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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
down a yellow precipitate, and sulphuretted hydrogen causes the separation 
from an acid solution of a brown sulphide, which is black when dry. 
Potassium sulphocyanide strikes a red colour in dilute solutions of the 
chloride : a feature which, as Kern points out, the new metal possesses in 
common with iron. The author does not refer to the fact that solutions of 
ruthenium exhibit the same reaction, so that it can hardly be referred to as 
a characteristic property of his new element. He believes, on what grounds 
we are not told, that davyum is the hypothetical element which in 
MendelejefFs classification is placed between molybdenum and ruthenium, 
in which case its equivalent would be 100. The results of his investigation 
of the chemical and physical properties of the new metal will be published 
in a few months, when it is to be hoped more characteristic reactions will 
have been studied. 
The Occurrence of Hyposulphites in Human TJrine . — Schmiedeberg and 
Meissner found hyposulphurous acid to be an almost constant constituent of 
the urine of the cat, and to be frequently present in that of the dog ; Striimpell 
(“ Zeitschrift fur Anal. Chemie,” 1877, xvi. 134) has now detected its pre- 
sence in that of a patient suffering from typhus fever. He was led to search 
for this acid through his attention having been directed to an unusual re- 
action which the liquid exhibited with silver-solution, during a volumetric 
determination of the chlorine : a reaction which those who perform analyses 
of this kind would do well to study. In the case which he examined he 
found that 1*5 gramme of sulphur passed from the body every twenty-four 
hours in other forms than that of sulphate. Calculated as hyposulphite, it 
would amount to a daily yield of 2 25 grammes of that salt. 
Preparation of Hy dr iodic Acid. — While writing that portion' of his 
“Kurzes Lehrbuch der anorganischen Chemie” which treats of the pre- 
paration of this acid, Kolbe’s attention was directed to the method given in 
the text-books of Fittig, Von Richter, and Roscoe and Schorlemmer, where 
the quantities of iodine and water employed appear to be far in excess of 
those required to enter into reaction with the prescribed amount of phos- 
phorus. It is the custom in the Leipzig Laboratory to add, by slow degrees, 
to ten parts of iodine, placed in an atmosphere of carbonic acid, one part of 
common phosphorus ; and to pour on the mixture of di-iodide and tri-iodide, 
after it has become cold, four parts of water. The application of a gentle 
heat causes the disengagement of abundance of hvdriodic acid, which is not 
contaminated with free iodine. Kolbe tried the proportions recommended in 
the three text-books, and first suggested by Vigier, where fifteen parts of 
water are to be poured on one part of amorphous phosphorus, and twenty 
parts of iodine are to be gradually added ; and he finds this method useless. 
When heat is applied, much water and little acid pass off, and that little is 
strongly coloured with iodine (Journ. Prakt. Chem., 1877, xv. 172). 
A Hew Carbo-hydrate in Milk . — Ritthausen has found in milk a carbo- 
hydrate which is not milk-sugar (‘* Joum. Prakt. Chem.,” 1877, xv. 348). It 
occurs in small quantities only, and is easily soluble in water. Its solution 
forms with a small quantity of the copper reagent the well-known blue 
liquid; when boiled for a long time a little cuprous oxide is deposited. If 
the liquid be previously warmed with a little sulphuric acid, the application 
of a gentle heat is sufficient to cause a copious reduction. Alcohol throws 
