474 
VARIETIES. 
rendered  complete,  although  the  first  were  prepared  and  laid  down  in  the 
year  1846. 
"  It  is  with  pleasure,  doctor,  that  I  am  enabled  to  give  you  this  informa- 
tion, in  order  that  you  may  communicate  it  to  the  members  of  the  jury  of 
the  Universal  Exposition. 
(Signed,)  "  H.  de  Vougt, 
"  Chief  Administrator  of  Telegraph  Lines,  Minister  of  the  Interior." 
"  To  Dr.  Boucherie." 
Journal  of  Franklin  Institute,  and  Herapath's  Journal. 
On  Soft  Sulphur.  By  E.  Baudrimont. — When  fresh  soft  sulphur  is 
brought  in  contact  with  essence  of  turpentine  in  a  closed  tube,  and  left  to 
itself  for  five  or  six  days,  the  fragments  of  sulphur  become  opake,  and 
covered  with  a  great  number  of  small,  transparent,  and  brilliant  crystals, 
which  also  clothe  the  walls  of  the  tube.  In  a  few  months  these  crystals 
acquire  a  considerable  size,  which  they  do  not  afterwards  appear  to  exceed. 
They  are  modifications  of  the  symmetrical  octohedron,  which  is  always  ob- 
tained when  sulphur  is  crystallized  at  the  ordinary  temperature.  As  this 
crystallization  takes  place  at  the  surface  of  the  sulphur,  and  not  in  its  mass, 
it  cannot  be  attributed  to  a  direct  conversion  of  the  soft  sulphur  into 
octohedric  sulphur,  but  rather  to  the  greater  solubility  of  the  former  in  tur- 
pentine and  its  return  to  the  latter  condition  in  this  fluid,  which  would 
necessitate  the  precipitation  of  a  portion  of  the  body  dissolved  in  the  tur- 
pentine. 
The  author  found  that  at  59°  F.  the  same  quantity  of  turpentine  dissolved 
in  twenty-four  hours  1000  parts  of  ordinary  sulphur  and  102  parts  of  soft 
sulphur.  At  212°  F.  the  soft  sulphur  appears  to  become  converted  into 
ordinary  sulphur ;  and  soft  sulphur  appears  to  possess  different  degrees  of 
solubility,  according  as  it  was  exposed  to  different  temperatures,  and  as  it 
was  more  or  less  fresh. —  Ohem.  Gaz.  June  l,from  Comptes  Bendus,  April 
28,  1856. 
On  the  Bichromate  of  Potash  and  Sulphur  Acid  Test  for  Strychnine.  By 
C.  W.  Bingley,  Ph.D.,  F.C.S. — When  strychnine  in  powder  is  moistened 
with  a  single  drop  of  undiluted  sulphuric  acid,  and  a  small  fragment  of 
bichromate  of  potash  is  placed  in  the  liquid,  a  beautiful  and  most  intense 
violet  tint  immediately  appears  at  the  points  of  contact,  and  is  speedily 
diffused  over  the  whole  liquid,  disappearing  entirely  in  a  few  minutews  (vide 
Chem.  Gaz.,  vol.  x..p.  198,  and  lb.,  vol.  v.  p.  15),  leaving  the  liquid  colored 
a  deep  yellow-orange  color  by  the  bichromate  of  potash. 
But  if  a  considerable  portion  of  tartarized  antimony  be  present  in  solu- 
tion, along  with  a  small  portion  of  strychnine  either  in  solution  or  in  powder, 
the  violet  tint  is  not  produced,  as  in  the  case  before  alluded  to,  but  a  pale 
greenish  color,  which  is  much  more  persistent,  is  apparent. 
