( 240 ) [April, 



5. CHEMISTKY. 



{Including the Proceedings of the Chemical Society.) 



The announcement we made in our last Chronicle of the discovery 

 of a new metal, hy MM. Meinecke and Kossler, was it seems pre- 

 mature. The mineral they analyzed was a specimen of phosphorite 

 which contained a trace of copper, and the blue line they saw in 

 the spectrum was given by this metal. 



An easy and cheap mode of preparing oxygen on a large scale 

 is a great desideratum. A method has recently* been published by 

 Mallet, which deserves attention on this account. The inventor 

 avails himself of the fact that cuprous chloride absorbs oxygen from 

 the air to become converted into the oxychloride, which oxygen is 

 driven off on the application of heat. To carry out his process the 

 author mixes the cuprous chloride with sand or kaolin, and places 

 it with a little water in a horizontal iron retort, where it is agitated 

 while a current of air is made to pass. After an hour or two the 

 formation of the oxychloride is complete ; then heat is applied and 

 the oxygen collected by suitable means. The oxychloride may 

 afterwards be revived by a repetition of the previous treatment. A 

 kilogramme of the cuprous chloride, it is said, will give with each 

 operation from 28 to 30 litres of oxygen. The loss of material is 

 very slight, 100 grammes of the chloride only losing 9 grammes in 

 the repeated revivifications necessary to furnish 36 litres of gas. 



In a similar apparatus the same agent may be used to furnish 

 chlorine. For this purpose, hydrochloric acid gas is made to 

 traverse the retort, by which the cuprous is converted into cupric 

 chloride. The latter, when heated to redness, gives off half its 

 chlorine, leaving the lower chloride to be revived as before. The 

 author suggests this process as a means of utilizing the hydrochloric 

 acid gas from soda furnaces. 



Another process for obtaining oxygen is given by Winkler. 

 Binoxide of manganese, when heated with sulphuric acid, yields 

 oxygen ; but the sulphate of manganese produced, forms a hard cake 

 which is apt to cause the fracture of the retort. Winkler therefore 

 suggests the use of bisulphate of soda in the place of sulphuric 

 acid. A mixture of three parts of the dry bisulpbate and one of 

 manganese will answer well. The bisulphate readily fuses with the 

 heat of a spirit-lamp, and remains liquid to the end of the operation, 

 pure oxygen being quietly evolved. 



Dragendorff furnishes us with a ready means of distinguishing 



* ' Comptes Rendus,' Feb. 4, 1867. 



