Miscellany. 
S3 
separates but one-half of the water, the remainder cannot be disengaged 
until the sulphuret is decomposed. The common sulphate of zinc con- 
tains, according to M. Schindler, seven atoms of water, not five, as 
generally supposed. 
Besides these different bodies, he has described three basic sulphates 
of zinc. The first, the Sulphas bizincicus, is soluble, uncrystallizable and 
very easily decomposed. The second, Sulphas quadri-zincicus, cannot be 
obtained in an anhydrous form ; it is crystallizable, and scarcely soluble 
in water. Treated at a temperature of 80° or 100° R., it loses a portion, 
of its water, and its composition corresponds then to a salt hitherto con- 
sidered to contain three atoms of oxide. The third of these salts contains 
eight times as much base as the neutral salt, and is insoluble in water. 
Heated strongly, it is decomposed into pure oxide of zinc and neutral 
sulphate, in consequence of the loss of the water necessary to its compo- 
sition. Arcana of Science and Archiv. der Jipot. 
Purification of Palm Oil. Take two parts of quick lime, and three 
parts of muriate of ammonia, the lime having been previously slacked 
with half its weight of water, and allowed to cool, and reduced to a fine 
powder, and then intimately blended with the powdered lime. The mix- 
ture is to be put into a still or cast iron pan, having a close cover, and a 
tube leading from the head of the pan or still, to near the bottom of the 
soap copper, which should contain equal quantities of water and palm 
oil. On fire being applied to the still, the ammoniacal gas will pass 
over into the soap copper ; and as the water and oil combine, continue 
adding boiling water to the extent of treble the weight of the palm oil in 
all. By this process, the colour of the palm oil will be almost instanta- 
neously changed to a pale yellow. The boiling palm oil and water should 
of course be rapidly stirred while the gas is passing through. The am- 
monia being an alkali, adds to the strength and detergency of the soap. 
Journ. Frank. Inst, and Lond. Mech. Mag. 
New principle in Cloves. M. Bonastre has discovered a new crystal- 
line substance in cloves, and which he calls Eugenine. This substance 
is formed in a certain time in water which has been distilled over cloves, 
and has become strongly impregnated with their soluble principles. It 
crystallizes in thin, white, pearly, transparent tables ; by exposure to the 
air it becomes somewhat yellow. Alcohol and sulphuric ether dissolve 
this substance in all proportions. It has but little taste, and its smell is 
much weaker than that of cloves. It becomes of a vivid blood red colour 
on the addition of cold nitric acid, in this particular resembling the oil of 
cloves. From the analysis of M. Dumas, it appears to differ from oil of 
cloves only in the loss of an atom of water. It differs from caryophylline 
in its crystalline form, its solubility, &c. Joum. de Pharm* 
