s-n iMM^^uM^ l> 



These results were confirmed by the examination which was made 

 by the action of water and the alkalies on this substance. According 

 to M. Soubeiran, cold water acts slowly upon sulphuret of nitrogen, 

 converting it into hyposulphite of ammonia, and the salt contains 

 one proportion of ammonia and one and a half proportion of hypo- 

 sulphurous acid ; according to the same chemist, alkaline solutions 

 accelerate the transformation of sulphuret of nitrogen into ammonia 

 and hyposulphurous acid ; these statements are inadmissible ; for 

 the decomposition of water, as indicated by M. Soubeiran, would be 

 represented by the formula S^N-l-4H0=S= 0^ NH\ HO; there- 

 fore, in the reaction, on the supposition that the formula for sul- 

 phuret of nitrogen S' N is exact, which it is not, no gas would be 

 disengaged ; whereas it is very easy to prove, that during this re- 

 action ammonia is evolved. It is also to be proved that the liquor 

 possesses all the characters of a mixture of hyposulphurous acid and 

 an acid of the thionic series. 



The analyses of the products proved that the reaction of water on 

 the sulphuret of nitrogen must be represented by the following 

 equation — 



