DISOXIDING PRINCIPLE IN DISTILLED WATERS. 343 



sulphate of indigo, treated or mixed in difl'erent propor- 

 tions Avith the same solution of tin, after having previously 

 absorbed sulphuric acid. This is employed in the manu- 

 facture of printed goods for producing all sorts of blues 

 and greens. 



III. 



Observations on the Distilled Water of common Borage; 

 hy Philip Antony Steinacher, Member of the Phar- 

 maceutic Society of Paris *. 



-OITHERTO no particular property had been observed Borage wat<8f 



in borage water, except its depositing mucous filaments after 



being kept some time. Some that I distilled on the 7th of 



June, 1806, exhibited the following remarkable properties. 



The borage was very fresh, succulent, and immediately after 



being very finely shred was put into the body of a tinned 



copper alembic. Two parts of distilled water were poured very carefully 



on it, which moistened it sufficiently. The head of the still ^^^*^^^^^* 



was put on, and a receiver adapted to it, both of which 



were previously rinsed clean with distilled water. The.dis- 



tillation was commenced immediately with a heat so gentle, 



that 20 or 30 seconds intervened between the fall of the 



successive drops. Only half a part of water was drawn 



off, which was limpid and colourless, and smelt and tasted 



strongly of borage, at the same time having another smell 



resembling that of a cucumber. 



This water neither reddened litmus paper, nor turned Reddened infu- 

 green paper tinged with an infusion of red roses ; but it®'°^ *" 



perceptibly reddened an aqueous infusion of litmus, which 

 liad been diluted with distilled water so as to appear of a 

 pure blue. 



It rendered lime-water turbid instantly. Precipitated 



A few drops of pure rectified sulphuric acid, distilled al- 1™«- 

 most to dryness, and diluted with distilled water, produced ^cid eiftmscIX 

 after the expiration of a few minutes a disengagement of 



* Aopales de Chimie, VoI.LX, p. 83, October, 1806. 



soaije 



