Miscellanies. 179 



Its formula is consequently (Na% Ca^) Si^ 4-3A Si + CH. This 

 substance appears to be a new zeolite ranking near Prehnite. — Ann. 

 de Pogg. B. 33, s. 602.— D. 



26. Oerstedite ; by Forchammer. (Karsten Archiv f. Min. B. 

 viii, S. 229, ff.) — The form of this mineral scarely differs from that 

 of Zircon. The inclination of two adjacent terminal faces, is 123° 

 16' 30". Its hardness is between apatite and feldspar ; specific 

 gravity =3.629. — 69 per cent of this mineral is titanate of zirconia, 

 the remaining 31 percent are constituted, as represented in the for- 

 mula (Ca, Mg F) Si2 4-Aq3.— D. 



27. Electricity of Peroxyd of Manganese. (L'Institut, No. 

 117.) — M. Becquerel in a memoir on the particular electrical prop- 

 erties which mineral substances, conductors of electricity, acquire in 

 contact with water, states that when a mass of peroxyd of mangan- 

 ese composed of a group of irregular crystals, was introduced, its 

 half into water, the part of the specimen most distant from the wa- 

 ter, was found in a short time to be negatively electrified, whilst that 

 near the water, contained positive electricity, and that there was a 

 point in which neither kind was apparent. — D. 



28. Paramorphine and Pseud omorphine.* (L'Institut, No. 107.) 

 — M. Pelletier announces the discovery of two new substances in 

 opium, which he terms Paramorphine and Pseudomorphine. The 

 former is a white solid of an acid and styptic taste, scarcely soluble 

 in water, but very much so in alcohol and ether. It differs from 

 morphine in not reddening with concentrated nitric acid, in not form- 

 ing crystallizable salts, and in not becoming blue in contact with the 

 salts of iron. It resembles Codeine, in its solubility in alcohol and 

 ether, and in its alkalinity ; but unlike it, its salts do not crystallize, 

 and it is always precipitable from its solutions by ammonia. It has 

 no analogy with Meconine and Narceine, and a slight resemblance 

 only to Narcotine, from which it is easily distinguished by its taste, 

 fusibility and solubility in alcohol. 



Pseudomorphine is nearly insoluble in water, still less soluble in 

 alcohol, and entirely insoluble in ether. The most singular property 



* The discovery of this substance, was first announced, about a year since. — 

 Trans. 



