ISO Foreign Literature and Science. 



heulandite in the form of its crystals ; the physical characters 

 and chemical compositions of both species being almost pre- 

 cisely the same. Mr. Levy has demonstrated that the forms 

 and angles of epistilbite are derivable from the primitive form 

 of heulandite, by simple and frequently occurring decrements. 

 — Phil. Mag. and Annals Philosophy, Dec. 1 827. 



43. Separation of Elaine from Oils. — M. Pechet has pro- 

 posed a new process for the above purpose, which is founded 

 upon the property possessed by a strong solution of soda, of 

 saponifying stearine in the cold, without acting upon elaine. 

 Shake the alkaline solution with the oil, then warm it slight- 

 ly to separate the elaine from the soap of stearine ; it is then 

 passed through a cloth, and the elaine is then separated by 

 decantation from the alkaline solution. This process always 

 succeeds, except with rancid oils or such as have been heat- 

 ed. — Ann. de Chim. 



44. Oxide of Carbon. — M. Dumas has proposed the follow- 

 ing method of preparing this gas : he mixes salt of sorrel with 

 five or six times its weight of concentrated sulphuric acid ; 

 the mixture, when heated in a proper apparatus, yielded a 

 considerable quantity of a gas composed of equal parts of 

 carbonic acid gas and oxide of carbon ; after absorbing the 

 Carbonic acid gas by potash, the oxide of carbon remains in a 

 state of purity. 



This result will be easily comprehended by supposing that 

 the sulphuric acid seizes the potash and the water, and that 

 the oxalic acid being incapable of existing under these cir- 

 cumstances, is resolved into carbonic acid and carbonic oxide. 



This process may be successfully employed for examining 

 the salt of sorrel of commerce. Bitartrate of potash, treated 

 in the same manner gives oxide of carbon, carbonic acid and 

 sulphurous acid, and the liquor becomes black by the depo- 

 sition of carbon. The salt of sorrel, on the contrary, never 

 yields sulphurous acid, and the sulphuric acid employed re- 

 mains perfectly limpid and colorless. — Ibid. Sept. 1826. 



45. Enormous Fossil Vertebra. — In the neighbourhood of 

 Bridport, in Dorsetshire, a short time ago, a laborer digging 

 for an ingredient used in mortar, found a vertebra of an enor- 

 mous animal, larger than that of the whale, and supposed to 

 belong to a land animal. This curiosity is in the possession 



