SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



283 



&n\ 



CHEMISTRY 



CONDUCTED BY C. AINSWORTH MITCHELL, 

 B.A.OXON., F.I.C., F.C.S. 



Supposed New Element. — Mr. C. Baskerville 

 believes he has discovered a new element associated 

 with thorium. He considers it probable that ordi- 

 nary thorium is not the simple substance hitherto 

 supposed, but is a mixture containing an element 

 with an atomic weight lying between 260 and 280. 

 If his results be confirmed he suggests the name 

 Carolinium and the symbol On for the new element. 



Incrustation on St. Paul's. — A balustrade of 

 Portland stone surrounds the stone gallery at the 

 base of the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral. In cer- 

 tain places, and especially on the under side of 

 the coping stone, there is a deposit of a grey or 

 black substance, which here and there is three 

 quarters of an inch in thickness. It can readily be 

 powdered, and under the microscope shows no 

 trace of organised growth. According to the 

 analysis of Mr. E. G. Clayton, F.I.C., it has the 

 following percentage composition : — Water, 24 - 54 ; 

 carbon (soot), 1-10; calcium sulphate, 59-38; cal- 

 cium phosphate, 2-22; calcium silicate, 1*63 ; 

 magnesium silicate, 0-67 ; iron silicate, 2-40 ; and 

 sand and uncombined silica, 8"06. The deposit, 

 therefore, consists mainly of calcium sulphate 

 hydrated, together with some siliceous matter. In 

 Mr. Clayton's opinion this main constituent was 

 chiefly formed by the action of the sulphuric and 

 sulphurous acid in the smoke from surrounding 

 chimneys upon the stone, assisted by action of rain. 



Bleeding Bread. — If moist bread be exposed 

 to the air it will speedily be covered with a growth 

 of various moulds and bacteria, among which may 

 possibly be small bright red patches. On in- 

 oculating a suitable culture-medium with the 

 latter, a brilliant red growth of the Bacillus pro- 

 digiosKs can be obtained. To the wholesale in- 

 fection by this micro-organism must be attributed 

 the mediaeval miracles of "bleeding bread." A 

 similar infection of meat occasionally takes place, 

 as in the instance mentioned by Dr. Klein, where 

 the whole of the flesh in a shop in the City became 

 scarlet. It is interesting to note that in this case 

 the larder where the meat was stored overlooked a 

 churchyard in which the graves had recently been 

 disturbed. The B. procLigiosus is a short organism 

 with rounded ends that occasionally forms fila- 

 ments. It develops best in the presence of air, 

 and when grown upon nutrient gelatin liquefies 

 that medium. The red pigment, which appears to 

 be an excretory product, requires oxygen for its 

 production. It dissolves readily in alcohol and 

 ether, but is insoluble in water. It appears to be 

 of a similar character to the aniline clyestuffs. 

 On the addition of acid the colour is changed to 

 pale red, which on the addition of alkali is recon- 

 verted into the original colour. The writer has 

 dyed white silk a beautiful pink colour by means 

 of an alcoholic solution of a pure cultivation. 



Composition op Mummy Fish. — In a recent 

 number of the "Journal de Pharmacie et Chimie " 

 M. Hugounenq gives an interesting account of his 

 examination of mummy fish, obtained from the 

 Pyramids of Sakkarah, near Memphis, and reputed 

 to be at least 2,000 years old. Most of these fish 

 belonged to a species of carp still found in the 

 Nile. The animal debris of which they form part 

 is so abundant that it is sold in large quantity for 

 manure. The mummy fish were swathed, either 

 singly or in groups, in linen, the space between 

 being filled with a yellowish earthy matter. When 

 pulverised the fish yielded a light yellow powder, 

 which contained 8 '47 per cent, of nitrogen, and on 

 treatment with water, dissolved to a slight extent, 

 and imparted an acid reaction to the solvent. On 

 ignition the powder left 34-77 per cent, of ash, 

 which had the following composition : Potassium 

 chloride, 2-03; sodium chloride, 23-62; sodium 

 sulphate, 8 - 57 ; calcium and magnesium phosphates, 

 5-81; iron oxide, 1-31; clay and other silicates, 

 57 - 93; and undetermined substances and loss, 

 0-73 per cent. This composition is similar to that 

 of the sandy and clay deposits, impregnated with 

 sodium chloride and sodium sulphate, which are 

 formed naturally by the evaporation of the sodium 

 salt lakes found in the desert parts of Egypt and 

 other parts of North Africa. In the opinion of 

 M. Hugounenq, the fish were probably first clipped 

 into the saline waters of one of these lakes and 

 then wrapped in a layer of the pasty deposit, the 

 presence of the alkali salts effecting preservation. 



Scorpion Venom. — Only about a dozen of the 

 numerous species of scorpions at present known 

 are found in Europe, and their sting is much less 

 venomous than those of the larger Indian and 

 African species. The amount of venom secreted is 

 comparatively small, at least in the European 

 scorpions. Thus Jusset estimated that a specimen 

 of Scorpio occitanus, which occurs in Southern 

 Europe, contained about - 03 grain, which amount, 

 however, was sufficient to kill a moderately large 

 dog. The venom itself is a clear, slightly acid 

 liquid with a pungent smell. It is readily soluble 

 in water, but does not dissolve in alcohol. Its 

 specific gravity is somewhat greater than that of 

 water. The fact of its being coagulated by alcohol 

 points to the presence of albuminous substances 

 similar to those that have been isolated from 

 different snake poisons. The physiological effects 

 of scorpion venom are local inflammation, convul- 

 sions, and paralysis, whilst, according to Jusset's 

 experiments, it arrests circulation by causing the 

 red corpuscles of the blood to adhere together. 

 Bert, however, found that it was only a nerve 

 poison, and had no effect upon the blood of animals 

 killed by it. From certain experiments made by 

 Valentin upon frogs, curare injected prior to the 

 sting appears to be a possible antidote. When 

 taken internally the venom is apparently without 

 action, which is another point of resemblance be- 

 tween it and snake poison. The long-disputed 

 question of the scorpion committing suicide when 

 surrounded by a circle of glowing charcoal is 

 a priori unlikely, since venomous animals are, as 

 a rule, immune against the venom of others of the 

 same species. Professor Bourne, who examined 

 the evictence on the point, came to the conclusion 

 that the real explanation of the so-called suicide 

 is that the scorpion is extremely sensitive to heat, 

 and that the effects attributed by certain observers 

 to the venom were really clue to the heat alone. 



