New YorK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 377 
the mixture before and after treatment, we have 13.25 pounds 
of total sulphur; of this, we find 12.72 pounds (or 96 per ct.) 
present in the form of sulphides before addition of lime, while, 
after treatment with lime, we find only 11.10 pounds (or 83.8 
per ct.) present as sulphide. Thus, in this case there was a 
decrease of 1.62 pounds of sulphide sulphur. In the case of 
thiosulphate, we have 0.53 pound (or 4 per ct.) of thiosulphate 
sulphur before treatment with lime; after treatment, we find 
1.9 pounds of thiosulphate (or 14.3 per ct.), an increase of 1.37 
pounds. ‘The solution before addition of lime contained no 
free sulphur, but after treatment it contained 0.25 pound or 
nearly 2 per ct. of all the sulphur present in various forms. 
Summarizing the results contained in Table XI, we notice 
the following points of interest: 
(1) The amount of sulphur in the form of sulphides de- 
creased by treatment with lime by quantities varying from 1.63 
to 5.15 pounds and averaging 3.35 pounds. 
(2) The quantity of thiosulphate sulphur was increased by 
treatment with lime, the increase varying from 1.87 to 4.65 
pounds and averaging 3 pounds. 
(3) The amount of free sulphur increased after addition of 
lime, the increase varying from 0.25 to 0.50 pound and averag- 
ing 0.34 pound. 
(4) The ratio of calcium to sulphide sulphur was about 
1:3.60 before addition of lime; after treatment with lime, it 
dropped to an average of about 1:2.5, varying from 1:2.1 
to 1:3. 
While the results are somewhat irregular, and the special 
conditions causing these variations have not been studied, it 
is obvious that treatment with lime in diluted solution causes 
marked change in the character of the sulphide compounds 
present. Apparently, the higher sulphides (CaS,) and (Ca’,) 
more or less largely decompose, forming sulphides containing 
less sulphur in proportion to calcium. 
The chemical reaction explaining these changes is well 
known and has been referred to already. When polysulphides 
of calcium are treated with lime and water (CaO,H,), the 
