782
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 15

The formation of salts; an elementary study of the properties of soda, borax, salt, cream of tartar, and the sulphates of copper and zinc as examples of salts.

Burning; fire and flame; smoke and soot; incandescence; elementary chemistry of a coal fire. Appliances for heating rooms, their advantages and disadvantages; why coal gas explodes; the Bunsen burner and its application to gas-stoves, &c.; oil-lamps, devices for complete combustion; electric glow lamps; wax and safety matches; the gas-meter and how to read it.

Simple experiments illustrating (a) the properties (1) on which the use for domestic purposes of the under-mentioned materials is based, (2) which render the use of them under certain conditions objectionable or dangerous: Iron (cast iron, malleable iron, steel; tinned, galvanized, and enamelled plate), copper, brass, aluminium, silver, lead, and cleansing agents in common use (soap, whitening, soda, ammonia, benzine, emery, &c.); (b) the properties of the more important materials of organic origin in common use for domestic purposes, such as fats, oils, glycerine, cane-sugar, starch, gluten, albumen, alcohol, acetic acid, and yeast. Saponification, fermentation, coagulation. Simple experiments and investigations bearing on the following topics: (1.) The composition and action of baking-powder. (2.) Changes in foods as the result (a) of the application of heat, (b) of the action of the agents of digestion. (3.) Principles on which the various methods of cooking food are based. (4.) The temperatures at which the various culinary processes are best carried out. (5.) The proportion of water in different foods. (6.) Comparison of the weight of foods before and after cooking.

The candidate will be required to forward before the date of examination a certificate in the prescribed form that he has carried out satisfactorily a course of practical work based on the above syllabus.

(21.) Elementary Chemistry (alternative with Elementary Home Science).—Candidates will be expected to show that they have an experimental as well as a theoretical knowledge of the matters set forth in the subjoined syllabus. The three states of matter; indestructibility of matter. Physical changes compared with chemical changes. Difference between mechanical mixtures and chemical compounds. Phenomena of chemical action; conditions that promote or check or otherwise modify chemical action. The metric system; units of volume and weight and their relation; the liter. Air, its properties; the various chemical processes involving air, and the light thrown on its composition thereby. Water, its properties; solution and crystallization; purification of water; decomposition of water; elements and compounds. Production and properties of oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen. Slow and rapid oxidation; reduction. Estimation of the weight of an element in a given weight of one of its compounds, and of the weight of one element required to displace another from a given weight of a given compound. Modes of chemical action; direct union, displacement, mutual exchange, decomposition; combining weights; combination of elements in definite proportions by weight; combination of gases by volume. The atomic theory used to explain chemical combination; the meaning and use of symbols; formulæ and equations; simple calculations. Definitions and general properties of oxides, acids, alkalis, and bases; production and properties of chlorine and hydrochloric acid, of ammonia and nitric acid. The various forms of carbon, sulphur, and phosphorus; the production and properties of their oxides, of sulphuretted hydrogen, and of sulphuric acid (manufacture not required). The classes of salts; the properties of sodium-chloride, calcium-chloride, potassium-nitrate, sodium-nitrate, silver-nitrate, Epsom and Glauber’s salts; blue, white, and green vitriol; soda crystals, bicarbonate of soda, chalk, white-lead. General properties of metals and non-metals. The preparation and properties of lime, caustic