CIIHMISTRY. 



117 



nitrogen convoys current more readily than argon. 

 This is supposed to lie connected with the known 

 fact that decrease of pressure promotes dissociation. 



The result obtained in a new determination of 

 the specific gravity of argon by Lord Rayleigh, 

 using a large quantity of the gas separated from 

 atmospheric nitrogen by sparking wit h oxygen, irive.- 

 referred to ( 2 as 1619*940. Prof. Ramsay had 

 previously obtained a density of 19*941 for the gas 

 obtained by the magnesium method. Hence the 

 products obtained by the two methods are identical. 

 The author has also determined the refractivity of 

 ariron and helium, with the results: argon 0'961 and 

 helium 0-146. compared with air as unity. The re- 

 sult in the case of argon is very unfavorable to the 

 view that this gas is an allotropic form of nitrogen. 

 The refractivity of helium is remarkably low. the 

 lowest previously known being that of hydrogen, 

 which is nearly 0-,"> that of air. The results of the 

 determination of viscosity were 0-96 for helium and 

 1-21 for argon, referred to dry air. The number for 

 argon is somewhat higher than that for oxygen. 

 The gas from the Bath Springs was found by the 

 author to contain both argon and helium, and that 

 from Buxton Springs 2 per cent, of argon and prob- 

 ably helium in very small quantity. The author's 

 experiments have led him to the conclusion that if 

 helium is present in the atmosphere it must be in 

 very small quantity, probably much less than a ten- 

 thousandth part. 



Bohuslav Brauner insists upon the view \vhich 

 he expressed very early in the history of those sub- 

 stances, that argon and helium are allotropic states 

 of nitrogen and hydrogen of a peculiar, entirely 

 novel character. The density of helium, d = 2, 

 would correspond to a molecular weight = 4, and 

 there would not be a complete analogy between he- 

 lium and argon, the latter being regarded as X s . 

 But the recent research of Ramsay and Gallic on 

 the separation of the constituents of helium by dif- 

 fusion makes it highly probable that the molecu- 

 lar weights of the two constituents in a pure state 

 are 3 and 5. The author expresses his " modest 

 opinion "that Nature has effected the synthesis of 

 three substances which behave like elements, or like 

 simple substances, the molecular weights, and. with 

 a certain restriction, the " atomic " weights of which 

 equal 3, 5. and 40. "The original protylic matter 

 (in the sense used by ( 'rookes) of the first two ele- 

 mentiike substances is hydrogen, and the enor- 

 mously important bearing of Dr. Ramsay's dis- 

 covery seems to me to lie in the point that the 

 constituents of helium were formed from hydrogen 

 in accordance with Front's law." 



What he supposes to be a new elementary body 

 and which he names lucinm has been detected by 

 M. P. Barriere in the course of researches on mona- 

 zite sand. Careful investigation has shown that it 

 differs from cerium, lanthanum, and didymium by 

 not forming insoluble double salts with sodium sul- 

 phate; from thorium and zirconium in not form- 

 ing insoluble double salts with potassium sulphate; 

 from yttrium, ytterbium, and erbium in being 

 precipitable from its chloride by sodium thio- 

 sulphate: and from glucinum in that its salts are 

 precipitable by oxalic acid. Its lines in the spec- 

 trum are special, and only slightly approach those 

 of erbium ; and certain color differences are men- 

 tioned. This supposed new substance has since been 

 submitted to vigorous radiant-matter tests by Mr. 

 William Crookes, who draws from the results that 

 the claim of lucium to form one of the chemical 

 elements is not justified, but that it is an impure 

 yttrium. An identical conclusion is drawn from 

 the chemical examinations that were made by M. 

 Schiitzenberger. 

 In their continued researches on free hydrazine, 



XII, XII 3 . MM. Lobry de Bruyn and A. Van 

 Eheiistein obtain the anhydrous base in two ways, 

 viz.. by the action of barium oxide on hydrazine 

 hydrate and by the react ion between sodium methyl- 

 ate and hydrazine hydrochloride in absolute methyl 

 alcohol. In either case the hydrazine is separated 

 by fractional distillation under reduced pressure. 

 The authors find free hydrazine a liquid which at 

 '.2:! ('. lias a density of 1*003, and on cooling with 

 ice solidifies to a crystalline mass melting at 1-4 ('. 

 It is a very stable body, which boils unchanged un- 

 der ordinary atmospheric pressure at 113vr ('.. and 

 does not decompose at 300 : C. In its chemical be- 

 havior the free base resembles the hydrate, being 

 oxidized to nitrogen by oxygen or air. and convert- 

 ing solid sulphur, on warming, into hydrogen sul- 

 phide. In an improved method for preparing hy- 

 drazine hydrate given by M. Lobry de Bruyn, 

 advantage is taken of the fact that glass is not at- 

 tacked by this substance at temperatures under oO' 

 C'. Since the hydrate boils at 47 C. under a pres- 

 sure of 26 millimetres, the fractional distillation, if 

 conducted at pressures below this, may be carried 

 out in glass vessels. 



The sodium and barium salts of a new acid, 

 H a X 2 Os, which fills the gap between hyponitrous 

 and nitrous acids, have been prepared by Dr. A. 

 Angeli. To obtain this acid, an alcoholic solution 

 of free hydroxylamine was prepared in the usual 

 manner from hydroxylamine hydrochloride and 

 sodium ethylate. an excess of the latter being taken, 

 and to the solution, after filtering off the precipi- 

 tated salt, was continuously added the theoretical 

 quantity of ethyl nitrate. The reaction proceeds 

 according to the equation CiH.ONOj + NII 1 OH= 

 CaHs.OH + HoXoOs. the white sodium salt of the 

 new acid beginning to separate at once. From 

 this salt, which on analysis proved to be Xa 2 X 2 3 , 

 the barium salt is readily obtained in a pure state 

 by adding barium chloride to the dilute aqueous 

 solution. The salts are both moderately stable in 

 the dry state, but are easily decomposed on boiling 

 the solution into the hydrate of the metal and ni- 

 tric oxide. The same gas is given off quantitative- 

 ly on acidifying the aqueous solution, and hence all 

 attempts to isolate the free acid have failed. 



Prosecuting experiments with rare earths con- 

 tiguous to samarium. M. Eugene Demarcay has 

 detected a peculiar nitrate, more soluble in strong 

 nitric acid than that of gadolinium, and less so than 

 that of samarium. The earth obtained from this 

 nitrate differs from the rare earths already known 

 by its colorless salts without an absorption spec- 

 trum : in being colorless, by which it is distin- 

 guished from terbia: and by its spectrum, which is 

 different from those of the oxides of lanthanum, 

 cerium, gadolinium, ytterbium, and terbium, the 

 only rare earths yet known with colorless salts. It 

 is. further, very distinct from the oxides of lan- 

 thanum and cerium by its relatively feeble basici- 

 ty and the relative solubility of its double sul- 

 phate: but it approximates much to gadolinia and 

 samaria. from which it is distinguished by its spec- 

 trum. The author designates, provisionally, until 

 he has succeeded in isolating it in a greater state of 

 purity, the radicle of this earth as 2. and the earth 

 itself as 2 2 3 . 



Messrs. Wood and Easterfield. of Cambridge, have 

 found that charas. the exuded resin of Cannabis 

 indica or Indian hemp, contains a compound, 

 Ci,H 24 2 , having its boiling point at between -y>:> 

 and 270 C. at 15 millimetres pressure (31 per cent.), 

 to which they attribute the physiological action of 

 the plant. This active compound, which the au- 

 thors name ('annaliiimL is a red semisolid sub- 

 stance at ordinary temperatures, but is quite liquid 

 at 60 : C. : it yields moiiacetyl and monobenzoyl 



