130 Alexander I.-Canova-Countess of Bedford. greater part, slaves; it is unnecessary A nobleman, in the government of CANOVA. When Canova was executing the statue of Buonaparte in marble, a friend asked him, whether he did not take particular delight in a work which in future ages was likely to command the admiration of millions. "No, indeed;" peevishly replied the artist. "And why not?" "Because I have before my eyes the first of my works that will be destroyed." This anecdote is related by a German artist who was present during the conversation.--Canova knew the Parisians, and he likewise knew Napoleon. In six days this brazen Colossus was thrown; for his fect, like the image seen by Nebuchadnezzar in his vision, were of clay, and the heart of flint. over [March 1, COUNTESS OF BEDFORD. The circumstances attending the death of the Countess of Bedford, wife of the fifth earl, who was afterwards advanced to the dukedom, were very remarkable. This lady, equally accomplished in mind and person, was the daughter of Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, by the dissolute Countess of Essex: but the guilt of her parents and the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury had been industriously concealed from her, so that all she knew was their conjugal infelicity, and their living latterly in the same house without ever meeting. Having one day entered her lord's study, with a mind oppressed and dejected by the tragical end of Lord Russell, and the carl being suddenly called away; her eye, as it is supposed, was caught by a thin folio, lettered, Trial of the Earl and Countess of Somerset. She took it down and turning over the leaves was struck to the heart by the guilt and conviction of her parents. She fell back, and was found by her husband dead in that posture, with the book lying open before her. EPITAPH IN ST. MARY'S CHURCH, OXFORD. CHARLES HENRY JOHNSON, M. A. O! 'twas a spirit, reader, like the calm 12 March, 1813. PROCEEDINGS OF PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETIES. ROYAL INSTITUTE OF FRANCE. Analysis of the Labours of the CLASS of THE memorable events of which ob have acquired over all nations, and per- 1815.] Proceedings of the Royal Institute of France. quaint us with what had been done in their respective countries. The foreign sovereigns seemed to dispute who should give the most striking demonstrations of zeal for the progress of knowledge, and exhibit the strongest proofs that theirs was the cause of science and humanity. Our princes have emphatically expressed their satisfaction at the flourishing state of our institutions, and the king has not only granted to them his august protection, but has already shewn by deeds with what noble liberality he purposes to increase their activity and to extend their importance. Under such happy auspices, the efforts of the mind must receive a new impulse; while the re-establishment of the intercourse with other nations, and the emulation which will hence result cannot fail soon to cause the sciences to produce fresh wonders. The researches of this year already display this renewed energy; they do still more: they evidently shew in many points that hesitation, that want of more explicit solutions, which those persons who have studied the progress of the sciences always consider as the necessary forerunners of great discoveries. CHEMISTRY. One of the most curious substances recently discovered is iode, which has so long lain concealed in sea-weed, which appears, on the application of heat, in the form of a beautiful violet coloured vapour, and which acting with other bodies in a similar manner to that of chlore, or to what was lately called oxygenated muriatic gas, has imparted new force to the ideas produced by sulphuretted hydrogen-ideas which tend to introduce into the theory of chemistry this important modification, that oxygen is by no means the only principle capable of effecting acidification. Bertholet, indeed, had shewn, near thirty years ago, that sulphuretted hydrogen, in which there is no oxygen, possesses all the properties of acids, and the German chemists strongly insisted on this fact, to impugn part of the French theory. In 1809, Thenard and Gay Lussac made experiments, the results of which were, that it is impossible to extract oxygen from what is commonly called oxygenated muriatic acid, and that we cannot continue to believe that it exists in it, without supposing that in all those cases in which this acid is converted into ordinary muriatic acid, there is formed water which indissolubly combines with the acid produced, or at least that the elements of water enter as inte 131 gral parts into its composition; whereas, by considering the so-called oxygenated muriatic acid as a simple substance whose combination with hydrogen would produce common muriatic acid, we are relieved from the necessity of adopting this supposition. Our chemists, though they exhibited these two views of the subject, adhered to the former, which had more analogy with what passes in the generality of acidifications. Davy, who had been led to the same conclusions, more boldly adopted the second theory, and in consequence gave to the oxygenated muriatic acid a particular name, that of chlore, from which be derived those of the two other acids into which it enters. The one (the muriatic) in which it is combined with hydrogen, he called hydro-chloric; the other (the super-oxygenated muriatic) which results from its combination with oxygen, received the name of chloric acid. The experiments on the acid hitherto denominated fluoric led to the idea, first started by M. Ampère, that its composition is similar to that of the hydrochloric; that is to say, that it is composed of hydrogen, and of a body of a peculiar nature, which it became necessary to distinguish by the name of fluore. Thus the property of acidifying hydrogen, or of becoming acid by its means, was found to be admissible in three substances, sulphur, chlore, and fluore. To these, iode has now added a fourth. Iode, was discovered by M. Courtois, a manufacturer, who seems to have first obtained it about the end of 1811, but the fact was not communicated by him to his friend Clement, and made public by the latter, till near the end of 1813. This delay was soon compensated for; as in a few days Gay Lussac and Davy had ascertained the principal properties of this substance, and especially the close analogy which it exhibits to chlore, and the two acids which it forms like chlore, with oxygen and hydrogen. Davy brought forward this analogy as an additional support of the theory which he had adopted. Since that time, iode has engaged the attention which it deserves. M. Colin has examined its combinations with mercury and ammonia, and found that iodic acid, or a combination of iode and oxygen, is formed whenever iode is treated with oxyds, or the oxygen is slightly condensed. He has clearly explained the generation of the fulminating powder of iode, also discovered by M. Courtois. The ammoniacal gas is absorbed by the 132 Proceedings of the Royal Institute of France. iode, and forms with it a viscous liquid, which, when put into water, changes its nature the hydrogen of one part of the ammonia forms with part of the iode hydriodic acid, which combines with the rest of the alcali, and the azote of this first portion of ammonia forms fulminating powder with the other part of the iode. M. Colin, in association with M. Claubry, another young chemist, has endeavoured to ascertain the manner in which iode acts with organic substances. They have found that the substances in which the oxygen and hydrogen are in the same proportion as in water, merely mix with iode; that those in which there is more oxygen closely combine with it; that neither of them, however, alter it so much but that a degree of heat may be employed capable of decomposing them: on the contrary, those in which hydrogen abounds convert the iode into hydriodic acid; and the same thing happens to the former on the application of a heat sufficient to disengage their bydrogen. These experiments exhibited several curious phenomena: a mixture of iode and pounded starch, for instance, assumes a red, blue, or black colour, according to the greater abundance of the iode. None, however, has operated upon iode so carefully and so extensively as our colleague Gay Lussac, whose papers were printed in the Annales de Chimie. He there considers iode itself, as well as its combinations, and those of its two acids with the different bodies, or what, according to the received rules of chemical nomenclature, ought to be termed iodures, iodates, and hydriodates. In treating of iode, he reverts to chlore, and gives several new remarks on its combinations which had not all been justly appreciated; then considering Prussic acid as essentially formed of azote, hydrogen, and carbon, he concludes that azote ought to be added to the list of the substances capable of producing acids without oxygen; and this induces him to look upon acidity and alcalinity as intrinsic properties of certain bodies and certain combinations not necessarily connected with their composition; thus he nearly coincides with the ideas of Winterl and certain German chemists. This memoir is full of delicate inquiries and ingenious inferences which cannot fail to give a fresh impulse to the most profound and important part of chemistry. Our worthy colleague M. Sage, who, notwithstanding his age and infirmities, [March 1, still takes a lively interest in new chemical facts, has also bestowed attention on iode, and sea-weed from which it is extracted. He remarked the alteration produced by iode in silver vessels in which it is heated. The weed yielded by distillation over the open fire, products similar to those of animals; and by macerating them in diluted nitric acid, he obtained a cartilaginous network, like that left by bones and madrepores when divested of all their earthy parts. From these two facts, M. Sage was of opinion that the fuci are polypi. The same chemist likewise presented a paper on the reduction of galena by fire, in which he maintains that a much greater quantity of lead is obtained in this way than by the ordinary methods. M. Theodore de Saussure, who, in 1807, read to the class a memoir on the composition of alcohol and sulphuric acid, tending to prove that ther is more charged with carbon and hydrogen than alcohol, resumed last year this important subject of inquiry, and by applying to it processes both more simple and more accurate, he has arrived at a more precise result. By causing those two liquids to pass through a heated tube of porcelain, he obtained water and a gas, the analysis of which was not attended with any difficulty; and he thus ascertained that alcohol and ether are each formed of the same proportion of carbon and hydrogen, and in the same relation as they exist in the olefiant gas, but combined with different proportions of water reduced to its elements. In alcohol, the elements of the water form one third of the total, and in ether they form one fifth; so that the action of the sulphuric acid on the alcohol, to produce ether, would only have the effect of taking away a portion of its water, and that this same acid, in greater quantity, would produce the olefiant gas, by taking away the whole of the same water. M. de Saussure's analytical results agree with those obtained by the late Count Rumford on the quantity of heat produced by the combustion of alcohol and ether. One of the chief difficulties in the analysis of organic substances consists in this, that chemistry possesses but a small number of re-agents capable of separating their immediate principles without destroying them. M. Chevreul, assistant chemist to the Museum of Natural History has endeavoured to multiply the uses that may be made of them by employing them at very different degrees of heat, and thus varying their dissolving 1815.] Proceedings of the Royal Institute of France. powers. For this purpose he has contrived a machine which he calls a Distil latory Digester, which consists of a Papin's digester closed by a valve supported by a spring: the force of the spring, which may be changed at pleasure, determines the degree of heat that the liquid ought to receive in order to its escape. The produce of each degree is successively collected by means of a tube which conducts to a receiver. The solid matter to be analysed is held in the digester by a moveable piece by which it may also be compressed, and the remaining liquid squeezed out of it. M. Chevreul has operated upon cork by this method; he subjected it twenty times to the action of water, and fifty to that of alcohol; and after having thus detached from it very various matters, there remained a cellular tissue which he calls suberine, and which when treated with nitric acid is transformed into suberic acid. Among these matters extracted from cork there is one which he believes to be new, and which he calls cerine, because it possesses several of the proper ties of wax. He has also applied his method to yellow amber, and ascertained that succinic acid exists in it ready formed. The same chemist has continued his researches on saponification; and from a comparison of the grease in its natural state with that which has been converted into soap, he concludes that the properties of the latter are not the result of the addition of certain substances, but of a new mode of combination, occasioned by the action of the alkali, which imparts to the grease an analogy with acids independent of all oxygena tion. M. Pelletier has examined the colour ing matters extracted from sanders-wood and bugloss, and hitherto considered as simple resins. The first combines with most of the properties of resins that of being soluble in acetic acid, even when very weak, of acting in this state with gelatine like the substances termed as tringent, and of yielding oxalic acid by the addition of nitric acid. It exhibits also some other characters which seem to claim for it the character of a new vegetable principle. The matter extracted from bugloss dissolves in ether, alcohol, and all fatty substances. With nitric it yields oxalic acid and a bitter matter; the alcalis and water change it to a variety of colours; in short, the whole of its phenomena, according to Pelletier, NEW MONTHLY MAG,-No. 14. 133 entitle it to a distinct place among the immediate principles of vegetables. We have already seen that crude platina, as extracted from the ore, contains certain foreign substances, and among others four several metals which have lately been distinguished; and we last year stated the means by which M. Vauquelin succeeded in separating from the solution of platina in nitro-muriatic acid, and obtaining in a pure state two of these new metals, called palladium and rhodium, which dissolve at the same time as the platina. We have also stated that M. Laugier, having perceived that this solution contains a considerable quantity of a third metal, remarkable for its volatility, which has procured it the name of osmium, pointed out an easy manner of obtaining it. A black powder, which does not dissolve in nitromuriatic acid, and consequently forms the residuum of the solution of platina still remained to be examined. It is chiefly composed of this same osmium, and of a fourth new metal, which, from the vivid and varied colours of its combinations, has been denominated iridium. These two metals are united with chromium, iron, titanium, silica, and even a small quantity of alumine; and the difficulty consisted in separating them completely from this mixture, and obtaining them perfectly distinct Vauquelin has accomplished, but not without laborious and complicated operations. Simple levigations divide this black powder into two parts: the one, finer and more brilliant, contains a larger proportion of iridium and osmium, and scarcely any chromium; the other, browner and coarser, contains less of the first two metals and more of the others. M. Vauquelin first triturates it with double its weight of nitrate of potash; the oxygen of the acid oxydates the iridium and the osmium, which combine with the potash set at liberty. The heat then disengages a great part of the acid and osmium, which is received in lime-water; the residue, diluted and saturated with nitric acid, yields a precipitate of iridium, titanium, iron, alumine, and a small quantity of oxyd of chromium; and there remains a liquor composed of potash combined with acid of chromium and osmium. The latter is separated from it by adding nitric acid, distilling and receiving the osmium in a vial surrounded with ice: into the water which has received it pour a little muriatic acid, and put into it a bit of VOL. III. T This point M. zinc, which precipitates the osinium. To obtain it very pure, levigate with water dashed with sulphuric acid. The chromium must then be extracted: for this purpose evaporate, dissolve again in water, filter in order to procure the silica that may remain, pour nitrate of mercury at the minimum, which produces a precipitate of chromate of mercury at the minimum, which, dried and calcined, yields green oxyd of chromium. The first precipitate of iridium, titanium, iron, chromium and alumine, then remains. There is also a small quantity of osmium, which is separated by muriatic acid, distilling and precipitating the zinc as before. Should undissolved portions be left, triturate them with nitre, as at the beginning, and observe that the oftener these operations are repeated, the bluer the muriatic solutions become, because they contain less and less iron and titanium, which, as being the most easily dissolved, are first seized by the acid, and leave a great proportion of iridium Now iridium possesses this property, that in a state of oxydation, when its solutions in acids are red, it forms no precipitate except with muriate of ammonia, and under the form of a triple sait. Into this state it is brought by boiling its muriatic solution with nitric acid; the liquor is neutralized by ammonia; ebullition precipitates from it iron and titanium; the iridium is then precipita ed by muriate of ammonia; and the triple salt thus obtained yields, upon exposure to a red heat, extremely pure metallic iridium. This metal, so difficult to be separated from the singular alloy which conceals it from our view, possesses remarkable properties. Its [March 1, 1 colour and lustre nearly resemble those of platina; it is not so easily fused, insoluble in simple acids, and dissolved with difficulty in nitro-muriatic acid; potash and nitre oxydate it, and combine with it to form a black dust which yields blue solutions; with boiling nitromuriatic acid it gives a red solution; its blue solutions themselves become red with ebullition; but both the blue and the red are discoloured by the sulphate of iron, sulphuretted hydrogen, iron, zinc, and tin; they regain their colour by means of oxygenated muriatic acid: it is iridium that gives the red colour to the last precipitates of triple salt of platina, while the first, in which it is not contained, are yellow. The properties of osmium are not so easily ascertained, on account of the facility with which it becomes oxydated, and immediately volatilized. Its oxyd is white and very caustic; it exhales an insupportable smell: flexible and fusible as wax, it blackens every animal matter that it touches. Its solution in water is turned blue by nut-gall. M. Mongez, member of the Class of Ancient Literature, has read to us a memoir on the bronze of the ancients, in which he proves, from the experiments of M. Darcet, that bronze is not hardened, as steel is, by immersion in cold water, but that, on the contrary, it is rendered hard by being left when heated to cool slowly in the air. M. Darcet has availed himself of this property to make cymbals, instruments hitherto manufactured no where but in Turkey, and, as it is pretended, by one workman only at Constantinople, who is in exclusive possession of the secret. ORIGINAL POETRY. Their gulls were lib'ral-could they well be less, When fortune promis'd wealth and happiness? Two sisters kept the house where they abode, Advanc'd in years, the wane of life they shew'd; By constant industry and care combin'd, The spot in which the secret sum was laid. At conscience's upbraidings loud he laugh'd |