i 
Se ne ae ee 
> 
i re ge ET Sr a Nr oe 
Urry 
576. 
perhaps, to Spinoza; he exercifed the pro-' 
hity of commercial habits, and the kind-. 
nefs of gcod-nature and of affluence. 
Ramler, the lyric poet, was a frequent 
guett of Nicolai, dnd of courfe; was. ac-; 
quainted with: Leffing, who valued high 
the fyftematic nicety of his tafte and the 
delicate dexterity of his. pen, and often 
folilicited and adopted his minute correc- 
Proceedings of Learned Societies. 
[July ly 
tions. Sulzer, a. critic of more compre- 
henfive glance, and the author of an ad= 
niirable Dictionary of the Theory of Fine 
Art, in ike manner became known to the 
fet: Sufmiich too, the ftatiff; and other 
writers:of diftinétion... Many good things 
are recorded of their converfations,. 
(To be continued.) 
PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 
ROYAL SOCIETY OF. LONDON, 
“CHEMISTRY: |. 
[*HE following is a ketch of fome ana- 
Jt lytical <xperiments: made by Mr. . 
Davy, ona mineral production from De- 
von{bire, confifting principally of alumine 
and water, an account of which was laid 
before the Royal Society.in February laf, 
This foflil was found many years ago by 
Dr. Wavel, in a quarry, near Barntiable 5 
it was firft fuppoled to be a zeolite; but 
from ‘experiments made by. Mr. Stockler, 
at the defire of Dr. Babington, it was. af. 
certained to be a mineral body containing 
a confiderable’ proportion of alumizous 
earth. Having delcribed the fem/itle and 
chemical characiers of the fofil, Mr. Davy 
gives an analyfis of eighty grains of it, 
from which a very minute partion cnly of 
permanen:ly elaftic fluid was obtained, 
which proved to be common air. “The 
guantity of clear quid collected. weighed 
nineteen grains, but the lofs indicated was 
twenty-one grains.. The fluid had a faint 
fmeli, fimilar to that of burning peat ; it 
was tranf{parent, and tafted like diltilled 
water; but. it flightly: reddened litmus 
paper. It prodeced no cloudinefs in. fo- 
lutions of muriate cf barytes, of acetite of 
Jead, of nitrateof filver, or of fulpbate of 
iron, : 
The fifty-nine grains of folid matter 
were diflolved in> diluted Sulphuric acid, 
ehich left no reffduur, and the folution 
was mixed with potath, in a fufiicient 
quantity to caufe the alumine,, at firft pre- 
cipitated, again to’ diflolve. - What re- 
mained undiffolved by the potath, after 
being collected and properly. wathed, was 
found to weigh a grain and a quarter. Ic 
was white, cauftic to the talte, and had all 
the properties of lime. ae . 
The {olution was mixed with nitric.acid, 
til! it became four. Solution of ca:bonate 
of ammonia was poured into. it till the 
dec: mpcfitien ceafed. The whole thrown 
inio a filtrating apparatus leit folid matter ; 
which, when wathed and dried at the heat 
of ignition, weighed fifty-fix grains. They 
were pure alumine: hence the general re-_ 
fult of .the experiments indicated for one 
hundred parts of this fpecimen: 
Ofalumine - - = = Jo 
QOflime. Sa Re Ss 
Ot fluid os OR SS) eee 
Roly. ia. +0, - 74. SS ee ae 
. Mr, Davy attributes the lofs to fome 
fluid remaining in the ftone after the pro- 
cefs of diftillation; fora rong white heat 
only is fufficient to expel all the matter 
capable of being volatilized. Fifty grains 
of a very tran{parent part.of the fot 
being expefed ina’ red heat for fifteen 
minutes, loft thirteen grains ; brut when - 
efs, the deficiency 
they were heated to whiten 
amounted to fifteen grains. 
No fixed alkali could be obtained from 
different fpecimens of the foffils. From, 
thuty grains of it» a quarter of a grain of 
red oxide of iron was left. In all the ex- 
periments the water collected had fimilar 
properties, but the only teft by which the 
pretence of acid matter in it could be de- 
teéted was litmus paper. This, according 
to Mr. Davy, is different from all the known 
mineral acids, From the minutenels of its 
proporticn, he thinks that itis not effentia} 
io the compofition of the ftone, and that 
the pure matier of the foffil may be cons 
fidered as a chemical combination of about 
thirty parts of water and feveyty ofalumines 
and. he proposes as a proper name for it, the 
word Hydrargillite, from vdwg water and — 
weyirros clay. 
fome experiments dn wootz, made at his- 
own cefire, by Mr, David Mufhet ; from 
which it is inferred that the formation ef 
wootz is in confequence of the fuiion, of a 
peculiar ore, perhaps calcareous, or ren- 
dered highly fo. by mixture.of calcareous ’ 
earth along with a portion of carbonaceous 
matter, and that this ts performed in a 
clay or other vefiel or crucible, is equally 
en 58 prefumable, 
l; by: - 
Sir Josep Banxs laid before the Society 
ne 
