CHEMISTRY. 



toff colt to be formed that is, fixed carbon 

 with a sufficient amount of volatile mattrr in it to 



it .-liu'htlv inflammable. The other useful 



uld In- chiufly crude oil, coal-gaa, and 



<nia. Assuming, as a basis of calculation. 2,000 



I'foul to be used daily, that amount would yield 

 and numlicrs: 



Soft Coke "1,400 ton. 



ii- Oil 40,000 galloua. 



Aiiiniiiulucal Water 80,()00 " 



Coal-GaH . , 6,000,000 cubic feet. 



,' the ash, the fixed carbon would bo rc- 

 .!:.-. -d to 1,829 tons. Mr. Hutton calculated that the 

 coke and the other products would realize 742, while 

 the coal (at 5s. per ton) and the labor, etc., would 

 cost 000, leaving an apparent balance 01 142, in ad- 

 dition to all the other advantages which would result 

 from the complete combustion of the fuel. The coke 

 would be such a material as would be available alike 

 tor domestic fire-places and the furnaces of steam- 

 " etc. 





Uses of Glycerine. The essential principle 

 of fat enters into the useful arts to a degree 

 fur more important than its employment in the 

 combination of nitro-glycerine as an explosive 

 ngent. Prof. 0. N. Joy," in the Journal of 

 Applied Chemistry, thus refers to some of tho 

 iMiiiinu-rcial and domestic purposes for which 

 it is used : 



Housekeepers will bo glad to know that, if tubs 

 and pails are saturated with glycerine, they will not 

 shrink and dry up, the hoops will not fall off, and 

 there will be no necessity for keeping these articles 

 soaked. Butter-tubs keep fresh and sweet, and can 

 bo used a second time. Leather treated with it also 

 remains moist, and is not liable to crack apd break. 



For tho extraction of perfume from rose-leaves, 

 from scented woods, from bark, from gums, there 

 appears to be nothing better than glycerine, and this 

 use of it is constantly on the increase, as tho most 

 delicate odors are perfectly preserved in it. 



A soft soap, into which glycerine enters as a con- 

 stituent, is highly prized in cold weather, when the 

 hands become chapped, and can be used for washing 

 in hard water. .. 



For wounds and sores^and bites of venomous in- 

 sects, glycerine is found to be a mqst valuable sub- 

 stance, as it either prevents the mortification of the 

 parts, or it can be used to carry tho remedies to coun- 

 teract the effects of poison. 



To preserve animal substances from decay, glyce- 

 rine is now substituted for alcohol in collections of 

 natural history, and it is employed to keep many 

 articles of food from undergoing decomposition. 



As it requires an intense cold to freeze it, even 

 when mixed with its own bulk of water, it is largely 

 employed to fill tho wet gas-metres. 



Some kinds of candy, chocolate, confectionery, and 

 fruit, which are preserved in tin foil, are kept moist 

 by a small quantity of glycerine. 



Delicate chronometers, clocks, and watches, are 

 lubricated with it. .Copying-paper and wall-paper, 

 for taking fancy colors, are also kept moist by a small 

 amount of glycerine used in their manufacture. 



In pharmacy, for the preservation of pills, to mix 

 with many substances, in compounding prescriptions, 

 and in more ways than can easily bo remembered, 

 glycerine now plays an important part. 



In the arts it finds its way as tho best wash for the 

 interior of moulds in the casting of plaster figures, 

 to prevent tho gypsum from adhering to tho sides of 

 the mould. 



lu dyeing with some of our beautiful organic col- 

 ors, glycerine is extensively employed with the best 

 effect. 



In chemistry it is used to prevent the precipitation 

 of tho heavy metals by tho alkalies, and is thus a re- 

 agent in analysis. 



VOL. x. 7 A 



I' HI hut ion of Sewage. In a paper submitted 

 to tho British Association, Mr. David Forbes, 

 !'. k. .s., maintained that the mechanical treat- 

 ment of sewage, which at best only effected a 

 mere filtration, had everywhere failed to puri- 

 fy sewago-watcr, so that it might be properly 

 allowed to flow directly into living stream', 

 without detriment to the public health. Tho 

 more purely chemical processes, such as tho 

 treatment of lime alone, or in combination 

 with chloride of iron, alum, sulphate of alu- 

 mina, and tho so-called ABO process, were 

 regarded as failures, since it could be shown 

 not only that tho affluent water had not been 

 sufficiently purified, but that the sewage-ma- 

 nure obtained was of so low an agricultural 

 value as to preclude its employment elsewhere 

 than in the immediate neighborhood of the 

 sewage-works. Mr. Forbes recommended an 

 entirely new -method of treatment, called the 

 phosphate process, based on the property 

 which hydrated phosphates have of combining 

 with organic matter, while the ammonia also 

 can be precipitated in the condition of tho 

 double phosphate of ammonia and magnesia. 



The process was shown experimentally with 

 Liverpool sewage, and consisted merely of 

 adding a solution of certain phosphates, chiefly 

 of alumina, in sulphuric or hydrochloric acid, 

 to the sewage, and afterward a little milk of 

 lime barely sufficient to neutralize the acid and 

 give a faint alkaline reaction to the sewage ; 

 even if tinctorial matters of great intensity 

 (ink was added in the experiments) were pres- 

 ent, the liquor became immediately discolored, 

 the supernatant liquor resting quite clear 

 above a precipitate of the phosphates, along 

 with all the insoluble matter and a large por- 

 tion of the soluble organic matter and am- 

 monia originally contained in the sewage. 

 The authors of this process, Messrs. A. Price 

 and D. Forbes, although they did not pretend 

 to have extracted the entire amount of the am- . 

 monia and other matter valuable for agricul- 

 ture from the sewage, or effected an absolute 

 purification of the affluent water, believed that, 

 ns the water so purified was free from any 

 nauseous taste, so that it could be drunk with- 

 out repugnance, was devoid of smell, and did 

 not putrefy or emit any disagreeable odor even 

 when left standing in an open vessel during 

 the whole of the preceding hot summer, it 

 had been sufficiently purified by the phos- 

 phate process to permit of its being directly 

 run off into rivers without detriment to the 

 fish in them or the health of tho inhabitants 

 on their banks. 



Relative Purity of Air. Dr. Angns Smith, 

 Inspector under the British Chemical Act, has 

 published analyses of air taken in various- parts 

 of England and Scotland, in dwelling-houses* 

 factories, theatres in streets, in parks and other 

 open places, and in mines. His researches- 

 show that out-door air does differ in different 

 places in the amount of oxygen, but the dif- 

 ferences are only slight when stated in per* 



