whether goods are printed red with extract of madder or with artificial alizarin. If the red in question is steeped in a solution of permanganate of potash, and then passed into an acid, the red produced with extract turns a reddish yellow, whilst that produced with artificial alizarin retains a decided rose colour. The two reds are still better distinguished by successive treatment with bichromate of potash and nitric acid. The red produced with extract is almost entirely discharged, whilst that from artificial alizarin retains a decided rose shade. If the tissue thus treated is boiled for two minutes in soda-lye at 18° B., washed and dipped in hydrochloric acid at 20° B., the red from artificial alizarin becomes light yellow, and that from extract a dirty orange. The experiments may be performed as follows:-The swatches are steeped for two minutes in a solution of 1 grm. permanganate in 200 c.c. of water, washed, plunged into hydrochloric acid at 3° B., washed, passed again into permanganate of potash, washed, and finally passed into solution of oxalic acid at 1° B. If chromate is preferred, the swatches are steeped two or three minutes in a solution of 10 grms. bichromate in 200 grms. water, drained, passed through nitric acid at 5° B., and washed.

Bulletin de la Societe Chimique de Paris,

No. 12, December 20, 1874.

Absorption of Gypsum by Bone-Black - M. F. Anthon.-Bone-black is very difficult to wash to such an extent that the washings no longer precipitate chloride of barium. If over black thus washed there is filtered a saturated solution of sulphate of lime, it is found that the filtrate contains sulphate of ammonium. There is, therefore, a chemical reaction, and not a mere absorption in this case. Black which has absorbed gypsum yields it again to distilled water (Dingler's Polytechnisches Journal).

Use of Fluorides in the Manufacture of Glass.MM. Hagemann and Jörgensen.-In America cryolite is used in making a white milky glass. The proportions are 9 parts of zinc white, 4 of cryolite, and 10 of quartz sand. The glass is very hard, brilliant, and not attacked by acids, even when powdered. This glass gives on analysis

PATENTS.

CHEMICAL NEWS, February 26, 1875.

ABRIDGMENTS OF PROVISIONAL AND COMPLETE SPECIFICATIONS.

Huch, Brunswick, Germany. May 15, 1874.-No. 1734. This ProImprovements in preserving blood for use as food. Edward Heinson visional Specification describes mixing lime with blood, and allowing it to settle, and then drawing off the clear liquid, and drying it with or without farinaceous matters.

Improvements in the manufacture and refining of sugar. John Henry Johnson, Lincoln's Inn Fields, Middlesex. (A communication from Henri Armand Joseph Manoury, Paris.) May 15, 1874.-No. 1736. This invention relates to the treatment of molasses, syrups, and other similar saccharine products obtained in the manufacture and refining of sugar; and consists in first adding to such molasses, syrups, or other similar saccharine products an alkaline carbonate, such, for example, as carbonate of soda or of carbonate of potash, for the purpose of rendering the organic and other compounds more soluble in dilute alcohol than they are when they exist in combination with lime. Improvements in obtaining sulphate of soda or of potash, hydrochloric acid, and chlorine. Emil König and James Henderson, manufacturing chemists, Irvine, Ayr, North Britain. May 16, 1874.-Nor 1742. This invention relates to improvements and modifications in processes of the kind described in the Specifications of Letters Patent, Nos. 853, 1395, of 1871; and No. 571 of 1872; granted to Emil Konigs, one of the present applicants; and No. 1642 of 1871, granted to both the present applicants.

A new means to be employed for preserving every kind of animal and vegetable matter. Charles Adalbert Hermann Lindemann, M.D., of Manchester, Lancaster. May 18, 1874.-No. 1753. I claim the discovery of the antiseptic property of boric acid and its compounds, which are all powerful in protecting every kind of organic matter against decay, as well in the living as in the dead state. Consequently I make use thereof for the following purposes:-(1) Preserving fresh meat, blood, and its compounds, like albumen and fibrin; (2) embalming corpses; (3) protecting textile tissues against mildew; (4) curing and preventing contagious and miasmatic diseases. Improvements in the preparation and application of certain materials for deodorising sewage, might-soil, and like matters, and in the manufacture of artificial manures. John Howard Kidd, Wrexham, Denbigh. May 19, 1874.-No. 1764. The invention consists in applying as a deodoriser carbonaceous or coal shales or coal washings, which materials are heated or carbonised in a suitable furnace, such as

retort furnaces, and is then pulverised if desired. When thus prepared it is mixed with the sewage or night-soil, or other like matters requiring to be deodorised. In treating sewage, the solid matter is allowed to settle in tanks, then the surplus water is drained away, and salt or lime is added, and then sufficient mineral carbon or material obtained from carbonaceous shales or coal washings as above explained is added, and mixed with the sewer sediment to cause it to dry readily. The material thus obtained is further and greatly enriched as a fertiliser by the addition and mixture of bone-dust, nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia, and other like matters.

MEETINGS FOR THE WEEK.

SATURDAY, Feb. 27th.-Physical, 3. Mr. T. Wills, F.C.S., "On a Mode of Exhibiting to a Large Audience the Spectrum of Sodium." G. C. Foster, F.R.S., and O. J. Lodge, "On the Lines of Flow and Equipotential Lines in a Uniformly Conducting Sheet.' London Institution, 5.

Society of Arts, 8. (Cantor Lectures.)

Rev. Arthur

Chemical, 8. P. Braham and J. W. Gatehouse, "On the Dissociation of Nitric Acid." O. Thudicum, "Chemical Constitution of the Brain." G. C. Kingzett, "Calcic Hypochlorite from BleachingPowder." W. N. Hartley, "On a Simple Method of Determining Iron."

FRIDAY, 5th.-Royal; Institution, 8. Weekly Evening Meeting. Lord Rayleigh, "On the Dissipation of Energy," 9. Geologists' Association, 8. SATURDAY, 6th.-Royal Institution, 3 Prof. W. K. Clifford, "On the General Features of the History of Science."

-

for being symmetrical, and are inclined to each other at 90°; and it is evident that, if any one of the planes of the system perpendicular to the first plane of symmetry is a plane of symmetry to the system, then also must a plane perpendicular to both these planes be potentially a plane of symmetry. Whence we pass at once, from the case of a crystal symmetrical to a single plane of symmetry, to a case in which the crystal is symmetrical to three of its planes which are perpendicular to each other; that it shall be so therefore involves only one condition beyond those that have to be fulfilled in the clinorhombic system.

Indicating the three perpendicular planes of symmetry by the letters S, E, and C, which we shall call the proto-, the deutero-, and the trito-systematic planes, we may proceed to discuss the character of a form belonging to such a system.

Taking these three systematic planes for axial planes, the zone axis of each pair (which is also the normal to the third plane) becomes a crystallographic axis, while the axial octants are commensurate with those formed by the three planes. Each octant will thus contain one pole of a form hk, so that such a general form will present eight faces; and these faces will be scalene triangles.

The distribution of the poles of a form (h k 1), and of the forms (110), (101), (011), and (111), as also of the two

the two elements involved in the three parameters being unfettered. That these three parameters must all have different values, or at least values that can only be transiently equal at some special temperature, is seen in this: that, supposing a pole to be at a point bisecting one of the quadrants between the axes on, for instance, a great circle, C, a similar pole must occur on that great circle at a quadrant's distance from the assumed pole, and the faces to which these poles belong will satisfy the conditions of planes of symmetry, and will be inclined on the

CHEMICAL NEWS, March 5, 1875.

plane S and 2 at the crystallometric angle 45°, an angle' therefore, compatible with their being planes of sym

metry.

In observing, of the parameters in the orthorhombic system which we have just considered, that any one of the parametral ratios can represent equality at only one temperature, it becomes necessary to consider for a moment what is the effect of change of temperature in altering the morphological character of a crystal. Thus, with increase of temperature the crystal expands, but in the same degree only along directions that are morphologically similar; and, as a consequence of this, the angular inclinations of the faces of a crystal will also change.

Now, since the symbol for a plane involves two sets of ratios, those, namely, of the parameters of the crystal and those of the indices of the planes, but as, moreover, a symbol for a zone is directly deducible from the indices of its planes, it is clear that, if those indices have to be changed to represent the result of a change of temperature, the character of the zones, and so of the symmetry of the crystal, would undergo change. This, however, cannot be, for the indices, being rational numbers, can only change per saltum, whereas the expansions or contractions, and the angular changes accompanying them, are continuous. Consequently it is the parameters, and not the indices, that

change, and the zones, and with them the symmetry of the crystal, retain permanently their original characters in regard to symmetry; and it will further follow that the angles at which planes of symmetry are inclined to one another are permanent at all temperatures.

The next point on which Professor Maskelyne dwelt, before considering in detail crystals of a more complex symmetry, was the character of the spherical triangles formed by the intersections of the great circles lying in the planes of symmetry. Since, where two planes of symmetry exist in a crystal, the plane of their zone circle fulfils the conditions for being potentially a plane of symmetry, these three planes of symmetry will intersect with the surface of the sphere in three great circles to the triangle formed to which Mr. Maskelyne gave the name of the systematic triangle. Each crystallographic system, where there is more than one plane of symmetry, will thus be characterised by a systematic triangle of its own, and the sphere will become partitioned into a series of such spherical triangles resulting from their mutual repetition, alternate triangles being directly congruent, whereas adjacent triangles

The different letters which correspond to the different planes of symmetry indicating that these planes of symmetry are not conformable with its other; that is to say, that the features of the crystal are distributed in a different manner in respect to them severally.

The small letters indicate the angles, while the large ones represent the signs of the systematic triangle. It is evident that we may have various kinds of crystalline forms belonging to each crystal; varying, that is to say, according as their poles are situated either within a sys tematic triangle, or upon one or other of its three sides, or, finally, at the points at which those sides meet, namely, in the angles of the triangle and the symmetry presented by each such form will be of a different kind.

In the orthorhombic system, the general form, hk 1, representing the scalene octahedron, has its poles within

the triangles, and the symbol only varies in the signs, not in the relative order of its indices. The rhombic prism hko has its poles on the sides C. The protodome fok 1} has its poles on the arcs, S, of the systematic triangle, and its zone-axis coincides with the normal of the proto systematic plane, the axis X.

The deuterodome {hol has its poles on the arcs Σ, and its zone-axis, to which the edges are parallel, is the axis Y. (To be continued).

SECOND NOTE ON SULPHOVINIC ACID. By Dr. T. L. PHIPSON.

ACCORDING to the promise contained in my first note (CHEMICAL NEWS, vol. xxx., p. 221), the mixture of sulphuric acid and alcohol was submitted to the heat of a water-bath for three entire days, at the end of which time it was cooled, dropped very slowly into twenty times its bulk of cold water, and carefully saturated with carbonate of lime. The result was no better than with the acid prepared in the course of a few hours, and the quantity of sulphate of lime formed quite as great as before. It is, therefore, not possible to obtain a larger amount of product by this prolonged action of a temperature calculated to drive off the water separated from the alcohol.

The difficulty of obtaining pure sulphovinic acid, the great tendency of this acid and its salts to decompose and form bisulphates with production of alcohol, will, in all probability, preclude for ever their use in pharmacy. The sulphovinates of lime, potash, and baryta that I prepared many months ago in crystals, have hitherto kept without decomposition in simply corked bottles, but it is very doubtful that they would keep long in solution.

out properly, as, though there might be plenty of draught, there would, as they express it, be no "cut ;" and then there is the other advantage of diminished wear and tear of fire-bars, which are kept much cooler than they could possibly be were all the air admitted between them.

Perhaps I had better not omit to add that "air courses" are the exception rather than the rule in Lancashire furnaces, and that a well-built 18-inch bridge lasts six months or longer, if care be taken that the fire-bars do not come below the level of the working" bed;" and I may as well also add that "beds" are very rarely taken out, the usual plan being, about once a month, to put on a patch of broken bricks and sand, fluxed in with a little salt-cake, the business, which does not necessitate the stoppage of the furnace, being done by the men themselves, in the interval between their shifts.

The tanks or vats, with their settlers, are, excepting in their slightly modified fittings, almost identical with those in use here, so that I may without delay proceed to describe the specialities of the caustic plant proper.

There are three stages in this manufacture-causticising (including filtration of mud), concentrating, and finishing. The causticiser, or operation pan, may be of any convenient shape, but is usually a vessel 26 feet by 6 feet, and 6 feet 6 inches deep, the bottom being circled. It is provided with an agitator (driven by a small bracket engine bolted to the end of the pan), one or more steam-pipes for heating the charge, a sludge-valve for running off the mud, and, if necessary, a drop syphon for removing the clear liquor.

Sometimes, when economy in plant is an object, mechanical agitation is dispensed with, and the cheaper arrangement of injections or "blowers" substituted. These, by forcing through the liquor a mixture of air and steam, serve the double purpose of agitating and heating, and, in addition, assist in the oxidation of the sulphides.

The filter is usually of wrought-iron. Frequently an old boiler, cut in halves longitudinally, serves the purpose. But, if specially made, it is generally about 20 feet by 10 feet, and four feet deep. On the bottom are placed, in an open manner, bricks on edge, say, about 2 inches apart, but along the centre a clear channel is reserved, which in

By JOHN MORRISON, F.C.S.

(Continued from page 88.)

I HAVE not very much to say about the black-ash or ball furnaces proper; for, excepting that they are larger, and that their sides, instead of being metal plated, are simply secured by a number of horizontal strips of flat iron (say, 4 inches x inch), they are pretty similar to those used on the Tyne. The fire-places are, however, peculiar. The fuel is supplied, not at the side, but at the end just under the arch, an open space (extending the full length of the furnace) being left for the purpose. The arch is not domeshaped, but highest at the fire end-is regularly depressed towards the other. Across the fire end of the furnace is a metal plate 2 feet in depth, cased up with 9-inch brickwork, and having a number of perforations 3 inches in diameter, corresponding with a similar number of pigeonholes left in the casing. These holes are for the admission of air to the burning fuel. The perforated plate rests on the outer edge of an ordinary dead plate, under which are the fire-bars as usual. The fire-place is the full width of the furnace-bed, but to prevent waste of coal in clinkering (by facilitating the "damping" of the fire), a 9-inch midwall is run up the centre of the grate, terminating about 9 inches above the bars. The whole arrangement is simply a modified "cave" fire-place. The perforations raise the area of the most intense combustion to nearly, or even a little over, the top of the bridge, and cause a sharp, steady, and very effective flame. Were the perforations closed, the men would be unable to get their work

* A Paper read before the Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Chemical Society.

of this arrangement is a layer of coke or limestone (preferably the former) 8 or 9 inches in depth, then a second layer of smaller pieces, and third still smaller, lastly a covering of clean coarse sand or small coal, on which cast- or wrought-iron grids are laid to afford a convenient shovelling bottom. A barrow or two of clean riddled cinders from one of the furnaces, or a similar quantity of small coal scattered over the grids, then renders the filter-in which there still remains 18 to 24 inches in depth of clear space available for lime mud ready for use; but communicating with the sough or channel just described, in the bottom of the filter, is a 2 or 3-inch pipe, connected with a small boiler or air-tight tank of, say, 150 or 200 cubic feet capacity, erected preferably above the level of the operation pan, and which is in its turn in connection with a vacuum pump. The top of this boiler is provided with an air-cock, and to the bottom a run-off tap is attached; the former for the admission of air, when the liquor is being removed by means of the latter. And when a water-gauge has been affixed to the end of the boiler, the filtering apparatus may be said to be thoroughly equipped. The second stage includes the evaporation of the liquors.

Attached to each black-ash furnace, in place of the ordinary salting down or black salt pan, are two cast-iron boat-pans, placed end to end, to form a prolonged continuation of the furnace. The term "boat," it is perhaps scarcely necessary to say, only applies to the dished sides, for the ends are quite upright, and the form of the top being rectangular, with slightly rounded corners. The usual dimensions of these pans are 12 feet by 8 feet, measured on the top, with a depth of 3 feet along the central or deepest portion. The pan furthest from the furnace is placed about 6 inches higher than its neighbour, and the

bottom of the latter corresponds in height with the soffit of the black-ash furnace arch. One continuous 14-inch mid-wall, on which the bottom of the pans rest, sustains the major portion of the weight of the latter, while a front and back 14-inch wall (which are simply extensions of the furnace sides), built up to the flanged tops, firmly supports or stays their two sides. In other words, the pans are sustained by three parallel longitudinal brick walls, and across the two flues or passages which the latter form, are built up to within 8 inches of the pan sides, and carrying their sweep three or four fire bridges, for the purpose of keeping the flame well up to the metal, and the hollow spaces intervening between the bridges are filled up to within a foot or so of the pan with brickbats or clinkers, with a similar object. The flame, on emerging from the black-ash furnace, passes over these bridges, traversing the full length of the two pans, previously to passing into the drop at the far end of the back one, which is in communication with the main flue. Those just described are termed the "weak" pans, but to them the "strong" pans are precisely similar, excepting that, instead of being subjected to the action of "waste" heat merely, they are self-fired. There are two arched fire-places attached to the front, or working pan, of each pair, built side by side against its outer end. They are each about 4 feet 6 inches by 2 feet 3 inches, one being opposite each flue; that is to say, one is built on each side the central supporting wall, which extends outwards for the purpose. The products of combustion from each fire pass along their own side, till, on arriving at the end of the back pan, they unite and pass down one common drop in connection with the chimney.

The pots in which the third stage is completed are constructed to hold 10 tons of finished caustic soda, being 9 feet in diameter and 5 feet 6 inches in depth. They are set in innumerable ways (every manager having his own pet fashion), with the common object of dividing the heat, so that the "boil" may take place equally all round; for if the flame impinge too much on one side, that portion will wear out very rapidly. The great aim, in short, is to prevent the pots becoming thin and wearing into holes at one particular spot. They do not, however, usually die of genuine old age, but become useless most frequently by eakage caused by the formation of a hole or open crack generally one or two feet from the bottom. Neither is the wear of a smooth character, but chiefly exhibits itself in blotches, or pock-marks of greater or less depth, and from to an inch in diameter. The side of the pot against which the fire is built is almost invariably protected from the direct action of the flame by means of a guard or shield of brickwork, against which the flame splits into two portions, which between them encircle the pot before uniting again to pass into the flue. Generally the pots rest on a metal plate, and are stayed in an upright position with brickwork; but the chief support is secured by the circular curtain wall-forming the side flues-into which three lugs cast equidistantly round the pot, about a foot from the top, project. The metal plate just alluded to facilitates the Occasional turning of the pot, which is advisable to prevent localisation of the wear.

In the best constructed caustic soda works the pots are all within range of an overhead traveller, which very much simplifies any alteration or removal. Without this appendage, the business is a comparatively troublesome one, for the pots, weighing about 6 tons, are rather awkwardly shaped for convenient handling, and any pleasure there might otherwise be in the job is seriously marred if, as is usual, a neighbouring pot is in process of being nitred, for at such times the work of turning or removal is particularly disagreeable; and if the results are less to be feared, the temporary sensations are quite as decided as the process of stinging by an indefinite number of pretty lively wasps. Occasionally, caustic pots are heated by gas generated in an ordinary producer, but experience has shown this method to be anything but economical in fuel.

(To be continued.)

CHEMICAL NEWS, March 5, 1875.

SOCIETY OF PUBLIC ANALYSTS.

"SALE OF FOOD AND DRUGS ACT, 1875." SINCE we had occasion to refer to this embryo Bill last week, it has been interesting to notice with what a chorus of disapprobation it has been received by the press, and how the fatal objections, which we were the first to point out, have been generally appreciated and endorsed. The Times, in a leading article on the 1st inst., commented upon a letter which the Secretaries of this Society had felt it their duty to address to that Journal, and said"All persons, and especially all poor and comparatively illiterate persons, should have reasonable security for obtaining the chief necessaries of life in a state of such purity that they may really possess the nutritive or other properties with which they are credited by the purchasers."

In reference to the exception under Section 6, which renders the usage of trade" an excuse for adulteration, and to which exception we have already most emphatically objected, the Times says "It would be a prodigious gain if the influence of law could bring the adulteration of necessaries to be regarded no longer as an usage of trade,' but as a disgraceful offence; and there can be little doubt that such a change in the commercial way of looking at things would speedily tend to diminish adulteration generally."

In meeting another objectionable point in the Bill, the Times well remarks-"If the vendor pleaded mere ignorance, his plea ought not to save him; and if he pleaded that he had himself been deceived by the person from whom he purchased, his remedy should be in bringing that person before the Court, and having him punished. The moderate penalty, however, which would destroy the dishonest profit of the retail adulterator would be a comparatively small tax on the dishonest profit of the wholesale dealer, and to meet this difficulty it might be provided that the amount of the fines should bear some proportion to the quantity of adulterated goods which had been sold." In concluding this article, the same Journal observes-"The Secretaries of the Society of Public Analysts assure us that the business of food analysis is daily becoming better understood; but, notwithstanding this, it would be judicious that the number of analysts should, at first, be somewhat limited, and that their remuneration should be such as to place them in a position of independence."

The Lancet has published an able and exhaustive article echoing and amplifying our objections to the Act. We have not space for any quotations, but we will give the closing one, which involves the conclusion of the whole matter:-"One would think that it (the Bill) had been drawn up by a conclave of adulterating manufacturers, who, while professing the desire to afford the public some protection against adulteration, yet contrived that the measure should cover nearly every form and species of adulteration which the ingenuity of man has hitherto succeeded in devising."

In reference to the exception which we took to the definition of the word " food," in Section 3 of the new Bill, we have recently had occasion to peruse "An Act to impose License Duties on Compounders of Spirit, &c.; and to prevent the Adulteration of Food, Drink, and Drugs," passed by the Parliament of the Dominion of Canada, in May last year. From this Act we quote the definiton of the words food and drink, and we think that, for clearness and comprehensiveness, the Imperial might well take a lesson from the Colonial Legislature:Food "means and includes every article used as food in the state in which it is offered for sale, or that is used in the preparation of food by admixture therewith either before, during, or after cooking." Drink "means and includes any liquid used as a beverage, and any article used in or for the preparation or partial preparation of any beverage."