Butte record. (Bidwell, Butte County, Cal.) 1853-1858, 1857-05-30

temperature less than 9On. But in
either case the phosphate and arseni-
ate chrystals are precisely alike. They
taste alike, are equally soluble in water
or other mcnstrua; they part with their
disqualification at the same tempera>
ture for every phosphate there is an
arseniate corresponding iu compost
tion and identical in forin.' The bases,
arsenic and phosphorous, closely re-
semble each other in odor. though one
is metal, and the other, so far as yet
known. a non metallic body. And 1
will add, on my own responsibility.
that they. (that is the elements arse
mic and PHOSPHORUS, not their sails, }
produce similar effects on the organiza
tion, when taken into the stomach in
proportionate quantities. The phos>
phate of ssda, it is well known, may
be taken as substitute for the carbon
ate of soda, and with the same safety.
Bat let no one suppose that the paral.
lei can be continued with safety As
| remarked above, So far as is yet
known, PHOSPHORUS is non metallic /;
but ii is not improbable that it is Il
compound Of metallic base and a
gaseous element, or o: two gaseous ele-
ments, like that hypothetical radical
nitrogen and hs drogen, ammonium,
which is known to be isomorphous wit:.
po assium, metal discovered by Sir
Humphrey Davy in 1907; and if the
law of is 'morphism is corr ct, if ele-
mcn,s whose compounds are isomor-
phous, are themselves isomorphous and
arsenicum, and potassium and ANN :
mum, isomorphous. But the law of
isomorphism begins ut the ultimate
atom OF the clement that is, an atom
of phosphorols must have the same
!orm as an atom of arsenicum, aud an
atom OF ammonium as an atom OF pot.
assium. And how lsomrrphous atoms
can unite in one case, SO as to iorm Il
metal, in another, Two known element
ary gasses, and in third whitish
substance resembling the marrow of
b-ncs, is inexplicable in the present
state of our knowledge.
The isomor ,'hism Of sodium and sill
yer is more appreciabIe. The sui
phaies of soda and silver are simililorm,
and hence, according to the law, the
metals sodium and silver are also iso-
-. =, toms Soj,,,, = fLo
base of common ia it was discover
ed and isolated by Davy, in 1907. 1t
has the aspect Of silver-is lighter
than water, 50 it that it yields to the
pressure Of the fingers, and may be
readily cut with knife. 1t dccom-
po es water by absorbing It's oxygen
and setting i hydrogen free. OF the
physical properties OF silver / need not
speak, st | excite the cupidity OF my
readers but it is isomo phous, and
may be isomeric with sodium and pot
assium.
The salts of sodium are found in all
the animal fluids, rs t ose of potassium
are in ali the vegetable world. Both
of these M tails are widely diffused in
the mineral orld The one Sodium
is easily obtained from its Ubiquitous
soluble compound chloride of sodium,
or common salt. So We have arrived
at the table again. THIS wonderful
metal, SO closely resem bling silver as
to be almost identical with IT, is dis
tributed vi hout stint over al the
worlds essealial TO the food of ami
mails, especially civilized man Near
ly oRe-tw, lfth of the fluid Of the Dead
Sea is pure sodium, and about eleven
per cent of Great Salt Lake, in Utah.
is metal or sodium Two per cent. OF
all the water Of the ocean is sod um
The seeo2d large class of isomor-
phous bodies has little or no resem-i
blanoe to the fourth class, which n.
t ias sodium, silver, potassium. Sc ;,
which 1 have already said
a few words This class contains zine,
copper, iron, aluminium, and several
ether metals, whose names are known
only in the arts and iences Tkisi
aluminium, called lately the new metal,
was discovered by Wholer, In iS2S,
together with two of its relatives, in
the i,omorphous family, namely: Vt
trium and Glucinum 1t may not be
uniuteresting, now that it is intimated
that aluminium is TO become subs,i-
tute for iron, to say a word concerning
its physical history aside from its iso-
morphism
Aluminium may be found on every
foot of the earth's surface. Telegraph
H II rs full of it. 1t is found in primi
tive rock, granite, porphry Z; it appears
in all felspalic rocks. Ali our crock
cry is composed of this substance in
combination. The sapphire, clear as
rzure, and the ruby, glowing ike a
burning star; the oriental amethy st.
beautiful as the violet in the dewy
morning, lose all Their poetry when we
know they are only clay--aluminum
and oxygen; htxosonal chrystals of
al Amnia, that rs adj; three parts of
oxygen, the same as We breathe, the
same as Ee drink, the same as enters
into the comp position of every part OF
our bodies, and two parts of alumni
mum, the same as constitutes half the
weight of that old stump OF pipe iy-
ing on your Office table or in the chm
uey jam of your grandfather's mans on.
To such base uses do all things come
We look in admiration on the sapphire
and ruby, and yet if we bad little