OXIDIZING  ACTION  OF  FUSED  CHLORATE  OF  POTASH.  69 
ON  THE  BEHAVIOR  OF  VARIOUS  SUBSTANCES  TOWARDS 
PURE  FUSED  CHLORATE  OF  POTASH. 
By  Professor  Bottger. 
Pure  fused  chlorate  of  potash  is  an  excellent  reagent  for 
manganese,  being  especially  fitted  for  the  detection  of  manganese 
in  organic  bodies.  The  presence  of  the  smallest,  scarcely  pon- 
derable trace  of  manganese  may  be  instantly  recognized,  even 
when  a  small  fragment  (the  size  of  a  pea)  of  an  organic  body, 
which  is  to  be  tested  for  manganese,  is  thrown  upon  the  surface 
of  a  small  quantity  of  fluid  chlorate  of  potash  in  a  test-glass,  by 
the  fact  that  after  the  combustion  of  the  body,  the  perfectly 
cold  saline  mass  has  a  more  or  less  rose-red  or  peach-blossom 
color  in  consequence  of  the  formation  of  hypermanganate  of 
potash.  To  make  sure  that  the  chlorate  of  potash  employed  as 
a  reagent  is  perfectly  free  from  manganese  (the  ordinary  com- 
mercial salt  almost  always  containing  that  metal,)  a  small  quan- 
tity (1  drm.)  of  it  is  fused  in  a  test-glass,  and  a  few  particles  of 
pure  carbon  (prepared  from  perfectly  colorless  sugar-candy)  are 
thrown  into  it.  If  the  salt  remain  perfectly  colorless  on  cool- 
ing, it  is  adapted  for  the  purpose  here  referred  to ;  but  should  it 
appear  of  a  slight  rose  color,  it  contains  traces  of  manganese, 
and  must  be  rejected. 
When  pure  chlorate  of  potash  is  heated  by  an  ordinary  spirit- 
lamp  in  a  rather  wide  test-tube  until  it  becomes  perfectly  fluid 
and  begins  to  evolve  oxygen  gas,  and  small  quantities  of  the 
following  substances  are  thrown  into  it,  the  following  results  are 
obtained  : — 
Beech-  and  boxwood  charcoal,  and  small  fragments  of  cork 
charcoal,  burn  away  with  an  intense  light,  jumping  up  and 
down,  and  leave  a  saline  mass  of  a  reddish  color  ;  whilst  some 
kinds  of  pine  and  fir-woods,  treated  in  the  same  way,  leave  the 
saline  mass  completely  colorless  when  cold. 
Some  specimens  of  graphite,  treated  as  above,  were  found  to 
contain  manganese. 
Bitartrate  of  potash  and  tartaric  acid  burn  with  a  violet  light ; 
the  samples  tested  proved  to  be  free  from  manganese. 
Oxalic  acid,  as  was  to  be  expected,  did  not  ignite. 
