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To Purify Mercury (Following simple method)

The following simple method of purifying quicksilver be taken not to make use of too strong a lye. is by Dr. Miller: Put the quicksilver into a For cleaning purposes, benzole has been found bottle capable of containing 4 times its best. Objects of aluminum can be electroof aluminum can be electroquantity, add a little powdered loaf sugar, plated without the least difficulty, and Mouray and stopper the bottle; shake it vigorously succeeded in imparting to them a bright, white PLATINUM-ANTIMON Y. lustre in passing them successively through a precipitate falls; this is collected, and, while weak bath of hydrofluoric acid and aqua fortis. still moist, formed into little balls or pieces, The effect thus obtained is said to be really which are then dried, and gradually heated to surprising. redness. 3332. Το Frost Aluminum. The 3337. Spongy Platinum. Dissolve metal is plunged into a solution of caustic potash. The surface, becoming frosted, does not tarnish on exposure to the air. platinum, by the aid of heat, in a mixture of three parts nitric and 5 parts muriatic acid, avoiding great excess of acid. To this solution add a strong solution of muriate of ammonia; collect the resulting precipitate on a filter, and, when nearly dry, form it into a mass of the shape desired for the sponge.

Platinum latinum-also called platina-is Heat this to whiteness on charcoal, with a the heaviest substance but one (see No. blow-pipe or otherwise, and the platinum re- 47) known, having a specific gravity of fully mains in the spongy state. Its characteristic 21, which may be raised to about 21.5 by properties may be restored, when lost, by hammering. It is whiter than iron, harder simply heating it to redness. than silver, infusible in the hottest furnace, 3338. Platinum-Black. Platina Mohr. and melts only before the compound blow- This is platinum in a finely divided state, and pipe at a heat of about 3080° Fahr. On this is obtained thus: - Add to a solution of biaccount it is valuable for making capsules chloride of platinum, an excess of carbonate &c., intended to resist strong heat. Platinum of soda, and a quantity of sugar. Boil until undergoes no change by exposure to air and the precipitate which forms becomes, after a moisture, or the strongest heat of a smith's little while, perfectly black, and the supernaforge, and is not attacked by any of the pure tant liquid colorless; filter the powder, wash, acids, but is dissolved by chlorine and nitro- and dryit by a gentle heat. Another method muriatic acid (aqua regia), though with more is by melting platina ore with twice its weight difficulty than gold. Spongy and powdered of zinc, powdering, digesting first in dilute sulplatinum possess the remarkable property of phuric acid, and next in dilute nitric acid, to causing the union of oxygen and hydrogen remove the zinc, assisting the action of the gases. It is chiefly imported from South menstruum by heat; it is then digested in America, but is also found in the Ural Moun- potash lyc, and lastly in pure water, after tains of Russia, in Ceylon, and a few other which it is carefully dried. Platinum-black places. Platinum, when alloyed with silver, possesses the property of condensing gases, is soluble in nitric acid; the pure metal is dis- more especially oxygen, into its pores, and solved by aqua regia, and is more or less at- afterwards yielding it to various oxidizable tacked by caustic alkali, nitre, phosphorus, substances. If some of it be mixed with al- &c., with heat. Platinum is precipitated from cohol into a paste, and spread on a watch its solutions by deoxidizing substances under glass, pure acetic acid is given off, and affords the form of a black powder, which has the a ready means of diffusing the odor of vinegar power of absorbing oxygen, and again impart- in an apartment. (See No. 1741.) ing it to combustible substances, and thus causing their oxidation. In this way alcohol and pyroxilic spirit may be converted into acetic and formic acids, &c. (See No. 1741, also Acetic Acid.) (Cooley.)