CHEMISTRY. 



not to the extent of replacing the ordinary 

 variety, and for the surfaces upon which " safe- 

 ty-matches " are ignited, and also in making 

 the haloid compounds of ethyl and methyl for 

 the production of aniline dyes. A new field 

 for the use of phosphorus in metallurgy has 

 been opened up by the introduction of phos- 

 phor-bronze. 



Iodine has been lately produced commercially 

 from the mother-liquors from which Chilian 

 sodium nitrate has been crystallized, by adding 

 cupric sulphate and sodium sulphite, by which 

 cuprous iodide is precipitated, and this is after- 

 ward decomposed by sulphuretted hydrogen 

 or by zinc, and converted into an alkaline 

 iodide ; to a less extent the solutions are treat- 

 ed with a regulated quantity of sodium sul- 

 phite alone, and the iodine collected as such 

 either by precipitation or distillation. The 

 production of iodine from kelp has been car- 

 ried on at a disadvantage under the competi- 

 tion of the Leblanc process, and of the prod- 

 ucts of the Stassfurt industry. A means for 

 obtaining directly from sea-water the minute 

 quantity of iodine it contains seems to be still 

 desirable. The demand for this substance, 

 which had increased very largely in conse- 

 quence of its extensive use in making coal-tar 

 colors, has fallen off under the substitution in 

 the process of other salts for the iodides of the 

 iodide radicals. According to a paper by E. 

 Sobering, the method of making the potassium 

 iodide most generally in use is the solution of 

 iodine in aqueous potassium hydrate, evapora- 

 tion to dryness, with the addition of charcoal- 

 powder, and ignition to destroy the nitrate 

 formed. Sobering himself, however, prefers the 

 production of iron iodide and decomposition 

 by potassium carbonate. 



Bromine is manufactured on a large scale 

 from the mother-liquors obtained at Stassfurt 

 in working the salts of potassium and magne- 

 sium, and from similar liquors produced in 

 salt-boiling in Ohio, West Virginia, and Penn- 

 sylvania. Bromine is coming into use again, 

 in a modified form, after having been discarded 

 as unsatisfactory, as a substitute for iodine al- 

 coholic compounds in the manufacture of the 

 coal-tar dyes, and is employed to some extent 

 in the shape of its derivatives of the hydrocar- 

 bons and phenols in the production of other 

 artificial dyestuffs. The practice of shipping 

 bromine in a solid or liquid form, as bromide 

 of iron or of ethyl, when it is not made at 

 once into potassium bromide, has been resort- 

 ed to, to avoid the danger and annoyance in- 

 volved in the transportation of so volatile a 

 substance. 



The improvements in the production of the 

 natural vegetable alkaloids relate to the exten- 

 sion of the scale in which they are made, nota- 

 bly to measures for increasing the supply of 

 the raw material by the systematic cultivation 

 of the cinchona-tree, and to the superior de- 

 gree of purity in which they are obtained. 

 The cinchona alkaloids which accompany qui- 



nine have to some extent been brought into 

 use, instead of being rejected as worthless. 

 Among new substances of this class which have 

 been made available for medical purposes are 

 eserine, from the Calabar bean, and apomor- 

 phine, a product of chemical alteration. 



Methyl alcohol and several of its derivatives 

 play an important part in the manufacture of 

 coal-tar colors. Methyl chloride has taken the 

 place of methyl nitrate, and partly of methyl 

 iodide, as one of the materials for the produc- 

 tion of artificial cold by rapid evaporation in 

 closed vessels. 



Benzoic acid is made by several processes, 

 chiefly by evaporating the urine of domestic 

 animals and boiling the residue with hydro- 

 chloric acid. Besides its employment in mak- 

 ing artificial colors, it is believed to be a com- 

 ponent of the nostrums which are used in fla- 

 voring manufactured tobacco. 



Phthallic acid, which is valuable in making 

 artificial dyestuffs, is largely produced as an 

 anhydride from naphthaline. 



Improvements in the Preparation of Clothing 

 Materials. For the old process of washing 

 wool, which involved the entire waste of the 

 substances constituting the grease to be re- 

 moved, more economical methods have been 

 substituted in the extraction of the fatty mat- 

 ter with carbon disulphide or petroleum naph- 

 tha, and in the Maumene and Kagelet process 

 for making potash from the leachings of the 

 wool and burning or charring the organic 

 matter, with the utilization for illuminating 

 purposes of the gaseous products given off by 

 the grease. Wool is freed from burs, bits of 

 straw, and other forms of vegetable matter, by 

 soaking it with dilute sulphuric acid, pressing 

 out the surplus liquid, and gradually heating 

 the wool up to about 212, after which the 

 vegetable impurities may be readily reduced to 

 dust and removed mechanically. Solution of 

 aluminum chloride and gaseous hydrochloric 

 acid have been used for the same purpose. 

 Mixed fabrics of wool and cotton may be treat- 

 ed in this way, and the wool recovered in a 

 useful form. 



Hard water, containing lime-salts, is prefer- 

 ably used in reeling raw silks, because with 

 it a less quantity of gelatine is removed in so- 

 lution from the surface of the fiber, and less 

 loss of tenacity and beauty in appearance is 

 suffered. 



The manufacture of chloride of lime for 

 bleaching has been simplified by the successful 

 application of a process for regenerating the 

 manganese employed in such a form that it 

 may be used again. This is done by precipitat- 

 ing the still-liquor containing manganic chloride 

 with an excess of calcium hydrate and causing 

 the precipitate to be oxidized by forcibly blow- 

 ing air through it and the liquid in which it is 

 suspended. The chief product of this process 

 is an acid calcium manganite with a consider- 

 able quantity of calcium chloride, a satisfactory 

 mode of utilizing which is still desired, 



