February 7, 1902.J 



SCIENCE. 



233 



NOTES ON INORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 

 NEW BORmS. 



Among the compounds which the high tem- 

 perature of the electric furnace has rendered 

 easy of preparation are the borids of the met- 

 als, few of which were known until within the 

 last decade or so. Moissan has described the 

 borids of the alkaline earths, of iron, nickel, 

 and cobalt, and of carbon and silicon. In the 

 last number of the Journal of the Chemical 

 Society Tucker and Moody recount the prep- 

 aration of the borids of chromium, molybde- 

 num and tungsten, and of zirconium. All were 

 made by heating the mixed elements in the 

 electric furnace, and are crystalline bodies of 

 great hardness; they are but slightly attacked 

 by hot concentrated acids, except that the 

 molybdenum and tungsten borids are vigor- 

 ously acted on by hot aqua regia. The formu- 

 las obtained by analysis are, CrB, MOjB^, WB^, 

 and ZrjBj. The authors suggest that as a 

 consequence of their high fusing point, hard- 

 ness, and good crystallization, it is quite pos- 

 sible that some of these and other borids may 

 prove to have industrial uses. 



ETHYLENE FROM INORGANIC SOURCES. 



In a recent Journal of the Society of Chem- 

 ical Industry the same authors describe the 

 production of ethylene from inorganic sources. 

 Since calcium carbid when treated with water 

 evolves acetylene, and aluminum carbid 

 evolves methane, it was hoped that a mixture 

 of these carbids would give ethylene, but this 

 was found not to be the case; only acetylene 

 and methane were obtained. When, however, 

 a mixture of barium silieid, which evolves hy- 

 drogen, with calcium carbid is decomposed by 

 water, ethylene is present in the evolved gases 

 to the extent of two per cent. If barium car- 

 bid is substituted for the calcium carbid, the 

 gases contain up to fifteen per cent, of ethy- 

 lene. 



ORGANIC ARAGONITE AND CALCITE. 



A NEW reaction to distinguish between 

 aragonite and ealcite is given by W. Meigen 

 in the C entralhlatt fur Mineralogie. The 

 finely powdered substance is boiled for a few 

 moments with a dilute solution of cobalt ni- 

 trate. In the presence of aragonite a lilac 



red precipitate of basic cobalt carbonate is 

 formed, while ealcite remains uncolored even 

 after prolonged boiling, or is occasionally col- 

 ored yellow. Magnesium carbonate is also un- 

 changed in color and calcium phosphate gives 

 a blue precipitate. Using this diagnostic re- 

 action upon shells, corals, and other animal 

 remains, both recent and fossil, the author 

 gives long lists of those consisting of arago- 

 nite and ealcite respectively. No rule of dis- 

 tribution is apparent from his lists; most or- 

 ders, recent and fossil, are represented in both 

 classes. The larger number of corals are 

 aragonite, but corallium and tubipora are eal- 

 cite; the outer shell of trigona is ealcite while 

 the inner shell is aragonite; the argonauts are 

 ealcite but nautilus and sepia are aragonite; 

 hens' eggs are ealcite. 



UTILIZATION OF FLUORIN FROM FERTILIZER PLANTS. 



When natural phosphates are decomposed 

 by sulfuric acid in the manufacture of super- 

 phosphate fertilizers, there is a considerable 

 quantity of hydrofluoric acid set free as such, 

 or as fluorid of silicon. This is especially the 

 case when apatite is used; indeed this fact de- 

 tracts very materially from the value of the 

 immense apatite deposits of Canada. In Ger- 

 many manufacturers are compelled by law to 

 prevent the escape of these deleterious gases 

 into the atmosphere and efforts are being 

 made to utilize the waste product. By leading 

 the gases through water, fluosilicic acid is 

 formed and from this solution sodium fluosili- 

 cate or magnesium and aluminum fluosilicates 

 may be readily prepared. The last two have 

 some use in hardening calcareous stone. More 

 recently it has been discovered that fluosilicic 

 acid has strong antiseptic properties and 

 that as a preservative of manure it surpasses 

 plaster, kainite or superphosphate of lime. 

 The denitrifying action of bateria is checked, 

 preventing the loss of nitrogen. The greatest 

 diificulty in the way of its adoption for this 

 purpose is its preparation in suitable form. 

 The aqueous acid in bottles would hardly be 

 acceptable to the farmer and no satisfactory 

 absorbent of the acid has been found. A pat- 

 ent for a new manure preservative has recent- 

 ly been taken out, in which the fluosilicic acid 



