the Determinatimi of the AJkalie.^ 

 Carbonate of Lime and Sal-am i 

 JMITH, of Louisville, Ky. 



•if r. )ll()\ving description of a method 

 i.iniig the alkalies, I aim to give the mini 

 .- analyses have given me the exjx'rieiK 

 1 im convinced that analytical chemists, 

 notions, will not resort to any other ki 

 l>c a better method it is yet to be discn 

 't' boracic, hydrofluoric and phosi)horic 

 11 no way interferes witli the process. 

 in acids, I prefer this nu'ihod. in co 



..Uei;^partof 1852, and the 'details\voiv 

 •J.'* Since then I have eui[iloyfil thr j* 

 d reds of times, with the most accurate r- sii 

 points were not completed satisfactorily nnt il 

 the first notice of the method ; these h:i\c hu 

 and I now know of nothing further that is le ^ 



.inepurix)se of this article is to give all the imi^roveiiM'nts. 

 ^vith a minute detail of the manipulations, and of the iiivnni- 

 tions neeessarv, all of which are simple and easily excnited In 

 tie two articles on the subject of alkali detenuiu.iion in min-T- 

 als published in 1853, the whole subject was revieu-ed, and it is 

 needless to return to it now. I then considered the processes 

 Y caustic baryta and its salts, and by hydrofluoric acid, and 

 also detailed some experiments on the' separation of the .hti'er- 

 ent alkalies from each other, and on the microscopic examina- 

 Jion of the same, etc. It was proved that, after the caustic al- 

 kalies, the most powerful agent to attack silicates at a high tem- 

 perature is caustic lime, a fact not new to chemists. But tor 

 tne purpose of arri\dng conveniently by this method at a qnan- 

 t:t.,tire determination of the alkalies in silicates, certain methods of 

 : 'lation, and facts with regard to quantity of material, 

 'ii-e, etc. had to be discovered ; and in them resides the 

 ^ of my process — converting the most difficult parts of 

 'iysis of a silicate into the easiest. ^ 



. -''■^ methods of analysis by caustic baryta and by means ot 

 ■ > carbonate, are now no longer used, for various reasons tullv 

 Jtailed by Rose in his Analytical Chemistry'- The meth-xl 

 ^'11 extensively employed is that with hydrofluonc acid, pro- 



* Si'ortiy after my first publication in this country, M. St Claire I>eville made 



