CHEMISTRY. (NEW SUBSTANCES.) 



81 



New Substances. A new sugar has been de- 

 scribed by Mr. Gabriel Bertram! as produced by 

 the action of the sorbose bacterium upon erythrile. 

 By its reaction it appears to be a ketone of the 

 composition CH 2 (OH)CO.CO 2 (OH)CH 2 OH, thus 

 being a lower homologue of levulose. Erythrolose, 

 as it is called, is not fermentable by yeast, but 

 forms a well-crystallized osazone. It resists oxida- 

 tion by bromine water, and hence is probably a 

 ketone. 



Samarium prepared by the crystallization of a 

 double magnesium nitrite, as already described by 

 M. Eugene Demargay, can. according to that au- 

 thor, be obtained in a state of comparative purity, 

 showing, after continuous fractionation, the prop- 

 erties of the first and last portions to be absolutely 

 identical, both with regard to the absorption and 

 the spark spectrum. The absorption spectrum ob- 

 tained by the author corresponds in all respects 

 with that previously published by Lecoq de Bois- 

 baudran. The line 614.4 is, however, absent in 

 this specimen of pure samarium. The author ob- 

 tained the absolute weight of his samarium by 

 the synthesis of the sulphate from samaria and 

 sulphuric acid, varying between 147.2 and 148. 

 Nitrite of samarium and magnesium, Sm(NO 3 ) 3 

 3Mg(NO 3 ) 2 24H 2 O, is a pure yellow salt, crystal- 

 lizing in large rhombohedrons and melting be- 

 tween 93.5 C. and 94.5 C. The simple nitrate, 

 Sm(NO 3 ) 3 6H 2 O, is formed in large orange-yellow 

 crystals, melting at 78-79 C., and is very hygro- 

 scopic. 



By passing dry cyanogen into a glass tube 

 heated to redness and full of iron nails T. L. Phip- 

 son obtained a gas which could be collected over 

 water. As described by the author, this gas is 

 colorless and almost odorless, extinguishes a 

 lighted match without taking fire itself, and is 

 not absorbed by potash. It does not detonate 

 when mixed with oxygen and submitted to the 

 electric spark. Its weight is materially different 

 from that of nitrogen, and more so from that 

 of cyanogen, so as to make it sure that it is 

 neither. From two determinations that were 

 made, its atomic weight was deduced as that of 

 a substance having one half the carbon contained 

 in cyanogen. The author intimates that it is per- 

 haps identical with argon, of which about 1 per 

 cent, has been found in atmospheric air. If this 

 be so, then argon is a carbide of nitrogen contain- 

 ing half the carbon found in cyanogen. 



In a paper read in the British Association on 

 some new chemical compounds discovered by the 

 use of the electrical furnace Mr. C. S. Bradley 

 announced the production of silicides of barium, 

 calcium, and strontium by heating the carbonates 

 or oxides with silica in the electric furnace in the 

 presence of carbon. These silicides have a metallic 

 appearance with a crystalline structure, oxidize in 

 tha air, evolve hydrogen when decomposed with 

 water, and yield silico-acetylene, Si 2 H 2 , with hy- 

 drochloric acid. Silico-acetylene, unlike ordinary 

 acetylene gas, is a yellow crystalline compound. 



Experiments are described by M. Eugene De- 

 marc.ay with gadolinium, which, besides small 

 quantities of terbia, contained a certain quantity 

 of 2 Z, which had not been eliminated. In the 

 course of the fractionations, a decided quantity of 

 the double nitrate of magnesium and gadolinium 

 was isolated. The spectrum of the gadolinium ex- 

 tracted from this salt, examined under the spark of 

 the induction coil, showed only slight traces of the^ 

 strong lines of 2 Z and yttrium. The stronger* 

 lines of this spectrum were only feeble, and the 

 traces of yttrium were estimated at less than 

 TTTOTTTT part of the absorption spectrum. This 

 gadolinium, at first sight, appears to be as white 

 VOL. XL. 6 A 



as magnesia, but with a little attention slight 

 yellow tinges may be seen, which are ascribed to 

 the presence of a trace of terbia. The double mag- 

 nesium nitrate melts at 75.5-78 C. The simple 

 nitrate, crystallizing with CH,O, melts at about 

 91.5-92 C. At this temperature the nitrate 

 with (JH 2 O seems to lose water and be transformed 

 into a less hydrated nitrate, which remains in 

 solution, and may lower the freezing point. This 

 gadolinium gives the band spectrum of M. Lecoq 

 de Boisbaudran. The atomic weight of gadolinium 

 has been found by the various chemists who have 

 investigated the properties of this element to be 

 about 165. From several attempts the author 

 has deduced a number approximately the same, 

 but he believes it to be slightly too high, on ac- 

 count of the defects of the method used. 



Gadolinium has been found by C. Benedicks to 

 be closely allied to the yttrium metals, and to re- 

 semble the cerium metals in a much slighter de- 

 gree. Therefore a small intermediate group is 

 formed of samarium and gadolinium. For triva- 

 lent elements, most characteristic are the platino- 

 chloride and gold chloride double salts, the potas- 

 sium double sulphate, and the basic carbonate of 

 gadolinium. Nothing can yet be definitely stated 

 with regard to the position of gadolinium in the 

 periodic system, but it will certainly, the author 

 affirms, find a place in the eighth horizontal row. 



The manufacture of artificial dyestuffs in Ger- 

 many is referred to in a recent consular report 

 from Frankfort-on-the-Main. The endeavors of 

 manufacturers and industrial chemists are di- 

 rected, generally speaking, to producing the or- 

 ganic natural products by artificial means, and 

 in a more serviceable form for dyeing; also to 

 producing new colors approaching and even sur- 

 passing the natural kinds in effectiveness and 

 brilliancy. Since the discovery that the important 

 dyestuff of madder alizarene could be produced 

 in an easy and cheap manner from the carburetted 

 hydrogen of coal tar, the use of dyestuffs obtained 

 by coal-tar distilling has gradually grown to such 

 an extent that in Germany about five times as 

 many artificial colors are made as in all other 

 countries combined. The importance of indigo is 

 evidenced by the fact that the production of vegeta- 

 ble indigo equals in value the entire world's pro- 

 duction of artificial dyestuffs. The present arti- 

 ficial indigo represents almost pure indigotin. It 

 is sold in the form of a 97-per-cent. powder, where- 

 as the indigotin contained in vegetable indigo 

 fluctuates between 70 and 80 per cent. It contains 

 no indigo red, no indigo brown, and no indigo blue. 

 The lack of indigo red and indigo blue, which 

 both seem to be of some importance in the rela- 

 tion of the dyestuff to the fiber, are its special 

 disadvantages. The indigo red seems to be of im- 

 portance in the production of darker shades of 

 color. There is no doubt that at some time not too 

 far off it will be possible to produce this ingredient 

 also. Artificial indigo is used by dyers in the same 

 way as vegetable indigo. 



A peculiar, light-brown, highly voluminous sub- 

 stance is described by Erdmann and Kothner as 

 being formed by the action of acetylene below 

 250 C. upon cuprous oxide, or even, though more 

 slowly, upon copper. At higher temperatures a 

 black carbonaceous mass is the result, and at a 

 red heat (from 400 to 500 C.) carbon is deposited 

 in a graphitic condition. The light-brown fluffy 

 material yielded cuprous chloride to hydrochloric 

 acid, a distillate from its mixture with zinc dust 

 possessing the characteristic of naphthalene, or, at 

 high temperature and under rapid heating, aro- 

 matic compounds, among which naphthalene and 

 a cresole were indicated. Erdmann and Kothner 



