616 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



deprived of its carbonic acid, as before rcmarl<ed, 

 yoii have tlie quantity of lime. 



By reference to a chemical, or inineralogical 

 treatise, the composition of ihe carbonate of lime 

 will be found given. — Now let A. = the quantity 

 of lime in 100 parts of the carbonate of lime, B. = 

 the (]uantily of carbonic acid, and C. = the quan- 

 tity of lime ascertained by analysis, then the sim- 

 ple proportion A: B : : C : X = ihe quantity of 

 carbonic acid necessary to saturate Ihe quantity of 

 lime lound, which must be subsiracted from the 

 loss by calcination. To recapitulate — your analy- 

 sis will stand thus — 

 Water, 



Carbonic acid, 



Insoluble residuum (usually sand and argile,) 

 Precipitate by lime water (usually magnesia, 



oxide ofiron and alumine,) 

 Lime. 



This mode is one of the most expenditious and 

 easy that presents itself to my mind at this time. 

 In this, as in all analyses, it is of course necessary 

 that all the re-agents used should be pure, without 

 which there can be no certainty or confidence in 

 the results. If the muriatic acid should contain 

 sulphuric acid, as it is likely to do, owing to the 

 usual mode of manufacture, the insoluble residuum 

 will contain the sulphate of lime, thus not only 

 augmenting it at the expense of the lime, but also 

 by the addition of the sulphuric acid. Manufac- 

 turers often make use of the chloride of lime to 

 whiten their paper, which is frequently found to 

 contain notable portions of that base, thus intro- 

 duced, so much so as not unfrequenily to produce 

 effervescence, by the application of an acid. This 

 substance would not liid to be dissolved, by the 

 slight excess of acid unavoidable in manipulation, 

 and would be thrown down and add to ihe 

 amount of the constituents. This, in an analysis 

 where the fill rations are numerous, would cause 

 error ; to avoid which the paper should be digest- 

 ed in weak acid, and washed to free it from all ex- 

 traneous substances previous to use. Water is 

 another fi-equent source of inaccuracy, if it be not 

 pure. DisiUled water is at all times preferable, or 

 rain water (not collected from dusty rools.) 

 Sometimes the water of our rivers evaporates 

 without residuum, as I have found occasionally to 

 be the case with that of the Schuylkill. The ope- 

 rator will find it to his advantage to ascertain, by 

 tests, the purity of the water and re-agents pre- 

 vious to use. 



I eiiall now endeavor to enumerate the modes 

 of separation which I should practise, were J 

 about to examine a substance in which the con- 

 stituents were more numerous. The following 

 example is one analogous to many soils : — 



Water, 



Organic matter, 



Carbonic acid, 



Silex, 



Alumine, 



Oxide of iron, 



Oxide of manganese, 



Lime, 



Magnesia. 

 I shall premise by observing, that where analy- 

 sis can be performed without ihe use offixed alkalies 

 or their salts, as re-agents, it is always prelierable, 

 owing to the dilHculty, (necessarily connected with 

 their properties,) of freeing a precipitate of their 



presence, which is more embarrassing in those 

 which are gelatinous than otfiers. The operation 

 of getting rid of iheir presence is long and tedious 

 but necessary — as without it there would be inevi- 

 table error, more or less flagrant, as the manipula- 

 tion is more or less perfect. 



The water or humidity will be driven off by 

 maintaining the powder at the temperature of 

 boiling water some time. 'J'he organic matter by 

 heating the substance to a red heat, in contact 

 with the atmosphere, and occasionally stirring it 

 to make the combuslion more perfect — ihe carbo- 

 nic acid by calcination. The solution should be 

 made with muriatic acid. A i'ew drops of niiric 

 may be advantageous. The silex and argile, 

 dosed together, as in tlie .'bregoing analysis, and 

 separated afterwards by an attack in a silver cruci- 

 ble with caustic potash, or in one of platina, wiih 

 carbonate of potash. To the filtered solution you 

 now add the carbonate of ammonia, drop by drop. 

 The iron and alumine, (if there be any of the lat- 

 ter,) will be thrown down together, in which case 

 they may be separated by potash. The separa- 

 tion of these substances by the carbonate of 

 ammonia is a nice operation, as the success of the 

 experiment depends on the exact quantity of car- 

 bonate of ammonia added. 'J'he manganese will 

 be thrown down by the hydro-sulphaie of arn- 

 monia. In this case you liave the sulphuret of 

 manganese. If the quantity be small the sul- 

 phur maybe dissipated by roas'ing, but if large 

 it will be necessary to dissolve in nitric acid, and 

 precipitate by a carbonate. The lime will be 

 thrown down by the oxalate of ammonia, and ihe 

 magnesia by the phosphate of ammonia. The 

 phosphate of magnesia being slightly soluble, may 

 give rise to error if this be not taken into consi- 

 deration. 



I am well aware that in manipulation, however 

 perfect the description, notliing will compensate for 

 the want of practice, and even were it my inten- 

 tion to descrilie all that was necessary to one pos- 

 sessed even of partial experience, the idea would 

 be preposterous in an article like the present. 



If I have erred in any of the foregoing state- 

 ments, which, however, 1 do not think will be 

 Ibund to be the case, I hope it will be considered a 

 sufBcient palliative, when 1 slate, that I wriie 

 without having in my reach a note, or scientific 

 volume, to which I can refer. C. 



ylbbeville District. 



PEDESTRIANISM EXTRAORDINARY. 



A most extraordinary feat of pedestrianism has 

 been nearly completed by the celebrated Tovvns- 

 hend, walking l)etwcen this town and Prescott. 

 This individual undertook for a bet of £50, to 

 walk against time, the astonishing number of 

 sixty-lour miles each day, for six successive days. 

 The great fi^at vvould almost seem impossible; 

 but up to last night, he had regularly performed 

 his day's task, with the exception of one day, in 

 consequence of the Prescott police having taken 

 him twice in custody, which retarded his progress 

 considerably. On the Ibllowing day, however, 

 he made up for the loss he had sustained from the 

 over caution of the "rural force," by walking 

 seventy-two miles; and vviien it is considered that 



