June io, 1892.] 



SCIENCE. 



329 



pair immediately to the right, 9 E and 9 F, in which the first 

 is 9 Ik, present the same peculiarity. 



Referring to 1 E and 1 F, we see 9 Ik, and the 15th day of 

 the month. Ik is the 14th day of the month in the Muluc 

 years. 



These examples are sufficient to render it more than proba- 

 ble that the method of numbering the days of the month on 

 this tablet is as suggested. If so it limits very greatly 

 the field of search for the interpretation of the unknown 

 chara ters following the daj'S mentioned, as we have a satis- 

 factory reason for believing they are month symbols. 



This, however, is not the only advantage gained. Take, 

 for example, the symbols 10 S and 10 T, in regard to which 

 there is no reasonable doubt. These indicate 11 Lamat, the 

 6th (5th) day of the month Xul. This combination can only 

 occur once in a cycle of fifty-two years, to wit, in the year 

 10 Kao. From this and what is stated above we can safely 

 infer that the four-year system and consequently the year 

 of 3o5 days was in use in this ancient city when the tablet 

 was made. These facts, if such they be, and the evidence of 

 the peculiar method of numbering the days of the month, 

 lead to the inference that there were intimate relations be- 

 tween the people of this city and those where the Dresden 

 Codex was written, and that there is no very great difference 

 in the ages of the two documents. 



I can give other data in reference to the interpretation of 

 this noted inscription, but will not ask further space in (Sci- 

 ence at this time. I will simply add that the phonetic value 

 of the hand symbol which so frequently occurs is proba- 

 bly Ch. Cyrus Thomas. 



THE NEW ELEMENT, MASRIUM.' 



Further details concerning the new element, whose 

 probable existence was announced in a paper communicated 

 to the Chemical Society at their meeting on April 21, are 

 contributed to the number of the Chemiker Zeitung dated 

 May 11. The mineral containing the new substance was 

 discovered in 1890 by Johnson Pacha in the bed of an old 

 river in Upper Egypt long since dried up, but of the former 

 existence of which there are records dating back some 6000 

 years. Indeed, the name by which it is known in the 

 neighborhood is " Bahr-bela-Ma," or " river without water." 

 Here and there in the track of the old watercourse are small 

 lakes whose water is of considerable repute for its medicinal 

 value. Specimens of the mineral were sent by Johnson 

 Pacha to the Khedivial Laboratory at Cairo, where it was 

 examined by Messrs. H. Droop Richmond and Hussein Off, 

 the authors of the paper laid before the Chemical Society. 

 The mineral is found to be a fibrous variety of a mixed 

 aluminium and iron alum containing ferrous, manganous, 

 and cobaltous oxides. In addition, however, to these ordi- 

 nary constituents, a small quantity of the oxide of another 

 element would appear to be present, having properties en- 

 tirely different from those of any yet known. This element 

 the discoverers have termed masrium, from the Arabic name 

 for Egypt, and the mineral has accordingly received the 

 name of masrite. The symbol adopted for masrium is Ms. 



The composition of masrite may be expressed by the 

 formula (Al, Fe)30,5 . (Ms, Mn, Co, Fe)0 . 4SO3 . 2OH2O. 

 The amount of masrium present is very small, averaging 

 only about 0.2 per cent, but by working upon fifteen kilo- 

 grams of the mineral a considerable quantity of the element 

 in the form of various salts has been accumulated A typi- 



■ From Nature. 



cal analysis of masrite published in the Proceedings of the 

 Chemical Society is as follows: — 



Water . 40.35 



Insoluble matter 2,61 



Alumina . ..10.62 



Perrlcoxide 1.63 



Masrium oxide 0.20 



Manganous oxide 2.56 



Cobaltous oxide I.(i2 



Ferrous oxide 4.23 



Sulphuric oxide 36.78 



100.00 



Suspicions that the mineral contained some hitherto un- 

 known constituent were first aroused by the fact that when it 

 was dissolved in water, and sulphuretted hydrogen was 

 passed slowly through the solution in presence of acetic acid, 

 instead of the expected black precipitate of sulphide of cobalt 

 a white insoluble substance was first precipitated. This 

 white precipitate continued to form until the new substance 

 in the solution was all used up, when black sulphide of 

 cobalt began to be thrown down. By decantation before the 

 formation of the latter, and subsequent washing with dilute 

 hydrochloric acid, the white substance was isolated in a state 

 of tolerable purity. It was found to dissolve in boiling 

 nitrohydrochloric acid. The solution in aqua regia was 

 evaporated in order to remove the excess of acid, and 

 ammonium hydrate added, when a voluminous white pre- 

 cipitate of the hydrate of the new metal was thrown down. 

 The hydrate was washed by decantation, and subsequently 

 dissolved in the minimum excess of sulphuric acid. The 

 solution of tiie sulphate of the new metal was next evapor- 

 ated to syrupy consistency, water was added until complete 

 solution was just effected, and the solution mixed with an 

 equal bulk of alcohol. The effect of this addition of alcohol 

 was to cause immediate precipitation of crystals of the sul- 

 phate of the new metal, a further crop of which was also ob- 

 tained upon evaporation. By repeated recrystallization most 

 of the small quantity of iron present was removed. In order 

 to eliminate the last traces of admixed ferrous sulphate, 

 the crystals were redissolved in water, and excess of sodium 

 hydrate added. As the hydrate of the new metal is soluble 

 in excess of soda, the hydrated oxide of iron was readily re- 

 moved by filtration. Upon the addition of ammonium 

 chloride the white hydrate was precipitated in a gelatinous 

 form; the hydrate was redissolved in hydrochloric acid, and 

 again precipitated and washed. The almost perfectly pure 

 hydrate so obtained was then finally converted to chloi'ide 

 by solution in hydrochloric acid. 



In order to obtain data as to the atomic weight of mas- 

 rium the following determinations were made. A known 

 quantity of the chloride solution was precipitated by 

 ammonia, and the hydrate thus obtained was ignited, and 

 the remaining oxide weighed. A second portion was pre- 

 cipitated by a solution of microcosmic salt in presence of 

 ammonia, and the phosphate obtained ignited and weighed. 

 The chlorine contained in a third portion was determined by 

 means of silver nitrate in the ordinary manner. From the 

 numbers so obtained the equivalent of masrium was calcu- 

 lated. A pure preparation of masrium oxalate was also ob- 

 tained by precipitating the neutral solution of the chloride 

 with ammonium oxalate, masrium oxalate resembling the 

 oxalate of calcium in being insoluble under such conditions. 

 The precipitated oxalate was washed, dried, and ignited in 

 a combustion tube whose forward end was filled with copper 

 oxide, when the salt was decomposed with elimination of its 

 water of crystallization, which was absorbed and weighed in 

 the usual manner. The residual oxide was also weighed. 



