Elements of chemistry, in two volumes / by John Murray.

  • Murray, John.
Date:
1828
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Elements of chemistry, in two volumes / by John Murray. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    128/768 (page 116)
    smooth and insipid; it is heavier than any other earth, it# specific gravity being 4.842. It is insoluble and infusible, Yttria is not dissolved by the liquid alkalis; nor do they redissolve it when added in excess, after having precipi- tated it from its solution, which distinguishes it from giu- cine. It is soluble in carbonate of ammonia, but it re- quires a quantity five or six times greater than glucine does. Prussiate of potash throws down from its solutions a granular precipitate of a white or pearl-grey colour. It is precipitated in grey flocculi by the infusion of galls- It is not affected by sulphuretted hydrogen. Yttria combines with the acids : its salts have generally a sweetish taste. Several of them too are coloured, a pro- perty in which it differs from the other earths; but, ac- cording to Eckberg, the colour arises from adhering me- tallic matter, principally manganese and iron. They are decomposed by the alkalis, by lime, strontites, and ba- rytes.—Carbonate of Yttria is heavy, white and opaque. —Nitrate of Yttria assumes a gelatinous consistence by evaporation ; its taste is sweet and astringent.—Sul- phate of Yttria crystallizes in small brilliant grains, of a rhomboidal form, and of a -colour inclining to amethyst red.—Muriate of Yttria assumes a gelatinous form. The great specific gravity of this earth, and its being precipitated by the alkaline prussiates and by tannin from its solution, in some measure connect it with the metals, and it probably ought to be regarded as a metallic oxide. It is not reduced, however, to the metallic state by heat- ing it with charcoal, but it runs with it into a kind of semi- fluid mass, which is heavier than the earth itself. When submitted to the action of potassium at a high tempera- ture, some appearances indicate the production fro^i it of metallic matter. \