By P. THENARD. The author refers to the customary view that black phosphorus is merely a mixture of the ordinary phosphorus with traces of a metallic phosphide, and contends that this explanation is not in all cases admissible. A specimen of black or rather dark gray phosphorus, which the author submitted to the Academy, became white if melted and remained white if suddenly cooled, but if allowed to enter into a state of superfusion it became again black on contact with either white or black phosphorus. A portion of the black specimen being dissolved in carbon disulphide there remained undissolved merely a trace of a very pale yellow matter which seemed to be amorphous phosphorus.--_Comptes Rendus_. * * * * * COMPOSITION OF STEEP WATER. According to M. C. Leeuw, water in which malt has been steeped has the following composition: Organic matter. 0.56 per cent. Mineral matter. 0.52 " ---- Total dry matter. 1.08 " ---- Nitrogen. 0.033 " The mineral matter consists of-- Potash. 0.193 " Phosphoric acid. 0.031 " Lime. 0.012 " Soda. 0.047 " Magnesia. 0.016 " Sulphuric acid. 0.007 " Oxide of iron. traces. Chlorine and silica. 0.212 " * * * * * SCHREIBER'S APPARATUS FOR REVIVIFYING BONE-BLACK. We give opposite illustrations of Schreiber's apparatus for revivifying bone-black or animal charcoal. The object of revivification is to render the black fit to be used again after it has lost its decolorizing properties through service--that is to say, to free its pores from the absorbed salts and insoluble compounds that have formed therein during the operation of sugar refining. There are two methods employed--fermentation and washing. At present the tendency is to abandon the former in order to proceed with as small a stock of black as possible, and to adopt the method of washing with water and acid in a rotary washer.