THE LESSER OF TIPO EVILS.
saw him through the open door,
4 raz or at his throat,
W hile Meath his feet, all crushed and beat,
'There lay a dainty note,
"Oh stoli!" I wildly cried to him,
"DO not the dreadful deed,
For doit thou then, so young a man,
Thy life so little hoed."
lle turned, and in a solemn tone,
Exclaimed, "Ms naught but right,
I Want to die, and quiet lie
A corpse next Monday night."
"The Cottage maidens are "At Home"
And sent that note you see,
Four Hundred's oaths and compacts though
Are sacred yet to me."
'Tor 'twere so very Impolite
Their kindness to pugs hy,
I've no excuse. nu path to choose
lint thus to quickly die,"
"Four [kindred live forever then,"
lie sereatned—uneartlay roar—
it was his knell, for quick ho foil
A dead man on the door,
PHOSPHORIC ACID.
The determination of total phosphoric acid in
substances such as super-phosphates, and other com
mercial fertilizers, when mixed with organic matter,
has of late years been subjected to much investiga
tion, in order to find a short, and under all circum
stances reliable method.
To successfully determine total P O„ in such
instances as mentioned, the organic matter must
first be removed or destroyed, but as the separation
of organic matter without in any way effecting the
amount of P, 0, present is impracticable, the com
plete destruction thereof is sought for.
In practical work a method for quantitative
analysis, must not only be reliable under all condi
tions of the samples to be analyzed, but also as
short and easy in manipulation as possible. As
none of the many methods published for deter
mination of total P, 0, were found to answer fully
to the requirements stated, some further investiga
tion in this line was made at the College Experi-
THE 'MEE LANCE.
ment Station, and,after many trials, a method was
found which corresponds most nearly to the re
quirements mentioned above, and has up to the
present time proven to be fully reliable. With
out going into detail about the different trials made
or give any figures, we will simply state some facts
concerning it.
To two (2) grams of the sample which have been
found to contain organic matter, about 2 grams of
pure, finely powdered silica is added, and very
thoroughly mixed with it in a platinum dish. It is
then ignited over a gas flame until all the organic
matter is destroyed, which is seen by the whiteness
of the ash. The ash is then transferred to a gradu
ated 200 C. c. flask, and about 2 C. C. dilutes
(i to r) H C 1 and 3o c. c. H N O„ (con.) added ,
after which the contents are boiled until the phos
phoric acid is in solution ; half an hour is usually
enough. The solution is cooled to room tempera
ture and then the flask is filled with water to the
mark. The rest of the manipulation is according
to the well known molybdic method, where the
the phosphoric acid is first precipitated by molyb
dic solution, and finally' by magnesia inixture. The
prCcipitate after washing is ignited and weighed as
magnesium pyrophosphate.
For the ignition a flame from the ordinary Bun
sen burner is sufficient, and no fusion is to be fear
ed if the silica is well mixed with the sample. Blast
lamp is not necessary for this work.
This method will not only destroy the organic
matter which hinders the precipitation of P 2 0, by
molybdic solution, but also volitalize certain ar
senic compounds which would if not otherwise re
moved, follow the phosphoric acid and be counted
as such because arsenic salts give with molybdic
solution, and magnesia mixture similar precipitates
as those of phosphorus If, however, arsenic com
pounds are found to be present in the sample to be
analyzed, special care must be taken during the
analysis.
The z grains of silica added will displace o. 8
c. c. of solution and, for this, correction must be