710 



SULPHUR. 



SUN, ECLIPSE OF. 



making his home in Buchanan County, in that 

 State, in 1838. He had, in his changes of resi- 

 dence, managed to pick up a good education, 

 but did not, we believe, enter either of the 

 learned professions. His abilities secured his 

 election to the State Senate in due season, and 

 he remained a member of that body, by re- 

 peated reflections, for ten years. In 1845 he 

 was a member of the State Constitutional Con- 

 vention. In 1857 he was elected Governor 

 of the State, after an unusually spirited canvass, 

 by a large majority, and served his four years 

 with great credit to himself and benefit to the 

 State. He inaugurated the system of internal 

 improvements by railroads which is now rap- 

 idly building up Missouri. In 1861 he warmly 

 espoused the Union cause and entered the 

 army, but his failing health prevented him from 

 remaining in the field, and he was compelled 

 to retire from the service. 



SULPHUK, ABSOKPTIOJT OF, BY GOLD. Mr. 

 "William Skey, analyist to the Geological Sur- 

 vey of New Zealand, while investigating the 

 causes of the reported loss of gold during the 

 process of extraction at the Thames gold- 

 fields, observed that much of this loss could 

 scarcely be referred to any of those causes 

 generally supposed operative for it. He there- 

 fore tested the actual condition of the natural 

 surfaces of numerous specimens of Thames 

 gold, in respect to their behavior with mer- 

 cury, and examined, further than has hitherto 

 been done, into its comportment with several 

 of those substances likely to be associated 

 with it in a natural way. The results of these 

 examinations are minutely recorded in his 

 paper, and the following short abstract of 

 them is made by the London Chemical News. 

 The author finds 



1. That numerous samples of bright, clean-looking 

 gold, of all degrees of fineness, refuse to amalgamate 

 on any part of their natural surfaces, though taken 

 directly from the reef and untouched by hand. 



2. That on such surfaces sulphur is always pres- 

 ent. 



3. That native gold, or gold in a pure state, readily 

 absorbs sulphur from moist sulphuretted hydrogen 

 or sulphide of ammonium, and absorbs it directly 

 when administered in boiling water. 



4. That surfaces so treated refuse to amalgamate, 

 though no apparent change can be observed in their 

 aspect. 



5. That gold so affected is rendered amalgamable 

 by roasting in an open fire, unless copper is present 

 to the extent of seven per cent, (or perhaps less), 

 while the same eifect is produced by the contact of 

 cyanide of potassium, chromic and nitric acid, and 

 chloride of lime acidified. < 



6. That this absorption is altogether of a chemical 

 nature. 



7. That sulphates of iron, in presence of air and 

 water, decomposed various metallic sulphides com- 

 mon to auriferous reefs, in such a manner as to 

 liberate sulphuretted hydrogen. 



The action of sulphuretted hydrogen upon 

 gold, in rendering it non-amalgamable when 

 placed in contact with mercury, was demon- 

 strated with striking effect by the author. 



From these results he has been led to sup- 

 pose that a large area of the natural surfaces 



of native gold is covered with a thin film of 

 an auriferous sulphide, and that the greater 

 part of the gold which escapes amalgama- 

 tion at the battery is represented by that 

 portion of this sulphurized gold which has 

 remained unabraded during the processes of 

 milling or extraction from the reef; the state 

 of the gold, rather than that of the mercury, 

 therefore, being the greatest impediment to 

 thorough amalgamation. 



In addition to these results, the author com- 

 municated others relative to the effect of so- 

 lutions of sulphuretted hydrogen and sulphide 

 of ammonium upon platinum. In rendering 

 it non-amalgamable, he believed a sulphide of 

 the metal had formed in each case, since 

 chromic acid rendered it again amalgamable. 

 He also stated that this metal is also affected 

 by ammonia or the fixed alkalies that it will 

 not amalgamate, except in presence of a min- 

 eral acid, from which he suspects platina is 

 capable of superficial oxidizement when in 

 contact with alkaline substances, even at com- 

 mon temperatures. The author found that 

 his samples of gold were not affected by the 

 alkalies in this manner, except in the case of 

 one from Victoria, a singularity from which 

 was argued the presence of palladium in this 

 particular sample. 



SUN, ECLIPSE OF. A total eclipse of the 

 sun occurred December 12, 1871. The phe- 

 nomenon was visible chiefly in Southern India, 

 the central line of totality passing near Poo- 

 dpocottah,Ootacamund,Trichinopoly, and other 

 villages convenient for purposes of observation. 

 The term of total obscuration was about two 

 minutes and a half. The eclipse was observed 

 successfully, by strongly-organized parties sta- 

 tioned at different points, and representing the 

 British Association, and the German, French, 

 and Indian Governments. Only partial ac- 

 counts, and those from the chiefs of parties, 

 or single observers of celebrity, have come to 

 hand ; but they leave no doubt of the remark- 

 ably valuable results obtained. Nature prints 

 a brief report from Prof. J. Norman Lockyer, 

 whose quarters were at Ootacamund, and who 

 had a cloudless sky and a perfect view. His 

 principal work was limited to spectroscopic 

 observations, and especially of streamers. At 

 the moment of totality, he tried the spectrum 

 of a streamer above the point at which the 

 sun had disappeared, and found it to consis 

 undoubtedly of glowing gas. He says : 



I then returned to the finder of my telescope, a 

 3* inch, and studied the structure of the corona and 

 prominences. One of the five prominences was ad- 

 mirably placed in the middle of the field, and I in- 

 spected it well. I was not only charmed with what 

 I saw, but delighted to find that the open-slit method 

 is quite competent to show us prominences well with- 

 out any eclipse. I felt as if I knew the thing before 

 me well, had hundreds of times seen its exact equiva- 

 lent as well in London, and went on to the structure 

 of the corona. Scarcely had I done so, however, 

 when the signal was given at which it had been ar- 

 ranged that I was to do this in the 6-inch Greenwich 

 refractor. In this instrument, to which 1 rushed, 



