238 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



Ms 



numerous investigations which this philosopher has made in elec- 

 tricity, and his great practical acquaintance with voltaic apparatus, 

 give great value to his opinions on the origin of voltaic elec- 

 tricity. 



" In beginning the memoir here alluded to, he has done me the 

 honour to mention that I am one of those who have most strongly 

 pleaded for fifteen years in favour of the chemical theory ; he has 

 repeated most of the experiments upon which I have rested my 

 opinion, and he has found them correct. I hope soon to be able, in 

 like manner, to take up the experiments lately made in Germany in 

 favour of the theory of contact, in order to show that they are in 

 no way contrary to the chemical theory, and to add to this theory 

 some new direct proofs. At the meeting of the Societe de Phys. et 

 d'Hist. Nat. de Geneve, on the 21st of May last, I read a memoir on 

 this subject, which will appear in one of our earliest Numbers." — 

 A. de la Rive, Bibliotheque Universelle. 



HYDROMELLONIC ACID AND METALLIC OXIDES. 



The hydromellonic acid is decomposed by metallic oxides into a 

 metallic mellonuret and water ; it decomposes the carbonates both 

 in the dry state and in solution, and the iodides and bromides on 

 fusion. Its compounds with the alkaline metallic oxides and with 

 the earths are insoluble in water. 



Mellonuret of Potassium. — Prepared by fusing sulphocyanuret of 

 potassium in a porcelain crucible at a red heat, and adding mellon 

 as long as an evolution of sulphuret of carbon and sulphur is re- 

 marked. A brown opake glassy mass is obtained, which dissolved 

 in boiling water yields, as the solution cools, hydrated crystals of 

 mellonuret of potassium. It may also be formed by fusing 5 parts 

 of chloride of antimony (butter of antimony) with 8 parts of sul- 

 phocyanuret of potassium, and removing by boiling water the soluble 

 portions of the residue after the escape of the sulphur and the sul- 

 phuret of carbon. It is also formed as a secondary product in the 

 process for the preparation of the sulphocyanuret of potassium ; it 

 is present in the solution in small, but in the residue in larger quan- 

 tity, from which it may be removed by boiling water. 



Prop. — Crystallizes from water in colourless fine needles, which 

 unite into dense flakes ; a concentrated solution congeals to a soft 

 white mass, which is with difficulty dissolved by cold water ; the 

 crystals contain water of crystallization, which they lose at a high 

 temperature ; they then fuse without loss of weight to a clear yellow 

 glass. The solution is tasteless, and precipitates all earthy and 

 metallic salts. 



By fusing sulphocyanuret of potassium with mellon, the sulpho- 

 cyanogen is liberated, and is instantly decomposed by the high tem- 

 perature into sulphuret of carbon, sulphur, and mellon. By fusing 

 1 eq. chloride of antimony with 4 eq. sulphocyanuret of potassium, 

 there are formed 3 eq. chloride of potassium 3 KC1, 1 eq. sulphuret 

 of antimony Sb 2 S 3 , 2 eq. sulphuret of carbon 2 CS 2 , 1 eq. mellonuret 

 of potassium KC fi N 4 , and 1 eq. of free sulphur. By fusing ferrocy- 



