W. S. Newton has recently obtained a patent in England for improvements in the manufacture and reduction of platinum. The platinum ore to be operated upon is rinsed in a state of division with lime, baryta or strontia, magnesia, or other carbonates. This mixture, on being roasted in the open air, will be deprived of the greater part of the osmium which it contains. The ore is afterwards melted in vessels, the inside of which are lined with lime, baryta, strontia, magnesia, or the carbonates of these bases, and this fusion is effected by means of a combustible gas in combination with oxygen.