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 LXIX. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



ON THE OXIDE OF A NEW METAL : WASIUM. 



JN examining a Swedish mineral containing silica, alumina, yttria, 

 oxide of iron, cerium, didymium, lime, manganese, and several other 

 metals or metallic oxides, M. J. F. Bahr observed what appeared to 

 be the oxide of a new metal resembling aluminium. The proportion 

 of the new metal in the mineral seemed to be not higher than one 

 per cent. For its extraction a very tedious process was employed, 

 of which the first stage was solution in hydrochloric acid, and one 

 of the latter stages precipitation with oxalate of an alkali, which 

 throws down oxalate of the oxide of the new metal. The oxide itself, 

 prepared by igniting the oxalate, was a white powder very slightly 

 tinged with red. On treatment with nitric acid, the red tinge be- 

 comes somewhat yellowish, but the oxide seems to be otherwise 

 altogether unattached by the nitric acid. 



An attempt to prepare an anhydrous chloride by exposing the 

 oxide to the conjoint action of charcoal and chlorine did not succeed : 

 at any rate no chloride of the new metal could be made to sublime. 



The author proposes to call the new metal Wasium, after the god 

 Wasa, and the mineral in which the metal was found Wasite. The 

 symbol proposed is Ws. 



The properties of the oxide are the following. Prepared by igni- 

 tion of the nitrate, it appears as a brown sandy powder of the specific 

 gravity 3*726. Before the blowpipe, it gives with borax a clear and 

 colourless glass, in both oxidizing and reducing flames ; with micro- 

 cosmic salt also a clear and colourless bead. Examinations of its 

 spectrum were without result. — PoggendorfFs Annalen, 1863, No. 8. 



In the Comptes Rendus for 2nd November of this year, M. T. Nickles 

 maintains that the oxide of wasium of M. Bahr is nothing more nor 

 less than impureyttria — yttria containing some didymium or terbium. 



INDIUM, ANOTHER NEW METAL. 



F. Reich and Th. Richter announce a new metal which they have 

 found in examining a specimen of arsenical pyrites in the mining 

 laboratory of Freiberg. The chloride of indium is volatile, and was 

 obtained along with chloride of zinc. The spectrum of the new 

 metal contains a line of indigo-blue light more refrangible than the 

 strontium blue line. There is a second faint blue line which almost, 

 but not quite, coincides with the blue line of potash. 



The reactions of the new metal, which the discoverers call Indium, 

 are the following : — Sulphuretted hydrogen does not give any pre- 

 cipitate in the acid solution of the chloride. Ammonia throws down 

 the hydrated oxide from the solution of the chloride. 



The dry chloride of indium is deliquescent. The oxide of indium 

 gives a bead of indium when it is ignited with charcoal and soda. 

 The metal itself gives a yellow sublimate when it is heated before the 

 blowpipe : this sublimate gives no characteristic reaction with cobalt 

 solution. The metal is lead grey, ductile, and very soft. — Journal 

 fur Prakt. Chemie, September 1863. 



Eminent chemists on the Continent consider that indium is not a 

 delusion. — J. A. Wanklyn. 



