Description of an Apparatus, S^c. 303 



proofs of its presence. They all sank in sulphuric acid ; were 

 all brittle and fixed ; and, for fusion, required at least a good red 

 heat. After being kept in naphtha, their effervescence with water 

 is, on the first immersion, much less active. Under such circum- 

 stances they react, at first, more vivaciously with hydric ether 

 than with water, or even chlorohydric acid; because in these 

 liquids a resinous covering, derived from the naphtha, is not solu- 

 ble, while to the ether it yields readily. 



By means of solid carbonic acid, obtained by Mitchell's modi- 

 fication of Thilorier's process, I froze an ounce measure of the 

 amalgam of calcium, hoping to effect a partial mechanical sepa- 

 ration of the mercury by straining through leather, as in the case 

 of other amalgams. The result, however, did not justify my 

 hopes, as both metals were expelled through the pores of the 

 leather simultaneously, the calcium forming, forthwith, a pulver- 

 ulent oxide, intermingled with, and discolored by mercury in a 

 state of extreme division. 



By the same means I froze a mass of the amalgam of ammo- 

 nium as large as the palm of my hand, so as to be quite hard, 

 tenacious and brittle. The mass floated upon the mercury of 

 my mercurial pneumatic cistern, and gradually liquefied, while 

 its volatile ingredients escaped. 



When the freezing of the amalgam was expedited by the ad- 

 dition of hydric ether, the resulting solid effervesced in water, 

 evolving ethereal fumes. This seems to show that a portion of 

 this ether may be incorporated with ammonium and mercury, 

 without depriving the aggregate thus formed of the characteris- 

 tics of a metallic alloy. 



Art. YII. — Description of an Apparatus for Deflagrating Car- 

 burets, Phosphurets, or Cyanides, in vacuo or in an Atmos- 

 phere of Hydrogen, with an account of some Results obtained 

 by these and by other means ; especially the Isolation of Cal- 

 cium; by Robert Hare, M. D. 



Read before the American Philosophical Society, October 18, 1839. 



Upon a hollow cylinder of brass (A A) an extra air-pump plate 

 (B B) is supported. The cylinder is furnished with three valve 

 cocks, (D D D,) and terminates at the bottom in a stufiing-box, 



