MAGNESIUM. (FROM THE "AUSTRALASIAN.")

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXI, Issue 2491, 14 July 1865, Page 5

MAGNESIUM. (FROM THE "AUSTRALASIAN.")

Magnesium is ono of those metals which lms never been found in a free state, but existi iv immense quantities iv nature, in the carbonate, forming conndciable masses of rock in many parts of the world ; also as a mixed carbonate of lime and magnesia, under the form of dolomite and magnesium limestone, and also as a sulphate of magnesia or Epsom salts, -which occurs in many saline springs. Tho best way to obtain it on a small scjile is to place a few pieces of sodium at the bottom of a test-tube of hard German glasi, or in a platinum crucible, and cover tho sodium with a few fragments of fused chloiide cf magnesium. Tho heat of a spirit lamp is then applied, when reaction takes place with gi eat violence anil elevation of tempera* ture. Chloride of sodium is formed, and metallic magnesium is set free. When cold it is broken up, aud the pieces put into cold water, which dissolves the chloiide, leaving the metal, magnesium, unacted upon in tho form of small globules. The test tube, or whatever other apparatus is employed, should have n cover firmly wired down, or the great heat evolved will consume the magnesium .Is fast as it is liberated. Two cast iron cylinders are employed on the largo scale ; tho anteiior ono contains tho chloiido of magnesium, whilst in the posterior one is placed the sodium on an iron tray, about 101b. being employed iv a single operation. Potassium may be used instead of the sodium, but it is moie expensive and difficult to handle. It will be seen from the above that, in treating of the production of magnesium, it will also be necessary to explain the manufacture of tho sodium and chloride of magnesium employed in tho process. Sodium may be readily pioduced as follows : — One pound of calcined acetate of soda (carbonate of soda containing a little charcoal) is mixed with a quarter of a pound of finely-powdered and half a pound of coarsely-powdered charcoal, and hcited in an iron bottlo with a tube terminating in a receiver filled with good naphtha, and surrounded with iced or veiy cold water. These quantities will yield by the above process nearly six ounces of pure sodium, and in a laige operation would average nearly seven ounces for tho same quantity. An empty quicksilver bottlo is well adapted for the operation on a small scale. From the extreme cheapness of carbonate of soda, and tho productiveness of the operation, sodium can be obtained on tho large scale for a piico little, if at all, higher than that of zinc. The chloride of magnesium is foimed in the following manner: — Take two equal portions of hydrochloric acid (spirit of salt), and neutralise ono with magnesia (MgO) aud the olher with ammonia, then mix, evaporate to dryness, and icnito iv a covered crucible till tho sal-ammoniac is dissipated. Fused chloride of magnesium remains, which is used for tho preparation of magnesium, and must be kept in closely-stoppered vessels until lequired for use. Magnesium is silver-white, very brilliant and j malleable. It melts at a red heat, and, if heated in air, burns with great splendour, being converted into an oxide of maguesia. Aluminium is obtained like magnesium by the action of sodium or potassium on the chloiide of aluminium. It is a white metal with a bluish tinge, but its lustre is far inferior to silver. Chloride of sodium (common salt) is also advautageously employed by the skilful manipulator iv the above opera' tions Yovir correspondent " Ballarat" in the Australasian of the 13th instant will tkni perceive that these metals are produced by chemical processes, and the fact that they are not found in a free state will show that their production conld not form a profitable accessory employment to gold-digging ; in fact, it i* only in the hands of the expert chemist that they can be produced at all. The magnesium oro, as your London correspondent calls it, which is «ent from Greece, is a very rich magnesium limestone.

French Cleanliness and Industry.— The Rev. Dr. Gntbrie, in an article in Good Words on " The Streets of Paris," says:— "lt were injustice to the Frenchwoman not to state that to her is due a considerable measure of that absence of wretchedness and poverty which characterises the streets of Paris. Call her if you choose, and as some do, frivolous, or, a3 others, deceitful, she has a taste and sense of propriety which would make her ashamed to show herself with an unwashed face, or send forth her husband or children with a rag on their backs or a hole in their dress. In Paris and olsowhero yoii*may see people with mended, but not with ragged clothes j so that, until we oamo to Brittany, where the people are as remarkable for their Popish bigotry, and deep drinking, and dreadful swearing, as for their antique and picturesque costumes, wo almost never saw a Frenchwoman with a rag on her back or a spot on her face 5 and even hero, the women (speaking of them geneially), as they ply tho distaff while they tend their cows in the field, or walk the roads knitting, or sit at their windows sewing, show a tidiness thatjs as remarkable as their industry. In fact, for neatness of attire, respect for personal appearance both in herself and in her family, and habits of industry, the Frenchwoman is a pattern to tho world. Scarcely ever do you find them what tho Scotch people call "hand-idle," and slatterns nover. The girl who keeps a shop is busy with some piece of work when customers do not require her attention. The woman who sits by her stall on the open street, with her feeb on a box of lighted charcoal to' keep them warm, is usually sewing or knitting, nnd only lifts her head from her work to say, when she becomes aware of your presence, " Que voulezvous, monsieur!" And but yesterday, in walking through tho weekly market at Quimper, where the Breton women sat ail tidily attired, with towers and wings of snowy linen on their heads, and on a table before them the produce of their dairy in curiously carved' pats irod pillars of first-rate butter, I wa« greatly struck with the spectacle of industry which tho scene presented. Hardly one not engaged with a customer but was busy-with wire or ueedle— a lively as well as pleasant spectacle, for their tongues went as fast as their tools. I have seen in the humble homes of our own country howa taste for-tidmess and habits of industry will throw over provorty itielf a deoent appearance j ami, characterized as tho French woman is by these, to her may be in some measure attributed that absence of the appearauoe of extreme and dbjeob wretchedness which distinguishes the streets of Paris."