detonates immediately with violence if brought in contact with concentrated ozone. If we take in connection with these facts the former observations of the same author on the presence of ozone in the air, and on the natural circumstances which seem to concentrate it occasionally in certain points of the atmosphere, we are entitled to ask whether, in some cases, conflagrations and explosions may not be due to this powerful chemical action, without any negligence or criminal intention on the part of persons concerned?

La Revue Scientifique de la France et de l'Etranger,
April 19, 1873.

This number contains no original papers on chemistry or its allied sciences.

PATENTS.

ABRIDGMENTS OF PROVISIONAL AND COMPLETE SPECIFICATIONS

DELIVERED FROM OCTOBER 5 TO OCTOBER 11, 1872.

A new or improved process for the manufacture of soap. William Lorberg, North Bow, Middlesex. October 8, 1872.-No. 2959. The features of novelty of this invention consist in a new or improved process of manufacturing soap. I take a definite quantity of fat, animal or vegetable, or a mixture of the two, or a mixture of either of the two and rosin in the state of thick oil in proportions varying according to the quality of soap it is intended to produce, the finer varieties of fat yielding a soap superior to that formed by lower descriptions of fatty matters. The fats to which I particularly refer are tallow, mutton suet, or a mixture of the two known in the trade as "melted stuff." Animal oils, such as fish oils, cocoa-nut oil, palm oil, palm-kernel oil, cotton-seed oil, olive oil, and the like. The said mixture is heated to the melting-point, say about 100° F., the object being to have the fats in a liquid state at as low a temperature as possible, merely to insure contact with the chemical ingredients, afterwards to be mixed with them. To this mixture I then add gradually and with diligent stirring from 50 to 60 per cent of a solution of caustic soda, indicating in the cold from 30° to 40° Baumé. As soon as combination has taken place, which it does with evolution of heat in a few minutes, I add water, solution of glutin, silicate of soda, or silicate of soda and potash, and for certain kinds of soap sulphate of soda, alumina, and carbonate of potash. The proportions of all these matters vary with the proposed quality of the soap, but in general they are as follows, namely, fat 100 parts, alkali 50 to 60 parts, silicate of soda or of soda and potash 25 to 50 parts, glutin 25 to 50 parts, water 20 to 50 parts. All the ingredients are added to the above compound in the cold, and thoroughly incorporated by stirring. The mass, which is now of a creamy subsistence, is covered up, allowed to heat and cool down again, which requires from twenty-four to forty-eight hours more or less, after which it is ready to be taken out of the frames and cut into slabs or bars, as may be desired. The soap then only requires to be seasoned, that is to say, to be exposed for some time to the influence of the atmosphere in a drying-room or other convenient shelter, which hardens and dries it. Improvements in the manufacture of artificial manures. Benjamin Tanner, Liverpool, Lancaster. October 9, 1872.-No. 2974. This invention consists in the economical production of single, double, and triple superphosphates having one, two, or three alkaline bases instead of the lime, or in addition thereto, and the production of ammoniacal matters in combination or admixture therewith in a more or less rapidly soluble condition, so as to produce highly concentrated artificial manures. For the convenience of description the following paragraphs, which describe the processes embraced by this invention, are numbered consecutively:

1. Solutions of any form of phosphate of lime and other mineral phosphates are made in hydrochloric acid, phosphoric acid, water, or mixtures thereof, by well-known arrangements. These solutions are treated with silicic acid, or sulphuric acid, or oxalic acid, or mixtures thereof, to remove any portion of the lime present, and, by preference, to reduce it in relation to the phosphoric acid to the proportion present in mono-calcic, bi-calcic, or tri-calcic phosphate. Sulphate, silicate, or oxalate of potash or mixture thereof, is or are then added to the liquor, for the purpose of removing all or a portion of the lime, and for substituting potash. The liquor is separated from any insoluble salts formed, and the clear liquor, on evaporation, yields a superphosphate of potash more or less intermixed with superphosphate of lime, and in such proportions as may be desired. Any other corresponding alkaline salt or salts may be used instead of, or in conjunction with, the potash added thereto, and any form of single, double, or triple superphosphate can thus be produced.

2. A very similar result is attained by adding the base or bases to be substituted for the lime or alkaline matter in a caustic condition, or in combination with any acid or elements which during the process of manufacture are decomposed or volatilised, such as chlorides, for example.

3. Phosphoric acid, or phosphoric and hydrochloric acids, more or less diluted with water, are also treated with the base or bases in a caustic condition, or in combination with any acids or elements (such as chlorides), which during the process are decomposed or volatilised, and their solutions, when evaporated, produce any form of single, double, or triple superphosphate. The superphosphates produced by the processes above described are sometimes further concentrated by dissolving the soluble portion in water, separating the insoluble matter, and evaporating the liquor as hereinafter described. If desired an additional quantity of alkaline matter is added.

4. These solutions, when prepared for evaporation, are intermixed with shoddy, woollen waste, blood, flesh, or other form or forms of nitrogenised matter, and evaporated to dryness, a single, double, or

triple superphosphate being obtained, having ammoniacal matter in a slowly soluble form intermixed therewith.

5. The solutions described in paragraph No. 1 are also treated in the manner therein described, or solutions of phosphoric acid are intermixed with shoddy, woollen waste, blood, flesh, or other form or forms of nitrogenised matter, and evaporated to dryness. The product I call "ammonio-phosphate."

6. Phosphoric acid or solutions of phosphate of lime and other phosphates in hydrochloric acid, phosphoric acid, water, or mixtures thereof, is or are intermixed with ammonia, and with sulphate or bisulphate of lime. The proportions of the materials shall be, for every equivalent of phosphoric acid present there shall be present one, two, or three equivalents of lime, or any intermediate quantity; and for every equivalent of sulphuric acid there shall be one equivalent of ammonia present. The insoluble matter may be separated, and the clear liquor evaporated. The product will be a superphosphate of lime having ammonia in a rapidly soluble form intermixed therewith. 7. When it is desired to separate any portion of the ammoniacal salt formed as described in paragraph No. 6, the liquor which has been prepared for evaporation is concentrated sufficiently to enable the ammoniacal salt to crystallise out, the remaining liquor is evaporated to dryness, yielding a product similar to that described in paragraph No. 6, but less rich in ammonia.

8. The several forms of 'superphosphate herein described may be phosphated and rendered more powerful as a manure by the addition of phosphoric acid thereto.

9. It is preferred to carry out the evaporation by the use of steam, or hot air, or mixtures thereof, the action being safer and more satisfactory.

Improvements in the manufacture of alkalies, and in apparatus employed therein. James Hargreaves, chemist, and Thomas Robinson, ironfounder, Widnes, Lancaster. October 10, 1872.-No. 2982. Our said improvements consist, first, in intimately mixing sulphate of soda and sulphate of potash, or either of them, with coal or other car. bonaceous material and metallic oxides, and fusing them in a crucible heated from the outside, the said crucible having an outlet at the bottom to allow the fused crude soda or potash to flow out when finished. Second, in using iron, preferably cast-iron, to form the crucibles aforesaid, or to form the beds and sides of furnaces used in the manufacture of crude soda or potash.

Improvements in evaporating liquids, and in the means or apparatus to be employed therein. Albert Ungerer, chemist, Simmering, near Vienna, Austria. October 10, 1872.-No. 2985. This invention, which relates to improvements in evaporating liquids, consists of a perpendicular shaft or tower constructed of stone or other suitable material, and covered with a perforated platform or cistern, from which a considerable number of wire or other ropes or rods are suspended into the interior of the tower. The liquid to be evaporated is first conducted to the top of the tower, and then allowed to run down through the perforations in the cover along the ropes or rods at a speed which can be regulated according to circumstances. Hot air or the products of combustion proceeding from a furnace enter the tower near its base, and escape through an opening near its top, meeting on their way the liquid spread over the immense surface afforded by the ropes, and thus concentrating the same by evaporation, more or less according to the heat of the gases and the speed at which the liquid is allowed to run down the ropes. It is preferred to place a cistern at the base of the tower, in order to collect the concentrated liquid and so that it may be removed.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Action of Heat on Gems.-The effect of the oxy-hydrogen flame upon beryls and emeralds has been fully studied by Mr. Greville Williams, whose results will be published very shortly.

Oxychloride of Lead.-Can any of your readers inform me if it is possible to make oxychloride of lead perfectly white, and how?-C. Removing Smell from Dissolved Gutta-Percha.-Would any of your readers kindly inform me of a method of removing the disagreeable smell left in gutta-percha and other substances when bisulphide of carbon has been used as a solvent? Long exposure of the substance, even in thin films, to the air does not answer the purpose. -M.

If the terms acidity and alkalinity have any meaning, or if the test here applied to discover these properties is trustworthy, we cannot refrain from classifying those substances specified in the first and second columns of the foregoing table as alkaline and acidic respectively.

That the test used is trustworthy, in the case of alkalinity at least, and these results consequently so far correct, is in the highest degree probable, from the fact that it has been approved of, and I may say recommended, for this latter object, by one who attempts to demonstrate the condition of neutrality in a case for which, as aforesaid, I have assigned alkalinity.

The correctness of this table being allowed, we may safely and largely add to it by filling in with those salts analogous in chemical composition to the ones stated, or we may at once deduce from it the following general conclusions:

The salts of the oxides, therefore, enumerated under the foregoing Nos. 1 and 2 appear to agree, in respect to the characters under investigation, with the corresponding salts of the alkalies; the oxides themselves, as compared to those of the so-called alkalies, thus exhibiting an equal alkalinity through all their combinations, and therefore each oxide is, as far as we can judge, similar in molecular arrangement throughout all such combinations.

In the case of those salts comprised in section 3, it is seen that they compare with the sulphates and chlorides of the same or corresponding bases in being acid; but the degree of this acidity is, we know, dissimilar, and may be inferred from the character of alkaline salts with these acids respectively, which has been already described.

The facts above stated have a great significance in respect to the relative potency of the alkalies as compared with that of the alkaline earths; thus, the perfect equality of the bases magnesia and lime as compared with potash (equivalent for equivalent) in respect to alkalinity (here shown) will, if fully recognised, oblige us to dispute the title which this base now holds-that of being the most powerful of any we are yet conversant with.

In reality, lithia has far better claims upon this position, as having the lowest combining number, and being, equivalent for equivalent, undoubtedly equal to potash in basicity, it has, therefore, for similar weights, the greatest saturating power for acids.

Next to lithia is magnesia, then lime, soda, and afterwards potash. In this connection it is proper to remark that lithia is the only base which readily attacks platinum when fused upon it-a pretty good test of strength, one would think, and proving, as far as a single result has weight, that the relative position I here assign to this base is correct.

Both potash and soda, however, have certainly an appearance of being far more powerfully alkaline than any of the bases just compared with them; but this is due simply to the fact that they dissolve in water to a larger extent, and with far greater speed than these bases, whereby they are enabled to act with greater facility, and effect more, in a given time.

The fact is that, in our use of the term alkalinity, hitherto we have not expressed absolute potentiality, but rather energy or speed of action, and this speed being dependent (other circumstances being equal) upon the degree of solubility in water of the substance tested, we have thus unconsciously perverted the true meaning of the term (alkalinity), by making it denote a certain degree of

solubility-a quality which we do not know is the least related to it.

It only remains to notice that, in relation to rocks, the terms basicity and acidity have, by the facts above stated, their significance enlarged, and their appropriateness rendered still more apparent than before, while the term neutrality is now shown to be predicable of certain of them, and to be equally significant.

The character of rock masses, or portions of them, in these respects may be discovered in a very direct and simple manner, by just pounding a portion of them upon litmus-paper moistened and properly prepared, when, according to the results and manner of sampling, we know off-hand the true condition of the specimen as a whole, or of any particular portion of it; and, knowing this, we learn at once the general affinities of such rocks or portions of rocks, or to particularise whether they are absorbent of acid silicates or silica, or of basic silicates (as the earthy or alkaline ones), or whether, as in the case of clay or clay slate, they are negative to both these

classes of bodies.

MR. WILLIAM THOMPSON was elected an Ordinary Member of the Society.

The following letter from Mr. WILLIAM BOYD DAWKINS, F.R.S., was read:

As Secretary of the Committee of the British Association for carrying on the exploration of the Victoria Cave, I am obliged to notice the "Notes on Victoria Cave," by Mr. W. Brockbank, published in the Proceedings, March 10th, 1873, pp. 95 et seq. The notes in question are based partly on Mr. Brockbank's examination of the cave during two visits, with an interval of two years between them, partly on the facts recorded by Mr. Tiddeman and myself, and partly on a ground plan constructed by our superintendent, Mr. Jackson, for the Exploration Committee, that is not yet published. I submit that, until the work of the Committee to which the cave has been handed over by the kindness of the owner be finished, and the observations, to which Mr. Brockbank has had no access, be recorded, his notes must of necessity be imperfect and liable to error. How much he is in error as to matters of fact may be estimated by the examination of the statement, p. 97—" the day before my visit a mass of at least 100 tons had fallen from above the face of the Victoria Cave." Mr. Jackson writes me that not even a mass weighing 1 ton, although two blocks possibly of 10 cwts. each, had fallen. The statement at p. 96, in which I am made to differ with Mr. Tiddeman as to the presence of the pleistocene mammalia inside the cave, is altogether unfounded, and the inference that I "varied my descrip tion" after my paper came before the Society is negatived by the fact that the abstract in question was printed for private circulation in 1872. The remains occur at the entrance and extend both inside and outside the cave, as

I pointed out in my diagram. These are merely two out of many points which have been raised, and which do not lead me to alter my conviction that the stratum containing the mammalia is of pre-glacial age, or to undertake any responsibility as to the views which I have not advanced. Were I to discuss all the points which have been raised, I should anticipate the Report of the Committee to the British Association. If these hasty and necessarily imperfect observations were not calculated to throw discredit on the Exploration, I should not trouble the Society with this note.

"On some Improvements in Electro-Magnetic Induction Machines," by HENRY WILDE, Esq. An abstract of this paper will appear in an early number of the CHEMICAL NEWS.

MICROSCOPICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SECTION.
Extraordinary Meeting, December 11th, 1872.
JOSEPH SIDEBOTHAM, F.R.A.S., in the Chair.

MR. JAMES M. SPENCE exhibited a large and interesting collection of natural history and other objects from Venezuela. Mr. Spence had lately returned from that country, in which he spent eighteen months, during which time he accumulated a very extensive collection.

The natural history collection contained a number of hunter's skins of the larger animals of prey and of the chase; but the great wealth and beauty of the fauna of the country was best illustrated by the extensive collection of birds, which is probably the best ever got together, and embraces examples of nearly all the tribes found in the Venezuelan Republic.

The economical portion of the collection was of great interest and value, chiefly from its extent and the care which had been exercised in its collection and transportation, and the valuable notes of Dr. Ernst of Caracas, which accompany it, rendered it still more valuable. Specimens of the vegetable and mineral productions of Venezuela were to be seen in great number and variety. Among the plants exhibited was a small collection of Characea named by Dr. Ernst, but the chief interest was in a small collection of plants gathered by Mr. Spence on the summit of Mount Naiguati.

This mountain, whose altitude is nearly 9,500 feet, is the highest in Venezuela, and was regarded as almost inaccessible until Mr. Spence and five companions made a successful ascent in April, 1872. A species of grass allied to the bamboos, and new to science, was one of the results

of this ascent.

The exhibition also included an assortment of interesting curiosities of native manufacture, recent and ancient. There were goblets, drinking cups, and flasks more or less finely carved out of cocoa-nuts, some mounted in silver; and a series of delicately-worked cups and bowls of calabash.

From the State of Trugillo, Mr. Spence has brought three curiously-shaped vessels obtained from Peruvian burial places.

The collection remained open to the public for some days, and was visited by a large number of persons.

January 27th, 1873.

The collection contains gold in quartz of very rich character, argentiferous ores, green and blue carbonates of copper, copper pyrites, galena, iron ores of various kinds, carbonaceous minerals, calcites, silicas, and rock specimens of gneiss, mica, talc schists, kaolin, hornblendic rocks, and serpentine, with a few imperfect fossil and silicified woods.

The gold quartz of the richest kind came from the province of Guayana, where vast regions of auriferous rocks occur; and where also gold is found in small grains, flakes, and nuggets of all sizes from an ounce to many pounds weight, in a clay from 2 to 8 inches thick, as well as in a red peroxidated iron earth, both probably alluvial drifts. The quartz veins are richly impregnated with gold in crystals and strings, as may be seen in specimens in the collection. Other specimens of the gold rocks come from the Isle of Aruba, and Loro Estado, Tacasumino.

The argentiferous ores are galenas and cupriferous, and are not of very great richness; they are from La Guaira, Cumanà, and Coro, where decomposed galenas are worked for silver.

The copper ores include twenty specimens from mines that have been worked with profit, one of which, the Aroa mines in the province of Yaracui, is the most famous for the superior richness of its carbonates. The specimen of cuprite from this mine or Quebrada has some long and beautiful crystals of olivenite with cubes of strontian, and from Aragua are specimens of pyrargyrite or red silver ore; others from Caracas, Coro, and the river Tui, include malachites and a native sulphate of copper, probably a crystallisation from the waters issuing from the mines. The chalcopyrites are neither numerous nor very good; the best comes from the Aroa mines, the small granular pyrites appears to be most abundant in a decomposing gneissoze rock.

The galenas are from mines at Los Teques, Aroa, and Campano; several are pseudomorphous crystals in filmy aggregations, interesting specimens for the mineralogist. The iron ores include specimens of pyrites (mundic) which in Venezuela appears to be as abundant as in most palæozoic regions; ten of the samples are rich, and would be profitable if the cost of mining is not too expensive at Barquisimeto, Caracas, and the Aroa mines.

The hæmatites include specular, micaceous, and red iron ores, all comparable to the best European ores. The limnites comprise bog-iron ore of recent formation and a brown amorphous ore. The siderites include an aggregation of tabular crystals from Caracas, probably a carbonate of protoxide of iron valuable in making steel, and massive clay ironstones from the districts of Corui Machate, where coal is also worked. The crystallised and compact magnetites come from the same place. A thin vein of brown siliceous ironstone has its surfaces covered with minute fragments of clear quartz, singular and beautiful under the microscope.

The carbonaceous minerals are coals, graphite, sulphur, asphaltum, and petroleum. The coals are from Nuevo Mundo, where Mr. Spence has proved the existence of workable coals, the Island of Toas in the Lake Maraciabo, and a cannel coal from Coro, with several black shales from these localities. These coals are undoubtedly of excellent quality, and from report can be worked economically; their age is at present unknown, from the want of any proper geological survey, and in the absence of fossils of any kind in the shales in this collection; in all probability, however, the Venezuelan coals are of true

The graphite from Caracas is an impure, amorphous, earthy kind, in schists of 2 inches thick, occuring in talcose and micaceous rocks. The sulphurs are massive and of good quality from Campano, Cumanà, and Coro. Asphaltum and its varieties are reported to be found on the coasts in great deposits and in springs: the specimens in the collection are of excellent quality.

The twelve rock specimens of quartz crystals include some of equal purity and size to those obtained from

February 24th, 1873.

JOSEPH SIDEBOTHAM, F.R.A.S., in the Chair.

JOSEPH SIDEBOTHAM F.R.A.S., exhibited an old microscope sent by Mr. Rideout, and explained its construction. The workmanship of the brass-work was very beautiful, and the various motions and appliances much admired. He also read a letter from Mr. Dancer, who for several reasons thought that the microscope was not more than 120 years old, and was made by the elder Adams. He said that many of these old microscopes, in finish of brasswork, good fitting, and screws, would compare very favourably with instruments of recent construction, and that the appliances and apparatus of one of the complete microscopes would surprise a microscopist of the present day; he would find many parts and adaptations which are generally supposed to be of modern invention.

The stand of the microscope is of ebony, and is a fine specimen of geometrical turning. The optical part is of course very poor, and inferior to the very cheapest achromatic instrument of the present day.

to the

Adulteration of Food Act.-The following is the Report of the Analyst, Thomas Stevenson, M.D., Vestry of St. Pancras, Middlesex, for the quarter ending March 25th, 1873:-"In accordance with the 7th section of An Act to Amend the Law for the Prevention of Adulteration of Food and Drink, and of Drugs,' I beg to submit to you this, my first report. As my appointment dates only from February 1st, 1873, and operations were not commenced until I had received instructions from the Sanitary Committee, this report really refers to a period of half a quarter. The following is a tabular statement of the articles analysed by me during the quarter under

notice :

that effect. Of the eight adulterated samples, three were duplicates procured by the instructions of the Sanitary Committee from bakers who had previously sold adul terated bread. In all, four samples were thus analysed a second time. In three instances, the second samples were found to be again adulterated, though to a very modified degree; and in the fourth instance, the adulterant used (alum) was present to such a trivial extent that its presence might have been accidental. In view of the above circumstances, I did not feel called upon to recom mend any prosecution for the adulteration of bread. I trust that those bakers who had adulterated may be warned by samples having been procured for analysis, and that they will cease to adulterate so important an article of diet as bread. The quality of bread analysed was in all cases household bread, sold by weight, at from 61d. to 8d. per 4 lb. loaf. Of tea, four samples were in my opinion adulterated, and nine not adulterated. In one case, the adulteration consisted in the admixture of a gritty earthy matter ingeniously rolled up inside the tea-leaves, so that to the eye the tea had a clean appearance. A second sample of (this?) tea was procured, but the adulteration had disappeared. Had the tea been again adulterated, I should have advised prosecution. The three other adulterated samples were mixed with leaves other than tea leaves, the foreign leaves being broken up, so as in a great measure to prevent their identification. Two of the samples were similar samples procured from the same shop. A duplicate sample will also be procured from the shop from which the third sample came, and will be reported on next quarter. The teas analysed were common and inferior black teas at 2s. per lb., and tea-dust at from Is. 4d. to 2s. per lb.; such teas as are purchased by the poorer classes of the population. I did not in any case advise a prosecution for the adulteration of tea; for, in the first place, I did not feel clear that the adulterations had been executed in this country; and secondly, the adulterations were not injurious to health. Nor were the added substances in large amount. It must not be supposed that, because I have not hitherto advised any prosecution, that I in any way intend to condone adul teration. A very recent decision of a magistrate clearly shows that a non-injurious mixture is illegal. When the Act becomes well-known, I shall feel it my duty to advise prosecution in all cases where I believe the admixture to be fraudulent. Of the samples analysed, forty-six were purchased by the Inspectors and one by a private pur chaser. This was a sample of bread brought to my house in an irregular manner on the first day of my appointment. I did not feel justified in refusing to analyse the sample, though I gave no certificate, no fee having been paid. It will be observed that I have thought it right to commence my analyses with the common food of the common people. I here tabulate the results of the analyses:

Fusion of Platinum.-M. Violette communicates the fact that he has succeeded in fusing platinum. The draught of the furnace employed was very powerful, and the Hessian crucibles employed for the purpose, though lined with plumbago, were partially fused. The results of the experiments were stated as follows:-In a crucible of this kind 50 grms. of platinum were placed, partly spongy and partly in fragments, and after an hour's stay in the furnace the crucible was withdrawn, and at the bottom there was found a perfectly melted button of platinum of the same weight.-Journal of the Franklin Institute.