Harrogate and its resources : chemical analysis of its medicinal waters : report addressed to the chairman of the Harrogate Water Committee / by A.W. Hofmann.

  • Hofmann, August Wilhelm von, 1818-1892.
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Harrogate and its resources : chemical analysis of its medicinal waters : report addressed to the chairman of the Harrogate Water Committee / by A.W. Hofmann. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    12/60 (page 10)
    Strontia, when existing in the waters, was probably present in the form of sulphate, and hfid therefore to be sought for principally in the insoluble portion of the saline residue. According to recent observations, however, sulphate of strontia is slightly soluble in water containing a considerable quantity of chlorides. In order there-- fore not to lose any strontia, the whole saline residue was submitted! to the action of sul])huric acid, the excess of this acid expelled by ignition, and the residue of sulphates exhausted first by water andl then by hydrochloric acid. The residue consisting chiefly of silica i was fused with carbonate of soda, the product of the fusion exhausted i with water, and the insoluble residue, which was left dissolved in. hydrochloric acid. Addition of sulphate of lime to this solution,, produced the faintest turbidity, which may have been occasioned by. strontia. But unless the experiment be repeated on a veiy large scale it would be hazardous to assert the presence of strontia. The experiment was made with the residue of the Old Sulphur Well which contains a very large amount of saline matter. In collecting and analysing the gases contained in the Han'ogate waters, I have availed myself of the processes invented by Professor Bun sen, and so remarkably perfected within the last few years by his admirable researches. Since these processes, especially those of. collecting the gases, differ from the methods formerly adopted forr this purpose, and since any accurate information regarding the nature of the gases, however precise our methods of analysis mayv be, depends in the first place, on the means we employ of collecting.- and measuring their total amount, I will briefly describe here the principal features of Bunsen^s process, which consists in expelling,- the gases by ebullition in vacuo. For this purpose a globular glass flask, over the neck of which iss fitted a strong vulcanized caoutchouc tube, {see Fig. 1), is im-- mersed into the water until it is filled, and the tube is then closedl by means of a brass screw-clamp which is screwed immediately)' above the neck of the flask. In this manner a quantity of water is secured which has not beenn in contact with the air, and the exact volume of which may be readil|i determined by experiment. The caoutchouc tube is then connectedl with a small glass globe partially filled with water, and provided withJ two necks opposite each other, the one corresponding in diameter tcJ the neck of the flask, the other of the size of an ordinary quill pen J By the latter, the globular vessel, which for the sake of shortness M will call the boiler-globe, may be connected with a glass-tub«