OST  THE  PRODUCTION  OF  NITRATE  OF  METHYL.  223 
fusoria  does  not  require  the  presence  of  free  oxygen ;  experi- 
ment proves  even  that  free  oxygen  deprives  them  of  life  or 
motion.  Do  not  these  infusoria  live  at  the  expense  of  combined 
oxygen  ? — Journ.  de  Pharm.  et  de  Chimie,  1861. 
PREPARATION  OF  HYDROFLUOSILICIC  ACID, 
H.  Deville  prepares  hydrofluosilicic  acid  by  causing  water  to 
fall,  drop  by  drop,  upon  a  mixture  of  fragments  of  stone-ware 
and  fluor-spar  heated  to  redness  in  a  tubulated  earthen  retort, 
or,  somewhat  less  conveniently,  by  passing  a  current  of  steam 
through  the  mixture.  By  condensing  the  vapors  formed,  liquid 
hydrofluosilicic  acid  of  about  17°  B.  is  obtained,  and  this  by 
concentration  may  be  brought  to  29°  and  30°  without  deposit- 
ing any  silica,  while  the  acid  prepared  in  the  ordinary  way  by 
dissolving  fluorid  of  silicon  in  water  can  be  brought  to  a  strength 
of  only  about  4°  and  5°  before  the  solution  becomes  solid  from 
the  separation  of  gelatinous  silica.  At  7°  B.  a  solution  of  hy- 
drofluosilicic acid  contains  66  grms.  of  the  anhydrous  acid  (2SiFl3, 
3HF1)  per  litre.  At  29°,  the  maximum  condensation,  it  con- 
tains 325  grms.  per  litre. 
The  acid  of  29°  is  very  energetic,  expelling  almost  all  the 
acids,  excepting  sulphuric  acid,  when  heated  with  their  com- 
pounds. Since  it  does  not  attack  wood  or  other  organic  mat- 
ters it  may  be  kept  in  kegs.  It  has  but  little  action  upon  vessels 
of  stone-ware,  but  destroys  glass  somewhat  rapidly  with  forma- 
tion of  fluosilicate  of  soda.  In  the  opinion  of  the  author  this 
acid  is  destined  to  become  of  considerable  industrial  importance. 
— Amer.  Jour.  Science  and  Arts,  March,  1862,  from  Annales 
de  Qhim.  et  Phys.  F.  H.  S. 
ON  THE  PRODUCTION  OF  NITRATE  OF  METHYL. 
By  M.  Carey  Lea,  of  Philadelphia. 
For  the  production  of  nitrate  of  methyl  but  one  process  ap- 
pears to  have  been  proposed,  and  that  is  to  be  found  in  all  our 
text-books,  English,  German  and  French.  Two  parts  of  pow- 
dered nitre  are  to  be  distilled  in  a  capacious  flask  with  a  re- 
cently prepared  mixture  of  5  parts  wood  spirit  and  10  oil  of 
