608 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. I., No. 21. 



■with ammonic sulphate. The filtrate is acidified 

 with hydrochloric acid, heated to boiling, and sodic 

 or ammonic liyposulpliite added, avoiding an excess. 

 The precipitate, which contains antimony, arsenic, 

 tin, platinum, mei'cury, silver, copper, bismuth, co- 

 balt, and nickel, is next treated with ammonic sul- 

 phide. On neutralizing with ammonia the filtrate 

 from the precipitate thrown down by the hyposul- 

 phite, cadmium, manganese, and zinc are precipitated. 

 In the last filtrate the alkalies, calcium and magne- 

 sium, must be looked for, as well as antimony and tin, 

 since the last two metals are not precipitated com- 

 pletely by ammonic hyposulphite. — {Journ. russ. 

 phys. chem. gesellnch., 1883, 32; Bericlde deutsch. 

 chem. gesellsch., :!ivi. SOI.) c. F. M. [1143 



Separation of nickel from cobalt. — For the 

 detection of a small quantity of nickel in presence of 

 much cobalt, or of a trace of cobalt with nickel in 

 large quantity, G. Vortman converts the cobalt into 

 the luteo-salt by oxidation with sodic hyposulphite 

 in an ammoniacal solution. Nickel may be precipi- 

 tated from this solution by sodic hydrate, and, in the 

 filtrate, cobalt by ammonic sulphide. — {Monats. 

 cheinie, 4, 1, Berichte deutsch. chem. gesellsch., xvi. 

 810.) c. F. M. [1144 



Determination of zinc as sulphide. — In ignit- 

 ing zinc sulphide, R. Macarthur suspends the crucible 

 containing tlie sulphide in a Hessian crucible with a 

 hole drilled through the bottom large enough to 

 admit the flame of a Bunsen burner. Another hole 

 is drilled through the side of the crucible, through 

 which is passed a glass tube for introducing a stream 

 of hydric sulphide. — {Chem. news, xliv. 1.59.) 



C. F. M. [1145 



METALLURGY. 



Copper-smelting plant. — The Pacific copper- 

 smelter has a peculiar arrangement of the water- 

 jacket. By means of circulating plates, a rapid 

 circulation of the water is secured, and also great 

 economy iu the use of water. The thirty-ton smelter 

 requires about twenty-five thousand gallons of water 

 per day, if allowed to run to waste ; if collected and 

 cooled for use again, only about three thousand 

 gallons are needed. — {Min. sc. press, April 28. ) 



K. H. B. [1146 



The dephosphorization of pig iron. — The fol- 

 lowing is the process for which a patent w.as granted, 

 May 22, to Mr. James Henderson of Bellefonte, Penn.. 

 The iron is taken from the Bessemer converter at the 

 end of what is called the third period, or after the 

 boil, transferred by means of a ladle to the hearth of 

 a reverberatory furnace, which is capable of being 

 heated to tlie melting-point of wrought iron or higher. 

 The metal is treated in this furnace with fluorspar 

 and titaniferous iron in the proportion of forty parts 

 by weight of fluorspar to one hundred of titanifer- 

 ous iron. If there is one per cent of phosphorus in 

 the metal, about three hundredweight of the mixture 

 will be required to a ton of steel. Thus the dephos- 

 phorization is effected after the decarbonization. — 

 (ling. mill, journ., May 26. ) K. H. R. [1147 



The basic process at Steeltovirn. — The first 

 heat of basic steel ever made in this country was 

 effected on May 7, 1883, at Steeltown, by the Penn- 

 sylvania steel company. The excellent quality of the 

 steel thus made is shown by the following tests. 

 Some fiat bars were plunged in water when hot, and 

 then bent cold and hammered down without showing 

 any fracture. A plate was also flanged hot, ou which 

 the flange is as perfect as if the material had been 

 the Ijest charcoal-hammered plate iron. In the same 

 plate two holes were punched within a sixteenth of 



an inch of each other without cracking the interven- 

 ing steel. — {Hull. Amer. iron steel assoc, May.) 



K. H. E. [1148 



Blast-furnace slag. — It is now proposed by Mr. 

 A. D. Elbers of Hoboken, N.J., to utilize the well- 

 known mineral wool for the manufacture of china 

 cement, pigments and absorbents. The process con- 

 sists in roasting and subsequent washing of the fine 

 mineral wool so as to leave only the silicates of lime, 

 alumina, and magnesia. — {Eng. min. journ.. May 

 26.) B. H. K. [1149 



The Siemens direct process. — A lot of sepa- 

 rated magnetic iron sand from Moisic, Canada, was 

 sent to Mr. James Davis, manager of the New steel- 

 works, London, to be worked in the Siemens direct 

 rotatory furnace. Mr. Davis reports that it is the 

 best material for working in tlie rotator that he has 

 seen. A charge of twenty-five hundredweight with 

 six hundredweight of coal or charcoal gave the best 

 results. The average time required was three hours 

 forty-five minutes, and the yield of solid metallic 

 balls was fifteen hundredweight three quarters. The 

 balls were found very suitable for making mild steel 

 in the Siemens furnace. The wages are estimated 

 at five shillings per ton of balls; the fuel, at ton per 

 ton. — {Eng. min. journ.. May 5.) B. H. K. [1150 



GEOLOGY. 



Geology of the province of Jujuy, Argentine 

 Confederation. — Brackebusch divides the forma- 

 tions of this province as follows. 1°. Sedimentary 

 rocks: a. Silurian, 6. cretaceous, c. post tertiary, 

 d. modern. 2°. Eruptive rocks: a. granite, b. 

 quartz prophyry, c. diorite, d. basalt, e. tragnite 

 and andesite. The Silurian consists of two mem- 

 bers, — the primordial (Taconic) fauna, being repre- 

 sented in a great thickness of beds, and the second 

 or lower Silurian fauna. 



The petroleum-bearing formation has been assigned 

 to almost every geological period. The present author 

 considers it as probably lower cretaceous, and makes 

 a fair argument in support of his claim. Darwin con- 

 sidered it as cretaceo- Jurassic. These beds have an 

 enormous distribution in South America. The same 

 beds are said to reach to Puntas Arenas, where Dr. 

 G. Steinmann (Science, p 156) has lately recognized 

 the neocomian, which would seem to support the 

 view that they are of lower cretaceous age. Bracke- 

 busch thinks that the boring of wells for petroleum 

 in the region he has examined will be attended 

 with magnificent results. 



In the quartz porphyries, many ores of copper and 

 argentiferous galenile occur. The trachytes and 

 andesites, and their accompanying tufas, are very 

 widely distribitted. To these the author refers 

 numerous gold and silver mines of the province. — 

 {Anal. soc. cient. argent., 1SS3.} j. b. m. [1151 



Lithology. 



Fossil-bearing schists. — Kenard has published a 

 valuable paper on the inetamorphic rocks of the Ar- 

 dennes, in which fossils had been found by Dumont 

 and Sandberger, the latter describing a case in which 

 garnets and fossils were together in the same hand 

 specimen. 



The fossils Spirifer macropterus and Chonetes sar- 

 cinulatus show that the schists belong to the lower 

 Devonian. The paper gives the results of micro- 

 scopic and chemical analyses, describing the prin- 

 cipal minerals. Renard rejects entirely the view that 

 these schists are chemical precipitates, and holds that 

 they are metamorphosed sediments. 



These results are similar to those of Keusch and 



