208 Miscellanies. 
- The- bina facts, were as follows:—A cider barrel vig 
brought empty to the mill, stood over night and was filled in the mor- 
ning with fresh made cider. As one head proved leaky, the cider’ 
was removed, and some pounds of a substance resembling flour were = 
found in the barrel with several lumps of a heavy white firm matter, 
doubtless introduced as a poison. ‘The latter was conjectured to be 
corrosive sublimate, and the opinion was proved to be correct by the — 
following observations and experiments. “a” 
1. The substance yielded to a knife blade and a slight blow—ties 
apart with some elasticity, had a glistening diamond like (adaman- 
tine) lustre, was rather acrid to the taste, leaving a lasting metallie 
impression, and was readily soluble in rain water, to the bottom of 
which the larger fragments fell, although the fine powder fon for 
a time. bes 
2. From charcoal, when by the blowpipe, a candle flame wis ie 
cal, upon it, it rose rapidly in white acrid. clouds, without any 
other odor. ti 
3. Placed in a small vial loosely stopped with a cork, the vial be- 
ing moved rapidly and horizontally over the clear blaze of a candle, — 
the substance readily sublimed and concreted on the cooler side ¢ 
‘the vial, partly in a white coating, and partly in crystalline spicula. 
The crystallization was very conspicuous when the substance Was” 
sublimed from the bottom of a glass tube bent into the form. of : 
letter U. “4 
4. The solution gave a brick red precipitate with.a solution of ub: 
carbonate of soda, and a white one with sub-carbonate of a ! 
5. A silver quarter of a dollar and a bright copper cent being lait 
in contact with the cent uppermost, a drop of the solution was place 
on the bright part of the cent, and a connexion formed an 
and the silver by an iron staple brightened at the points 5 ; instantly 
the mercury began to precipitate upon the copper, and in half aa 
hour there was a distinct silver white coating with minute points OF 
globules of mercury. It is not necessary to say that this was a gal 
vanic circle, and that the mercury was.evolyed at the copper or Ne 
gative pole, according to a general law, propounded by Sir H. DavYs 
in 1806. These metals were used for the circle, because they were 
at hand. A piece of bright zine was partly covered with gold leal, 
and a drop of the solution being placed on the gold, it became 
ily white, even before a metallic communication was* 
wire placed so as to touch both the fluid and the zinc. 
