would be useful, I have made an examination of the proposed method, which is as follows: Methylic oxalate is first to be prepared from the specimen of methylic alcohol to be examined, by distilling it with sulphuric and oxalic acids. After separating the methylic oxalate from the distillate, its melting point is to be determined, and this melting point is affirmed to fix approximately the quantity of ethylic alcohol present, the melting point being lower in proportion to the ethylic alcohol contained in the methylic.* This was tested as follows: 1. Some good wood-spirit, which I had distilled over caustic soda, was heated with oxalic and sulphuric acids, and the crystals of methylic oxalate separated from the distillate. It was not stated whether the melting point of the crystals was to be taken while they were still wet, or after drying. Apparently the first was intended; I tried, however, in both ways. 2. The adhering liquid was squeezed out as completely as possible with a spatula, the mass was liquified by heat, and a thermometric bulb placed in it. Crystals first appeared at.. The liquid became thick with crystals at 3. The crystals were next taken out and dried on blotting paper; as soon as dry were tried again. Result: Crystals first appeared at.. 128° F. The liquid became thick with crystals at... 4. Nine volumes of the same wood-spirit were next mixed with one volume of 95 pr. ct (by vol.) alcohol, and the experiment repeated. 5. The crystals of methylic oxalate were freed from adhering liquid as far as could be done by pressure, the mass was liquified, and as it cooled, Crystals first appeared at. The liquid became thick with crystals at 98° F. 97° F. 6. These crystals were dried as before, and then fused and cooled. Crystals began to form at 66 became thick 66 128° F. It thus appears that the melting point of the crystals, if they have been dried on blotting paper, is precisely the same whether prepared from methylic alcohol nearly pure, or containing about ten per cent of ethylic alcohol. So that no inferences can be drawn from this. When the crystals have been simply squeezed, the congealing point appears to be lower when ethylic alcohol has been * A table has been given to show the relation: Per cent of ethylic alcohol, 0 Methylic oxalate solidifies at or about 104°F. แ 5 present, and when, consequently, the liquid which moistens the crystals contains ethylic oxalate. But it seems evident that the congealing point will depend quite as much on the amount of liquid which chances to be left with the crystals, as upon the purity of the wood-spirit, so that two operators working with the same materials would be apt to get quite different results. Accordingly, the congealing point attained at (5) compared with the table would indicate the presence of 3-4 per cent of ethylic alcohol, whereas there was present about ten per cent. This conclusion is to be regretted, as the method, if reliable, would have been valuable. March 2, 1872. ART. L.-Discovery of a New Planet; by Prof. JAMES C. WÁTFrom a letter to one of the editors, dated Ann Arbor, April 4, 1872. SON. I discovERED last night, in the constellation Virgo, a planet hitherto unknown, of which I have observed the following places: Ann Arbor M. T. a The planet shines like a star of the eleventh magnitude. SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE. I. CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS. 1. On the aromatic phosphines.-A. W. HOFMANN has obtained the first known members of the series of aromatic phosphines corresponding to the aromatic ammonias. When two molecules of chloride of benzyl, two molecules of iodide of phosphonium, and one molecule of oxide of zinc are heated together in a closed tube, a white crystalline mass is formed, from which the author obtained a colorless liquid boiling at 180° C., and having the formula, (€2H2 7 PH which is that of benzyl-phosphine. The liquid is in H soluble in water, but soluble in alcohol and ether, and yields a crystallized iodhydrate, which has the formula €,H,PI. The corresponding chlorhydrate and bromhydrate appear not to crys tallize; the platinum salt forms a yellow insoluble precipitate. Benzyl-phosphine is formed according to the equation: 7 2€,H, [‚Cl+2PH ̧I+ZnO = 2P€,H,. H2I+ZnCl2+0H2. Dibenzyl-phosphine remains in the retort after distilling off the volatile products. When pure, it forms brilliant crystalline needles, which are perfectly free from taste and smell, and insoluble in (€2H, 7 water. Dibenzyl-phosphine, P €2H2, { €,H,, does not unite with acids H 7 or even with platinic chloride: oxygen exerts no action upon it even at a high temperature. Its formation is expressed by the equation: 7 2€,H,Cl+PH ̧I+ZnO = P(€2H,)2H2I+ZnCl2+OH2. Besides these products, the mother-liquor of dibenzyl-phosphine contains a sticky body insoluble in alcohol, which appears to possess acid properties, but which the author has not succeeded in obtaining in a state of purity.-Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft, Jahrgang v, p. 100. W. G. 3 3. 2. On the products of the oxidation of the methyl- and ethylphosphines. When a slow current of methyl-phosphine is conducted into fuming nitric acid, oxidation takes place, accompanied by the formation of a new acid, which HOFMANN terms monomethyl-phosphinic acid. The acid may be obtained pure by decomposing the lead salt by sulphydric acid. It is a white crystalline mass resembling spermaceti, which is hygroscopic but not deliquescent. It dissolves readily in water; the solution reddens litmus paper, and has a pleasant acid taste. The stability of the acid is remarkable, as it may be repeatedly evaporated with aqua regia without the slightest change. The acid melts at 105° C., and may be, in great measure at least, distilled without change. Its constitution is expressed by the formula P(CHI)H,,: it is bibasic or diatomic, and forms two series of salts, which have respectively the formulas P(CH,)HMO, and P(CH)M, Many of the metallic salts are insoluble or soluble with difficulty. Hofmann describes the salts of silver, lead and barium. By the action of nitric acid upon dimethyl-phosphine, the author obtained a second acid, which he terms dimethyl-phosphinic acid, and which has the formula P(¤H ̧),Hе2. It is a white crystalline mass resembling paraffin, very soluble in water, alcohol and ether. The crystals melt at 76° C., and volatilize at a higher temperature without decomposition. The silver salt of this acid has the formula P(CH) Age2; it presents fine felted needles extremely soluble in water. The barium and lead salts are uncrystalline, and dry to clear masses like varnish. Hofmann also briefly describes the two corresponding ethyl-acids, the first being crystalline, the second fluid even at -25°. The constitution of the new acids becomes intelligible if we regard them as derivatives from orthophosphoric acid, in which methyl replaces hydroxyl, OH. 2 ᎾᎻ ( ᎾᎻ Thus we have for the phosphorus and corresponding arsenic series the following formulas: ᎾᎻ Orthophosphoric acid, PO OH, Orthoarsenic acid, AsO Oн, ᎾᎻ CH Arsen-monome Methyl-phosphinic acid, PO Oн, ᎪsᎾ ) ᎾᎻ, ᎾᎻ thylic acid, ᎾᎻ -Berichte der Deutschen chem. Gesellschaft, Jahrgang v, p. 104. W. G. 3 3° 3. On the compounds of Tungsten.-Roscoe has communicated the results of an elaborate and most successful study of the compounds of tungsten with chlorine and bromine. The author began by preparing pure metallic tungsten by the reduction of pure tungstic oxide, We,. The density of the metal at 12° C. was found to be 19-261. Hexachloride of tungsten is prepared by heating the metal in a current of dry chlorine perfectly free from air. The metal takes fire in the gas at a moderate heat, and forms a sublimate of dark violet crystals, which may be purified by repeated distillations in an atmosphere of chlorine, and finally by distillation in a current of hydrogen. Pure hexachloride, WC, is very slowly attacked by cold water; but if traces of the oxychloride, WŎC1, are present, it is immediately decomposed into a green oxygen compound. It is easily soluble in bisulphide of carbon, and crystallizes from the solution in hexagonal scales. Its melting point is 275° C., and its point of solidification 270°. Its vapor-density at 440° C. was found to be 1688; at 350°, 190·6. This points clearly to a dissociation, which experiment showed actually to take place; the hexachloride gives pentachloride, WCI,, and free chlorine. By reducing the hexachloride in a current of hydrogen, and repeatedly distilling the product in the same gas, long, black, brilliant needles of pure pentachloride, WCI,, are obtained, which, when rubbed to powder, have a dark green color like that of potassic manganate. The crystals are very hygroscopic; they fuse at 248° C., solidify at 242° C., and boil at 275° 6 C. The vapordensity at 440° was found to be 1862, the computed density being 180-7 (H=1). Hence the chloride contains one atom of metal. With water it yields the blue oxide, W25, and chlorhydric acid. Tetrachloride of tungsten, WC1, remains as a loose, graybrown, crystalline powder when the hexachloride, or a mixture of hexachloride and pentachloride, is distilled in a current of hydroAM. JOUR. SCI.-THIRD SERIES, VOL. III, No. 17.-MAY, 1872. gen or carbonic acid. It is not volatile, and does not melt under ordinary pressures, but is decomposed by heat into pentachloride and dichloride. At the melting point of zinc, hydrogen reduces it to metal. Water gives a brown oxide (WO2?) and chlorhydric acid. The dichloride, WC12, is prepared by moderately heating the tetrachloride, or by reducing the hexachloride at very high temperatures. It is a gray uncrystalline powder, which is decomposed by water, with evolution of hydrogen and formation of a brown oxide. The author did not succeed in obtaining the chlorides WCl and WC13. The two oxychlorides, WOCI, and WO2Cl2, are well known. The monoxychloride, WOCI,, forms ruby-red needles, which melt at 2104, solidify at 206°7, and boil at 227°5 C. Its vapordensity corresponds with theory (171). The dioxychloride is best prepared by heating the brown oxide in chlorine. It remains liquid at 440°. Bromine vapor acts rapidly upon heated tungsten, forming even when excess of bromine is present only the pentabromide, WBr.. The crystals of this compound have a dark color and metallic luster; melt at 276°, solidify at 273°, and boil at 333° C. Water decomposes it into the blue oxide and bromhydric acid. When heated to 350° in hydrogen it yields a body which is probably WBr, but which is very readily decomposed, giving a black powder, which is the dibromide. The two oxybromides, W→Br, WᎾBr, and WO2 Br2, are formed simultaneously by heating a mixture of two parts of the dioxide and one part of the metal in bromine, and may easily be separated by sublimation, the monoxybromide being much the more volatile, fusing at 277°, and boiling at 327-5°. It is readily decomposed by water, while the dioxybromide sublimes only at a red heat, and is not decomposed by water. Roscoe found for the atomic weight of tungsten the number 184 04, which agrees with that generally received.- Berichte der Deutschen chem. Gesellschaft, Jahrgang v, p. 118. W. G. 4. On the Decomposition of Potassium Chlorate.-BAUDRIMONT has investigated the conditions under which potassium chlorate is decomposed, when heated both alone and when mixed with other substances. He finds that this salt melts at 370° C., and begins to evolve oxygen at 400°; that, heated more strongly, oxygen is explosively disengaged, and the temperature rises spontaneously to incandescence, thus proving potassium chlorate to be endothermic. When mixed with a fifth of its weight of cupric oxide, prepared by precipitation, its oxygen is evolved at 240° (160° lower than before) rapidly but uniformly, the sole solid product being potassium chloride. No perchlorate is produced under these circumstances, nor does the cupric oxide undergo any change. The nature of the substance employed was also investigated; it appears that certain substances, such as platinum sponge, argentic oxide, and mercuric oxide, do not in the least facilitate the decomposition; while others, as manganese dioxide and cupric oxide, and, in a less degree, ferric oxide, cobaltic oxide, manga |