140 



CHEMISTRY. 



heat, and in the course of two hours forms the 

 hydrate containing five molecules of water if 

 the temperature is below 16, and three mole- 

 cules if above 16. It even attracts moisture 

 from the air. Mixed with water to a magma, 

 it solidifies so that the vessel may be inverted 

 without its falling. It is much more soluble in 

 water than the liydrated carbonates, the solu- 

 tion after a while depositing the hydrate in 

 crystals, and the alkalinity of the liquid dimin- 

 ishing. The hydrates which it forms, how- 

 ever, lose easily their carbon dioxide under the 

 influence of water and heat, like the ordinary 

 hydrates. 



Herr F. Redtenhacher, of Austria, has in- 

 vented a new explosive, which is called " mi- 

 line." It is a brownish-black powder, insensi- 

 ble to percussion and friction, and ignitable 

 only by a spark at from 335 to 340 0. It is 

 said to contain the elements of ordinary pow- 

 der, in proportions which have been deter- 

 mined after about twenty years of research. 

 It can be employed as powder is, and made to 

 produce effects comparable with those of dy- 

 namite. 



A. Kossel has found a new base in the pan- 

 creatic gland, which he obtained by the same 

 process he had used previously for the prepara- 

 tion of guanin and hypoxanthin. The larger 

 part of the base is precipitated by ammonia 

 along with guanin, and is separated from the 

 latter by means of its chloride. It forms crys- 

 tals two centimetres long. 



Joly has obtained a boride of aluminium, 

 BoAl, in the hexagonal golden plates known 

 as boron diamonds, by reducing boracic acid 

 with aluminium in graphite crucibles. He has 

 also obtained Bo 8 AI in large black lamellar 

 crystals; yellow quadratic crystals with brill- 

 iant luster, inclosing carbon and aluminium ; 

 and one or more compounds of boron and car- 

 bon, which have not yet been investigated. 



Signor Rio do la Loza has described a new 

 alkaloid, erythro-ceralloides, recently discov- 

 ered in the seeds of Erythrina corattoides, which 

 is remarkable as being the only poisonous prin- 

 ciple so far obtained from a leguminous plant. 



Clemens Winkler has discovered in the min- 

 eral or silver ore argyrodite (which was found 

 by Weisbach in one of the Freiberg mines in 

 1880) a new metal, analogous to antimony, to 

 which the name of germanium has been given. 

 For its extraction, argyrodite is smelted with 

 soda-ash and flowers of sulphur, whereby the 

 sulphide is obtained ; this is converted into the 

 oxide by heating with strong nitric acid or 

 driving off sulphuric acid, and the oxide is re- 

 duced by heating with hydrogen. As thus 

 obtained, germanium is a dark-gray powder, 

 which melts to a fluid regulus under borax 

 glass, at about 900 C. It has a great tendency 

 to regular crystallization, is very brittle, easily 

 pulverized, has a distinct conchoidal fracture, 

 and exhibits a fine metallic luster. Its specific 

 gravity is 5 '469. It is not soluble in hydro- 

 chloric acid, but readily in aqua regia. With 



nitrates and chlorates it yields a deflagrating 

 mixture. The atomic weights obtained for it 

 by totally different processes are 72-32 and 

 72-28. The compounds of germanium certain- 

 ly known are two oxides, two sulphides, two 

 chlorides, and one iodide. Many germanium 

 compounds are distinguished by their solubili- 

 ty and some by their volatility. 



New Processes. F. Lux has founded upon the 

 results of experiments in saponification and 

 gelatinization a method for the qualitative de- 

 tection of fatty oils in mineral oils. For the 

 detection of large quantities of fatty oil, 10 per 

 cent, and upward, he heats a portion of the 

 sample with a fragment of caustic soda to a 

 boil, keeping it at that temperature for one or 

 two minutes. If large quantities of fatty oil 

 are present, they are recognized by the pecul- 

 iar odor, and certainly by the coagulation of 

 the liquid which ensues on slight cooling. For 

 the detection of smaller quantities of fatty oils, 

 down to 2 per cent., we take two beakers of 

 moderate size, one of which can he inserted 

 into the other so as to leave a slight interval 

 between their bottoms. In the larger one is 

 put so much melted paraffin that, when the 

 narrower glass is inserted, the paraffin rises a 

 little more than half height in the narrow an- 

 nular space between the two. Into the inner 

 glass is then poured so much paraffin that the 

 two bodies of liquid rise approximately to the 

 same height. In this medium a paraffin bath is 

 obtained, in which, an overheating of the liquids 

 contained in the test-tubes, such as might oc- 

 cur in a single beaker, is rendered impossible, 

 while a perfect observation of the behavior of 

 the oil is made practicable. The thermometer 

 should be kept at from about 200 to 210. Two 

 test-tubes each receive a small quantity of the 

 oil in question. To one are added a few parings 

 of sodium, and to the other a rod of caustic soda, 

 which must be about a centimetre beneath the 

 surface of the oil. The two test-tubes are then 

 subjected to the action of the bath, and exam- 

 ined after having been cooled. If the mineral 

 oil in question contains even as little as 2 per 

 cent, of fatty oil, it will congeal on cooling in 

 one or both tubes, to a more or less cohesive 

 jelly. 



H. B. Cornwall has given an account of his 

 experiments with three of the commoner meth- 

 ods for examining butter-fats by the quantita- 

 tive determination of the fatty acids obtainable 

 by decomposition of the fat, or by allied opera- 

 tions Hehner's, Reichert's, and Koettstorfer's. 

 Hehner's process, which is described in the 

 "Zeitschrift fur Analytische Chemie," 1877, 

 p. 145, pure and simple, was held incapable 

 of distinguishing cocoanut-oil in mixtures, if 

 not alone, from true butter-fat. Koettstorfer's 

 method, "Fresenius's Zeitschrift," 1879, p. 199, 

 which depends on the larger amount of alkali 

 required to saponify butter-fat in comparison 

 with a very large number of other animal and 

 vegetable fats, has been shown by Moore to be 

 unreliable when applied to mixtures containing 



