28 
THE  GOLDEN  PARALLELS. 
phur ;  if  evaporated,  water  dissolves  from  the  residue  hyposul- 
phite, besides  arsenite  of  ammonia. 
Absolute  alcohol  saturated  with  ammonia,  and  heated  in  a 
sealed  tube  with  sulphur,  yields  a  dark-brown  liquid,  which  has, 
with  nitro-prusside  of  sodium,  but  a  faint  reaction  on  sulphide 
of  ammonium.  On  evaporation,  colorless  or  light-greyish  crys- 
tals with  a  silvery  lustre  are  obtained,  and  the  mother-liquor 
evaporated  to  dryness  furnishes  a  dark-brown  residue,  from 
which  water  takes  up  only  questionable  traces  of  hyposulphite. 
Its  formation  is,  therefore,  prevented  by  its  insolubility  in  alco- 
hol. The  silvery  crystals  are  pure  sulphur  ;  under  the  micro- 
scope they  prove  to  be  a  mixture  of  a  few  globules  and  octohe- 
drons,  with  thin  monoclinic  laminae.  Dissolved  in  bisulphide  of 
carbon  and  evaporated,  the  yellow  octohedrons  are  sometimes 
mixed  with  others,  partly  or  entirely  colorless. 
Ammonia  has  also  been  treated  in  sealed  tubes  with  selenium, 
tellurium,  phosphorus  and  iodine.  The  former  yields  a  colorless 
solution  of  little  selenide  and  selenite;  with  tellurium,  more 
tellurite  of  ammonia  is  obtained. 
Amorphous  phosphorus  is  not  acted  on  by  ammonia  ;  the  or- 
dinary modification  yields  gradually  ammoniated  phosphoric 
oxide  and  phosphuretted  hydrogen.  If  alcoholic  ammonia  is 
used  in  the  experiment,  the  former  is  deposited  in  thin  black 
films  of  metallic  lustre,  after  drying  apparently  crystalline,  but 
entirely  amorphous  under  the  microscope  ;  thus  obtained,  it  is 
not  decomposed  by  boiling  sulphuric  acid  or  potassa. 
Little  iodine  dissolves  readily  in  ammonia,  more  yields  at 
first  iodide  of  ammonia,  afterwards  iodide  of  nitrogen.  The 
tubes  sustain  the  pressure  well  enough  during  heating  in  the 
water-bath,  but  the  violent  extrication  of  gas  on  opening  either 
forces  out  the  contents  or  fractures  the  tube. —  Wittsteins  Viert* 
Schr.,  1863,  321-332.  J.  M.  M. 
Berne,  Switzerland,  April,  1863. 
THE  GOLDEN  PARALLELS. 
In  the  late  number  of  the  Edinburgh  Review,  there  is  a  notice 
of  several  publications  on  the  subject  of  gold  fields  and  gold 
miners.    A  mass  of  facts  is  collected  relative  to  the  Australian, 
California,  and  Columbian  gold  diggings,  and  several  important 
