372 Preparation of Potassium and Sodium. 
with a request to receive one hundred copies of his work 
which is in 8 vols. 4to. It is with such munificence that | 
monarchs may powerfully contribute to the progress of the 
human mind, when their favours fall upon the works of 
real merit. | . Reo. Encyc. 
4. Preparation of Potassium and Sodium.—Prof. Brun- 
ner, In a communication addressed to Prof. Pictet, states 
very clearly the result of various experiments in the pre- 
paration of the alkaline metals; by which it appears that 
the agency of iron is not necessary in the decomposition 
of potash and soda, but rather injurious, the metallic bases 
being as easily obtained by charcoal alone. 
His apparatus consists of an oval shaped wrought iron 
bottle, half an inch thick, and capable of holding about a 
pint. It is provided with a neck, into which screws a bent 
gun barrel. ‘To preserve the barrel fromthe destructive 
effects of the fire, he wraps tightly and closely around it 
an iron wire. A common air furnace is provided, wide 
enough to contain both the iron bottle and the bent gun 
barrel after they are joined. The end of the barrel 
passes through a circular opening in the bottom plate of 
the furnace, (the front of the furnace projecting outwards 
sufficiently for this purpose,) and dips into a cylindrical 
copper vessel, containing naptha which has a tight cover, 
with an opening in it to receive the barrel 
From the upper part of this vessel a tube projects on 
one side for the purpose of allowing the gas to escape, 
and to this another tube may be adjusted, if the operator 
chooses, which shall dip into a vessel of naptha or quick- 
silver. The apparatus is probably supported within the 
furnace by iron braces. The furnace of Prof. Brunner is 
covered by a piece of tile, and the front of it he says 1s 
formed of one half of a black lead crucible, divided ver- 
tically, and with the bottom removed. 
In his first experiment, after washing the iron bottle and 
gun barrel with very dilute sulphuric acid, and heating the 
bottle red hot, he introduced in small portions alternately 
four ounces of caustic potash in a state of igneous fusion, 
and a mixture of six ounces of iron turnings, grossly 
pounded, and one ounce of pulverized charcoal. The 
whole is mixed as intimately as possible with an iron rod. 
