28o 



NATURE 



IJuly 17, 1879 



3rd. Sublimed sulphur, more or less mixed with volatile com- 

 pounds of lead, zinc, and arsenic. 



4th. Sulphurous gases, consisting mainly of sulphurous acid 

 and nitrogen. 



The regulus closely resembles, and will replace, the coarse 

 metal of the Swansea copper process, which is now only ob- 

 tained at considerable cost of labour, time, and carbonaceous 

 fuel. When, however, sulphides of iron and copper present in 

 ■the bath are treated continuously by a blast of air, a point is 

 at length arrived at when the whole of the iron is oxidised, and 

 the regulus in the bath consists of sub-sulphide of copper. If, 

 now, a limited supply of air is introduced, the copper is re- 

 duced to the metallic state with the evolution of sulphurous 

 acid. 



The slag obtained in the Penistone experiments was essen- 

 tially silicate of iron, containing about 50 per cent, of iron and 

 29 per cent, of silica. It had a density of about; 3 8 to 4, and 

 was in composition somewhat allied to the copper-smelter's ore 

 furnace slag and to the tap-cinder of the iron-puddler. By the 

 addition of calcareous materials, the specific gravity of the slag 

 is so reduced as to cause it to separate readily from the regulus 

 which collects below it. In one of the later experiments, when 

 lime was used, the proportion of copper lost in the slag was very 

 small. This is, of course, a most important point, for when 

 ■dealing with ores containing but little copper, the presence of 

 even a small percentage in the slag means the loss of a consider- 

 able proportion of the copper present. These slags can be 

 utilised for the manufacture of steel, being practically siliceous 

 iron ores free from phosphorus, and their reduction in a blast 

 furnace can be profitably effected, as the proportion of iron 

 present is high as compared with the weight of the material ; 

 indeed, it may be possible to reduce them while in a molten 

 state. 



By re-subliming the crade sulphur, it can be freed from all 

 impurities except arsenic, and at the works of Messrs. John 

 Hutchinson and Co., Widnes, this is eliminated by means of 

 polysulphide of calcium. 



As a certain proportion of the sulphur of the minerals suffers 

 combustion, the resulting sulphurous gases contain from 14 to 15 

 per cent, of sulphurous acid, and hence the proportion of 

 sulphurous acid to nitrogen is nearly identical with that of the 

 gases produced by roasting pyrites in the kilns employed by 

 vitriol manufacturers, and can, therefore, be used with equal ad- 

 vantage for the production of vitriol in leaden chambers. This 

 appears to be the simplest solution of the great problem how to 

 smelt copper without causing a nuisance to the surrounding 

 neighbourhood, although a similar result might be obtained by 

 collecting and liquefying the sulphurous acid. 



The more incombustible materials it is found practicable to 

 employ without too great a loss of temperature, the wider will 

 become the application for the process ; for there are many 

 ores, including silicates and carbonates, containing metals in the 

 form of oxides, which might be conveniently smelted by mixing 

 them with a sufficient proportion of pyritous ores to effect their 

 reduction ; in fact, one of the chief practical questions con- 

 nected with this process is how far it may be trusted to effect 

 the smelting of ores or furnace charges containing comparatively 

 moderate proportions of sulphides. It is evident that it will 

 almost entirely obviate the necessity for using carbonaceous fuel, 

 at least as far as the production of a regulus is concerned, and 

 consequently the localities in which smelting operations may be 

 advantageously carried on are thus greatly multiplied. One of 

 its chief merits is that it is equally applicable with comparatively 

 little extra cost in the working, to very poor and very rich ores, 

 for however small the resulting regulus, it will contain nearly 

 the whole of the cobalt, nickel, copper, silver, and gold present 

 in the furnace charge, while any lead, zinc, antimony, and 

 arsenic will be obtained as sublimates. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



The authorities at Owens College, Manchester, and of the 

 Yorkshire College of Science, Leeds, have already taken the 

 initiatory steps for preparing a constitution of the new University 

 for the North of England, for which a charter has recently been 

 granted. The Council of the Owens College have appointed a 

 committee of their body, and on Friday they met in conference 

 ■ at the college in Manchester, with representatives of the Council 

 of the Yorkshire College of Science, for the purpose of consi- 



dering a draft constitution for the new institution. The basis o{ 

 the deliberations of the conference is to be found in the series of 

 suggestions contained in an appendix to the memorial which was 

 presented to the Privy Council some time ago, but various ques- 

 tions will come before the meeting for consideration, including 

 the power of granting degrees to women and the better repre- 

 sentation of the graduates and the teaching staff upon the Board 

 of Governors. Considerable progress was made on Friday 

 in preparing suggestions for a draft of a proposed charter, 

 though each of the clauses was very fully discussed before adop- 

 tion. When the conference has completed its task it will report 

 to the Council previous to the scheme being submitted to the Law 

 Officers of the Crown. 



Mr. W. N. Hartley, of King's College, London, has been 

 appointed Professor of Theoretical and Practical Chemistry in 

 the Royal College of Science, Dublin, and enters upon his dutie= 

 at the beginning of the October term. 



The following students have passed the examinations which 

 entitle them to the distinction of " Associate of the Royal School 

 of Mines " : — In the Mining and Metallurgical Divisions : Mirza 

 Mehdy Khan. In the Mining Division: W. E. Benton, A. G. 

 Charleton, A. D. Ellis, E. N. Fell, H. B. Statter, H. Strick- 

 land. In the Metallurgical Division : W. B. M. Davidson, A. 

 H. Fison, F. W. Grey, E. Halse, E. W. Harvey, Malcolm 

 Hill, J. H. Lucas, Walter Marsh, A. Gordon Salamon. The 

 two Royal Scholarships of 15/. each have been awarded to J. J. 

 Hood and J. F. Wilkinson. The Royal Scholarship of 25/. has 

 been awarded to Ralph G. Scott ; the De la Beche Medal for 

 Mining to A. D. Ellis ; and the Murchison Medal for Geolog;? 

 to B. Mott. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



American yournal of Science atid Arts, June. — Reviewing 

 what is now known of extra digits in the feet of the modem 

 horse Prof. Marsh says the instances fall naturally into two 

 groups : the first comprising simply cases of reduplication (like 

 that of the occasional extra -finger in the human h:ind), not satis- 

 factorily explained as yet ; the second includes cases where a 

 true digit is formed, the component bones in normal position and 

 relation, and such instances seem clearly due to reversion to 

 some ancestral type. Extra digits appear more frequently on 

 the fore feet than the hind feet (as a study of fossils would lead 

 one to expect), and more frequently on the inside of the main 

 digit, the outer splint remaining rudimentary (this, again, is 

 opposed to the general law of reduction in the ungulate foot). — 

 Mr. Sargent's paper on the forests of Central Nevada has been 

 elsewhere referred to, and we further note that Prof. J. C. 

 Draper writes on the dark lines of oxygen in the solar spectrum 

 on the less refrangible side of G (in the regions about A 4317 

 and A 4319) ; Mr. Christy seeks an answer to the'question "Are 

 cinnabar deposits produced by sublimation, or are they deposited 

 from solution ? " and concludes that they are the immediate 

 result of the action of solutions of alkaline carbonates containing 

 also alkaline sulphides ; Mr. Hodges suggests a new absolute 

 galvanometer. — Mr. Sawyer contributes a first catalogue of 

 radiant points of meteors (from observations at Cambridge 

 during the last two years) ; and Maria Mitchell notes on the 

 satellites of Saturn. — A recent paper published in Brazil, by Mr. 

 Derby, on the geology of the Lower Arizonas, is summarised by 

 Mr. Rathbun. 



Journal of the Franklin Institute, June. — We note here the 

 following : — Peaucellier's compound compass and other link- 

 ages, by Prof. Marks. — Some experiments on alloys of silver 

 with embrittling metals, by Mr. Outerbridge. — Phosphorus in 

 coal, by Mr. McCreath. — On the determination of silicon in 

 pig-iron and steel, by Dr. Drown. 



Reale Istituto Lomhardo di Scienze e Lettcre. Retidiconti. 

 Vol. xii. fasc. xi.-xii. — On an integral formula, by Prof. Bel- 

 trami. — On tetrahedral systems, by S. Aschieri. — Atrophy and 

 degeneration, by Prof. Sangalli. — On a parasite Colothurnia of 

 the branchise of our oralis, by Prof. Maggi. — A microphyte on 

 Hesperidea;, by Dr. Cattarneo. — The infirmity of Torquato Tasso, 

 by Prof. Conadi.— Anew bird for the Lombardy fauna, by Prof. 

 Pavesi. — On the centre of forces in the'plane, by Prof. Bardelli._ — 

 On the cortical Indian centre in birds, by S. Ortel.— New series 

 of researches on the pelagic fauna of the Italian lakes, by Prof. 

 Pavesi. 



