The process of producing sulphurous acid by the combustion of sulphide of carbon is, as may be seen, very practical and advantageous.  It does not affect metallic objects, and it furnishes a disinfecting gas continuously, slowly, and regularly.

Mr. Ckiandi’s burner may also be applied in several industries.  It is capable of rendering great services in the bleaching of silk and woolen goods, and it may also be used for bleaching sponges, straw hats, and a number of other objects.—­La Nature.

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THE DETERMINATION OF GRAPHITE IN MINERALS.

By J.B.  MACKINTOSH.

In many instances the accurate determination of the amount of graphite present in a rock has proved a rather troublesome problem.  The first thought which naturally suggests itself is to burn the graphite and weigh the carbonic acid produced; but in the case of the sample which led me to seek for another method, this way could not be employed, for the specimen had been taken from the surface, and was covered and penetrated by vegetable growths which could not be entirely removed mechanically.  Add to this the fact of the presence of iron pyrites and the probable occurrence of carbonates in the rock, and it will be at once seen that no reliance could be placed on the results obtained by this suggested method.

As the problem thus resolved itself into finding a way by which all interfering substances could be destroyed without affecting the graphite, it at once occurred to me to try the effect of caustic potash.  I melted a few pieces of potash in a silver crucible until it had stopped spitting and was in quiet fusion.  I then transferred the weighed sample to the crucible, the melted potash in which readily wetted the graphite rock.  The mass was then gently heated, and occasionally stirred with a piece of silver wire.  The heat never need be much above the melting point of the potash, though toward the last I have been in the habit of raising the temperature slightly, to insure the complete decomposition of the melt.  When the decomposition is complete, which can be known by the complete absence of gritty particles, the crucible is cooled and then soaked out in cold water.  This is very quickly accomplished, and we then see that we have an insoluble residue of graphite and a flocculent precipitate of lime, magnesia, iron hydrate, etc., while the organic matters have disappeared.  The sulphides of iron, etc., have given up their sulphur to the potash, and everything except the graphite has suffered some change.  The solution is now filtered through a weighed Gooch crucible, the residue washed a few times with water, and then treated with dilute hydrochloric acid (followed by ammonia to remove any silver taken up from the crucible), which will dissolve all the constituents of the residue except the graphite, and after washing will leave the latter free and in a condition of great purity.