Skzy.—On the Solubility of Calcic Carbonate in Alkaline Chlorides, — 451 
5.— Solid carbonate of lime (as limestone) having been placed in contact 
for twenty-four hours with a cold aqueous solution of an alkaline chloride 
was found to be dissolved to a far greater extent than it would have been 
by the same volume of pure water, and further, the saline solution of lime 
thus made rapidly deposited a very considerable portion of this earth when 
heated to about 180? Fahr. Carbonate of soda was found to have the same 
effect upon limestone as sodic chloride. 
The results of the first two experiments clearly show the solvent effects 
of strong solutions of several saline substances upon bi-carbonate of lime as 
newly made. The results of experiments Nos. 8 and 4 show that a naturally 
hard water when charged to only a comparatively small extent with sodic 
ehloride refuses to part with any of its lime when treated with Clarke's 
process; they show further a certain extent to which this retention of lime 
may occur, a matter which will be fully considered shortly 
. The results of the last experiment are confirmatory of much which has 
been stated before, by demonstrating the fact that cold aqueous solutions of 
an alkaline chloride or carbonate can dissolve the solid carbonate of lime, and 
that high temperatures are inimical to the retention of the dissolved earth 
by such solutions. Where necessary the solutions were boiled prior to use 
in order to expel any carbonic acid present. 
I should state here that the common test for lime—oxalate of ammonia— 
could not be successfully used in examining for lime in experiment No. 5, 
as oxalate of lime is also very sensibly soluble in salts generally; this 
manifested itself to me very early in these experiments, by the fact that 
water containing a trace of sodic carbonate but otherwise pure, after being 
boiled with limestone and treated with this oxalate, afforded no reaction 
of lime, although this body was proved to be present in quantity sufficient 
to afford a good indication with the oxalate were the soda absent. This 
salt is, indeed, very similar to the bi-carbonate in respect to solubility 
in saline solutions. 
Of all the salts tested for a solvent property of this kind the fixed alkaline 
carbonates appear to possess it to the largest extent. 
The greater solvency of calcie carbonate in cold solutions of certain salts 
is an interesting fact and one about which the following particulars should 
be given. The finely powdered calcic carbonate was digested with a solution 
of the salt (first previously boiled for twenty-four hours) at a common tem- 
perature in a vessel closed from the air. The solution rapidly filtered off, 
affording a very perceptible precipitate when treated with oxalate of ammonia, 
and a still greater precipitate when slightly warmed. Another portion of 
the ealeie carbonate was digested for the same time in hot solution of the 
' alkaline carbonate, but the liquor gave no precipitate with oxalate of 
