86 



CHEMISTRY. 



plete puzzle, and I am half inclined to believe ^^^^^tdi^ll 

 that it may turn ^tojbejne to miejm ; obtamed m a^ ^ P jy a ^ 



of bicarbonate of soda, and extracting the pre- 

 cipitate with ether or chloroform, in both of 

 which the new base is readily soluble, while 

 morphia is almost insoluble in both menstrua. 

 After being exposed to the air, it turns green, 

 and when dissolved in water gives it a fine 

 emerald color, in alcohol a green tint, in ether a 

 magnificent rose-purple, and in chloroform a 

 fine violet color. Its physiological effects are 

 different from those of morphia. A small dose 

 produces speedy vomiting and considerable de- 

 pression ; but this soon passes off, leaving no 

 after ill effects. One-tenth of a grain subcuta- 

 neously injected, or a quarter of a grain taken 

 in the mouth, produces vomiting in from four 

 to ten minutes. 



Aprif 30th~ Mr " Sorby gives the following ad- Artificial Production of Alizarin. Syn- 

 dk'onal information: ''In my last note I told thetic chemistry, or the chemistry winch arti- 

 vou that I had found in zircons what appeared ficially produces substances formed by natural 

 to be another elementary substance. I have, processes in plants and animals, has achieved 

 since then made many experiments, and find another triumph during the year, m the man- 

 that the facts are really far more interesting ufacture of alizarin (the principal coloring 

 than if they were the effect of a new element, matter in madder-root). Messrs. Gnebe and 



Liebermann are the discoverers of the process, 

 the details of which are not yet published. 

 They obtain alizarin from anthracene ; the lat- 

 ter being a body found in the heavy semi-fluid 



known element. Unfortunately, the amount 

 of material at disposal is far too small to admit 

 of analysis, and, curiously enough, it does not 

 <nve any bands when melted with borax, but 

 only a colorless bead. I may say that the min- 

 eral which gives this wonderful spectrum is 

 nearly colorless, and becomes almost absolutely 

 so when red-heated, and remains colorless, but 

 trives the same wonderful bands, when cold. 

 I have since examined a number of jargons and 

 other zircons. There does not seem to be a 

 trace of the new substance in any except those 

 from Ceylon, and most of these only contain a 

 small quantity, in comparison with the very 

 remarkable specimen which must contain so 



In a note to the London Chemical News, of 



Judging from analogy with all other known 

 substances, no other conclusion could have been 

 formed; but I now find that jargonia exists in 

 two distinct conditions, which have different 

 specific gravities and optical properties. The 

 Darned borax-beads give two entirely different 

 spectra, according to the temperature to which 

 the enclosed crystals have been exposed ; and 

 there is an analogous difference in the silicates. 

 On taking a pale-green jargon, which, naturally, 

 showed a mere faint trace of the absorp- 

 tion bands, and keeping it at a bright-red heat 

 for some time, the specific gravity gradually 

 increased from 4.20 to 4.52, and the spectrum 

 then showed all the narrow black absorption 

 bands in as great perfection as my best speci- 

 men. This fact is, of course, very interesting ; 

 since we can now artificially alter jargons so as 

 to show the bands in the same splendid man- 

 ner as a few do naturally, and shall thus be 

 able to obtain them without much difficulty, to 

 use as a most excellent natural standard scale, 

 to measure the position of the absorption bands 

 in other spectra." 



It is an interesting fact that, at a meeting 

 of the New York Lyceum of Natural History, 

 prior to the report of the discovery of jargo- 

 nium by Mr. Sorby in England, Prof. Locer 

 announced his own discovery of the same 

 supposed element. There is no doubt that the 

 two discoveries were made independently of 

 each other a coincidence which not unfre- 

 quently happens in the world of science. 



Apomorphia. Dr. Matthiessen has succeeded 

 in preparing a new base, to which he gives this 

 name. He seals up morphia in a tube with a 

 large excess of hydrochloric acid, and heats 

 it to 140 or 150 C. for two or three hours. 

 The residue in the tube contains the hydro- 

 chlorate of a new base, differing considerably 



portions of coal-tar. Anthracene, as separated 

 in an impure state, is a yellow, soft, butter-like 

 substance, but when purified is obtained in color- 

 less plates with a silky lustre, very like naphtha- 

 line in appearance. Its relation to natural ali- 

 zarin is represented in the following formulas : 



Anthracene. Alizarin. 



But the formula of the artificial alizarin is 

 said to be CuH 8 04, which represents the ab- 

 straction of two equivalents of hydrogen and 

 the addition of four equivalents of oxygen to 

 the anthracene. The discovery is chiefly in- 

 teresting when regarded from a scientific point 

 of view, as it is reported that alizarin can be 

 obtained directly from madder at a far less cost 

 than it can possibly be made from anthracene. 

 Artificial Production of Ice. The Scientific 

 American has published an article, by P. H. 

 Vander Wyde, M. D., in which is calculated 

 the amount of ice that can be produced from 

 the given quantity of coal in the modern ice- 

 machine. The author remarks that it has 

 been proved that the combustion of one pound 

 of anthracite coal produces, in round numbers, 

 14,000 units of heat, and that, in order to 

 freeze water of 72 F M it is necessary to. abstract, 

 besides 40 of sensible heat, 140 of latent 

 heat together 180 which, for one pound of 

 water, is equivalent, of course, to 180 units of 

 heat. This number being (about) the eightieth 

 part of the 14,000 units produced by the com- 

 bustion of one pound of coal, it is clear that 

 the heat produced by the combustion of one 

 ton of coal is equivalent to the heat abstracted 



