Am.  Jour.  Pharrc.  1 
Dec,  1881.  J 
Chemical  Notes. 
607 
Kanawha  CO. ^  W.  Va.;  No.  3,  New  Castle  furnace,  Mason  co.,  W.  Ya., 
and  No.  4,  Hartford  City  furnace,  Mason  co.,  W.  Va.  These  bitterns 
form  from  5  to  7  per  cent,  of  the  brine  as  it  comes  from  the  wells,  and 
20  to  30  gallons  of  bittern  will  yield  1  lb.  of  bromine.  It  was  found 
that  part  of  the  iodine — in  one  specimen  all  of  it — existed  in  the  free 
state,  and  could  be  collected  directly  by  agitation  with  carbon  disul- 
phide,  and  that  potassium  nitrite  and  citric  acid  answered  best  for  the 
liberation  of  the  iodine  from  the  iodides  present.  It  was  then  taken 
up  by  carbon  disulphide  and  the  amount  determined  by  decoloration 
with  a  standard  solution  of  sodium  thio-sulphate.  No  difference  in 
the  quantity  obtained  was  produced  by  the  previous  addition  of  arsen- 
ious  acid  ;  hence,  iodates  were  absent.    The  results  were  as  follows  : 
Free  Iodine.    Iodine  in  Iodides.    Total  Iodine 
M.  g,'rnis.    Grs.  per  M.  grnif?.    Grs.  per  M.  grms.     Grs  per 
per  liter.     gallon.  per  liter.     gallon.  per  liter.  gallon. 
No.  1.  Snow  Hill,  59-2  4*14 "      59-2  414 
No.  2.  Daniel  Boone,  1-8  013  38-2  2-67  40-0  2-80 
No.  3.  New  Castle,  12-2  0-85  40-0  2'80  52-2  3*65 
No.  4.  Hartford  City,  12-4  0*87  26*0  1-82  38-4  2  69 
Taking  the  mean  of  the  above  results,  and  calculating  on  the  basis 
of  the  returns  of  West  Virginia  salt  production  in  1876  and  the  state- 
ment made  above  as  to  the  ratio  of  bittern  to  salt  turned  out,  it  appears 
that  about  5,287  lbs.  of  iodine  go  to  waste  annually  in  this  region, 
worth  at  present  about  $22,000.  It  seems  very  doubtful,  however, 
whether  the  extraction  of  this  from  such  a  mass  of  bittern  can  be  made 
profitable.  It  might  be  worth  while  to  try  Bechi's  plan,  liberating  the 
iodine  by  exactly  the  right  amount  of  nitrous  acid  or  chlorine,  and 
collecting  it  by  filtration  through  animal  charcoal.  Judging  from 
experiments  on  a  small  scale,  the  precipitation  as  cuprous  iodide 
seems  to  be  incomplete.  The  acid  condition  of  these  bitterns  sug- 
gests the  probability  of  extensive  loss  of  iodine  by  decomposition  of 
magnesium  iodide  during  the  later  stages  of  boiling ;  and  it  would  be 
interesting  to  ascertain  what  effect  upon  the  amount  left  in  the  mother- 
liquor  would  be  produced  by  keeping  the  brine  just  neutralized  with 
.sodium  carbonate. —  Chem.  News,  Oct.  28,  1881,  p.  207. 
Strontianite  Found  in  Large  Amounts. — Since  it  has  been  shown 
by  Professor  Scheibler,  of  Berlin,  that  strontium  is  one  of  the  best 
means  of  extracting  the  cane  sugar  from  uncrystallizable  mixtures  like 
molasses,  owing  to  its  power  of  combining  with  3  parts  of  saccharose, 
.any  information  as  to^'its  occurrence  becomes  of  interest.  Hitherto, 
