254 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
far more readily ignited than the latter. In the first form, the carbonic 
oxide amounts to ten per cent., but in the second it does not extend beyond 
three in the hundred. The prevailing belief that the results of the explo- 
sion of gunpowder are carbonic acid, nitrogen, and sulphuret of potassium, 
is quite erroneous, and unsupported by the conclusions to be drawn from 
accurate analysis. The following compounds have all been detected as 
products of combustion : — Sulphate , nitrate , hyposulphite , and carbonate of 
potash; sulphide and sulphocyanide of potassium, oxygen , hydrogen , nitrogen , 
charcoal , and sulphur ; sesquicarbonate of ammonia , carbonic acid , and 
oxide; marsh gas, and sulphuretted hydrogen. — L. von Karolzi, in Poggen - 
dorff’s Annalen. 
Mauveine is a term which has been proposed for a new base, by Mr. 
W. H. Perkin, in a paper lately read before the Royal Society. It is pre- 
pared by adding a solution of hydrate of potassium to a boiling solution 
of commercial crystallized mauve. The latter immediately assumes a 
purple colour on the addition of acids, and on standing deposits a crystalline 
body, which, after being washed with alcohol and then with water, appears 
as a nearly black glistening substance ; this is the base for which the new 
term has been devised. It is soluble in alcohol, forming a violet solution, but 
nearly insoluble in ether and benzine. It decomposes ammonia salts with 
facility. Its analysis gives it the formula — 
(C-lS)of C a7 h 34 n 4 
The following salts of this base have already been obtained and investi- 
gated : — Acetate, carbonate, hydrochlorate, hydrobromate, hydriodate, and 
double salts, with gold and platinum. Mr. Perkin is now engaged in expe- 
riments with a view to ascertain the replaceability of the hydrogen, in order 
to throw some light on the constitution of this base. 
Common alcohol and alcohol of olefiant gas, though very generally believed 
to be substances which, though analogous, are still very distinct in regard 
to characters and reactions, have been shown by M. Berthelot to be identical 
bodies. There is no distinction physical or chemical between either these 
alcohols or their ethers. The ethyl-sulphate of barytes obtained from 
ordinary alcohol is exactly the same as that derived from the alcohol of 
olefiant gas ; but this is not all. When the olefiant alcohol is treated with 
chromic acid, it gives rise to ether and acetic acid, which are in no way 
distinguishable from those produced in a similar manner from ordinary 
alcohol. — Comptes Rendus, Nov. 9th, 1863. 
Action of Nascent Hydrogen on Arsenic. — All our readers are familiar 
with the fact that acids disengage hydrogen from water in the presence of 
zinc or iron, and that when this gas comes in contact with solid arsenic, a 
new compound is generated which contains both substances [As H 3 [|. 
There is, however, a decided exception to this rule in the case of nitric 
acid and its derivatives, which, in giving rise to ammonia, cause a solid 
and not a gaseous hydruret of arsenic to be formed, whose formula is, 
As 2 Hj, and which is either deposited on the zinc, or floats in flocculi 
through the liquid. This is the case not only when nitric acid is present, 
but when the solution contains any quantity of a nitrous compound. 
There are two obstacles to the formation of the solid body : the presence 
of such metals, as lead, which coat the zinc, and of organic matter. It 
