CHEMISTRY. (NEW SUBSTANCES.) 



115 



that accepted for yttrium, and less than that for 

 lanthanum. 



A new compound described by J. H. Aherson in 

 the " Berichte " of the German Chemical Society as 

 occurring in many species of CrassulacetB has the 

 chemical composition and molecular weight of 

 malic acid, CjIsOs, but differs from it to a very 

 marked degree in behavior when heated. Ordinary 

 in.'ilic acid under such circumstances yields water 

 and fumaric acid or maleic anhydride, whereas the 

 new isomeride is converted into a volatile double 

 anhydride or malide, C 8 H 8 8 , formed from two 

 molecules of the acid, while small quantities of 

 fumaric and maleic acids and other products are 

 also formed. The new acid is, moreover, more 

 strongly dextro-rotatory than ordinary malic acid, 

 and yields salts that differ considerably from the 

 malates. The author considers that the new com- 

 pound is geometrically isomeric with ordinary 

 dextro-malic acid, but that in it the free rotation 

 of the two carbon atoms has in some way been 

 arrested, so that the atoms and groups attached to 

 them are not in that " most favored^" position by 

 the aid of which Wislicenus has been able to for- 

 mulate the production of fumaric and maleic acids 

 from the ordinary acid. 



Compounds analogous to those formed by the 

 combination of the green sulphate of chromium 

 with sulphuric acid, but combined with chromic 

 acid and the chromates, are described by A. Re- 

 coura. The existence of these compounds can 

 easily be shown by adding a solution containing 

 one molecule of the salt to a solution containing one 

 molecule of chromic acid or chromate of potash. 

 The combination takes place immediately, and 

 that the sulphuric and chromic acids are both 

 assimilated is proved by the fact that neither 

 chloride of barium nor nitrate of silver will give a 

 precipitate. The same combination of the green 

 sulphate can be shown with two molecules of 

 chromic acid or chromate of potassium ; and the 

 chromo-sulpho-dichromate of potassium, when 

 dried at 150 C., is, like the monochromate, insoluble 

 in water. In a similar manner chromo-sulpho-tri- 

 chromic acid can be obtained ; but the combina- 

 tion stops here, for if four molecules be added a pre- 

 cipitate is obtained by nitrate of silver, when all 

 the other conditions are exactly the same as before. 



Adding a solution of carbonate of sodium in 

 boiled water to well-washed and still moist chro- 

 mous acetate, G. Baugh finds that the acetate imme- 

 diately goes into solution and a reddish-brown body 

 is precipitated. ' This is chromous sodic carbonate, 

 and it forms two hydrates one containing ten 

 molecules of water and the other only one. The 

 former, when examined under the microscope, ap- 

 pears in the form of little reddish-brown lozenges, 

 either isolated or grouped together like the leaves 

 of a book. It is very effervescent and is an ener- 

 getic reducing agent. It decomposes water below 

 100 C., with the disengagement of hydrogen, and 

 is soluble in cold water, but its solubility decreases 

 on keeping. The salt containing one molecule of 

 water is a yellow powder which changes to brown 

 when heated in a vacuum or in a current of hydro- 

 gen, and regains its yellow color on cooling. It 

 decomposes at about 300 C. into green chromium 

 sesquioxide and carbonate of sodium. Heated in 

 the air, it quickly oxidizes, forming chromate of 

 sodium. Cold boiled water gradually transforms 

 this salt into the one containing ten molecules of 

 water. 



By exhausting ordinary white bedding feathers 

 with warm ether and leaving the etherized extract 

 to cool, M. E. Drechsel has obtained a substance, 

 fusible at 52 C., easily soluble in chloroform, very 

 slightly soluble in alcohol, and soluble in ether. On 



analysis it gave figures corresponding to the formula 

 Si(OC 84 H t pO)4. This substance may therefore be 

 the orthosilicic ether of a bivalent alcohol, C 4 H 8 oOa, 

 a homologue of cholesterine. The author has tried 

 to procure a homologous ether from a solution of 

 chloride of silicon in chloroform and cholesterine ; 

 he obtained a body with analogous properties, 

 melting at 59 C. 



It has already been shown that aniline and its 

 derivatives, such as the bases of the pyridic series, 

 were able, like ammonia, to combine with the haloid 

 salts of zinc and cadmium and give well-crystallized 

 bodies, the compositions and proportions of which 

 have been described by D. Tombeck. This author 

 has now found that compounds analogous to those 

 used before give corresponding compounds with 

 nickel, cobalt, magnesium, and manganese salts 

 under conditions only slightly different. Aniline 

 again, like ammonia, combines with several oxygen- 

 ated salts. The general method for the preparation 

 of the compounds formed in this case consists in 

 pouring an excess of aniline into a solution of the 

 metallic oxygenated salt ; on agitation the crystal- 

 line precipitate is formed. 



It is observed by W. Colebrook Reynolds that 

 when the salts of certain other metals are added to 

 a concentrated solution of potassium carbonate 

 double salts are formed which are sometimes, as in 

 the case of iron, copper, nickel, and cobalt, soluble 

 in the solution, instead of the normal or basic car- 

 bonates which are formed when a dilute solution is 

 employed. These double salts and their solutions 

 are decomposed by pure water. To obtain them, 

 the chloride, nitrate, or preferably the acetate, is 

 added to a concentrated solution of potassium car- 

 bonate, and the liquid is left to crystallize. 



A number of new cyclic ketones are obtained 

 from the heavy oils distilled from Stockholm tar, 

 by A. Behal, by first treating them with alkalies for 

 removal of the acids, phenols, etc. The supernatant 

 oil, after washing with distilled water, is shaken up 

 with hydrochloric acid in proportions variable ac- 

 cording to experience, until when diluted and 

 adulterated with carbonate of soda, none remains 

 unacted upon. Treating this solution two or three 

 times with a current of steam, a slightly yellow 

 liquid, smelling of menthol, remains. The ketones 

 are separated from this liquid by means of hydro- 

 chloric acid. Pure ketones are very numerous and 

 belong for the most part to the series of benzenic 

 tetrahydrides. 



Prof. Nasini, of Padua, and Signori Anderlini 

 and Salvador! have been occupied for a consider- 

 able time with a study of the gases emanating from 

 the earth in various parts of Italy, with the object 

 of detecting the presence of argon and helium, and 

 possibly of other elements they may contain. They 

 reported to the French Academy of Sciences in 

 July that they had observed in the spectrum of the 

 vapors of the Solfatara di Pozzuoli, which contain 

 argon, a bright line with a wave length correspond- 

 ing to that of corona 1474 K, attributed to coronium, 

 an element never before observed in terrestrial 

 products, which should be lighter than hydrogen. 

 Other lines were discovered in the spectra of various 

 vapors, showing coincidences or proximity only, 

 with some unimportant lines of various elements, 

 which open further fields for investigation. 



M. and Madame Curie, having observed that cer- 

 tain uranium and thorium minerals, such as pitch- 

 blende, chalcolite, and uranite, emit the Becquerel 

 rays even more actively than the metals themselves, 

 inferred that they contain some especially active 

 unknown substance. Their chemical researches on 

 the subject, as communicated to the French Acad- 

 emy of Sciences, Dec. 26, point to the presence of 

 some body which they have been unable, indeed, to 



