CHEMISTRY. 



97 



proposes to detect and estimate the presence 

 of ammonia and other organic impurities in 

 the atmosphere with greater ease and preci- 

 sion than it can be done by any other method. 

 A glass funnel eight or nine inches long is 

 closed at the pointed end, supported on an or- 

 dinary stand, and filled with ice. Condensa- 

 tion of the watery vapor of the atmosphere 

 takes place ; the dew collects into drops, which 

 trickle down the outside of the funnel, and at 

 last fall from the point, under which a small 

 receiver is placed to catch them. The total 

 quantity of liquid collected in a given time is 

 measured, and the ammonia determined by 

 Nessler's test. By the method of distillation 

 by cold, the author found it possible to distil 

 many substances which are decomposed at a 

 high temperature. Thus many delicate odors 

 of flowers were distilled by placing the flow- 

 ers under a bell-glass sufficiently large to cover 

 the funnel containing the ice. The odors were 

 found to be more rapidly and completely ab- 

 stracted by placing a dish with a little ether 

 under the bell-glass at the time of distillation. 

 He gives the results obtained in 107 experi- 

 ments, together with the atmospheric condi- 

 tions prevailing at. the time. The experiments 

 were made in a garden, in a bedroom, in hos- 

 pital-wards, in the open country, etc. A few 

 of the numbers obtained are here given by 

 way of example : 



Improved Carbonate of Potash. In France 

 carbonate of potash is made from the residues 

 of molasses after fermentation, but the prod- 

 uct has been found to be injured by the pres- 

 ence of the cyanide of potassium. In trying to 

 destroy this, the manufacturers formed a car- 

 bon of the nature of graphite, which blackened 

 the carbonate to a gray shade, rendering it 

 unmarketable. By using a new arrangement 

 of furnaces this difficulty is now overcome. 

 The furnaces are calcining furnaces, and are 

 constructed rather differently from our carbon- 

 ating furnaces. The working-door is exactly 

 opposite the fire-hole, and the fire escapes 

 through a flue at the top, just above the work- 

 ing door inside. After a certain time the salt 

 gets to that point that it will be impossible to 

 destroy the cyanides, so as to burn out the car- 

 bon completely, without fluxing the salt at the 

 same time, because the carbon would be there 

 as graphite, and it is quite impossible to burn 

 it out at a temperature at which the carbonate 

 of potash does not fuse. When it has arrived 

 at that stage the furnace-man fills his furnace 

 with a thick smoke. He then suddenly opens 

 the working-door, which is right opposite the 

 fire, and thus burns the smoke throughout the 



VOL. XII. 7 A 



furnace ; and it appears as if by a kind of in- 

 fection, perhaps by the local heat produced 

 right through the salt itself, the cyanide is 

 completely destroyed, and also the graphite 

 burnt off. The product coming from this pro- 

 cess is a most beautiful white carbonate of pot- 

 ash of great strength. 



Nitrification. M. Houzeau has been analyz- 

 ing the soil about Tantah, a town situated in 

 the delta of the Nile, where a process of nitri- 

 fication has for a long time been going on. The 

 deep soil of the mounds there is dug up for 

 manure, and the surface-soil is also rich in the 

 same property. Both soils are of deep guano- 

 yellow color, inodorous, tasteless, and neutral 

 to test-paper, contain ammoniacal salts and 

 nitrates, and yield a red ash free from car- 

 bonates. The surface-soil contains a good deal 

 of straw, and some green organic matter, soluble 

 in alcohcrl, while the deep or ancient soil con- 

 tains only a little straw, and a very little green- 

 ish-yellow organic matter ; the recent soil has 

 13.276 per cent, of moisture, and the older, 

 10.719 per cent. Both soils were dried at 110 

 0. per analysis : 



From this table it is seen that in the ancient soil 

 half the organic matter has disappeared, and that the 

 quantity pi the nitrogen has not changed, but that 

 the quantity of the nitrate of ammonia has increased 

 tenfold at the expense of the organic matter. 



This investigation exhibits the process of nitrifi- 

 cation in the absence of alkaline bases. Had these 

 been present, as the editors of the "Annales de 

 Chimie et de Physique" point out, the ammonia 

 would, no doubt, have been also converted into ni- 

 trates. 



Iron in the Blood. Experiments, made by 

 Dr. Boussingault, upon the constituents of 

 blood, have led to the following determina- 

 tions, thought to be more exact than any pre- 

 viously obtained, with regard to the propor- 

 tions of iron : 100 parts of fibrine contain 2.151 

 of mineral matter, and 0.0466 metallic iron. 

 100 parts of the blood-globules contain 1.325 

 mineral matter, and 0.350 iron. 100 parts of 

 albumen contain 8.715 mineral matter, and 

 0.0863 iron. 100 parts of human blood con- 

 tain 0.3 fibrine, 7.0 albumen, 12.7 globules, 1.0 

 mineral matter, and 79.0 water. 100 parts of 

 cows' blood contain 0.4 fibrine, 7.4 albumen, 

 10.5 globules, 1.0 mineral matter, 80.7 water. 

 The large quantity of iron met with in the 

 blood-globules is due to the hematosine, 

 which, when separated from defibrinated 

 blood, is of a deep-brown color, insoluble in 



