86 



CHEMISTRY. 



Mott, chemist of the United States Indian De- 

 partment, had occasion to analyze a number 

 of baking-powders, and found that many of 

 them contained alum and other injurious sub- 

 stances. The best baking-powders are, accord- 

 ing to Dr. Mott, composed of bitartrate of pot- 

 ash, tartaric acid, carbonate of ammonia, and 

 soda bicarbonate, bound together by a little 

 starch. Inferior baking-powders consist of 

 alum and bicarbonate of soda, and often con- 

 tain terra alba, insoluble phosphate of lime, etc. 

 The physiological effect of alum taken inter- 

 nally is to produce dyspepsia, constipation, 

 griping, and a host of other disorders of the ali- 

 mentary tract ; and though a person need not 

 apprehend that such grave evils will at once 

 ensue after eating bread " raised " by such 

 powders, there is no doubt that the protracted 

 use of such bread would produce the morbid 

 conditions enumerated. In the tables which 

 follow, Dr. Mott states the results of his own 

 quantitative analysis of different baking-pow- 

 ders : 



as follows: 1,000 grains of bread are burnt 

 down to a small bulk, powdered with about 

 100 grain measures of hydric chloride, and 

 warmed for a few minutes ; about two ounces 

 of water are then added, boiled for five min- 

 utes, filtered, etc. A solution containing about 

 250 grains of pure sodic hydrate is made in a 

 very little water ; and to this solution, when 

 boiling, is very cautiously added the boiling 

 acid solution of the charred bread, the whole 

 boiled for a few minutes, filtered and washed. 

 The filtrate, after the addition of a few drops 

 of a concentrated solution of disodic phosphate, 

 is slightly acidified with hydric chloride, and 

 subsequently rendered just alkaline with am- 

 monic hydrate and boiled. The precipitate is 

 collected, washed, and weighed as aluminic 

 phosphate. 



New Elements. Although research appears 

 to be tending toward a confirmation of the view 

 that the elements are really compound, and 

 that on further analysis they will be found to 

 have striking points of resemblance if not ac- 



Jffb. l.-A Baking-Powder made in New York. * ual id , e ti ft several so-called new ones have 

 y been added to the list during the year. 



BKUiateof-soda:::::::::::::::: &'*" Phiuppium was/ound as an oxide by Mr. 



Sesquicarbonate of ammonia 2 -si " Marc Delafontaine in a specimen of samarskite 



(an uranoniobate of yttrium and iron) from 

 North Carolina. The earth of this metal (phi- 

 lippia) is yellow like terbia, but its equivalent 



No. 2. A Baking-Powder manufactured in Balti- is lower. In communicating to the Paris Acad- 

 more Md. ' emv * Sciences an account of his discovery, 



Burnt alum ! '..... 20-03 per cent. Mr. Delafontaine takes its approximate equiva- 



Bicarbonateofsoda 22-so i ent to be comprised between 90 and 95 : 



Cream of tartar None 



Starch 57'17 " Philippic formiate crystallizes with great facility, 



either on cooling or by spontaneous evaporation, in 

 small, brilliant, rhomboidal prisms, less soluble 



, T ( , . Oj than the formiate of yttria. The terbic formiate is 



No. Z.A Baking-Powder manufactured in St. anhydrous and soluble in from 30 to 35 parts of wa- 



Louis, Mo. ter. The sodio-terbic sulphate dissolves with diffi- 



Burnt alum 30-06 per cent. cu lty in a saturated solution of sodic sulphate, while 



Bicarbonate of soda 31-82 the corresponding salt dissolves in it easily. . . . 



Starch 38 2 " In the spectroscope the concentrated solution of 



' ". philippium gives in the indigo-blue a magnificent ab- 



100-00 sorption band, very intense and rather broad, with 



well- defined edges. This band, which strikes one 



No. 4. A Baking-Powder manufactured in Mil- at a first glance, is not seen in solutions of terbium, 

 waukee, Wis. ' yttrium, and erbium. It is, then, characteristic of 



Burnt alum .. 22-53 per cent. philippium, and thus M. Soret's conjecture that it 



Bicarbonate of soda .' 20-79 4% belongs to a new simple body is confirmed. In the 



Cream of tartar None green are seen two rather fine rays varying in inten- 



StarcQ 56- 68 sity, the most refrangible of which belongs to erbium, 



as well as a faint ray in the blue near to the boun- 

 dary of the green. The least refrangible of the green 



****** A*m inBreat.-^ old Nor- $*3Vft C'TSse', SB|S."S 



mandy or soda process for the estimation of contrary, show it to be nearly as powerful as the er- 



alum in bread has long been out of use, on ac- Mum ray. Lastly, in the red there is at least one 



count of the great difficulty experienced in ^ ne ra J which has not been identified, 

 redissplving the aluminic hydrate or phosphate The same chemist reports the discovery of a 



after its precipitation, which often led to inac- second new element in the same mineral (sa- 



curate results. Other processes have been sub- marskite), to which he has given the name of 



stituted, many of which are very complicated decipium. The oxide of decipium (assuming its 



and unsatisfactory ; and they are now likely formula to be DpO) has a molecular weight of 



to be displaced by a modification of the Nor- 122. The nitrate gives an absorption spectrum 



mandy method, which simplifies the procedure consisting of at least three bands, in the blue 



and leaves little to be desired in point of accu- and the indigo. The most refrangible of them 



racy. This consists in adding the boiling acid is a little less broad than that of philippium, 



solution of the charred bread to a boiling solu- is dark, and corresponds in its center to a 



tion of sodic hydrate, containing a large excess, wave-length near 4,160. This distinguishes 



