Zirconia for the Ozy-hydrogen Tright. 2i1 
I have employed the following device. The platinum crucible 
being placed in a triangle of platinum wire supported on the 
ring of a retort stand, a graphite crucible having a diameter of 
five centimeters was taken and an opening fifteen to twent 
millimeters in diameter made in its bottom. It was then 
Coal gas being turned into the burner, ignited, and the bellows 
thrown into action, seven clean sharp pointed blowpipe flames 
are produced which give a very intense heat. 
e mass in the platinum crucible having been fused and 
the fusion continued until it begins to assume a pasty state, it 
1s again liquified according to the plan of Berzelius by the 
addition of caustic soda about equal in weight to that of zircon. 
The heat being again applied the disintegration of the silicate 
continues, and if necessary a second addition of caustic soda 
may be made. 
7th. The contents of the platinum crucible having cooled, 
separate them therefrom, and place in a beaker, add two hun- 
dred cubic centimeters of distilled water; any portions of the 
fused material that adhere to the walls or cover of the crucible 
are also to be removed by a jet of distilled water and added to 
the contents of the beaker. An occasional stirring will pro- 
mote the disintegration of the mass, which is completed in the 
course of a couple of hours, silicate of sodium, the excess of 
sodium carbonate and soda dissolving, and leaving a white 
powder, which according to Dr. Melliss is composed of zirco- 
_ ium oxide, silicium anhydride, and sodium oxide, together 
with any zircon that may have escaped disintegration. 
