Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
Jan.,  1881.  j 
Chemical  Notes. 
17 
experimental  proofs  of  the  correctness  of  their  determinations.  So  that 
the  weight  of  experimental  proof  seems  to  be  in  favor  of  Be203,  and 
an  atomic  weight  of  13*65. — Ibid,  p.  2035,  and  also  C'hem.  News,  Nov. 
26,  1880,  p.  262. 
A  new  Process  for  the  Preparation  of  Malleable  Nickel  of  various 
degrees  of  Hardness. — Pure  nickel,  after  fusion  and  casting,  contains 
more  or  less  oxygen  and  is  in  consequence  brittle.  J.  Garnier  has 
sought  to  overcome  this  by  the  addition  of  an  element  which  would 
combine  with  the  oxygen  and,  at  the  same  time,  Avith  the  nickel  in  suffi- 
cient degree  to  remove  the  brittle  character.  Manganese  was  tried  and 
found  unavailing,  as  the  brittle  character  was  not  permanently  removed 
thereby.  Phosphorus  was  found  to  ansv^er  unexpectedly  well,  and  most 
excellent  results  were  obtained.  It  appears  to  act  with  nickel  in  a 
manner  analogous  to  the  action  of  carbon  in  iron.  If  phosphorus,  to 
the  amount  of  1  in  3,000,  be  added  to  the  nickel,  the  metal  becomes 
soft  and  very  malleable ;  with  larger  additions  of  phosphorus  the  hard- 
ness is  developed  at  the  expense  of  the  malleability.  It  is  conveniently 
added  to  the  nickel  in  the  form  of  a  phosphide  of  nickel  containing  six 
per  cent,  of  phosphorus,  which  compound  is  readily  obtained  by  fusing 
a  mixture  of  calcium  phosphate,  silicic  acid,  carbon  and  nickel.  Not 
only  is  the  nickel  so  treated  with  phosphorus  malleable  in  itself,  but 
its  alloys  with  copper,  zinc  or  iron  are  malleable  and  soft,  while  per- 
fectly compact  and  free  from  gas  bubbles. — Comptes  Rendus,  vol.  91, 
p.  331. 
Constitution  of  the  Tarti^ates  of  Antimony. — F.  W.  Clarke  and 
Helena  Stallo  have  made  a  study  of  the  compounds  which,  like  tartar 
emetic,  are  assumed  to  contain  the  group  antimonyl  (SbO),  and  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  they  are  not  tartrates  proper,  but  salts  of  a  complex 
acid  called  tartrantimonous  acid.  They  analyzed  the  barium  salt 
formed  by  adding  barium  chloride  to  tartar  emetic  solution,  and  pre- 
pared also  corresponding  zinc  and  cobalt  salts,  the  percentages  of  the 
metals  found  in  these  compounds  corresponding  fairly  to  that  demanded 
by  theory.  They  attempted  to  prepare  the  free  acid  by  precipitating 
the  barium  out  of  the  barium  salt,  but  found  the  acid  very  unstable,  so 
that  when  the  barium  w^as  removed  it  rapidly  decomposed,  depositing  a 
white  pecipitate,  which  proved  to  be  Sb(OH)3.  Their  theory  as  to  the 
constitution  of  tartar  emetic,  then,  is  that  it  is  the  potassium  salt  of  an 
acid  in  which  the  dyad  radical  C^H^Og  enters,  replacing  two  groups, 
OH,  of  the  antimonous  hydrate  Sb(0H)3,  thus : 
2 
