36 REPORT— 1864. 



Chloride of lithium _. 26-05 



Chloride of potassium with a little chloride of caesium 14"84 



Chloride of sodium 363'6l 



Chloride of magnesium 8'86 



Chloride of calciimi 216-17 



Sulphate of calcium 12-27 



Silica .... 3-65 



Oxides of iron, aluminum, and of manganese in minute quantity 



645-45 



The quantity of csesium I have not yet had leisure to ascertain, but the amoimt 

 must be relatively rather considerable, as the precipitate of the double chloride of 

 platimmi and potassium, from a quart of the water, gives evidence before the 

 prism of the presence of csesium. But the most remarkable point, chemically, 

 in the constitution of this water is the unprecedented amount of chloride of 

 lithium which it contains, and which no doubt will furnish an abundant supply 

 of the compounds of this alkaline metal. 



Lithium has been found in a great number of springs, but usually in quantity not 

 exceeding one or two grains of the chloride per gallon. Its extraction from this 

 water would not be very difficult. The water itself might imdergo a preliminary 

 concentration by boiling down in a steam-boiler ; the absence of a deposit or " fur ' 

 would render this perfectly feasible ; the concentrated liquid should then be boiled 

 down till reduced to one-tenth or one-twelfth of its bulk ; to the hot liquid milk of 

 lime is added, till slightly alkaline, to separate magnesia, then a concentrated solu- 

 tion of carbonate of sodium is added cautiously to the boiling liquid as long as it 

 occasions a precipitate ; a granular precipitate of carbonate of calcium is produced, 

 from which the mother-liquor, now containing alkaline salts only, is easily decanted. 

 It is further concentrated, part of the chloride of sodium is separated by crystal- 

 lization, and the lithium is then precipitated as carbonate, by the addition of car- 

 bonate of sodium in slight excess. The mother-liquor may then be used to fur- 

 nish compounds of caesium by the process of Bunsen and KirchhofF. 



Borne Observations on the Constitution of the Atmosphere. 

 By Dr. S. Mossman. 



On Reaumur^s Porcelain. By A. Noble. 

 Circumstances have put me in possession of some beautiful specimens illustrating 

 the devitrification of glass. A drinking-glass, made of ordinai-y flint glass, was 

 buried in fine sand and exposed to the heat of a pottery-kiln by Mr. Septimus 

 Powell, of Temple Gate Pottery, Bristol, and cooled gradually with the kiln. It 

 was perfectly devitrified. Glass containing the greater number of bases devitrified 

 the most readily. I am also able to show some specimens of light-gi-een bottle- 

 glass which have cooled very slowly, and in which crystallization is very distinct. 

 They are from the glass-works of Messrs. Powell and Ricketts, Bristol. 



On the Disposal of Town Refuse. By Dr. Paul. 



On Criule Paraffin Oil. By Dr. B. H. Paul. 

 The author remarked that very little attention had hitherto been paid to that 

 portion of crude paraffin oil which was heavier than water, and its existence had 

 been denied. He found, however, that the oil obtained from coal, or any similar 

 material, by distillation at a moderate heat not exceeding low redness, always 

 contains oils heavier than water and that these oils are precisely the same 

 as the oils heavier than water, which are contained in the ordinary coal-tar of 

 gas-works, consisting in both cases chiefly of carbonic acid and a thick pitchy 

 substance. It was also shown that the product obtained by distilliiig ditferent 

 varieties of bituminous coal at a low heat differs very considerably in its cha- 



