84' 



descent tube ; the ignition of the pure earth or its carbonate or nitrate 

 with sugar ; or of the tartrate and acetate per se. Hence resulted 

 carburets, which, after washing with acetic acid and rubbing on a 

 porcelain tile, display the lustre of plumbago, intermingled with metal- 

 lic spangles, of a brilliancy rivalling that of the perfect metals. The 

 carburets, or the spangles thus obtained, are insoluble in acetic or 

 chlorohydric acid, but yield to aqua regia. The carburets are 

 excellent conductors of the voltaic fluid, as evolved by a series of 

 100 pairs; and, by deflagration in a receiver filled with hydrogen, 

 yield metallic particles, which, rubbed on a porcelain tile, form spangles 

 of a metallic brilliancy. By igniting antimony with tartrate of lime, 

 Dr. Hare had procured an alloy of that metal with calcium, and ex- 

 pected by analogous means to alloy the metals of the earths with 

 various metals proper. He believed that no effort to obtain calcium 

 prior to his, had been more successful than the abortive experiment 

 of Sir H. Davy, in which the tube broke before the distillation of the 

 mercury was completed, with which the calcium had been amalga- 

 mated in the voltaic circuit, agreeably to the process previously em- 

 ployed by Berzelius. Dr. Hare had produced amalgams by ex- 

 posing the chloride, or sulphide of calcium to the circuit; and, by 

 distillation in an iron alembic, under the protection of a current of 

 desiccated hydrogen, had isolated a portion of calcium, not however 

 endowed with the whiteness or the lustre of that metal, as when 

 otherwise fairly evolved. When distilled in glass tubes or retorts, 

 he had found the amalgam to leave only a film upon the glass, de- 

 void of any metallic attribute; although in one instance, to secure the 

 absence of oxygen, he had mixed an amalgam of ammonium with that 

 of calcium. Hence he inferred, that even though the tube of Davy had 

 remained unbroken, that distinguished chemist would not have found a 

 residue of calcium, uncombined with the elements of the glass. That 

 the spangles obtained by Dr. Hare from lime, were calcium, was 

 ascertained by their solution in aqua regia, and the successive subse- 

 quent addition of ammonia and oxalic acid ; the resulting precipitate 

 being ignited, then redissolved and again precipitated as at first. No 

 precipitate ensued from the addition of ammonia prior to that of the 

 oxalic acid. Sulphydric acid produced a slight discoloration, but 

 gave no precipitate. That the substances, resulting from the ignition 

 of the carbonate with sugar, and washing with acetic acid, contained 

 calcium in the metallic state, combined with carbon, was evident from 

 their being insoluble in acetic or chlorohydric acid ; from the deposi- 



