96 



CHEMISTRY. 



cium-etbyl and its chlorine derivations unacted 

 upon. The portion undissolved is to be washed, 

 dried, and distilled. The greater part passes 

 over at 180-190, and is treated as before in a 

 closed tube with acetate of potash and alcohol. 

 The liquid separated by water is again treated 

 with sulphuric acid, the solution decanted and 

 poured into water. A liquid separates, which 

 boils between 208 and 214 0., has a faint 

 ethereal and acetic smell, and burns with a 

 luminous flame, giving off white fumes of 

 silicic acid. This liquid is derived from mono- 

 chlorinated silicium -ethyl by replacing the chlo- 

 rine by oxacetyl. Treated with an alcoholic 

 solution of caustic potash, this body yields a 

 new liquid boiling at 190 0., which is the 

 hydrate corresponding to the acetate above de- 

 scribed. The authors term the radical silico- 

 nonyl, and compare the hydrate and acetate to 

 the corresponding compounds of carbon and 

 hydrogen, considering siiicium to replace carbon 

 atom for atom. 



Ozone. A paper upon the preparation of 

 ozone and the conditions of its production was 

 communicated by M. 0. Weltzien to the Bulle- 

 tin de la Societe Chimique, May, 1866. He had 

 obtained ozone by two processes. First, by 

 the reaction of dry hydrochloric acid gas 

 upon peroxide of barium contained in a tube ; 

 second, by the reaction of hydrochloric acid 

 upon pulverized peroxide of barium mixed 

 with sand and enclosed in a balloon. In both 

 cases he obtained besides oxygen and chlorine 

 some ozone recognizable by its odor ; and the 

 balloon containing the residue of its reaction 

 retained the smell for many days. In most of 

 the experiments, however, no ozone, but only 

 oxygen and chlorine, are produced, probably 

 mixed with hydrochlorous (?) acid. As to the 

 formation of ozone in the air, during storms, he 

 does not think that it remains long, and would 

 regard the oxidation of silver as the only cer- 

 tain proof of its presence. M. Weltzien pro- 

 mulgates the theory that ozone is oxygen 

 formed of two atoms ; other eminent chemists 

 regard it as denser than common oxygen; and 

 M. Loret considers it to be a molecule formed 

 of three atoms of oxygen, and calls it binoxide 

 of oxygen. The bulk of opinion, certainly, is 

 that ozone is condensed oxygen. 



At the November meeting of the British 

 Chemical Society Dr. Daubney read a paper on 

 the same subject. The author had made ex- 

 periments at Torquay in the winter months, 

 and at Oxford in the summer months. In the 

 former place the southwest and westerly 

 winds were most strongly charged with ozone, 

 and in the latter city the easterly winds 

 brought most. The results at Torquay he con- 

 siders to prove the influence of the sea in in- 

 creasing the amount of ozone. The generation 

 of ozone in the process of vegetation hie regards 

 as one of the appointed means of nature for 

 purifying the atmosphere from pernicious or- 

 ganic compounds. Dr. Daubeny, in his obser- 

 vations, used both Schonbein's paper and the 



sulphate of manganese paper, but considers the 

 first, if protected from light, to give the most 

 reliable indications. He had no evidence upon 

 the point whether the outbreak of epidemics 

 could properly be ascribed to a deficiency of 

 atmospheric ozone. In the course of the dis- 

 cussion which ensued, Dr. Gilbert expressed 

 some doubts of the identity of the ozone-like 

 emanations from growing plants, and the odor- 

 ous substance produced by the slow combo s- 

 tion of phosphorus in moist air. In closing the 

 discussion the President (Dr. "W. A. Miller) 

 observed, that no one doubted the existence of 

 ozone in the atmosphere ; but it must be ad- 

 mitted that as yet the proof was very imper- 

 fect. 



Isomerism. Berth elot has proposed a new 

 subdivision of isomeric bodies into the following 

 classes or general groups : 1. (Equivalent com- 

 position.) Substances which appear to have a 

 purely accidental relation to each other, such 

 as butyric acid, C 8 H 8 04, and dialdehyde, (0,; 

 H 4 2 )2. 2. (Metamerism.) Bodies formed by 

 the union of two distinct principles, so that in 

 their formula} a kind of compensation is estab- 

 lished; as methyl-acetic ether, C 2 H 2 (C 4 H 4 O 4 ), 

 and ethylformic ether, C 4 H 4 (C 2 H 2 O 4 ). 3. 

 (Polymerism.) Compounds arising from the 

 union of several molecules to form one, as 

 amylene, (CioHio), and diamylene, (CioHio) 2 . 



4. (Isomerism, properly so called.) These 

 are bodies that, differing in properties, retain 

 those distinctive features in their passage 

 through certain compounds, the properties of 

 which result from the internal structure of the 

 compound taken as a whole, rather than from 

 the diversity of the components which have 

 produced it; e. g,, the essence of terebenthino 

 and citron, the sugars, the symmetrical tartaric 

 acids, and the two classes of ethyl-sulphates. 



5. (Physical isomerism.) The different states 

 of one and the same body, the diverse nature 

 of which vanishes when the substance enters 

 into combination. 6. (Kenomerism.) Two dif- 

 ferent compounds may lose by the effect of cer- 

 tain reagents which bring about decomposition, 

 different groups of elements, and the remainders 

 be identical in composition, these two derivatives, 

 however, being yet distinct the one from the 

 other both in physical and chemical properties. 

 For example, alcohol, by losing two equivalents 

 of hydrogen, is turned into aldehyde, C 4 He0 2 

 H 2 =C 4 H 4 O 2 . Glycol, on the other hand, by 

 giving up two equivalents of water is converted 

 into glycolic ether (oxide of ethylene), C 4 H 6 4 

 H 2 02=C 4 H 4 O 2 . Again, essence of terebenthine 

 combines with hydrochloric acid under different 

 conditions to form two distinct hydrochlorates, 

 the monohydrochlorate, C2oH, 6 HCl, and the di- 

 hydrochlorate, CaoH,e2HCl. From the first the 

 crystalline compound CsoHio, camphene, is ob- 

 tained, and from the latter C 2 oHi 6 , terpilene, 

 two hydrocarbons of very different properties. 



The Source of Muscular Power. This inter- 

 esting subject, which has received much atten- 

 tion from chemists of late, has been thoroughly 



