JUNE 21, 1901.] 
NOTES ON INORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 
PLATINUM IN ANTIQUITY. 
PROFESSOR BERTHELOT reports in a recent 
number of the Comptes Rendus that on a 
metallic box from Egypt, covered with in- 
scriptions, he found a portion of one of the 
characters made of platinum. The mass was 
too small for a complete analysis, but from its 
behavior toward aqua regia, it appeared to be 
native platinum. The date of the box was 
about 700 B. C. From two standpoints this 
discovery is of more than passing interest. It 
has been a much disputed question whether 
platinum was known tothe ancients. Passages 
from the classics have been quoted which ap- 
pear to some to be references to platinum, but 
this application is in every case very doubtful. 
A much stronger argument against the prob- 
ability of platinum being known more than a 
few centuries ago, is, that until this discovery 
of Berthelot’s, no trace of the metal has been 
found in any ancient remains. Had platinum 
been known, it is hardly conceivable that 
specimens of it should fail to be found some- 
where among the multitudinous remains of 
antiquity. This present discovery really em- 
phasizes the argument, for it would seem from 
the description given by Berthelot that this 
specimen of platinum was used by the work- 
man unwittingly, resembling as it does some of 
the pale gold of Egypt. A second interesting 
point is that if Berthelot’s conjecture be true 
that this is native platinum, obtained from the 
alluvial deposits of Nubia or the upper regions 
of the Nile valley, it is the first recorded oc- 
currence of platinum in Africa, with the 
single exception of an observation of Aimé, in 
1838, that some of the galena from Algeria 
contains a trace of platinum. 
LEAD IN POTTERY GLAZES. 
THERE has been much discussion in England 
the last few years regarding the use of lead in 
pottery glazes, with reference both to the health 
of the potters and to the dangers attending the 
use of lead-glazed vessels in culinary operations. 
In continental potteries a lead glaze is in fre- 
quent use which seems to be far more resistant 
to the action of solvents than those in use in 
England. The subject was recently brought 
SCTENCE. 
993 
before the Chemical Society by Professor T, E. 
Thorpe and C. Simmonds, and an abstract of 
their work and of the discussion of their paper 
is found in the Proceedings of the Society. Ex- 
amining a large number of glazes, they find that 
many of them are attacked by dilute acids, com- 
parable with the acids found in the human 
system, such as the hydrochloric acid of the 
gastric juice. They find that the resistance de- 
pends upon the ratio of base to silica in the 
glaze. Provided that the ratio falls within cer- 
tain limits, the amount of lead extracted under 
the prescribed conditions is always small, though 
the actual quantity of lead-in the glaze may 
vary from zero to 50 or even 55 per cent. The 
amount of the other bases, such as alumina, 
lime and alkalies, may vary considerably and 
the silica may be replaced to some extent by 
other acids, as boric acid. It is to be hoped 
that American potters, as well as the English, 
may profit by these investigations, which after 
all only serve to bring out what has long been 
in practice in the potteries of Germany, 
COSMIC DIFFUSION OF VANADIUM. 
In 1897 Hasselberg called attention to the oc- 
currence of vanadium in many specimens of 
rutile, as had indeed been noticed by Sainte- 
Claire Deville as early as 1859. Hasselberg has 
now turned his attention to the examination of 
meteorites, and finds the presence of vanadium 
in all those examined of the stony type, while 
in metallic meteorites it is absent, save in a 
single specimen in which a very small quantity 
was found. He has gone over the work of 
Lockyer on the meteoric iron from Nejed and 
Obernkirchen, and finds that his observation 
that vanadium is present in these irons is erron- 
eous. From these investigations he deduces 
the conclusion that a different origin is indi- 
cated for stony and for metallic meteorites. 
Ve Ibe Il, 
CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. 
ANNALS OF THE MONT BLANC OBSERVATORY. 
Vou. IV. of the Annales de I Observatoire 
météorologique, physique et glaciaire du Mont 
Blane (altitude 4,358 m.), publiées sous la Direc- 
tion de J. Vallot, contains several interesting 
