428 Scientific Intelligence. 



as 8-0678 : 1. To determine the attraction exerted under the same 



circumstances upon soft iron, a glass vessel was filled wiih a paste made 

 by grinding pure metallic iron in powder (reduced from the oxyd by 

 hydrogen) with a mixture of fresh lard and wax- The amount of at* 

 traction upon this glass vessel when empty was first measured, then the 



attraction upon the same vessel when filled with the solution of chio 

 rid of iron, and finally the attraction upon the glass when filled with , 



the paste of iron. The amount of attraction upon the glass vessel { 



when empty, was subtracted from the amount upon the vessel when 

 filled with thesofutlon and with the paste. In this manner the magnet- 

 ism of the solution was found to be to that of the iron as 1 : 230*49 ; the 

 diamignetic action upon the lard and wax was found to be so slight 

 ihal it could be entirely neglected. By combining the two numerical 

 results obtained above, Pliicker found the specific magnetism of oxygen 



lo be that of iron as 1 : 285*7. If we refer the specific magnetism of 

 the two substances to equivalents instead of to equal weights, we find 

 for the equivalent of iron a degree of magnetism 81*8 as great as 

 that for an equivalent of oxygen. By the same method Pliicker found 

 for the magnetism of sesquioxyd of iron the number 891, that of iron 

 being taken as 1,000,000. — Pogg. Ann.^ Ixxxiii, 105. i 



3, Molecutat sf.ruciure of organic hoses, — Hofmann has communi- ^\ 



cated to the Royal Society the second series of his researches, on the 

 constitution of the organic bases — researches of which it i» impossible 

 to speak without enthusiasm, and which have thrown a flood of light 

 upon this department of organic chemistry. In a former memoir the 

 author demonstrated that the three equivalents of hydrogen in ammo- 

 nia are susceptible of being successively replaced by the radicals of 

 the ethyl series (Cn Hn+i) yielding a new series of ammonias repre- 

 sented by the general formula > 



N(X.Y,Z), 



in which formula X, Y, and Z, represent either hydrogen or an ethyl 

 radical. The combinations bf these new ammonias with acids, may 

 be regarded as ammoniums in which one or more equivalents of hydro- 

 gen are replaced by methyl, ethyl, &c. Hofmann now finds that the 

 four equivalents of hydrogen in ammonium are susceptible of replace- 

 ment by other radicals, so that the most general formula for a large 



number of organic bases is 



N(W.X.Y.Z). 



The author describes in the present memoir eight new ammoniums in 

 all of which the hydrogen is completely replaced by other radicals. 



lodid of ethyl and triethylamine (N(C4 H5)3) heated together for 

 a short lime in a sealed glass tube, exhibit a powerful reaction, and 

 on cooling solidify into a crystalline mass easily purified by solution in 

 cold water and recrystalllzatioil. These crystals are the iodid of ielre- 

 thylammonium and are represented by the rational formula N(C4H5)4l ; 

 their formation is expressed by the equation C12 His N+C* Hs 1= 

 C16H20NI; when rapidly heated they fuse and are decomposed 

 into triethylamine and iodid of ethyl, which again unite in the receiv- 

 er 10 form the original compound. The new iodid perfectly withstands 

 the action of a concentrated solution of caustic potash ; treated with 



soiutioM of the salts of silver, it readily yields iodid of silver and salts 



