THE ALUMNI JOURNAL 103 



The moss in Ireland is put up for export in IkiIcs, just as it comes 

 from the gatherers, without beino- subjected to further bleaching 

 or any other process. No information can be ()l)taine(l here as to a 

 liquid form of the moss, nor is it known as a powder, unless retail 

 druggists may themselves pulverize it for their own purposes. 



The moss is used to some extent as a food by the peasantry along 

 the coasts where it abounds, and jelly preparations are made from 

 it for the use of invalids. It is sometimes used in cookery in place 

 of prepared gelatin in making desserts, etc. It is used in medicine 

 as a demulcent in coughs, for catarrh and inflammation of the blad- 

 der, and in preparing emulsion of cod-liver oil. It is also used in 

 textile manufacturing as a stiffening for calico in the printing 

 process. [A list of the leading wholesale druggists of Belfast, any 

 of whom may accept orders for the moss, is on file in the Bureau of 

 Manufactures.] 



THE NOMENCLATURE OF BENZIN. 



Last year a discussion was carried on in ''The Chemist and Drug- 

 gist" of London, England, regarding the terms benzine and benzol. 

 As pointed out in The Alumni Journal, October 1908, pages 119 

 and 120. one of our graduates of the Blizzard class, 1888, Otto 

 Raubenheimer, of Brooklyn, N. Y., contributed two valuable papers 

 on the subject entitled "Benzin, Benzine, Benzene, Benzol, Benzole 

 and Benzoline," and also "Benzine, Benzene, Benzole and Benzo- 

 line," which papers were published in British as well as in American 

 journals. Mr. R. tried to convince our British cousins that ''Ben- 

 zine"' or still better "Benzin" is the proper name for the petroleum 

 distillate and not for the coal-tar distillate (as erroneously applied 

 in England and France), and that "Benzene" or still better "Ben- 

 zole" . is the proper name for the coal-tar product CeH^, We are 

 glad to learn that Raubenheimer is in receipt of word from the 

 editor of "The Chemist and Druggist" that the discussion on 

 "Benzine and Benzole" has had its effect in that the Pharmacy 

 Committee of the British Pharmacopoeia has advised a change in 

 the official nomenclature. It would thus appear that a Brooklyn 

 pharmacist, a graduate of the N. Y. C. P.. we are proud to state, has 

 been able to straighten out our British cousins in a field in which 

 they have always asserted superiorit)'-. 



