206 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
aware How dependent upon the cHemist the Husbandman is. It may, there- 
fore, interest our readers to know the character of the mineral manures 
employed by our neighbours on the other side of the English Channel. The 
manure applied at the Emperor’s model farm, near Vincennes, by M. Ville, 
is prepared as follows : — 
Slaked lime ..... 
200 kilos, cost 
2 fr. 
Phosphate of lime 
400 „ „ 
80 „ 
Nitrate of soda .... 
500 „ „ 
200 „ 
Potasse raffinee (carbonate of potash) 
200 „ „ 
190 „ 
1300 kilos. 
472 fr. 
The above is the quantity required per hectare. Vide Chemical News , 
February 8. 
Labels for Reagent Bottles. — Now that the new notation and nomencla- 
ture are coming so much into general use, chemists can adopt no better 
method of familiarizing themselves and their pupils with the new system 
than by placing the new labels on their reagent bottles. In this way, their 
eyes being frequently turned on the bottles, they cannot fail to substitute 
the new formula and terms for the old ones. We are, therefore, glad to 
state that a very perfect set of new labels, well printed and gummed, has 
been issued by Messrs. Jackson & Townson, of Bishopsgate Street 
W ithin. 
Separation of Strychnine from Morphine. — Bichromate of potash, when 
used as a test for strychnine, is ineffective if morphine be present. This is 
a matter of great importance, and which toxicologists should bear in mind. 
However, a remedy has been proposed by M. Rodgers, who states, in the 
Journal de Chimie Medicale , that the two bases may be separated by chloro- 
form or by benzol, which dissolves the strychnine, but only partly dissolves 
the morphine. 
New Filtering Apparatus. — The Chemical News states that an economic 
filter and percolator, of an ingenious and useful kind, has been devised by 
Mr. F. W. Hart. By a peculiar combination of syphon-tube and filtering 
medium, any test-liquid may be drawn from a bottle in a state of limpidity, 
and, if necessary, returned again turbid to the stock for refiltration. By 
slight modifications, the apparatus is used for filtering alcoholic ethereal or 
caustic alkaline solutions out of contact with the air, and it can be adapted 
to a water bath, so as to admit of the filtration of gelatinous liquids. The 
apparatus is specially contrived for use amongst photographers, but it is 
evident that there are many uses in chemical, pharmaceutical, and manufac- 
turing laboratories to which this apparatus can be economically applied. 
Glycerine in Crystals. — Mr. W. Crookes, F.R.S., has described the singu- 
lar phenomenon of crystalline glycerine. The specimen in which the crystals 
were discovered had come by rail from Germany, and it is thought that the 
vibration of the railway journey and the extreme cold of the season con- 
duced to the production of a solid state. Mr Crookes gives the following 
account of a portion of the solid crystalline mass : — u A large block of this 
solid glycerine, weighing several hundredweight, suspended in a somewhat 
warm room, took two or three days to liquefy, and a thermometer inserted 
