4 
small quantity of residual pentachloride having been poured 
off, the solid mass is dried on a porous plate over solid caustic 
potash in vacuo. The oxychloride thus obtained is a per- 
fectly white crystalline substance, exceedingly hygroscopic, 
so that when exposed to the air for a few minutes it becomes 
a pasty mass which rapidly changes to a liquid. It readily 
dissolves in an aqueous solution of tartaric acid, whilst it is 
decomposed by water and is perfectly insoluble in carbon 
disulphide. The melting point of the substance is 85° C. as 
a mean of well agreeing determination made with four differ- 
ent preparations. When heated in a retort until it boils, 
chlorine gas is evolved, whilst pentachloride and trichloride 
of antimony distil over, a residue of antimony pentoxide 
remaining in the retort. 
A modification of Rose’s well known method of precipita- 
tion first as insoluble antimoniate of soda, and then as 
antimony sulphide was employed for the determination of 
the antimony ; the precipitated sulphide was (1) oxidised to 
Sb 2 Oi either by treatment with pure fuming nitric acid or 
by heating with from 10 to 20 times its weight of pure 
mercuric oxide, and (2) the sulphide was completely reduced 
to metallic antimony by heating gently in a current of hy- 
drogen until sulphuretted hydrogen ceases to be evolved. 
In the estimation of chlorine it was found that when silver 
nitrate is added to a solution of an antimony oxychloride 
acidified by nitric acid, a small trace of antimony is invari- 
ably carried down with the silver chloride. In order to free 
the precipitate from antimony, the silver chloride is first 
heated gently in a current of hydrogen when the silver is 
reduced, and, on stronger ignition the whole of the antimony 
is volatilized as the hydrogen compound. Thus T277 grams 
of an alloy containing 2 '5 parts of antimony to 97'5 parts of 
silver was found to lose on heating in hydrogen, 00321 
grm. corresponding to 97‘43 / of silver. 
The accuracy of each of the above methods was tested by 
