* 
VARIETIES.  567 
Nitroleum,  the  New  Substitute  for  Gunpowder. — A  highly  interesting 
official  report  has  just  been  made  by  Colonel  Shaffner  of  a  series  of  ex- 
periments conducted  by  him  at  Washington,  for  demonstrating  the  use  of 
nitroleum  (which  it  should  be  explained  is  the  new  and  far  preferable 
name  by  which  the  Colonel  designates  the  compound  which  has  hither- 
to been  called  nitro-glycerine)  in  the  explosion  of  mines.  The  results 
fully  confirm  the  fact  that  the  explosive  qualities  of  nitroleum  are  far  in 
advance  of  gunpowder.  Two  similar  cast-iron  pieces,  weighing  each  300 
lbs.,  had  a  hole  one  inch  diameter  and  fifteen  inches  deep  bored  in  them, 
and  were  charged  one  with  powder  and  the  other  with  "  nitroleum."  The 
powder  discharged  through  the  fuse-vent  three-sixteenths  inch  diameter 
did  no  injury.  The  nitroleum  tore  the  iron  to  pieces,  the  force  extend- 
ing downward  from  the  bottom  of  the  charge,  leaving  a  cone  with  its  apex 
at  the  bottom  of  the  drill-hole.  Four  musket-barrels  were  placed  in  • 
wrought  iron  cylinders,  two  filled  with  gunpowder  and  two  filled  one- 
third  full  with  nitroleum.  The  musket  barrels  charged  with  powder  were 
exploded  by  electricity  ;  they  burst  open,  tearing  the  iron  to  pieces.  The 
explosion  of  the  barrels  charged  with  nitroleum  produced  a  very  different 
effect;  they  were  flattened,  and  not  so  much  broken  to  pieces;  the  force 
was  so  sudden  and  great  that  after  the  barrel  had  irregularly  broken  up 
and  down  the  iron  appeared  like  rolled  plate — even  and  polished.  The 
experiments  appear  to  demonstrate  that  nitroleum  can,  with  ordinary 
precautions,  be  handled  and  employed  without  greater  danger  than  is 
common  to  gunpowder,  and  for  blasting  operations,  at  least,  it  presents 
undoubted  advantages. — Chem.  News,  Aug.  17, fi'om  Amer.  Artisan. 
Refracting  Powers  of  Saline  Solutions. — Physical  processes  may  in  cer- 
tain cases  be  advantageously  employed  to  determine  the  chemical  consti- 
tution of  bodies.  Density,  boiling  point,  dilatation  by  heat,  and  even  the 
capillarity  of  liquids,  have  been  suggested  as  giving  useful  results.  One 
of  the  last  numbers  of  Poggendorff's  Annalen  contains  a  memoir  by  M.  E. 
Reichert,  on  the  different  refracting  powers  by  fluids  modified  by  their 
chemical  composition.  This  memoir  contains  the  results  of  experiments 
on  solutions  of  common  salt  of  different  strengths.  The  proportions  of 
salt  shown  by  optical  means  and  by  ordinary  analysis  agree  very  closely. 
The  first  column  of  the  following  table  the  proportions  obtained  by  ana- 
lysis, and  the  second  the  results  of  the  optical  method  : — 
2-26  2'27 
7-12  7-13 
12-02  12-07 
17-25  17-25  # 
23  »02  22-89 
An  equally  satisfactory  result  was  obtained  with  solutions  of  sugar:  but 
with  alcohol  and  acetic  acid  the  differences  in  the  refractive  indices  are 
only  half  as  great,  and  the  indications,  consequently,  are  not  so  satisfac- 
tory.—  Chem.  News,  Sept.  28th,  1866,  from  Les  Mondes. 
