New Method. Combustion in Oxygen, Weighing CO₂.
15.51 15.54
It is plain that such a result leaves nothing to be desired for the accuracy of the method, while, as regards time and trouble, the advantage lies on the side of the new method. I have completed a determination in less than two hours from the start, and did not hurry myself over it in any degree.
Fine pulverization of the sample is not essential, and in fact is rather detrimental, as the graphite, when fine, is more difficult to wash without loss. When operating on a coarse sample more time is necessarily taken, but the resulting graphite shows the manner of occurrence better, whether in scales or in the amorphous form.
In consulting the literature bearing on the subject, I cannot find any mention of this method employed as an analytical process; it has, however, been previously described as a commercial method for the purification of graphite,[1] and I understand has been tried on a small scale in this country. The method, though inexpensive, yet seems to have been abandoned for some reason, and I am not aware that it is now employed anywhere.—Sch. Mines Quarterly.
Schloffel, Zeitschrift der K.K. geolog. Reichanstalt, 1866, p. 126