470 



MAGNESIUM. 



themselves to respect the principle of the neutrality 

 stipulated by the present article. That principle is 

 and remains under the sanction of the collective 

 guarantee of the powers signing the present treaty, 

 except Belgium, herself a neutral state. 



ART. 3. The Grand-duchy of Luxemburg being 

 rendered neutral by the terms of the preceding arti- 

 cle, the maintenance or establishment of fortresses 

 on its territory becomes without necessity as without 

 object. In consequence, it is agreed by common ac- 

 cord that the town of Luxemburg, hitherto considered 

 in a military point of view as a Federal fortress, shall 

 cease to be a fortified place. The King-Grand-duke 

 reserves to himself the right of keeping in the town 

 the number of troops necessary to watch over it and 

 maintain good order. 



AKT. 4. In conformity with the stipulations con- 

 tained in Articles 2 and 3, the King of Prussia de- 

 clares that his troops at present in garrison in the 

 fortress of Luxemburg shall receive orders to evacu- 

 ate that place immediately after the exchange of the 

 ratification of the present treaty. The stores, artil- 

 lery, and all the objects which form part of the dota- 

 tion of that fortress, shall first be simultaneously re- 

 moved. During that operation there shall only remain 

 there the number of troops necessary for guarding 

 the war material, and dispatching it with as little 

 delay as possible. 



ART. 5. The King-Grand-duke, in virtue of the 

 sovereign rights which he exercises over the town and 

 fortress of Luxemburg, engages, on his side, to adopt 

 the necessary measures for converting the said for- 

 tress into an open town, by means of such demolition 

 as his Majesty shall consider sufficient for fulfilling 

 the intentions of the high contracting parties, ex- 

 pressed in Article 3 of the present treaty. The meas- 

 ures required for that purpose shall be commenced 

 immediately after the withdrawal of the ganison, and 

 shall be effected with all the consideration due to 



the interests of the inhabitants of the town. His 

 Majesty, besides, promises that the fortifications of 

 Luxemburg shall not be restored at any future time, 

 and that no military establishment shall be main- 

 tained or created there. 



ART. 6. The powers signing the present treaty de- 

 clare that the dissolution of the Germanic Confedera- 

 tion having also led to a rupture of the bonds which 

 united the duchy of Limburg collectively with the 

 grand-duchy of Luxemburg to the said Confedera- 

 tion, the relations mentioned in Articles 3, 4, and 5 

 of the treaty of the 19th April, 1839, between the 

 grand-duchy and certain portions of territory belong- 

 ing to the duchy of Limburg, have ceased to exist, 

 those portions ot territory continuing to form an in- 

 tegral part of the kingdom of Holland. 



Declaration. It is understood that Article 3 does 

 not restrict the rights of the other neutral powers to 

 maintain and improve, if necessary, their fortresses 

 and other means of defence. 



The treaty was at once ratified by all the 

 powers represented in the conference, and 

 from this time Luxemburg ceased to occupy a 

 noteworthy position in European politics. The 

 fortress was evacuated by the Prussians in the 

 course of May and June, and the works razed 

 in the course of the year. As some doubt 

 arose on the meaning of the guarantee of the 

 neutrality of Luxemburg by the great powers, 

 mentioned in the second article of the Treaty of 

 London, it was officially declared by England 

 and Eussia that they understood it to be only 

 a joint guarantee, and not involving an obliga- 

 tion for any of the states to enforce such a 

 guarantee individually. 



M 



MAGNESIUM. Experiments have been 

 made in England with a battery composed of 

 magnesium and copper, arranged as a Dan- 

 iell's battery. It is composed of a plate 

 of magnesium about two inches by four 

 inches, well coated with varnish, except the 

 bottom of it in the outer cell, and a plate 

 of copper inside the porous cell (this, of 

 course, with a solution of sulphate of copper), 

 and in the outer cell a solution of sulphate of 

 magnesia, one part of the saturated solution of 

 the salt to thirty-two parts of water. To work 

 in comparison with this, was arranged in the 

 same way an ordinary zinc Daniell's battery, 

 zinc four inches by two inches, with copper 

 negative and porous cell as before. The mag- 

 nesium battery was continued in action for 

 sixty consecutive hours, and maintained a de- 

 flection in the galvanometer ranging from 

 forty degrees to twenty-eight degrees. The 

 zinc was then put in action : the greatest de- 

 flection given by it was about thirty degrees, 

 and in twenty-four hours the zinc plate was 

 corroded into holes, and had lost full half of 

 its original weight. "Whilst with the other bat- 

 tery the magnesium plate had lost, in sixty 

 hours, only forty-three grains, the loss of the 

 zinc was about two ounces that is, more than 

 forty times as much zinc as magnesium was con- 



sumed. But, owing to the great cost of the 

 latter metal, it is still a question whether its 

 use is more economical than zinc. Other ex- 

 perimenters with the magnesium battery pre- 

 fer a solution of sal-ammoniac, others sulphate 

 magnesia. Common water, with a few drops 

 of sulphuric acid in it, or water slightly acid- 

 ulated with vinegar, is good and exciting 

 fluids for magnesium. The best negative is be- 

 lieved to be platinized silver or graphite. Up 

 to this date the high price and limited commer- 

 cial supply of magnesium has prevented its in- 

 troduction in batteries. 



It having been suggested that if an alloy of 

 magnesium and thallium could be easily made 

 into 'wire, it might be found to burn readily, 

 and produce an intense green flame, which 

 would be well adapted to purposes where a 

 green flame was required, Mr. Meller, manager 

 of the Magnesium Metal Company (England) 

 made some experiments on that point, the re- 

 sult of which he communicated to the Chemical 

 News (Vol. XL, No. 186). He says that thal- 

 lium alloys most readily with magnesium, and 

 in any proportion. The alloys are very stable, 

 and are easily worked up into wire and ribbon. 

 Alloys containing five, ten, fifteen, twenty, 

 twenty-five, and fifty per cent, of thallium, 

 were prepared. These all burn brightly and 



