472 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



sulphuretted hydrogen, for in conducting this operation, he obtained 

 a carmine-red alkali, which fused by heat in close vessels. 



When benzin is successively treated with nitric acid, sulphuretted 

 hydrogen and sulphuric acid, sulphanilic acid is obtained ; and it 

 may also be procured in the following manner : — boil sulphobenzidic 

 acid with nitric acid, and a new acid is obtained, the ammoniacal 

 salt of which consists of SO 3 C 6 H 5 X + H 3 N ; it is therefore nitrated 

 sulphobenzidate of ammonia ; by treating this with sulphuretted hy- 

 drogen, sulphanilate of ammonia is formed. 



On pouring a little nitric acid into nitrated phtalate of ammonia, a 

 salt is deposited, which contains C 8 H 5 X0 4 + H 3 N + 2Aq. By heat- 

 ing this salt till it begins to fuse, it loses water, and is converted 

 into nitrated phtalimide, containing C 8 H 4 XNO a . — Comptes Rendus, 

 Octobre 14, 1850. 



ON THE DISTILLATION OF MERCURY BY HIGH PRESSURE 

 STEAM. BY M. VIOLETTE. 



This new process for the distillation of mercury, consists in im- 

 mersing the mass to be distilled in a current of the vapour of water, 

 heated from 350° to 400° Centigrade : the vapour acts at once as the 

 heating agent and mechanical agent ; it first heats the metal so as to 

 produce distillation, and then drives before it and draws the mercu- 

 rial vapour, the reproduction of which it facilitates ; it hastens the 

 distillation, just as a hot current of air increases the evaporation of 

 water ; the aqueous vapours, charged with mercurial vapour, are con- 

 densed together in a common refrigeratory ; the metal separates at 

 the bottom of the receiver, while the condensed water occupies the 

 upper part. It is curious to observe the liquid thread which flows 

 from the refrigeratory ; two currents or threads are distinguishable, 

 an upper one which is water and below is the mercurial thread ; there 

 is a continuous current of both. No bumping occurs, and the ope- 

 ration goes on as quietly and as easily as the distillation of water. 



The apparatus employed by the author in these experiments, con- 

 sists of, — 1st, a cast iron cylindrical retort, receiving the vessel which 

 contains the mercury ; 2ndly, an iron worm, which, being heated, the 

 vapour of water circulates in it, and being heated to a proper degree, 

 enters the retort, traverses it from one end to the other, the mercury 

 being immersed in it : it then escapes, with the mercurial vapour, 

 and both are condensed in a refrigeratory. 



The author gives in a series of tables the results which he has 

 obtained by a series of experiments relating to the distillation of 

 mercury, both alone and amalgamated ; he states the quantity of 

 vapour necessary, and the ceconomical advantages of the new process, 

 which he thus details : — 



1. Facility of the Operation. — Simple ebullition and the distilla- 

 tion of water are substituted for the difficult and dangerous distilla- 

 tion of mercury ; in which there is more trouble in managing the 

 fire, more danger of breakage of the apparatus, more difficulty in re- 

 moving the metal, more wear of the retort; whereas in the new 



