SCIENTIFIC SUMMAEY. 
377 
native. Its surroundings are most appropriate. Both in scenery and vege- 
tation there is a strikino; resemblance to the Scotch Highlands. Gaelic is the 
common lanmiag-e, and all the genuine manners and customs of the Hicrh- 
landers. We really think that Professor Gray’s enthusiasm has led him a 
little too far ; surely the fact that the Scotch have settled in any locality is no 
reason why heather should spring up there. The Irish emigrants often take 
the hazel and shamrock with them from their native shores. May not the 
Higlilanders have a similar predilection for the heather ? 
CHEMISTRY. 
The Preparation of Cyanide of Phosphorus. — Herr W'elirhane thus de- 
scribes the method adopted by him to prepare this substance. A mixture 
of cyanide of silver and chloride of phosphorus is heated in a sealed tube. 
The mixture must be made in a strong tube, which is kept well cooled ; the 
addition of a small quantity of either chloroform or ether helping to delay 
the reaction. After being sealed, the tube is heated to 130“ or 140° for six 
or eight hours, and the contents are then distilled through a stream of 
carbonic acid. Long needles and thick tabular crystals of cyanide of phos- 
phorus condense in the neck, and having been allowed to cool, may be 
readily removed with a glass rod. The crystals inflame when touched "with a 
warm glass rod. In moist air they decompose, giving rise to phosphorus, 
and phosphorous and cyanic acids. They are sparmgly soluble in ether, 
chloroform, sulphide of carbon, and chloride of phosphorus, and are readily 
decomposed by water into the same compounds as those into which they are 
- resolved in a moist atmosphere. — Vide notice of Annalen der Ghemie for 
December, in Chemical Neivs, No. 274. 
Oxidation of India-rubber. — At a meeting of the Chemical Society (Feb. 
16), Mr. J. Spiller pointed out some facts he had observed m relation to the 
action of the atmosphere upon india-rubber. It is generally thought that 
this substance wiU resist the action of the air almost entirely. Mr. Spiller’s 
examination proved that the india-rubber employed in a manufactured material 
kno'wn as “ Patent Waterproof Felt,” is liable to alteration as the result of 
oxidizing processes. This felt is employed in the exportation of silk and other 
valuable fabrics, which would be much injured by exposure to damp. It ap- 
pears to be prepared by cementing together the fibres of cotton-wool by means 
of india-rubber paste, so that when the naphtha which holds the gum in solu- 
tion has evaporated, a thin layer of solid india-rubber is left behind. Some 
of this material which Mr. Spiller had purchased years ago, and which had 
been laid aside, was found to have undergone a change of physical properties ; 
and this circumstance led him to compare its chemical qualities with those of 
fresh india-rubber. In order to do this, he submitted specimens of freshly 
pre]3ared and altered felts to the action of warm benzol, and the solution thus 
obtained was evaporated. In both cases a film was produced ; but while in 
the case of the fresh article the film was one of pure india-rubber, which left 
the wool unstained from which it had been removed ; in the second case it 
contained other matters, and left the wool stained and discoloured. The 
residue after evaporation was found to contain a peculiar resinous matter not 
