Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
April,  1880.  / 
Chemical  Notes. 
197 
-sist  of  silicates  containing  copper,  lead,  and  a  body  which  Scacchi  con- 
siders to  be  new,  and  which  he  calls  Vesbium^  from  the  old  name  of 
Vesuvius.  As  yet  only  a  few  tests  have  been  made  with  it.  He  con- 
siders it  as  existing  in  the  form  of  a  metallic  acid,  of  reddish  color, 
which  yields  colorless  salts  with  the  alkalies,  and  these,  on  the  addition 
of  an  acid,  become  yellow.  The  silver  salt  is  red  or  yellowish-red,  the 
copper  salt  yellowish-green.  Hydrogen  sulphide  gives  a  brown  precipi- 
tate and  a  bluish  liquid,  becoming  brown  on  the  addition  of  zinc.  Salt 
of  phosphorus  gives  a  yellow  bead  in  the  outer  flame  and  a  green  bead 
in  the  inner  flame.  Scacchi  does  not  consider  molybdium  or  vanadium 
to  be  present,  although  Rammelsberg,  who  reports  the  announcement 
to  the  Berlin  Chemical  Society,  thinks  these  properties  point  to  the 
presence  of  the  latter  element. — Berichte  der  Chem.  Gesell.^  xiii,  p.  250. 
Properties  of  Norwegium^  a  recently  announced  New  Element. — Dahll, 
the  discoverer  of  this  element  (this  journal,  1879,  p.  447),  communi- 
cates the  following  as  to  its  properties  :  It  is  white,  not  very  malleable, 
has  a  specific  gravity  9*44,  fuses  at  near  350°C.,  and  dissolves  in  nitric 
acid  with  blue  color,  which  on  dilution  becomes  green.  The  reduc- 
tion of  its  brown  oxide  in  hydrogen  gave  as  the  amount  of  oxygen 
.present  9*6  and  10*15  P^^  cent.  On  the  supposition  that  the  formula 
of  the  oxide  is  NgO,  the  atomic  weight  of  Ng  would  be  150*6  or 
141 '6.  The  solutions  are  precipitated  by  alkalies,  with  green  color, 
the  precipitate  dissolving,  however,  in  excess  of  alkali,  with  blue  color. 
Hvdj-ogen  sulphide  gives  a  brown  precipitate,  insoluble  in  alkaline  sul- 
phides. Zinc  reduces  the  sulphate  solution,  producing  at  first  a  brown 
•coloration,  and  on  boiling  yielding  the  metal.  Before  the  blowpipe  a 
vellow  glass  is  obtained,  which  becomes  blue  on  cooling,  and  treat- 
ment with  soda  or  charcoal  yields  a  yellowish-green  incrustation. — Ibid. 
Organic  Chemistry. — A  Contribution  to  Knowledge  of  Protein  Sub- 
stances.— A.  Stutzer  makes  the  announcement  of  his  discovery  of  a 
method  for  the  quantitative  separation  of  albuminoids  from  other  nitro- 
genous substances  occurring  in  plants.  He  finds  that  the  hydrated 
cupric  oxide,  recommended  for  the  precipitation  of  dissolved  protein 
matters,  can  be  used  for  the  separation  of  these  protein  materials  from 
nitrogenous  substances  such  as  amygdalin,  solanin,  leucin,  tyrosioj 
asparagin,  from  alkaloids,  cnustard-oils,  nitrates  and  ammonia  saks.  All 
'the  protein  materialc  studied  by  him  can  be  classified  according  to  the 
action  of  acid  gastric  juice  (pepsin  and  hydrochloric  acid)  L:pon  them, 
into  two  groups  of  bodies.     Ther^-  are  formed,  on  the  one  hand,  the 
