CRYSTALLIZATION  OF  RED  PHOSPHORUS.  83 
into  a  silver  salt,  which  was  found  to  contain  a  quantity  of 
silver  intermediate  between  that  of  the  argentic  acetate  and 
propionate.  The  next  higher  fraction  boiling  between  143°  and 
148°  was  rectified  in  a  small  tube  retort,  and  the  latter  portion 
of  the  distillate  having  been  converted  into  a  sodium,  salt  was 
fractionally  precipitated  in  three  portions  with  silver  nitrate. 
The  last  of  these  was  found  to  contain  59*80  per  cent,  of  silver, 
and  the  calculated  quantity  for  argentic  propionate  is  59-66. 
The  fraction  boiling  between  158°  and  163°  having  been 
treated  in  a  similar  manner  gave  a  silver  salt  which  contained 
5540  per  cent,  of  silver,  and  which  was  the  argentic  butyrate, 
the  calculated  result  for  which  is  55-30.  The  acid  collected  at 
this  temperature  had  all  the  characters  of  butyric  acid.  It 
floated  on  the  surface  of  a  small  quantity  of  water,  and  dis- 
solved in  a  larger  quantity,  and  its  smell  was  perfectly  char- 
acteristic. 
The  acid  obtained  at  a  higher  temperature  had  the  smell  and 
properties  of  valerianic  acid,  but  as  its  quantity  was  very  small, 
and  it  was  contaminated  with  a  little  sulphurous  acid,  I  did  not 
attempt  to  prepare  a  silver  salt. 
I  am  not  aware  that  these  acids  have  been  before  observed  in 
crude  pyroligneous  acid.  Their  presence  in  it  is  not  without 
interest,  and  is  an  additional  illustration  of  the  frequent  occur- 
rence of  homologous  compounds  among  the  products  of  de- 
structive distillation. — Lond.  Chem.  News,  November  30,  1866. 
CRYSTALLIZATION  OF  RED  PHOSPHORUS. 
M.  Blondlot  has  succeeded  in  crystallizing  red  phosphorus, 
which  has  hitherto  been  considered  amorphous,  by  sublimation  in 
an  atmosphere  of  nitrogen.  He  introduces  about  two  grammes 
into  a  small  mattrass,  and  then  closes  the  neck  hermetically  by 
fusion,  which  can  be  done  without  igniting  the  phosphorus,  pro- 
vided the  mattrass  be  held  vertically.  Allowing  the  apparatus 
to  stand,  it  fills  with  white  vapors,  luminous  in  the  dark,  which 
are  due  to  the  oxidation  of  the  phosphorus,  and  in  twenty-four 
hours  all  the  oxygen  of  the  air  is  absorbed.  The  phosphorus 
may  then  be  melted  in  a  water-bath,  while  the  upper  part  of  the 
mattrass  is  protected  from  the  heat.    The  phosphorus  is  de- 
