396 



Scientific Intelligence. 



diately after this solution takes place, separation of black anti- 

 mony begins. — Berichte, xxxvii, 898. h. l. w. 



3. Action of Carbon upon Lime at the Temperature of Fus- 

 ing Platinum. — Moissan has heated a mixture of sugar-charcoal 

 and quick-lime in the proportions for the formation of CaC 2 , in a 

 tube made of fused quartz, by means of an oxygen and illumi- 

 nating gas blowpipe flame, to the temperature at which platinum 

 fuses, and has found that at this temperature not a trace of cal- 

 cium carbide is formed. In this connection the observation was 

 made that silica possesses, even below its point of fusion, an 

 appreciable vapor tension, for at 1200° there were slowly formed 

 upon the lime small needles of an insoluble calcium silicate, a 

 circumstance which prevents the frequent use of a tube of this 

 kind. It was observed also that crystals of calcium carbide were 

 not changed at the fusing-point of platinum, while platinum wire 

 melted at once in solidifying calcium carbide. — Comptes Hendus, 

 cxxxviii, 243. h. l. w. 



4. Two Sodium-Ferric Sulphates. — Skrabal has prepared 

 two double salts, one basic and the other normal in composition, 

 which are interesting from the fact that they correspond to 

 known minerals. 



The compound FeS0 4 OH . Na 2 S0 4 . 3H 2 0, which agrees in 

 composition with the mineral sideronatrite, is a pale yellow pre- 

 cipitate formed by heating a solution of 50 g. of ferric sulphate 

 acidified with 10 cc of dilute (1:6) sulphuric acid and 300 g. of 

 Glauber's salt. The other compound, Fe 2 (S0 4 ) 3 . 3]STa 2 S0 4 . 6H 2 0, 

 which corresponds to the mineral ferronatrite, was prepared from 

 a very concentrated solution of 10 g. of ferric sulphate, 100 g. of 

 Glauber's salt and 15 cc of concentrated sulphuric acid. This 

 compound is a colorless precipitate. — Zeitschr. anorgan. Chem., 

 xxxviii, 319. h. l. w. 



5. * Grundlinien der Anorganischen Chemie, von Wilhelm 

 Ostwald. Zweite, verbesserte Auflage. 8vo, pp. 808. Leipzig, 

 1904 (Engelmann). — The first edition of this text-book of ele- 

 mentary inorganic chemistry appeared in 1900. The prompt ap- 

 pearance of this new edition is due in some measure to the fact 

 that 4000 copies of the first edition were sold within three years, 

 and no further comment is needed to show the approval of the 

 chemical public, in Germany at least, in regard to the treatment 

 of elementary chemistry from the standpoint of modern physical 

 chemistry. 



No very marked changes have been made in the new edition — 

 the increase in volume amounts to thirteen pages. The author 

 continues to maintain his curious opposition to the atomic and 

 molecular hypotheses, although in this edition he calls molecular 

 weights "molar-weights" in place of the still more ambiguous 

 "normal-weights" of the other edition. It seems entirely incon- 

 sistent that he should believe so implicitly in ions but not in 

 atoms and molecules. 



Some of the numerous errors of the original book have now 



