Mr.E. F. Teschemacher 011 Substamesfrom Guano. 13 December 1 1845.-The President in the Chair. William Johnson Esq. was elected a Member of the Society. The fdlowing communications were read :-CUT. An Account of various Sul,sta?rcesfound in the Guano Deposits and in their Vicinity. By E. F. TESCHEMACHEH Esq. REPORTS having been circulated that large quantities of saltpetre (nitrate of potash and nitrate of soda) were to be found of a very good quality in the neighbourhood of the guano deposits on the coast of Sfrica numerous vessels were dispatched both from London and Liverpool in search of those valuable substances particularly as it was considered they might be obtained upon the same terms as Ichaboe guano namely for nothing but the labour and expense of fetching.hlr. E. F. Tescheniacher on various Substances No favourable accounts however have as yet been received as to the success of these undertskings. The evidence of such c?eposits existing there at all was very unsatisfactory ; the circumstance milch relied upon was the existence of large beds of uitrate of soda in the neighbourhood of the coast of South Anierica and large deposits of guano similar in inany respects to the deposits of guano on the Africtin coast there was certui~ily an abundance of animal matter and arnmoniacal salts to furiiish the nitric acid and a temperature high enough to effect the decomposition but the source from whence the alkaline bases of potash and sods were to be derived was nut very evident.The principal source of saltpetre in the East Indies is from numerous districts of nitrous earth found on the surface of the soil which being compounds of linie and magnesia with nitric acid they are dissolved out and the saltpetre subsequently formed by the decomposition of these nitrous coinpounds by potash salts. The nitrate of soda salt-petre beds in the Province of Tarapaca near Iquiqua on the coast of South America are the only instances known of the occurreiice of saltpetre ready-formed in extensive beds but even this deposit coiitains the salt in a state of great impurity. These explorations however on the African coast have hrought to light various other substsnces which have been found there the details of which are more parricularly the ob-ject of' this communication.'l'he substances which I shall now describe are found in the guano beds or in their viciiiity either in a crystalline state or in distinct masses. The first substance is a crystalline salt perfectly transparent with a cleavage and hilliaiit t'aces in one diiectioii only ; it gives a yellow precipitate with nitrste of silver ; gives off aminoriia upon application of caustic pot-ash ai;d when heated to redness loses about 50 per cent. of water mid minionis ; I consider it therefore to be phosphate OJ ammonia. The portion of salt I examined consisted only of a few grains and was consequently too sniall a quaiitity to ana- lyse with exactness. The next substance was also a crystalline salt a little mixed \tith guano in its cavities; it possessed a cleavage with bril- liant planes in two directions upon examination with the re- Bectiiig goniometer it gave 112' as the measurement of the :iiigle tormed by the rneetiiig of the adjacent planes.Upon aiinlysis I found it to consist of-2 1f~parts of Ammonia. 55'50 ... Carbonic acid. 23.50 ... ivater. 100'00 Jbund in tile Gutmo Deposits and in their Y;ci?tity. IS being nearly eqiiivalent to 1 atom of ammonia 2 atoms of carbonic acid and 2 atonis of water. Formula NH +2CO + 2H0 and is consequently a bicrrrbonafe cfamrno?zin. The third sulxtance was fhnd at Saldanha Bay on the cwst of Africa irnbedded in patches in the mass of guano. It is fwnd in distinct crystals with numerous niodifications in:iny of tlie planes possessiiig sufficient brilliancy to enable ine to measure the angles by the reflecting gonionieter.have given the measurements of one crystal from which it appears the primary form is the right rhombic prisrn of 57' 30' and 122' 39' it has a cleavage parallel to plane hI*. Upoii analysis I find this substance to be composed of'-14.30 parts of Ammonia. 17-00 ... Magnesia. 30'40 ... Phosphoric acid. 35.10 ... Water. 99'SO which is nearly equivalent. to 1 atom animonia 1 atom mag-nesia 1 atom phosphoric acid 5 atoms water. Formula N H, MgO PO +5H 0. It is therefore the amn2onio-naa,rrnesian phosphnte. The spe-cific gyavity is 1-65 hardness 2; it falls to powder before the blowpipe giving off water aid atnmonia.It occurs white translucent sometimes coloured brown by the guano ; it rea-dily dissolves in weak acids. r-1 liis substance is clearly derived from the guano; but being insoluble iii water it must have been helcl in solution by some of' the orgaiiic acids of tlie guano and deposited there- from in large crystals as they are found but disseminated in patches only of the guano iii various parts of the beds. r1 1his suhstuiice not having been found before in a native state but hitherto only tweu known as one of the artificial products of the laboratory must be considered as R new mineral body; 1 therehe propose to give it the mineralo5i- cal name of Gicnnite this name being derived from the cir-cumstances and locality of its formation.The soi~rce from which the first two substances namely the phosphate ot' amrironia and the bicarbonate of ammonia are derived is clearly the peidation of water through the guano beds dissolving out these salts which running into lower * See the angular measurements subjoined. I6 Mr. E. F. Teschemacher on Substa?zcesfi.onz Guano. situations may be detained in lagoons and hollows of rocks where being subject to the high temperature of the climate they would be evaporated down leaving these salts in the crystalline state described. As guano contains abundance of these two salts it is possible there may exist considerable masses of them ; should this be the case it is evident that to the chemist in particular it would be of great interest as an additional source of these valuable salts.The chance of finding any considerable quantity of guanite in the state of crystals is not great but as it forms one of the ingredients of guano it is a substance of some import- ance. The application of it as a manure in combination with other ingredients is likely to be highly beneficial it beinga compound containing two important substances in an insoluble state namely ammonia and phosphoric acid; these may be taken up by plants only as they may be required and not be liable to be dissolved out of the soil or evaporated like other am moniacal salts. The last substance which I shall describe was also found imbedded in the guano from Saldanha Bay; it consists of small globular particles composed of concentric laminae slightly adhering together of a yellowish white colour containing in places portions of a similar nature which on fracture have ap-pearances of an organic structure like bone but on examina-tion by the microscope proved to be portions of shells resem- bling Nummulites.On analysis I found the substance to be composed of-37-50 parts Carbonate of lime. 32-50 ... Carbonate of magnesia. 12-00 Phosphate of lime. .I& ..b 12-00 Water with a little ammonia and animal matter. 3.00 ... Sand. 2.50 ... Alkaline sulphates and chlorides. 99.50 There does not appear to be any great quantity of this sub- stance. How it has been formed it is difficult to imagine; the composition is so very different either from that of bones or shells particularly in regard to the large quantity of car-bonate of magnesia which it contains. It is however probable that both bones and shells form the base of this substance and that partial decomposition having taken place the mag- nesia may have subsequently entered into combination with the carbonate and phosphate of lime. M' 011 /1 . 151'.00 M r;l eonf . . 112O.20 fon h. . 89O-30 h c' on f' . 112O.20 M 011 e . 142'*10 e oil c . 142'*10