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SULPHUR. 
contained in the juices of plants if combined 
with an alkali; and we must even suppose that 
vegetable fibrin, the insoluble ingredient of ce- 
real plants, must have originally been soluble, 
and have attained its position in the seeds by 
the agency of alkalies. The potash and soda of 
the alkaline sulphates which furnish to plants 
their sulphur, remain, therefore, either in com- 
bination with the ingredients containing that 
element, or they enter into some new state of 
combination, or, finally, they are returned to 
the soil. 
generally diffused sulphate; and, being soluble, 
it may either pass directly into the plant, or it 
may be decomposed by the carbonate of ammo- 
nia existing in rain water, and pass into the 
plant in the form of sulphate of ammonia. A 
solution of gypsum containing common salt or 
chloride of potassium, such as sea water, and 
the water of most springs, may be viewed as a 
mixture of an alkaline sulphate with chloride 
of calcium. From this it must be obvious, 
that when we furnish to a plant at the same 
time both gypsum and common salt (chloride of 
sodium), we actually furnish by such a solution 
the same materials that we would do if we sup- 
plied a mixture of sulphate of soda and chloride 
of calcium. In order to form the constituents 
containing sulphur, that element and the alkali 
must be retained by the plant, while the chlorine 
and calcium will be expelled by the roots. We 
know that this process actually does take place 
in the case of marine plants. The soda or potash 
is obtained from common salt or chloride of po- 
tassium, which suffers decomposition by the pre- 
sence of sulphate of lime or sulphate of magne- 
sia. It is necessary to suppose that this process 
also occurs with the cereal and all other plants 
destitute of lime. Thus we are enabled to ex- 
plain the use of common salt as a manure; it 
enables the plant, for which this manure is use- 
ful, to extract its sulphur from the soil in which 
it existed in the form of sulphate of lime.” 
SULPHUR. An elementary substance, of a 
combustible and non-metallic nature. It occurs 
as a native mineral in the vicinity of volcanoes, 
in the veins of primitive rocks, and in mixture 
with ores of iron, copper, antimony, lead, and 
silver; it is obtained, for commercial purposes, 
from excavated sulphur pits and from the roast- 
ing of pyrites; and it is commonly cast into 
cylindrical moulds forming roll-sulphur, and into 
cones about two feet high forming loaf-sulphur, 
—and is afterwards purified for medicinal or 
other nice purposes by a process of sublimation, 
and is then termed sublimed sulphur or flowers of 
sulphur. Roll sulphur is a crystallized, brittle, 
solid body, of a greenish-yellow colour, and has 
very little taste, and emits a peculiar odour 
when rubbed or heated, and breaks from the 
heat of the hand when held in it for a short 
time; but it is always more or less impure, and 
in some instances contains an admixture of six 
a ek 
Gypsum (sulphate of lime) is the most. 
381 
or seven per cent. of orpiment. Sublimed sul- 
phur is an impalpable powder, of a very bright 
yellow colour; and contains a minute portion of 
sulphuric acid, from which it can be separated 
by washing with water. Sulphur has a specific 
gravity of 1:99; and is a non-conductor of elec- 
tricity ; and is very volatile, within a very great 
range of temperature, from comparatively low 
to very high; and, when volatilized, condenses 
again unchanged in close vessels. It fuses at a 
temperature of 216° Fahrenheit ; attains a maxi- 
mum fluidity between 230° and 280°, and is 
then of amber colour; begins to become thick 
and viscid at 320°,—and if then poured into wa- 
ter, assumes a red colour, and has a ductility like 
wax, and may be kneaded into a state of emi- 
nent fitness for receiving the impressions of seals 
and medals ; becomes so tenacious between 428° 
and 482° that the vessel containing it may be 
inverted without causing it to change its place ; 
and from 482° to its boiling point, becomes an 
elastic fluid. It tends to crystallize in cooling ; 
and generally exhibits a perceptible crystalline 
arrangement in the centre of the rolls; and 
sometimes displays an elaborate and very beau- 
tiful system of crystals in an open vessel where 
it has slowly cooled. It inflames in the open 
air at 300°, burns with a pale blue flame, and 
emits pungent, suffocating vapours of sulphur- 
ous acid. It is insoluble in water; but unites 
with it, under favourable circumstances, to form 
the white hydrate of sulphur, popularly called 
milk of sulphur. It dissolves readily in boiling 
turpentine,—sparingly in many oils,—and freely 
in a volatilized state with vaporous alcohol; and 
it combines with oxygen, with hydrogen, with 
the alkalies, and with many of the earths and 
metallic substances. It so obstinately retains a 
minute portion of hydrogen as to resist separa- 
tion from it by either fusion or sublimation ; and 
it was supposed by Sir Humphrey Davy to be, 
not an elementary substance, but a triple com- 
pound of oxygen, hydrogen, and a peculiar base, 
—and has been conjectured by other chemists to 
hold a similar relation to oxygen which charcoal 
does to carbon; but it is still regarded by the 
great body of chemists as truly an elementary 
substance, comprising a minute proportion of 
hydrogen in the way of an impurity. 
Sulphur is an important ingredient in the nu- 
tritional principles of both animals and plants. 
See the articles Prorurn and SunpHares. It is 
extensively used in the arts for making sulphuric 
acid, manufacturing sulphates, some kinds of 
bleaching, and other purposes. It 1s used in 
medicine, both for internal administration by it- 
self, and as a chief ingredient in ointments, and 
as a constituent of various compounds. In inter- 
nal use, it isa laxative and a stimulating diapho- 
retic, and acts with eminent serviceableness in 
hemorrhoidal affections; and in combined in- 
ternal use and external application, it is a spe- 
cific in scabies and some other diseases of the 
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