3 1 8 SULPHUR. 



65 10 and 661? by Dumas, and to be 6900 by Mitscherlich. 

 It is allowed that the combining measure of this vapour is 

 l-3rd of a volume, which gives the theoretical density 

 6648. 



Sulphur and many other substances may be obtained in dis- 

 tinct crystals, on passing from a state of fusion, by operating 

 in a particular manner. A considerable quantity of sulphur 

 is fused in a stoneware crucible, and allowed to cool till it 

 begins to solidify ; the solid crust, with which its surface is 

 covered, is then broken, and the portion remaining fluid poured 

 out. On afterwards breaking the crucible, when it has become 

 quite cold, the sulphur is found to have a considerable cavity 

 which is lined with fine crystals, like a geode in quartz. Sul- 

 phur is dimorphous, the form which it assumes at a high tem- 

 perature, and consequently in its passage from a state of fusion, 

 is a secondary modification of an oblique prism with a rhom- 

 boidal base. Sulphur is also soluble in the sulphuret of carbon, 

 the chloride of sulphur and oil of turpentine, and is deposited 

 from solution in these menstrua at a lower temperature, and 

 of its second form, which is an elongated octohedron with a 

 rhomboidal base. That is likewise the form of the grains of 

 flowers of sulphur, and of the fine transparent crystals of na- 

 tive sulphur, which are also formed by sublimation. 



Sulphur is not soluble in water or in alcohol. It combines 

 readily with most metals, some of them, such as copper and 

 silver in very thin plates, burning in its vapour, as iron does 

 in oxygen gas. When iron and some other metals are mixed 

 in a state of division with flowers of sulphur and heat applied, 

 the sulphur first melts, and after a few seconds combination 

 ensues with turgescence of the mass, which becomes red hot. 

 Sulphur unites with bodies generally in the same multiple pro- 

 portions as oxygen, and sometimes in additional proportions, 

 particularly with potassium and the metals of the alkalies and 

 alkaline earths. When boiled with caustic potash or lime, red 

 solutions are formed which contain a large quantity of sulphur, 

 a considerable proportion of which is deposited as a white hy- 

 drate of sulphur, upon the addition of an acid. With hydrogen, 

 sulphur unites in single equivalents, and forms sulphuretted 

 hydrogen gas, which is the analogue of water in the sulphur 

 series of compounds, and also another compound the persul- 

 phuret of hydrogen, which is deficient in stability, like the 



