CHEMISTKY. 



281 



soda, and dissolve it in 27 quarts of rain water, to which are added 8 ounces 

 of citric acid. When brought to the boiling point 1 Ib. of the best cochi- 

 neal, ground fine, is added, and then boiled for 1 hour. The liquor is 

 then strained or filtered and set by to cool. The clear liquor is then boiled 

 again, with 9^- ounces of alum, for about ten minutes, and is again drawn off 

 and allowed to cool and settle for two or tliree days. The supernatant 

 liquor is then drawn off, and the sediment which has fallen to the bottom is 

 filtered and washed with clean soft cold water, and is finally dried by evapo- 

 rating all the moisture. The result is fine carmine, which can be made into 

 the finest red ink by dissolving it hi a caustic solution of ammonia, adding a 

 little dissolved gum arabic. 



By the old plan of making carmine, no citric acid was used ; the cochineal 

 was simply boiled hi soft ram water for two hours containing a minute quan- 

 tity of carbonate of soda, then allowed to settle, and treated by remainder of 

 the process described above. An improvement in the brilliancy of the color 

 is obtained by adding about one-ninth part of the crystals of tin to the 

 alum, using for this purpose a ninth part less of alum than the amount given 

 above. 



USE OF BRINE IN FOOD. 



In consequence of accidents caused by the use of the brine of herring or 

 salt meat, the Council of Health hi Paris has been charged with examining to 

 what extent brine may be allowed in food. Numerous experiments have 

 been tried at A 1 fort, which have led to the following conclusions: 



" The use of brine as a condiment or seasoning in the nourishment of man 

 has hitherto had no injurious effect, and nothing authorizes the opinion that 

 an economical process so advantageous for the poor should be proscribed. 

 The same is not true of the abuse which is made of this substance hi the 

 nourishment and hi the treatment of the diseases of certain animals, espe- 

 cially swine and horses. Authentic facts and recent experiments show that 

 the mixture of brine in considerable quantity with food may produce real 

 poisoning. In all cases, brine preserved too long or in contact with rancid 

 meat should not be employed except with the greatest care, and after it has 

 been purified by skimming all the scum which forms on the surface." 



EFFECTS OF CHLOROFORM ON THE BLOOD. 



At the Boston Society of Natural History, Dr. C. T. Jackson presented a 

 statement relative to the effect of chloroform on the blood of a person who 

 had died under its influence. The blood was found on examination to have 

 lost the property of coagulation, was of a peculiar, dark cranberry red color, 

 and quite uniformly liquid. The red blood globules, in a microscopic examin- 

 ation made by Dr. Bacon, were found to be a little shrunken and distorted ; 

 the white globules were also deformed. A chemical examination of the same 

 blood showed that it contained formic acid, which was readily separable by 

 distillation of the blood, by the heat of a chloride of calcium bath. 



The formic acid, separated, had its peculiar odor, and instantly decomposed 

 nitrate of silver, reducing the silver to its metallic state, so that large flakes 



