93 



CHEMISTRY. 



ride of calcium, gave a distinct white precipi- 

 tate ; strong solutions, an abundant precipitate. 

 A solution of sulphate of calcium also shows a 

 cloudiness. When an excess of the calcic salt 

 is used, no precipitate is seen, or it is instantly 

 redissolved, whatever may be the strength of 

 the solution. With the salts of magnesia, hy- 

 drate of magnesia is precipitated, and sulphy- 

 drate of sulphide of sodium remains in solution. 

 With salts of alumina and glucina, the alkaline 

 sulphides precipitate the hydrates of alumina 

 and glucina, sulphuretted hydrogen being set 

 free. Sulphide of calcium cannot be obtained 

 by precipitation, but must be made by Decom- 

 posing the sulphate of lime with charcoal. This 

 compound decomposes after long contact with 

 water, producing lime and sulphydrate of sul- 

 phide of calcium. Sulphide of magnesium is 

 but little known. M. Pelouze has tried the 

 method of Berzelius for making this sulphide, 

 by passing sulphydric acid into a milk of mag- 

 nesia until a considerable quantity of the hy- 

 drate of magnesia is dissolved. He reports 

 that a sulphide is never formed under these cir- 

 cumstances, but that a sulphydrate of sulphide 

 of magnesium is obtained in solution, and hy- 

 drate of magnesia remains undissolved. 



Some Properties of the Chloride of Sulphur. 

 M. Chevrier ( Chem. News, No. 370) has reported 

 to the French Academy the results of his inves- 

 tigation of the action of phosphorus on chloride 

 of sulphur. He has succeeded in combining 

 the substances almost entirely into chlorosul- 

 phide of phosphorus. In a large globe, of seven 

 or eight litres' capacity, pour three equivalents 

 of chloride of sulphur, and heat to the boiling 

 point. Add, in small fragments, one equivalent 

 of phosphorus. After each addition, agitate 

 the vessel well ; the result will be a yellow 

 liquid consisting almost exclusively of chloro- 

 sulphide of phosphorus holding sulphur in solu- 

 tion. Distil, rejecting the small portion which 

 conies over below 125 0., which is the boiling 

 point of chlorosulphide of phosphorus. The 

 author has prepared half a litre of this body in 

 one day. An attempt to prepare chlorosulphide 

 of arsenic by a similar process failed only 

 chloride of arsenic and sulphur being produced. 

 The author has observed a singular fact con- 

 nected with the crystallization of sulphur. Tow- 

 ard the end of the operation, the yellow liquid, 

 in cooling, deposits long prismatic needles of 

 sulphur, amongst which are easily distinguished 

 octahedra of relatively considerable volume. 

 The prismatic sulphur is opaque ; the octahedra 

 are very brilliant. In 1 848 M. Pasteur observed 

 an analogous fact in the preparation of sulphide 

 of carbon. 



Bichloride of Carbon, or Chlorocarbon. Dr. 

 Simpson, in a paper read before the British 

 Chemical Society, suggests that this new anaes- 

 thetic (discovered by M. Rcgnault in 1839) 

 should have a pharmaceutical name given to 

 it, and suggests perchloroformene, or the shorter 

 term chlorocarbon, as sufficiently distinctive. 

 Among the various names already bestowed on 



this compound are per chlorinated chloride of 

 methyl, perchloruretted hydrochloric ether, and 

 perchloruretted formene. In its chemical con- 

 stitution it is analogous to chloroform, with the 

 difference that the single atom of hydrogen in 

 chloroform is replaced in chlorocarbon by an 

 atom of chlorine, for the relative chemical con- 

 stitution of the two bodies may be stated as 

 follows : chloroform = C 2 HC1 3 ; chlorocarbon 

 = CiClCl 3 , The chlorocarbon is made from 

 chloroform by the action of chlorine upon that 

 liquid; and chloroform may in turn be made 

 from chlorocarbon by treating it with zinc and 

 sulphuric acid, thus exposing it to the action 

 of nascent hydrogen. The most common way 

 of making chlorocarbon is by passing the vapor 

 of bisulphide of carbon, together with chlorine, 

 through a red-hot porcelain tube. The results 

 are, chloride of sulphur and bichloride of car- 

 bon, and the latter is easily separated by the 

 action of potash. It is a transparent, colorless 

 fluid, having an ethereal and sweetish odor, not 

 unlike chloroform. Its specific gravity is 1.56, 

 chloroform being 1.49. It boils at 170 F., and 

 chloroform at 141. The density of its vapor 

 is 5.33 ; that of chloroform 4.2. 



A New Variety of Phosphorus. M. Hittorf 

 reports to the Ann. der Physik und Chem., 

 cxxvi. 195, that he has succeeded in crystal- 

 lizing amorphous phosphorus, and that it takes 

 rhomboidal forms like arsenic. He heated red 

 phosphorus and lead in a closed vessel; the 

 lead dissolved the phosphorus, and then de- 

 posited it in a crystallized state. The operation 

 was conducted in a fusible green glass tube, a 

 quarter filled with ordinary phosphorus, and 

 the rest with lead ; the air then being expelled 

 and the tube sealed. It was then introduced 

 into an iron muff, and the spaces filled with 

 calcined magnesia pressed round the whole of 

 the glass tube. After ten hours' heating, the 

 lead was covered with brilliant flakes of metal- 

 lic-looking phosphorus, the finest appearing red 

 when held to the light. No polyhedric form 

 could bo recognized in the crystals, but the 

 lead retained some which were isolated, by 

 treating with nitric acid of 1.1. The crystal- 

 line powder accumulated at the bottom of the 

 vessel was metallic phosphorus, which was 

 then in the form of microscopic rhombohedra, 

 resembling crystals of arsenic. In this state 

 phosphorus is a conductor of electricity. At 

 15.5 C. its density is 2.34. M. Hittorf classes 

 the new modification of phosphorus in the same 

 category with the red variety, giving to the 

 two the generic name of metallic phosphorus, 

 which he subdivides into metallic crystallized 

 and metallic amorphous. 



Natural and Artificial Production of the 

 Diamond. Theories about the formation of the 

 diamond continue to be proposed. M. Char- 

 courtois, in a note to the French Academy, sug- 

 gested that the diamond was formed in conse- 

 quence of the decomposition of hydrocarbons, 

 just as free sulphur results from the decompo- 

 sition of hydrosulphuretted emanations. The 



