The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-01-19 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STAN'D►ARD.

have hitherto failed, but their labours have led to the discovery
lof a very remarkable circuirstance. If a little quicksilver be
I poured into a watch glass containing a little sodium and astnall
I quantity of the solution of sal-ammoniac poured upon it, a num-
ber of small bubbles at ises on the instant, from the mass, and
form themselves on the surface. The quicksilver, at the saute
time expands, and is covered over with cauliflowerexeresceuces,
and at length loses its fluid condition, becOrning a soft mass like
butter which we may cut or mould with our fingers, still retaining
its metallic appearance. It becomes very tight, so light that is
is able te float upon water, but.it is metallican appearance, re-
sembling the combination of quicksilver with potassium and so-
dium. Upon observing what is called the ammoniacal amal-
gam attentively the process which has taken place is exceedingly
remarkable. The constitution of sal-ammoniac consists .of
chlorine and hydrogen (amuriatic acid) and ammonia. When
this is put into contact with the quicksilver and sodium we have
the following re-action :—The chlorine passes to the sodium,
and we have common salt formed, and 'the' ammonia passes to
thequicksil ver and causes its cauliflower appearance. This was
remarked by chentists and gave rise to views which bad for-
merly been scouted as not only improbable,. but absurd, viz.—
that the metals were compound' bodies, and that they only ap-
pear 'simple.because we are. not in possession of the means of
separating them. Another very remarkable point of view in
which it is at present important to consider ammonia is with
respect to the reaction which potassium and sodium exercise
exercise upon it. 'lf a piece of potisSium be placed in a tube
through which' ammoniacal gas is urged, and the potasSitith
heated with alanip. instead of Ifnamontacal gas, hydrogen will
issue from the tube which may be inflamed. This experiment
is one so important in scientific chemistry as to deserve
some attention.- In fact, ammonia occupies at present the most
important position in chemistry 'of all substances, and the his-
tory of its combinations is looked forwaad to as the key to the
present constitutitinof chemiStry, for which all philosophers are
seeking. It presents itself in so many different points of view.
and undergoeS. re-actions of "apparently so contradictory -a na-
ture that its study is reudered a matter of no little difficulty.
There is no othetfaCt concerning it established than that the
ammouiacal gas itself is not alkaline, it is not a base, but when
it is in combinatiim or in contact with water. It acts more pow-
erfully as a baie in all the salts of ammonia containing exactly
the quantity of water which is necessary. To return to the ex-.
perunent of directinga'stream of ammoniacal gas overheated
potassium: The potassium, by the action of the continued
stream of ammonia is entirely converted into a dark olive co-
lourtf substance, and upon examining the reaction which has
taken place we shall find a most remarkable result. Ammonia
consists of one atom of nitrogen, united with three atoms of
hydrogen. When the potassium is heated in the ammonia,
there is liberated -ft um the ammonia precisely as much hydro-
gen as the metal would have liberated from water, that is one
atom, and the whole of the nitrogen with two thirds of the hy -
drogen enter into combination with the potassium, and in this
manner constitute the dark olive coloured substance. It is
found in a most remakable manner that the nitrogen and hy-
drogen are capable of being transferred from one metal to ano-
ther the same as oxygen, that they assimilate to oxygen in
their general relations, and that the composition of ammonia
may be written in this manner: —N Ii 2x li, just as we write
the composition of water-0 2x 11, or as we indieateThe con
'stiftnien of rnuriatic acid, by C x 11. We shall have-other ex-.
amples begides ammonia, of compound substances simulatiog
simple ones.

••
• the substance with which we shall next occupy ourselves is
sulphur. It exists in nature iii very large quentit icS, principally
in combination, but partly free. It is met with free, Principally
io volcanic districts, where it is found in the earth, and its
mines are worked as our metallic mines. The 'sulphur appears
to be the-production of decomposition going on in the interior
of the'earthohe sulphur being liberated from its metallic Com-
bination by some -superior agency.' In the north' of Europe,
where free sulphur, or, as it is.called, native sulphur, is exceed-
ly rare, the sulphur required by the 'inhabitants is extracted
from the sulphuret of iron, (iron pyrites.) of which very large
quantities exist in these parts. This minced is a compound of
two equivalents of sulphur and one of iron; and when it is roast-
ed so as to allow the air to act freely upon it, we shall get out
tike whole of the sulphur, and there will remain only an oxide of
iron combined with the acid which results fr,oss the burning of
the sulphur; but if we burn the pyrites, shutting out the atmo-
spheric air, we shall oxyaize by combination only one half of
the sulohnr, and we shalt obtain the green copperas. The se-
cond atom of sulphur is isolated and collected in the solid form.
When sulphur is heated it is acted upon in a remarkable man-
ner. It conducts heat very badly, so much so, that we may hold
a piece of sulphur in the hand, while the other extremity is
melting with heat. The consequence is, that if a person whose
hand is any way warm, takes. wild of droll of sulphur; it will
crackle into pieces. The reason is, that sulphur, when heated,
expands; but the inner coating not receiving the heat so quid:-
1y as the outer, refuses to expand at the same instant as the
outer, which causes a separation of the mass. Sulphur melts
at a temperature not greater than that of boiling water. It is
then of-a rich yellow colour, and as liquid as water. On heat-
ing it up to between 3 and 400 degrees Fahrenheit, according
as the temperature rises, it loses its fluidity and yellow colour,.
and becomes a dark brown, and thick like treacle, until at last,
when it reaches 400 degrees, it is so thick and hard that you
niav turn. the vessel upside down without it dropping out.
Mien heated to a higher temperature it again becomes thin
and more liquid, and begins to regain its yellow colour. Wheu •
it reaches GOO degrees, it is quite as liquid and yellow as before
it was heated beyond the boiling point of water, and if heated
still further, it begins to 'boil and evaporates. - When melted,.
if it be slowly cooled it crystalizes, but if rapidly cooled, it is
deposited in an exceedingly fine powder, which constitutes the'
flowers of brimstone of commeree. If, when it is slowly cooling
from 'a melted state, the crust is broken, and the sulphur allow-
ed to run out, we shall find the interior of the mass, when cool-
' ed, to have crystallized in a beautiful manner. Sulphur in its
chemical relations, resembles oxygen. It is not merely com-
bustible, but is also what is called, by the older chemists, a sup-
porter of combustion.. The fact is, that combustion is indepen-
dent of any one substance. If copper filings be mixed with
sulphur, and placed in a test tube, a rapid combustion will- go
on upon heating the test tube over a spirit lamp, until the con.;
tents are turned into a black mass. Copper unites with oxygen,
but its effect is not powerful. We cannot succeed in burning
copper wire in oxygen gas as we can iron wire, but we can burn
it in the vapour of sulphur. Sulphur acts towards copper as a
supporter of combustion, but towards oxygen it acts as a com-
bustible. Sulphur differs remarkably from phosphorus in the
character of its burning. It does not give snch an intense light,
and the light is of a different character. Its combustion in oxy-
gen is more intense than in atmospheric air, but its character is
the same. In general, -the-amount of heat given out from the
burning'substance is independent of the natured the substance
itself, but depends rather upon the products. If the result of
combustion is the productien of a solid body, we shalt have a
great amount of light. Phosphoric acid is a solid substance,
and.as it is emancipated from the surface of the phosphorus,
produces a white light. When the product of combustion is a •
gaseous body, we have'scarcely any illumination, in consequence
of there being no solid body upon which the light can act. If
we give to a. gas light a 'minute quantity of gas, the flame is of
a pale blue colour, because the quantity of air which is supplied
preponderates so greatly over the quantity of gas,
wholethatthetif
of the gas is at once burned into gaseous carbonic acid. But
we'increase the quantity of gas; or, what is the same thing, if
we diminish the quantity of atmospheric air, there takes place,
in the first instance, an imperfect combustion, a quantity of
carbon is formed : this carbon, in the state (dun exceedingly tine
powder, is ignited, and this powder produces the illuminating
power. In the same way, When phosphorus is burned in oxy-
gen gas, the phosphoric acid is afterwards burned. The pro-
duct formed by the combustion of sulphur is an acid. When phos-
orus is burned in oxygen, it passes at once to the highest degree
of oxydation. It takes up all the oxygen which it is capable of
taking; but this is not the case of sulphur, which takes only
two-thirds of the quantity of oxygen which it is capable of taking
up. With the lowest degree of axveeu it forms what is termed
sulphurous acid, with the higher, sulphuric acid.
Sulphurous acid may be generated by a variety of processes.
It may be simply produced by the combustion of sulphur in
oxygen, or in atmospheric air. 'Sulphurous acid is very easily
absorbed by water, therefore, we cannot make use of water fur
the purpose of collecting it, but we can either make use of
quicksilver,pr reverse the process adopted in the collection of
ammonia. We can likewise obtain the gas by heating oil of
vitriol and quicksilver. Oil of vitriol contains sulphuric acid.
When the oil of vitriol is heated in contact with quicksilver, the
latter being a metal capable of combining with oxygen, takes a
certain quantity of oxygen from the acid, so as to reduce it from
the state of the sulphuric to that of the sulphurous. Sulphurus
acid is twice as heavy as atmospheric air, in consequence of which
by conducting it through a tube to the bottom of the vessel, it
will gradually force up the atmospheric air until the vessei is
filed with, the sulphurous acid gas. Sulphurous acid is per-
fectly transparent, and colourless. It has, however, a powerful
affinity fur water, and that is the reason why in burning oxygen
white fumes are evolved. These white fumes'are not sulphur-
ous acid, but the condensation of the acid by moisture. In the
'same way the white fumes which arise from water, are not the
properties of the steam, but of its condensation. Sulphurous
acid passes to the slate of sulphuric acid by absorbing oxygen.
It is a powerful absorbent of oxygen, and is used in a variety.
di chemical processes, where it is required to take away oxygen
from other bodies. Acids are remarkable for their action on
vegetable colours. In order to detect them, we make use of
blue vegetable colours, which, with the exception of indigo, are
all turned red by acids. Sulphurous acid exercises a remarkable
action upon vegetable colours, namely, that,of rendering them
invisible, by depriving them of their oxygen. We may test
this property of the gas by immersing a red rose in a jar of it,
When the red rose will become white. The colouring matter is.
not destroyed in this process, for if we dip the flower in dilute
sulphuric acid its red colour, will be restored. ' It is used-very -
extensively in the arts to whiten fabrics; as for instance, in
souse stages of the bleaching of raw silk, in the bleaching of
plaited straw, and in the bleaching of corn. Sulphurous acid
combines • with bases, and constitutes a remarkable class of
salts. It is a very weak acid, and capable of being expelled
fromits bases by otheracids. One consequence of this is, that the
bleaching by sulphurous acid is never permanent. If }ou bleach
corn; sponge, or bonnets, they will be rendered quite white,
but this is not very permanent, because, by exposure to the air,
the sulphurous acid escapes, and the original yellow colour is
reproduced Sulphurous acid condensed in water is very often
employed in analysis, in order to abstract oxygen from different
substances. Thus, if liquid sulphurous acid be added to a'solu-
tion of the red (Aide of manganese ( a metallic ingredient)
the latter' is bleaChed. The theory is simple. In the red liquor
we have the maneanese uniting with two parts of oxygen, one.
of these unites with the acid to form sulphuric acid,'which re-
mains in the liquid, and the other unites with the manganese
to form a completely colourless compound. Another reaction
is somewhat interesting, of which a young lady, bliss Holland,
to whom chemistry is under some oldigAtions, has taken advan-
tage. She di aws patterns on ribbons, with inuriate of gold,
which she afterwards ettbjects to the action of sulphurous'
acid gas. The consequence is the reduction of the metal. The
gold lustre does not-always take place; but a portion of the pat-
tern is of a dull brown colour. Since this discovery, sulphur..
ohs acid has been introduced into the more accurate researches
of the !laboratory. Very frequently sulphurous acid is gene-
rated in investigations where it is the object of the chemists to
get rirref it. We are now acquainted with a method of effect-
ing this. If bin-oxide of lead, which is a brown powder contain-
ing two equivolents of oxygen and lead be introduced into any
solution 'of sulphurons acid, one atom of the.oxygen of the lead
combines with the sulphuric acid to convert it into sulphuric
acid, and this uniting with the protoxide of lead forms a white
insoluble powder, called sulphate of lead, which is precipitated
to the bottom of the solution.

To-morrow evening Dr. Kane will continue his inquiries into
the combinations of Chlorine, and describe the properties of
lodine, Bromine, and Fluorine.

The books of the Bank of England are said to be kept in tri-
plicate—the original being at the Bank, one copy lodged at the
rower, and another in some place of safety.
A HOAX.—Bills were yesterday posted about the town, an-
nouncing that some person calling himself Thomas Jardine,
who had performed more wonderful feats of jumping than Sam
Scott, and challenging him fir a sum of money to a trial of
skill, would eclipse all the feats of tlia' daring individual, by
jumping from. the roof of the Old Quay warehouse into the
road, instead of into the water. There is so much gulliOility
about a ceitain class of the people of Manchester, that Wat,,r-
street, and the loWer part of Bridge-street, were crowded with
anxious expectants, for some tune previously to the hour ap-
pointed and for a long period afterwards. It is needless to say
that no Jardine made his appearance.--Manchester Courier.

ijipping ~3.lntcitt,tar,E.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 16.—Wind N.N.E.—Light.

ARRlVED.—Niagara. Pike.: from New Orleans.—)l are Howland,
Wpare, from N.,tchez—Jubilee., Edwards, from Moldlo—'Vestaf, fzom
,Newfoundland—Eleonora, Alvert, from Ostend—heath Lankutn,
Suat, from Hariingemand Powhattan, Nl`Cerran, from Natchez
Bishop, for Charleston—Daniel, Steer, for
Oporto—CaMbrid:ze, Bursley, and Shakspeare, C(illitts. for New
York—.-Mice,•Atiwyl, for Barbadoes.rosieph Wheelor, Pollock, for
Antigua—Agnes, Vinnis, for ildaranhamand Tiro°leon, Winsor, for
Boston.

Duchess of rhirenee, James, sailed from Messina for this port 21st
Dec. and the It ltuez, 22rd .Dec.
Garrick, Palmer, hence Air ;New York, was spoken 4th Jan. in long.
30 •

CORK, Jan. 13.—A boat marked Eleanor Laidman, was picked up
near Youghall 3tlth ult.
Charlotte, Moore, hence at Kiel
Hirondelle. Pitketbly. sailed from Marseilles for this port sth Jan.
Emma Matilda, Jansen, from ,Sincapore, oil Scilly
Walter Scott, Rea, hence for Savannah,.was spoken 29th ult, in lat.
41, with loss of head and cutwater

AN ACCOUNT OF CATTLE,
Imported into Liverpool, from,the'lOth to the 16th inst.
FROM IRE LAN D.

Cows. Sheep. .Vigs. Horses. Mules. Calves. Lambs.
1323 2190 4194 18 0 0 0
PrevicluslY— 2128 2946 7273 23 0 13 0
COASTWISE. _ _

Cows. Sheep. Pks. Horses. Calve% Lambs.
48 18 5 632 14 17 0
Previously 63 1516 867 0 10 0

PACKET BOATS.—FALMOUTH STATION.
GENEIIAL PosT-OFFicE.—Jan. 16, 1837.
Mails made Last Packets Next Packet
bEiTINATIos. up in Sailed. Due.
London.
Holland - ' • Tues. & Fri. ' Mon. & Thurs
Hamburg & Swed Tues. & Fri. Tues. & Satur
Lisbon
Emerald Isle.
Madeira
Spain & Gibralt Jan. 8. ' January 14.
Malta and Greece.. 2nd Saturd. Jan. 8.
Egypt and India .. 4th Saturday
Madeira
Brazil & B. Ayres each month. Jan. 5. . Jan. 29.
America lst Wednes. Briseis.. Jan. 6. 11.M.8. Alert,
S Jarriai. L'ward - Ist day of Goldfinch, Feb. 10.
1 Isl. & IlitYti• • j each month. Jain 3. • II M B.Sky lark
Laguira
mi.xto, and hia- I 15th day of Lord Melville, B. Rhnger,
vana
f Jamai. L'ward 15th day of
/ Isl. & Hayti. Pigeon, B. Lapwing,
Carthagena
•

•
LON DON CORN EXCHANGE. JAN. 17.
• In consequence of the navigation in the river being impeded by
the frost which still continues, we have had but few arrivals of any
description of grain since Monday, and to-day our market, was very
thinly attended; and although higher, prices were asl:ed for granary
samples yet few were inclined to purchase, and those who (lid, bought
very sparingly, at about the rates of Monday for every article.