234 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
Chemical Rhymes. — If science cannot produce poetry, at least it is able to 
do something in rhyme, as the following quotation from the Chemical News , 
February 2, will prove : — 
“ Among the acids there were Itaconic 
Oxalic, Cyanuric, and Phocenic, 
With Parabanic, Gallic, and Euchronic, 
Saccharic, Kakodylic, and Comenic, 
Melanie, Citric, Kinic, and Myronic, 
Sulphomethylic, Tannic, Sulphophenic, 
Taraaric, Xanthic, Pectic, and Cerotic, 
With Mucic, Malic, also Carbazotic.” 
— From “ Percy Villiers ,” a poem by John Newlands, F.C.S. 
The Purification of Coal-gas. — We have received an important essay on 
this subject, written by Professor A. Anderson, of Queen’s College, Birming- 
ham. It relates chiefly to the methods discovered by the author for the 
successful removal of bisulphide of carbon and the sulphuretted hydrocarbons, 
by means of the sulphides of ammonium. By washing the gas with this 
compound, a very large proportion (nearly 35 per cent.) of the sulphur impu- 
rities are removed, and the illuminating power of the gas, so far from being 
diminished, becomes actually increased. Professor Anderson records several 
carefully conducted experiments, all of which prove the truth of the conclu- 
sions at which he has arrived. We believe we are correct in stating that his 
method is now in operation at the Taunton and other local gas-works, and 
that it is highly spoken of by those who have given it careful consideration. 
His pamphlet should be in the hands of all managers of gas-works ; it is 
eminently a practical guide to the purification of coal-gas. 
The late Mr. Brande. — It is with much regret that we have to record the 
death of this veteran chemist, which took place at Tunbridge Wells on the 
11th of February. Professor Brande had reached the ripe old age of 
81 years. 
A new Test for TJric Acid has been suggested by Herr Dr. Dietrich, who 
has discovered that when a bromated alkaline solution of hyposulphite of 
soda is added to urine, it gives rise to a brilliant rose-red colour. The colour 
disappears after some time, and quickly on the addition of more of the 
bromated solution. It probably, he says, depends on the formation of 
alloxantin. The experiment answers well with serpents’ dung, but is difficult 
to recognize with pigeons’ dung and guano, because the substances themselves 
are of a dirty-brown colour. This test may, in many cases, replace the 
murexide test, since it is made with little trouble and in a short time. — • 
Zeitschrift fur Analyt. Chem., p. 176 ; and Chemical News , Feb. 23. 
The Decomposition of Iodide of Potassium. — M. Payen read a paper before 
the French Academy (February 5) proving that air has more to do with the 
decomposition of the iodide than is generally supposed. He showed that 
when a cold saturated solution of the iodide to which a very minute quantity 
of acetic, nitric, or oxalic acid had been added, was exposed to the air, it 
gradually decomposed, the iodine being at the same time liberated ; but when 
the same mixture was kept sheltered from the air, no decomposition took 
place. The author attributes the result to the influence of the oxygen 
tending to oxidize the potassium, and of the acid exerting its affinity for the 
