406 



Scientific Intelligence. 



of carbon, appears to demonstrate, in a positive manner that these com- 

 pounds do not contain oxygen, and are really binary substances. 



(7.) All fluorids, even those of potassium, sodium and calcium, are 

 rapidly decomposed by the vapor of water. 



(8.) Oxygen and chlorine, at a strong heat, decompose fluorid of calcium, 

 and set free a gas which appears to be fluorine. 



(9.) The vapor of sulphur does not act on fluorid of calcium, but 

 this body is decomposed completely by the vapor of sulphid of carbon ; 

 there is formed in this case sulphid of calcium, and probably fluorid of 

 carbon ; the presence of silicious matters facilitates the reaction. 



(10.) The analyses of the principal fluorids which are cited in this 

 memoir, as those of the fluorids of potassium, sodium, calcium, tin, lead 

 and silver, show that the equivalent of fluorine, determined by Berzelius, 

 is exact. 



(11.) All the anhydrous fluorids, when fused, may be decomposed by 

 the galvanic battery, and disengage a gas which appears to be the radical 

 of the fluorids. — Ann. de Chimie et de Physique, xlvii, 5, May, 1856. 



9. On two new methods of producing Urea artificially. — Natanson 

 has succeeded in showing that carbamid and urea are identical. When 

 carbonate of ethyl and ammonia are heated together in a sealed tube to 

 100° C, only urethan is formed ; but at 180°, the urethan is converted, 

 by the excess of ammonia into urea. When phosgene gas and ammo- 

 nia are brought into contact, a white saline mass is formed, first studied 

 in 1838, by Regnault, and which behaves like a mixture of carbamid 

 and sal-ammoniac. Regnault did not succeed in separating the two 

 substances or in proving that urea was present. This Natanson has 

 done, and it is therefore proved that urea and carbamid are identical. 



10. On Acetylamin. — Natanson has more fully described this very 

 interesting alkaloid, which he obtains by distilling the hydrated oxyd of 

 acetyl-ammonium, which at a high temperature is decomposed into acetyl- 

 amin and water, according to the equation 



TT / C4H.3 1 



\ NO, HO — H I + 2HO. 



H J H ) 



The decomposition begins at 150° C. ; the acetylamin distils over at 220°, 

 as a slightly yellow liquid of peculiar ammoniacal persistent smell. It 

 boils at 218°, and is soluble in all proportions in water and alcohol, but 

 not in ether. The density of its vapor was found to be 1*522=4 vols. 

 By union with acids it forms salts of acetyl-ammonium, from which it is 

 very remarkable that potash precipitates the hydrate of the oxyd of 

 acetyl-ammonium and not acetylamin. The author describes an ethyl 

 acetylamin and an anilin acetylamin — Ann. der Chemie und Pharmacie, 

 xcviii, 287, 291, June, 1856. w. o. 



11. The Manufacture of Malleable Iron and Steel without Fuel, (Proc. 

 Brit. Assoc., August, 1856 ; Ath. No. 1504.) — At a meeting of the British 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, held at Cheltenham in August 

 last, Mr. H. Bessemer read a highly interesting and important paper on 

 the manufacture of malleable iron and steel without fuel. For two years 



