DURING recent years determinations have been made of some of the more important constituents of the rain and drainage waters collected at Rothamsted; the results of these determinations have been in great part already published.* Still more recently a systematic examination has been made of some of the deep well waters of the same district. I t is proposed in the present communication t o bring together these results, and to trace the connection between the composition of rain, drainage, and deep well waters. It is hoped that in this way some light may be thrown on the natural history of well waters.
SEVERAL chemists have remarked that when monocalcic or dicalcic phosphate is acted on by water, and especially if they are boiled with it, decomposition takes place, and the phosphate splits up into a more acid and a more basic compound. Thus, according to Boedeker, dicalcic phosphate is resolved by boiling with water into monocalcic and tricalcic phosphate. In no case, as far as I am aware, has the formation of a product more basic than tricalcic phosphate been observed. In 1866 I communicated to the Society some researches on the phosphates of calcium (Jozcrm. Chem. Soc. [el, iv, 296), and I then stated that when tricalcic phosphate is boiled with water, it is itself decomposed, the solution becoming distinctly acid. It became at once evident that the observations already alluded to dealt only with the earlier stages of the action of water on the phosphate. I therefore, as soon as possible, commenced experiments to ascertain the ultimate action of water upon tricalcic phosphate; the results I now lay before the Society.
I.-On the part taken, by Oxide of Iron and Alumina in the Absovtive Action of Soils. * Jour. Chem. SOC. [2J, iv, 296. 4 The ferric oxide absorbed 95.7 per cent. of the phosphoric acid present, the The aliimina absorbed 96.8 per cent. of whole of the calcium remained in aolution. the phosphoric acid, and 95.6 per cent. of the calcium remained dissolved.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.