On  the  employment  of  Hyposulphite  of  Soda  in  Analytical  Chemistry. 
By  Dr.  W.  Vohl. — The  author  recommends,  with  Himly,  the  more  fre- 
quent employment  of  hyposulphite  of  soda  in  analysis,  instead  of  sulphu- 
retted hydrogen.  According  to  him,  it  can  also  be  used  to  evolve  sulphu- 
retted hydrogen :  if  a  piece  of  zinc  is  placed  in  dilute  hydrochloric  acid, 
and  a  few  drops  of  a  solution  of  hyposulphite  of  soda  added,  sulphuretted 
hydrogen  is  evolved.  If  now  to  this  mixture  a  solution  of  salt  of  lead,  bis- 
muth, cadmium,  &c,  is  added,  the  sulphurets  of  the  corresponding  metals 
are  precipitated. — London  Pharm.  Jour,  from  Ann,  der  Chem.und  Pharm. 
Characters  of  the  Flame  of  Bisulphide  of  Carbon. — In  most  kinds  of  flame 
red  and  yellow  light  preponderates  so  largely,  that  the  chemical  and  fluo- 
rescent action  is  very  small,  Babo  and  Miiller  find  that  the  flame  of  a 
mixture  of  binoxide  of  nitrogen  and  bisulphide  of  carbon  differs  in  this 
respect  from  others.  Quinine-solution,  fluor-spar,  solution  of  chlorophylle 
in  ether,  and  uranium  glass,  illuminated  by  this  flame,  present  the  phe- 
nomena of  fluorescence  in  a  high  degree. 
The  prismatic  analysis  of  this  light  gives  a  perfect  spectrum,  in  which 
the  violet  portion  is  unusually  intense.  The  spectrum  does  not  present 
black  lines,  but  three  bright  lines,  two  in  the  yellow  and  one  in  the  green, 
one  of  the  former  being  the  brightest  and  one  faintest. 
This  flame  was  found  to  have  a  very  powerful  photographic  action.  Dis- 
tinct pictures  could  be  obtained  on  collodion  by  exposure  for  one  second, 
when  the  object  was  from  a  foot  to  a  foot-and-a-half  from  the  flame,  with 
a  consumption'of  two  litres  of  the  mixture,  while  the  flame  of  coal-gas  in 
an  argand  burner  fed  with  oxygen  in  the  centre,  produced  no  effect  within 
ten  or  fifteen  seconds.  Drummond's  lime-light  produced  only  a  faint  ef- 
fect, and  the  flame  of  phosphorus  in  oxygen  produced  in  ten  seconds  an 
effect  only  equal  to  that  of  the  mixture  in  one-and-a-half  second. 
The  greater  action  of  this  light  might  be  partially  owing  to  the  quantity 
of  light  generated  by  the  rapidity  of  the  combustion,  but  experiments  with 
a  regulated  flame  one-and-a-half  inch  long,  showed  that  the  photographic 
action  was,  after  ten  seconds,  nearly  as  great  as  that  of  the  flame  of  phos- 
phorus in  oxygen,  and  consequently,  that  the  chemical  energy  of  this  flame 
is  not  proportionate  to  the  luminous  intensity,  and  is  much  greater  than 
that  of  any  flame  hitherto  examined. — London  Pharm.  Journal: 
