290 
NOTES AND ABSTRACTS IN CHEMISTRY AND PHARMACY. 
BY C. H. WOOD, F.C.S. 
Some New Sulphur Salts. 
M. R. Schneider has described a sulphur compound which he regards as con¬ 
taining sesquisulphide of iron functioning as an acid. When 1 part of pul¬ 
verized iron, 6 parts of dry carbonate of potash, and 6 parts of sulphur are heated 
in a spacious crucible, a fused mass is obtained which yields to water some sul¬ 
phide and hyposulphite of potassium, while there remains a large quantity of 
brilliant, slender, flexible needles of a purple colour. These crystals are finer 
when the potash is mixed with one-sixth of its weight of soda. This product 
has the composition Fe 2 K 2 S 4 . Heated in the air it burns, producing sulphu¬ 
rous acid, oxide of iron, and sulphate of potash. Out of contact with air it is 
unaffected by heat, beyond a momentary darkening of colour. It is rapidly 
attacked by acid, even when very diluted, sulphuretted hydrogen being dis¬ 
engaged and sulphur deposited. Heated in a current of hydrogen, it loses one 
atom of sulphur, preserving its form but becoming black, and afterwards dis¬ 
solving in acids without a deposit of sulphur. 
If the potassic carbonate be replaced by sodic carbonate, a similar substance is 
obtained, but containing oxygen. 
A sulpho-bismutJiite of potassium may also be obtained by fusing 6 parts of 
carbonate of potash, 6 of sulphur, and 1 of bismuth ; the fused product, washed 
with water, leaves needles of a steel-grey colour and metallic lustre, having the 
composition K 2 Bi 2 S 4 . This body is entirely decomposed by hydrochloric acid, 
with disengagement of sulphuretted hydrogen. 
The Essential Oil of Cochlearia Officinalis. 
M. W. Hofmann has shown* that the essential oil of Cochlearia differs from the 
oil of mustard with w r hich it is sometimes confounded. It boils at 159°-160° C., 
whilst the oil of mustard boils at 147° C. With ammonia it furnishes a beauti¬ 
ful crystallized substance fusible at 135° C., the thiosinnamine of horseradish. 
The analysis of the oil, and of its ammonia derivative, leads to the formula 
C 5 H 9 N S. It belongs, therefore, to the butylic series:— 
) jq- 
CSJ 1N 
Oil of mustard being C 4 H 5 NS, or the sulphocyanide of allyl: 
CsH, 
CS 
N 
Butylamine, treated with sulphide of carbon and oxide of mercury, furnishes 
an essence of the same composition as the oil of cochlearia, but possessing a dif¬ 
ferent odour, and constituting, therefore, an isomeric substance. 
Watercress also contains an essence analogous to the essence of mustard, the 
nature of which the author has not yet determined. 
Manufacture of Nitro-glycerine. 
In the manufactory of M. Mowbray about 150 litres (33 gallons) of nitro¬ 
glycerine are produced daily. The apparatus employed is a large horse-shoe 
reservoir of about three feet in height and fifty feet in length, which is filled 
with a refrigerating mixture of ice and common salt. In this tank are placed, 
at a distance of two feet from each other, stoneware vessels of 4 to 5 litres 
capacity, the necks projecting about 2 or 3 inches only above the freezing 
mixture. The mixture of nitric and sulphuric acids is poured into the vessels, 
* ‘ Deutsche Chemische Gesellschaft ’ and c Bulletin de la Soci^te Cliimique/ Oct. 1869 . 
