CHEMISTRY. 



hydrogen in I 1 combines \sith the 



n, leaving the other element free, lie 

 i- ( eommcmls that person-; set-king to make arti- 

 ficial diamonds, should imitate the pro. 

 followed by nature, which he supposes to bo 

 lows: Submit a very Blow current of 

 marsh <~H or a hydrocarbon vapor accom- 

 panied by the vapor of water to a very mild 

 oxidi/ing action in a mass of sand containing 

 traces of piitn-scihlo matter flour, for example. 

 The author thinks it not improbable that this 

 >s is now going on in nature, and sue- 

 that porlinps diamond dust could be found, 

 if one would but search for it, in the black 

 c:irth that surrounds the gas-pipes where they 

 leak under our streets. 



Sulphide of carbon has been a favorite sub- 

 ject for experiments with persons who believe 

 it possible to make artificial diamonds. M. 

 I.ioiinet, in a note to the French Academy, 

 claims to have actually crystallized the carbon 

 out of that compound, lie takes a sheet of 

 platinum foil and a sheet of tin foil of rather 

 smaller dimensions, and rolls them together 

 loosely. The roll so made he places in a bath 

 of sulphide of carbon. A feeble electric cur- 

 rent is then set up, the sulphide of carbon is 

 decomposed, the sulphur combining with the 

 tin, and the carbon crystallizing and falling 

 to the bottom of the vessels. The Chemical 

 News adds the comment, that time is, of course, 

 required to obtain largo crystals ! 



Ammonium Amalgam. The American Jour- 

 nal of Science, vol. xlii., No. 124, contains an 

 account of experiments made by F. S. Pfeil 

 and I T cnry Leffman to determine the deport- 

 ment of the substitution of ammoniums with 

 sodium amalgam. A saturated solution of 

 chloride of trimethyl-ammonium was treated 

 with the sodium amalgam, and a series of 

 phenomena followed exactly identical with 

 those which occur in the preparation of the 

 ammonium amalgam. The swelling rapidly 

 subsided, hydrogen gas being given off, and 

 the liquid was found to contain trimethylamine. 

 Saturated solutions of the chlorohydrates of 

 aniline, conine, morphine, and quinine, and of 

 the acetate of rosaniline, when treated with 

 sodium amalgam, gave rise to copious evolution 

 of hydrogen gas without turgescence. These 

 experiments (in addition to those recorded by 

 Dr. C. Wetherell) seem to indicate that the 

 physical phenomena of the ammonium amalgam 

 depend entirely npon the retention of gM-trab- 

 bles, and also that those ammonias, which in 

 the free state are, at ordinary temperatures, 

 (it her liquid or solid, produce no amalgam. It 

 may be mentioned that a solution of chloride 

 of ammonium in pure glycerine gives rise to an 

 amalgam, but the turgescenco is much interfered 

 with by the viscosity of the solvent; and also 

 that sodium amalgam when placed upon a crys- 

 tal of chloride of ammonium produces no reac- 

 tion until moistened with a drop of water. 



Spontaneous Ignition. A correspondent of 

 the Chemical Neics attempts to explain the 



origin of fires which occur on the premise* of 

 those who make or deal in fireworks. He re- 

 marks that mixtures of the three ingredient* 

 nitrate of strontia (or baryta), sulphur, and 

 chlorate of potash, if made up at once from 

 fre-hly and strongly desiccated materials, are 

 certain to take fire spontaneously within a few 

 hours ("peeially if placed in a rather dump 

 situation. The action begins with the evolu- 

 tion of an orange-colored gas; afterward a 

 liquefaction is set up at several points in the 

 mass ; a hissing noise and a more rapid disen- 

 gagement of gas comes on, and the composi- 

 tion takes fire. The addition of a small pro- 

 portion of sulphuret of antimony at once pre- 

 vents the occurrence of these phenomena ; but, 

 if the compounds, being damp, are placed too 

 near the fire to dry them, spontaneous combus- 

 tion will ensue, even though antimony be one 

 of the ingredients. Compositions, to produce 

 a purple fiame, if made with black oxide of 

 copper, are almost sure, sooner or later, to take 

 fire of themselves, at uncertain periods, whether 

 kept in a damp or dry place. The carbonate 

 should be used in preference. 



New Aniline Colors. M. Paraf describes a 

 new method of making aniline black, as follows : 

 He prepares hydrofluosilicic acid by decom- 

 posing a mixture of fluor spar and sand with 

 sulphuric acid. In an aqueous solution of re- 

 sulting acid of the gravity 8 Be., he dissolves 

 hydrochlorate of aniline, and such a solution, 

 properly thickened and printed on a tissue, pre- 

 pared with chlorate of potash, gives a black in 

 the fixing. If the chlorate of potash is com- 

 bined with the above, the cloth needs no spe- 

 cial preparation. In fixing at 32 or 35 C., the 

 following changes take place : The hydrofluo- 

 eilicic acid decomposes the chlorate of potash 

 and forms fluosilicate of potash, setting free 

 chloric acid. A part of the chloric acid acting 

 on the hydrochloric acid of the hydrochlorate 

 of aniline, produces a mixture of free chlorine 

 and some intermediate oxygen acids of chlorine, 

 which, acting in concert with the other portion 

 of the chloric acid on the aniline of the hydro- 

 chlorate, produces the black. The black obtained 

 in this way may be associated with any sort of 

 madder color, and in the subsequent processes 

 may be treated exactly like a logwood black. 



Mr. Jacobson announces the following meth- 

 od of obtaining an orange-colored dye from ani- 

 line. Red aniline is made in the usual way by 

 the action of nitrate of mercury on aniline, and 

 the residue is purified by boiling the resinous 

 deposit and crystallizing the solution. The 

 mother liquor of the crystals contains a large 

 proportion of orange dye, which is isolated by 

 means of common salt, which precipitates tho 

 other colors and leaves the orange in solution. 

 It is afterward extracted by alcohol. It is a 

 golden orange, readily dyeing silk and wool 



The Detection of Chlorine, Bromine, and 

 Iodine, Try means of the Spectroscope. A. Mits- 

 cherlich (Pogg. Annalen, cxxv., p. 628; Am. 

 Jour, of Science, vol. xli., N>. 121) has sue- 



