CHEMISTRY. 



CHILL 



97 



elusion, after experiment, tliat neither of these 

 properties can be used as an accurate gauge. 

 The best results were obtained with instru- 

 ments made by the authors themselves, and 

 provided with arrangements for exploding the 

 vapor by means of an electric spark. The in- 

 struments of both are complicated, and require 

 considerable skill on the part of the operator. 

 Haas's apparatus is a clever modification of 

 Victor Meyer's. Mr. Peter T. Austen, who 

 also has investigated in this line, remarks that 

 Meyer's and Haas's methods are both depend- 

 ent for reliable results upon the interval of 

 time that is allowed between the shaking, and 

 objects to the necessity of repeating the shak- 

 ing from degree to degree as an unpleasant 

 feature of them. Liebermann's apparatus is 

 free from these objections. In it a current of 

 air is forced through the heated petroleum, so 

 that it is charged with petroleum-vapor, and is 

 tested from time to time with a lighted match 

 or small flame. The apparatus has the recom- 

 mendation of simplicity of construction and 

 manipulation, and gives concordant results. 

 Mr. Austen has adopted a modification of Lie- 

 bermann's apparatus and method, in which the 

 supply of air from a source of compressed air 

 is regulated and controlled by a pinchcock on 

 India-rubber tubing, so that a foam of about a 

 half a centimetre is maintained on the surface 

 of the oil, and the test is made from degree to 

 degree by applying a small blow-pipe flame or a 

 match. It is noteworthy that a slow continu- 

 ous current of air gives a considerably higher 

 flashing-point. The rapid current is effective 

 by bringing the vapor to the mouth of the 

 tube, and diluting it sufficiently to form an ex- 

 plosive mixture. In all the apparatus sug- 

 gested by Meyer's principle the determinations 

 are largely independent of the size or shape of 

 the oil-holder, the quantity of oil, the means 

 of ignition, the distance of the spark or flame 

 from the surface of the oil, and the rapidity of 

 the heating ; and in Mr. Austen's application 

 the determination of the flashing-point be- 

 comes as easy and trustworthy an operation as 

 that of determining the boiling-point, while 

 the results have a significance wholly wanting 

 to those obtained by the older methods. 



ISOLATION OF CAESIUM. The isolation of cae- 

 sium, hitherto unachieved on account of the 

 extreme affinity of the metal for oxygen, has 

 been effected by Carl Setterberg, by the elec- 

 trolysis of a fused mixture of caesium and ba- 

 rium cyanides. Thus prepared, it is a metal 

 very similar to the other alkali metals, silver- 

 white, very soft and ductile, having a melting- 

 point of 26-5 C. (82 Fahr.), and a specific grav- 

 ity of 1-88. On exposure to the air it ignites 

 spontaneously, and if thrown upon water it 

 burns like potassium, sodium, and rubidium. 

 Setterberg has proved anew that in conse- 

 quence of the affinity of the metal for oxygen 

 and the volatility of its salts, the preparation 

 of caesium by igniting its carbonate along with 

 carbon according to the ordinary method for 

 VOL. xxii. 7 A 



obtaining rubidium and potassium is quite 

 "ble. 



CHILI (REpfrBLicA DE CHILE). To the gen- 

 eral statements of area, territorial divisions, 

 population, etc., given in preceding volumes, it 

 may here be added that the population* on 

 January 1, 1880, has been reported at 2,183,- 

 434. 



The President of the Republic is Sefior Don 

 Domingo Santa-Maria, inaugurated September 

 18, 1881, for the usual term of five years. 



The Cabinet was composed, April, 1882, of 

 the following ministers: Interior, Senor Don 

 J. M. Balmaceda; Foreign Affairs and Colo- 

 nization, Sefior Don L. Aduante; Finance, 

 Sefior Don P. L. Cuadra ; Justice, Public Wor- 

 ship, and Public Instruction, Sefior Don J. E. 

 Yergara ; and War and the Navy, Sefior Don 

 C. Castellon. 



The regular army comprised, in 1881, 10 gen- 

 erals, 21 colonels, 77 lieutenant-colonels, 103 

 majors, 191 captains, and 513 lieutenants, to- 

 gether 915 officers; ten battalions (9,040 men) 

 foot, three regiments (1,296 men) horse, and 

 two regiments (2,100 men) artillery; total 

 strength of army, 12,436. The National Guard 

 counts 20,400 men enlisted. 



The navy in the same year embraced two 

 iron-clad frigates, one monitor, two corvettes, 

 two gunboats, six steamers, one sailing-frigate, 

 three pontoons, and a number of smaller steam- 

 ers the whole equipped by 1,200 sailors. 



Navy officers : one vice-admiral, four coun- 

 ter-admirals, eleven captains of ships-of-the- 

 line, ten captains of frigates, twenty -two cap- 

 tains of corvettes, forty -five lieutenants, and 

 forty-two enrolled cadets. 



FINANCES. The latest report of the Minister 

 of Finance submitted to Congress renders an 

 account of the actual workings of the Treasury 

 in 1881. According to this document, the reve- 

 nue of the republic in that year aggregated $36,- 

 434,721, toward which income the custom- 

 house contributed $22,425,045 ; internal reve- 

 nue (stamps, etc.), $6,114,138; revenue from 

 monopolies, $2,549,376; the post-office, $309,- 

 288; railroads, $4,418,980 ; and sundries, $61 7,- 

 891. This shows that the Government collect- 

 ed, in 1881, $10,492,721 more than the pre- 

 ceding year. This excess of revenue resulted 

 from an increased income from duties, war 

 contributions paid by the enemy, guano, and 

 railroads. On the other hand, less revenue 

 was derived in 1881 from the mint, nitrate, 

 and monopolies. The actual expenditure, part 

 of which went toward covering deficiencies in 

 1880, was $36,604,562. Of this amount only 

 $16,000,000 were spent to meet the require- 

 ments of the ordinary budget, the balance be- 

 ing absorbed by the war, the working of nitrate- 

 of-soda deposits, etc. 



During the first quarter of 1882 the ordinary 

 revenue yielded $17,537,131, and the extraor- 

 dinary revenue $1,291,857; it was estimated 

 by the minister that the former would prove 

 * See " Annual Cyclopaedia " for 1879. 



