Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 315 



FORMIO-BENZOILIC ACID. 



M. Laurent states when Nordhausen sulphuric acid is made to act 

 upon the oil of bitter almonds, (hydruret of benzule,) they combine 

 with the extrication of heat, and solidify into a fibrous mass. If 

 water be poured upon it, two strnta are formed, the lower one of 

 which is acid, and the upper one oily. The oily stratum, which gra- 

 dually solidifies, is a constant compound of 2 Bz + f H^ O ; but it 

 may present itself under two different and incompatible forms. 



The liquid constituting the lower stratum, according to M. Lau- 

 rent, is the formio-benzoilic acid. He says that it is formed at the 

 expense of the hydrocyanic acid, which is decomposed by the influ- 

 ence of water and sulphuric acid, and gives rise to sulphate of am- 

 monia and formic acid, which, being in the nascent state, combines 

 with the hydruret of benzule to form the formio-benzoilic acid. — 

 Journal de Chimie Medicate, November 1837. 



PROPORTIONS OF GLUTEN IN GRAIN. 



M. Boussingault has made researches on the proportions of gluten 

 contained in the flour of different kinds of grain cultivated in the 

 same soil. 



He determined the quantity of gluten by ascertaining that of the 

 ammonia which each yielded ; this plan, it will be readily conceived, 

 will yield much more precise results than that of working the flour 

 between the fingers under a stream of water. 



The flour obtained from diiFerent kinds of corn, but cultivated in 

 the same soil, (that of the Jardin des Plantes,) yielded diff'erent pro- 

 portions of gluten in the proportion of 15 to 21. The diff^erences 

 dependent upon the influence of the soil and that of the climate are 

 much more strongly marked, and M. Boussingault has observed them 

 to amount to from 1 to 4. — Journal de Chimie MMicale, November 

 1837. 



OXIDE OF PHOSPHORUS. 



M. Le Verrier proposes the following method of obtaining pure 

 oxide of phosphorus, which he is of opinion has not been previously 

 procured : take a glass globe, capable of holding about 2 pints, the 

 neck of which is about 4 inches long and one inch wide ; pour into 

 this a little chloride of phosphorus, then introduce of phosphorus, 

 previously dried on paper, and cut into pieces of about 8 grains each, 

 enough to form a stratum of four-fifths of an inch thick, at the bot- 

 tom of the globe : then add sufficient chloride of phosphorus to co- 

 ver the phosphorus, and expose the whole to the air; 8 or 10 globes 

 thus prepared are required to obtain 30 grains of oxide readily. 



When about 24 hours have elapsed, a thick white crust of phos- 

 phatic acid is formed at the surface of the solution, whilst below the 

 stratum of phosphorus there may be seen, through the glass, a yel- 

 low substance attached to it at the bottom of the globe ; this is a 

 compound of phosphoric acid and oxide of phosphorus, which the 

 author calls phosphate of oxide of phosphorus. 



In 24 hours after the appearance of the whitish matter, the quan- 



