Chemistry and Physics. Ill 



duced by the action of certain reducing metals upon antimony 

 solutions as mixtures of black and metallic antimony. The prep- 

 aration of yellow antimony is difficult, since it rapidly blackens 

 at temperatures above —90°. It is formed in small quantities 

 by the action of oxygen upon SbH 3 at —90° or —91°, just above 

 its freezing point. It is formed also by the reaction of chlorine 

 and antimony hydride when dissolved in liquid ethane at —100°. 

 The authors call attention to the interesting fact that while anti- 

 mony, arsenic, and phosphorus have similar allotropic modifica- 

 tions, the stable form at ordinary temperatures is the metallic one 

 with antimony, the black one with arsenic, and the yellow one 

 (in absence of light) with phosphorus. — Berichte, xxxviii, 3837. 



H. L. W. 



3. Quantitative Determination of Bismuth. — Two articles 

 have been recently published in which the determination of bis- 

 muth as the phosphate, BiP0 4 , is recommended. Staehler and 

 Schaffenberg find that the metal may be completely precipi- 

 tated by adding tribasic sodium phosphate to the nitric acid or 

 hydrochloric acid solution until the stronger acid has been 

 replaced by phosphoric acid, since in the latter the precipitate is 

 entirely insoluble. The precipitation is. made at a boiling tem- 

 perature by the addition of boiling ten per cent sodium phos- 

 phate solution. If the liquid becomes alkaline, it should be 

 acidified with a little nitric acid. After boiling a short time the 

 precipitate settles well, and then, while the liquid is hot, the sub- 

 stance is collected on a Gooch filter, and washed with a one per 

 cent solution of nitric acid to which a trace of ammonium nitrate 

 is added. After drying, the precipitate is ignited for ten min- 

 utes over a large Bunsen burner, and is then weighed. Test 

 analyses gave excellent results, and it was shown that bismuth 

 can thus be separated from copper, cadmium, mercury, and sil- 

 ver, but- not from lead, since lead phosphate is but slightly solu- 

 ble in phosphoric acid. 



H. Salkowski, for determining bismuth as phosphate, recom- 

 mends operating in a weak nitric acid solution, in which case the 

 separation from Cu, Cd, Hg, Ag, Pb, Fe, Mn, Co, Ni, Zn, Cv, and 

 Al may be effected with good, or in some cases with only satis- 

 factory results. In this case, where a strong acid is present, 

 hydrochloric acid and other chlorides must be absent. Atten- 

 tion is called to the fact that the almost complete insolubility of 

 bismuth phosphate in weak nitric acid affords a very satisfactory 

 method for the qualitative detection of bismuth. — Berichte, 

 xxxviii, 3862 and 3943. h. l. w. 



4. The Distillation of Gold. — Moissan finds that gold can be 

 readily distilled in the electric furnace, that its boiling-point is 

 higher than that of copper, but lower than that of calcium oxide. 

 When the vapor is condensed on a cold surface, the metal is 

 found in the filiform condition, or in very small microscopic 

 crystals. When alloys of gold and copper, or of gold and tin, are 

 distilled, the copper and the tin distill more rapidly than the gold. 



