ON  A  NEW  REMEDY  FOR  HYDROPHOBIA. 
345 
iron  with  oxalic  acid  and  washing)  is  heated  in  a  shallow  capsule 
until  it  begins  to  smoulder,  when  the  heat  is  continued  with 
stirring  until  the  salt  is  entirely  converted  into  peroxide.  The 
extremely  fine  powder  thus  prepared,  is  reduced  at  an  incipient 
red  heat  by  a  current  of  dry  hydrogen  gas  in  a  glass  tube. 
After  it  has  become  quite  cold  in  the  current  of  gas,  the  prep- 
aration, which  is  sometimes  pyrophorous,  is  poured  into  a  capsule 
with  water,  and  gently  crushed  in  it  with  a  pestle.  Of  this 
metallic  iron  stirred  up  with  water,  small  portions  are  then 
poured  into  a  dilute  solution  of  perchloride  of  platinum  con- 
taining a  small  excess  of  muriatic  acid,  until  this,  after  violent 
shaking  and  standing  for  some  time,  appears  to  be  entirely  de- 
prived of  color.  The  precipitate  obtained  is  then  separated 
from  the  fluid  by  decantation,  and  boiled  repeatedly  with  con- 
centrated nitric  acid  until  the  extract  contains  no  noticeable 
amount  of  iron,  when  the  adherent  nitric  acid  is  removed  by  a 
weak  solution  of  potash. 
The  preparation  thus  obtained  is  an  amorphous  black  powder, 
which  acquires  an  iron-like  lustre  by  trituration  in  an  agate 
mortar.  When  heated  in  a  platinum  spoon,  it  suddenly  becomes 
ignited  at  about  392°  F.,  and  becomes  converted  into  the  ordi- 
nary form  resembling  spongy  platinum,  its  volume  at  the  same 
time  being  doubled.  When  moistened  with  a  drop  of  alcohol,  it 
also  became  ignited  in  a  second  or  two,  and  converted  into  the 
ordinary  form. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  preparation  will  possess  all  the 
other  known  properties  of  platinum-black.  Should  this  sub- 
stance ever  be  required  in  large  quantities,  the  simplicity  of  this 
mode  of  preparation  will  recommend  its  adoption  London 
Chem.  G-az.,  April  15,1859,  from  Ding ler's  Po lytechn .  Journal, 
ON  A  NEW  REMEDY  FOR  HYDROPHOBIA. 
By  Dr.  Eulenburg. 
On  the  24th  of  August,  last  year,  Guerin.Meneville  submitted 
to  the  Paris  Academy  a  report  on  the  cure  of  hydrophobia,  by 
the  use  of  powdered  cetoin,  the  French  name  for  Cetonia  aura- 
ta,  the  chemical  examination  of  which  was  entrusted  to  Berthe- 
lot  and  de  Luca.    Nothing  as  yet  has  become  known  of  the  in- 
