100 



CHEMISTRY. 



CHILI. 



ceeded in applying the spectroscope to the de- 

 tection of extremely minute quantities of chlo- 

 rine, bromine, and iodine, and has thus mate- 

 rially extended the use of the instrument. The 

 dry solid substance to be examined is mixed 

 with half its weight of sulphate of ammonia and 

 one-tenth of its weight of oxide of copper. The 

 mixture is then brought into the bulb of a glass 

 tube, connected at one end with an apparatus 

 for generating hydrogen, while the other end, 

 near the bulb, is open. Hydrogen is then passed 

 into the tube, and kindled, after which the bulb, 

 with the substance, is heated slowly. In this 

 manner one-fourth of one per cent, of chlorine, 

 one-half of one per cent, of bromine, and one 

 per cent, of iodine may be detected. The au- 

 thor mentions additional processes for the de- 

 tection of very minute quantities of iodine and 

 bromine, and claims that the presence of one 

 ten-millionth of either can be ascertained by 

 the use of the spectroscope, but he did not suc- 

 ceed in making satisfactory quantitative deter- 

 minations. In conclusion, he states his convic- 

 tion, based upon spectroscopic investigations, 

 that iodine and nearly all the other metalloids 

 are compound bodies. 



Lime Crucibles for Great Heats. David 

 Forbes, F. E. S., communicates to the Chemi- 

 cal News his mode of preparing lime crucibles 

 to withstand great heats. . He takes a clay cru- 

 cible of somewhat larger capacity than the de- 

 sired lime one, and fills it with common lamp- 

 black, compressing the same by stamping it 

 well down. The centre is then cut out with a 

 knife until a mere shell or lining of lamp-black 

 is left firmly adhering to the sides of the cruci- 

 ble, and about half an inch or less in thickness 

 according to the size of the crucible ; this lining 

 is well rubbed down with a thick glass rod 

 until its surface takes a fine polish, and the whole 

 cavity is then filled up with powdered caustic 

 lime, and pressed down as before ; or the lime- 

 powder may be at once rammed down round 

 a central core of the dimensions of the intended 

 lime crucible. The lime lining, after heating, 

 forms a strong and compact crucible, which ia 

 prevented from acting upon the outer one by 

 the interposed thin lamp-black layer, and, at 

 the end of the experiment, generally turns out 

 as solid and compact as those made in the 

 lathe. Similar crucibles could probably be 

 made, lined with magnesia or alumina, as re- 

 quired ; and perhaps black-lead crucibles, lined 

 with powdered lime, magnesia, or alumina, 

 might be found to answer. 



Works and Papers on Chemical Subjects. 

 During the year there were published in this 

 country, A New Chemical Nomenclature, by 

 S. D. Tillman, Prof, of Technol., Am. Inst., 

 N. Y. ; Chemical Tables, by Stephen B. Sharpies, 

 S. B., Cambridge, Lever & Francis, prepared 

 under the able supervision of Prof. Wolcott 

 Gibbs. " The American Journal of Science," for 

 the year, contained many highly valuable papers, 

 among which may be named A New Process of 

 Elementary Analysis for the Determination of 



Carbon, Hydrogen, and Nitrogen at a Singh 

 Combustion, by 0. Gilbert Wheeler (Jan.) ; A 

 New Process for the Determination of Sulphur 

 in Organic Compounds, by C. M. "Warren 

 (Jan.) ; A New Process of -Organic Elementary 

 Analysis for Substances containing Chlorine, 

 by the same (Sept.) ; The Spectra and Composi- 

 tion of the Elements, by Prof. Gustavus Hin- 

 richs (Nov.) ; Contributions to the Chemistry 

 of the Mineral Springs of Onondaga, N. Y., by 

 Charles A. Goessman (Nov.) At the meeting 

 of the National Academy of Sciences in Janu- 

 ary, Prof. W. Gibbs read an interesting paper 

 on A New General Method of Volumetric 

 Analysis. 



CHILI, a republic in South America. Presi- 

 dent, for the term from 1861 to 1866, and re- 

 elected for the term from 1866 to 1871, Jos6 

 Joaquin Perez. The State Ministry is com- 

 posed as follows : Interior and Exterior, Alvaro 

 Covarrubias (1864) ; Justice, "Worship, and In- 

 struction, Fed. Errazuriz (1864); Finances, 

 Alex. Reyes (1864); War and Navy, Col. J. 

 Manuel Pinto (1865). Revenue of the State in 

 1863, 6, 700, 659 piastres; and in 1864, 6,654,912. 

 The expenditures for 1864, were estimated at 

 8,070,368 piastres, but in reality amounted to 

 10,986,358 piastres. The Interior debt in 1866, 

 amounted to 8,017,673 piastres; and the Ex- 

 terior debt to 2,152,200. . The army is com- 

 posed of the troops levied by conscription 

 (3,250 men at the close of March, 1865) ; and of 

 the national guards, the number of whom, ac- 

 cording to an official document, amounted in 

 1861 to 29,698 men, and at the close of 18G5, to 

 35,600 men. The fleet, in 1863, consisted of 

 four war vessels, armed with 27 guns, to which 

 must be added the gunboat Covadonga, having 

 three guns, captured from the Spaniards in 1865, 

 and the steamer Antonio Varaz, armed in De- 

 cember, 1865, with four 150-pounders. The 

 value of imports, in 1864, amounted to 18,867,- 

 865 piastres (from the United States, 1,698,- 

 219; Great Britain and Colonies, 8,201,638; 

 France and Colonies, 3,946,769) ; and that of the 

 exports, to 27,242,853 piastres. The number 

 of vessels entering Chilian ports, in 1864, waa 

 2,830, together of 1,011,702 tons. Anew census 

 of Chili was taken in April, 1866, according to 

 which the area of Chili is 132,609 square miles ; 

 the population (inclusive of Araucania, Patago- 

 nia, and Terra del Fucgo) is 2,084,945 ; the for- 

 eigners resident in the country numbered 23,- 

 220 ; 832 of the inhabitants are from 100 to 140 

 years of age. and 9,635 arc physically or men- 

 tally helpless. 



The Spaniards, at the beginning of the year, 

 were only keeping up the blockade of the two 

 ports of Valparaiso and Caldera, and in the 

 course of January abandoned also Caldera. Pre- 

 vious to leaving the latter port they dispatched 

 to Spain two or three of their prizes laden with 

 ore, etc., and destroyed the rest (eight vessels), 

 after stripping- them. The commander-in-chief 

 of the Spanish squadron issued a decree declar- 

 ing all Chilian coal contraband of war, evep 



