CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 237 



same smell by being simply traversed with the coffee roaster, although 

 the cleansing of the cess pit continued several hours after. 



The best mode of using the coffee as a disinfectant is to dry the raw 

 bean, pound it in a mortar, and then roast the powder on a moderately 

 heated iron plate until it assumes a dark brown tint, when it is fit for 

 use. Then sprinkle it in sinks or cess pools, or lay it on a plate in the 

 rooms which you wish to have purified. Coffee acid or coffee oil acts 

 more readily in minute quantities. 



ADULTERATION OF BEER WITH STRYCHNINE. 



GRAHAM and HOFFMAN, at the instance of a prominent English 

 brewer, Mr. Alsopp, and in consequence of reports, originating in 

 Paris, that English ale and beer occasionally derived its bitterness 

 from strychnine, have carefully tested various specimens of these bev- 

 erages, but without discovering a trace of the poisonous alkaloid. 

 Strychnine when present in no greater quantity than 1-1,000 of a 

 grain may be detected by the following process. The suspected pow- 

 der is to be moistened with a drop of undiluted sulphuric acid and a 

 few fragments of bichromate of potash added. An intense beautiful 

 violet color immediately appears at the points of contact which quickly 

 spreads through the whole fluid, and after a few minutes again vanishes. 

 The presence of small quantities of organic matter prevents this 

 reaction ; in testing beer the authors adopted the following process. 

 Haifa gallon of beer to which half a grain of strychnine had been added 

 was shaken with two ounces of animal charcoal, and the fluid allowed 

 to stand OA'er night. The next day the beer was found to be almost 

 free from bitterness, the strychnine having been precipitated Avith the 

 coal. The coal was thrown on a filter, washed, boiled with alcohol 

 and the alcoholic filtrate distilled. The residue in the retort was 

 shake with a few drops of a solution of caustic potash and .about an 

 ounce of ether. The etherial solution evaporated on a watch glass 

 gave a mass in which the presence of strychnine was easily detected by 

 the test above given. Ann. der Chemie und Pharmacie. 



ADTLTERATION OF ANCHOVIES. 



THE London Lancet gives the result of the investigation of the 

 Analytical Sanitary Commission into the composition _of "Anchovies," 

 as vended in the metropolis. Having analyzed 28 samples, the follow- 

 ing conclusion has been arrived at : That seven of the samples consisted 

 entirely of Dutch fish. That two of the samples consisted of a mix- 

 ture of Dutch fish and anchovies. That the brine in 23 of the 

 samples was charged with either bole Armenian or Venetian red, the 

 quantity varying considerably in amount ; but in most cases the brine 

 was saturated with these earthy powders to such an extent that they 

 might be obtained and collected from the botton of the bottles almost 

 by teaspoonfulls. The commissioners add : " It is not to be inferred 

 that these samples in which no Dutch fish were detected consisted of 



