

Chemistry and Physics. 107 



and the sample is even somewhat transparent after drying as far as 

 the acid acted upon it, but all the threads in the sample can be seen in 



their whole course. 

 Cotton stuffs containing no linen dissolve quickly and entirely in the 

 cid; or if left hut one instant in it, become so brittle and gummy 

 that no one will fail to recognize it as cotton when treated in the above 



manner. 



10. Nitrification and the Fertilization of Soils ; by F. Kxjhlmann, 

 (Comptes Rendus, Nov., 1846.) — The researches of this author pub- 

 lished in 1838 are well known. By these he demonstrated that all the 

 gaseous or vaporizable compounds of nitrogen, were converted into 

 ammonia by the hydrogen and hydrogenous gases in contact with 

 heated spongy platinum, and that on the other hand, all these com- 

 pounds were converted into nitric acid or peroxyd of nitrogen, by oxy- 

 gen or oxydating gases. 



Upon this foundation the following view is based. Animal substances 

 exercise a beneficial effect only when carbonate of ammonia is dis- 

 engaged by their decomposition ; in like manner, according to Kuhl- 

 mann, the nitrates are effectual as manures, only when the nitric acid 

 has been converted into ammonia by the deoxy dicing influence of 

 putrid fermentation. 



Various recent experiments are brought to prove that this opinion is 

 correct, and that similar conversions to those observed in gases take 

 place in liquids. Nitre thrown into a mixture of zinc or iron and sul- 

 phuric or better dilute hydrochloric acid, retards or stops the disengage- 

 ment of hydrogen until the whole of the nitric acid is converted into 

 ammonia. Nascent sulphuretted hydrogen produces the same effect, 

 with deposition of sulphur. A current of sulphuretted hydrogen passed 

 through a solution of chlorid of antimony and a nitrate, in like manner 

 transforms the nitric acid into ammonia. 



The author entertains the opinion that the ammonia of the atmo- 

 sphere or of manures, is converted at the surface of the soil into nitrates, 

 and that this process of nitrification prevents the waste of ammonia ; 

 these nitrates are in their turn deoxydized by fermentation and afford 



ammonia to the plant. ' p . 



The peroxyd of manganese is proposed as an agent for the perpetual 



transference of the oxygen of the air to ammonia, producing its conver- 



into nitric acid ; MnO* being deoxydized by the ammonia and the 



resulting MnO being convened by the air into Mn 3 4 , which in its turn 



is deoxydated. .V ." ", i c 



.M. Kuhlmann considers it possible, in case of a deficient supply of 



Wtre in Europe, to convert ammonia into nitric ac ; d nu e ^°^V C fj~ 

 and on the contrary with the nitrates from India and Chili to form *m- 

 *°nia, by turning to account the hydrogen or sulphuretted hydrogen, 

 ^ichis lost hi many operations and is even a source of in jury ^ to 

 k*lth. He also proposes a new process for determining JJ* nc « d, 

 ***** upon the conversion of nitrates into ammonia, undei toM* 



"uenee of nascent hydrogen. _ M %K ^ ' ' lft ^ 



f «L Anhydrous Alcohol; by M. Casok,a, «W. *j|h«J"»»J 

 fr °m Jour, de Chim. Med.)-Perfectly dry sulphate of copper »pj- 

 *** as a means f rendering alcohol anhydrous, and as a test fur the 



sion 



