The Sun.
London, England, 1865-07-01 00:00:00

ET MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH.

GRAVESEND, Saturday Morning.
Arrived, June 30, —Apphin, from St. Lucia; Lord
Warden, from Madras ; Lucerne, from Gibraltar. •
Arrived, Juiy I.—Vesper, from Riga ; Olive Branch,
from Braken; Perseverance, from Medemblik ; Empheden,
from Abo ; Catherina, from Landscrona; Hannah Andrew,
from Stettin ; Isabella, from Cronstadt.
Sailed.—Belgium, steamer, for Ostend ; Rhine, steamer,
for Boulogne.

DEAL, Saturday Morning.

Passed.—Reliance, for Capo of Good Hope ; Sovereign,
for Lisbon ; Ariel, for Algoa Bay—all from London ;
America, bark, from North, for West.

PHOSPHATES OF THALLIUM.—Our readers are
aware that about two years ago a great controversy
arose between Mr. Orookes, the discoverer of thallium, and
M. Lamy, who-claims the honour of_having been the first
to proclaim the metallic nature of that element. In a paper
recently presented to the Academy of Sciences, M. Lamy
returns to the charge, asserting, contrary to Mr. Crookes's
experiments, that the phosphates of thallium are extremely
soluble, and that that was one of the reasons which had
induced him to place the new metal nearer to potassium
than to lead. lie states that thallium forms not one, but se-
veral phosphates with the phosphoric acid, and that most
of them are extremely soluble, and at least of as various
composition and properties as the corresponding com-
pounds of the alkaline metals. All these salts are white,
h ios l
nearly all all are soluble in water and insolueblp pe nhates
hol. They are distinguishable from the
of the alkaline metals first, because hydrochloric
acid produces white precipitates with them ; nitrie
acid does the same, provided the solutions be neither warm
nor too much diluted. Moreover, the phosphates and pyr o
phosphates of thallium yield a white precipitate of tri-basic
phosphate by means of alkalies, while they do not precipi-
tate by alkaline carbonates, nor even by alkalies in the
presence
of those carbonates. Neutral phosphate of thal-
lium is obtained by saturating at boiling point common
phosphoric acid with carbonate of thallium. It is so soluble
in water that its solution may be reduced to the consis-
tency of syrup before crystallising. Its reaction is alka-
line. When heated, it loses all its water of crystallisation,
and is converted into a glassy and transparent substance
which is a neutral pyrophosphate of thallium. The same
phosphate may be produced without any water of crystal-
lisation, but it then presents this curious peculiarity, that
it loses its solubility in a great measure. If to this salt
phosphoric acid be added until the mixture be quite acid,
the acid phosphate of thallium is the result. This
salt crystallises in fine lumina having the lustre of
mother-of-pearl. Under the influence of heat it loses from
one to two equivalents of water, and is thus converted into
acid pyrophosphate, or else into metaphosphate of t
alkahallivam-
m.
The basic phosphate is obtained by pouring an li,
monia for instance, into a solution of one of the two for-
mer salts. This compound is not very soluble in water.
M. Lamy concludes with reiterating his opinion that thal-
lium is an alkaline metal.—Galignani.