CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 253 



and to bear the greatest bodily exertions; while an immoderate chewing of 

 coca, like that of opium, frequently becomes an habitual vice, producing all 

 the deleterious symptoms and consequences of narcotics, such as a state of 

 half intoxication, of half drowsiness, with visionary dreams, premature 

 decay, complete apathy, and idiocy. These peculiar symptoms rendered the 

 presence of a narcotic principle very probable, and have induced Professor 

 Woehler to undertake the investigation of the substance. The examination 

 has so far succeeded by the usual method for the separation of alkaloids, in 

 eliminating a crystallizable base, cocaine, crystallizing in small prisms, 

 devoid of color or odor, slightly soluble in water, more readily in alcohol, and 

 very easily in ether. It possesses a strongly marked alkaline reaction, and a 

 bitter taste, and acts in so far peculiarly as it transiently benumbs or almost 

 paralyzes the part of the tongue which it touches. It bears some resemblance 

 to atropine in its chemical relations, and forms perfect salts with the acids. 



BEET-ROOT ALCOHOL. 



The following process for distilling alcohol from the sugar-beet is adopted 

 at an establishment in Kent, England. To three-quarters of a ton of beets-, 

 which are sliced lengthwise by machinery, 300 gallons of wort prepared by 

 maceration of beets, to start with, are poured on; a quart of sulphuric acid 

 is added, and at the end of twenty-four hours the slices are ready for distil- 

 lation. Placed in iron cylinders, divided into compartments, each compart- 

 ment is drawn upon successively, so that there is a continuous flow of spirit 

 until the end of the process. The spirit is said to resemble small-still whis- 

 key, and under proper treatment becomes a neutral spirit, useful for many 

 industrial purposes. 



DETERMINATION OF ORGANIC MATTER IN WATER. 



M. Emile Monnier presented to the Academy of Sciences of Paris an 

 interesting note on the determination of the organic matters in the waters of 

 the Seine. The re-agent which he employs is the permanganate of potassa. 

 The weight of this salt decomposed being sensibly proportional to that of 

 the organic matter, the problem is reduced to the determination of the 

 weight of permanganate decolored by a given quantity of the water. 



The test-liquor which he employs is prepared by dissolving one gramme 

 of pure permanganate in one litre of distilled water; each cubic centimetre 

 of this liquid contains one milligramme of the salt. To perform an analysis, 

 proceed as follows : 



Pour into a matrass a half-litre (about a pint) of the water, and bring it to 

 the temperature of 158 F.; add through a pipette one cubic centimetre of 

 pure sulphuric acid ; then add the test-liquor until a permanent coloration is 

 produced ; the number of cubic centimetres of this liquor, added, gives at 

 once in milligrammes the weight of the re-agent decomposed by one litre of 

 water. At about 158 F. the decomposition of the organic matters is rapid; 

 at common temperatures it would require more than twenty -four hours to be 

 complete. 



The sensibility of the permanganate is very great; one gramme of tannin 

 in two cubic metres (or one part of tannin to two million parts of water), 

 and even one part by weight of sulphuretted hydrogen in eleven million 

 parts of water, will discolor it. Cosmos. 



22 



