106 Chronicles of Science. [Jan., 



condensed gas. He also states that the vapour of boiling mercury 

 is as little a conductor of electricity as hydrogen is, and that there- 

 fore the non-conductibility of hydrogen for electricity cannot be 

 regarded as an objection to its being a metal. 



M. Chevrier has studied the action of vapour of sulphur on 

 various gases. With oxygen it forms a slightly explosive mixture 

 under some conditions ; but usually the vapour of sulphur burns off 

 quietly. With hydrogen it yields sulphuretted hydrogen gas very 

 abundantly. With nitrogen the author found no action. With 

 proto- and bin-oxide of nitrogen it forms sulphurous acid ; nitrogen 

 is set free, and if a frigorific mixture be applied to the apparatus 

 containing the mixed gases and vapours, large so-called lead- 

 chamber crystals are obtained. Oxide of carbon yields, with vapour 

 of sulphur, oxysulphide of carbon. 



When sodium is thrown upon water, the hydrogen does not 

 kindle, as is well known, unless the water be warmed, or the metal 

 confined to one spot by blotting-paper. Mr. T. Bloxam, lecturer 

 on Chemical and Natural Philosophy, Cheltenham College, has, 

 however, found that if sodium be dropped upon nitric acid of specific 

 gravity 1'36 (ordinary commercial), the hydrogen burns with 

 ease ; but if the acid be diluted, this result ceases. The hydrogen 

 ceases to kindle when the acid is diluted to specific gravity 1 *056. 

 The residue contains a fair amount of ammonia. 



Dr. Emmerhng has been carrying on experiments on the action 

 of water on glass and porcelain. The leading features of his results 

 are the following : — The action of boiling liquids upon glass vessels 

 is proportionate to the duration of time of boiling; it is propor- 

 tionate to the surface which is in contact with the boiling fluid ; it 

 is independent of the quantity of fluid which evaporates during a 

 given time ; it decreases with the decrease of temperature of the 

 solution ; alkalies, even in dilute solutions, attack glass very strongly; 

 acids, excepting sulphuric acid, generally act less than pure water. 

 Among the salts, those act most energetically whose acids produce 

 insoluble salts with lime, e.g. sulphate and phosphate of soda, car- 

 bonate of soda, and oxalate of ammonia, the action of each of which 

 increases with the degree of concentration of the solution ; those salts 

 which form in water, readily soluble lime-salts, act less strongly 

 than pure water alone, and with the greater degree of concentration 

 of these salts the action decreases; Bohemian glass stands acids 

 better than glass containing soda ; Berlin porcelain is only per- 

 ceptibly acted upon by alkalies. 



Dr. H.. Schwartz has observed that when the pulverulent 

 metallic zinc which is deposited in the tubes of the Belgian zinc 

 smelting-furnaces is mixed with amorphous phosphorus in powder, 

 and this mixture is gently heated in a hard glass combustion-tube, 



