38 THE ALUMNI JOURNAL 



DON'T BUY FROM PEDDLERS. 



One ounce of aspirin and two balls of opium were among the loot 

 stolen by an employe of Parke, Davis & Co.'s Drug and Chemical 

 Department, who engaged himself under the name of Frank Myers. 

 It came out in the course of the trial that his correct name was 

 Anthony Kraft. The culprit was fined $10.00 or thirty days. 



There is reason to believe that there is a widespread conspiracy 

 having its wires in the wholesale and manufacturing concerns of the 

 country with a regular system of fences, provisions for re-assortment 

 of stocks into half dozens, dozens, etc. This accounts for the ped- 

 dlers who visit retail druggists in certain sections, offering particular 

 items at prices that really put the retail druggists upon notice that the 

 goods are stolen. 



CHLOROPHYLL.* 



By Curt P. Wimmer, M.A., Phar.D. 

 [Continued.') 



The amount of COo taken up by plants is enormous. 10,000 1 air 

 contain 4-5 1 of CO., which weigh 8-10 grains. Of this 3/1 1 is car- 

 bon. So in 10,000 1 of air we have about 2 grams C. A tree weigh- 

 ing 5000 kg. contains, about 2,500,000 grams of C. To get this 

 amount, the tree must absorb and assimilate the COo of 12 million 

 ' cubic centimeters of air. This figure is astonishingly large. How- 

 ever, we must not forget that the air contains about 3,000 billion 

 kilograms of CO.. This alone is sufficient to sustain plant life. Fur- 

 thermore, the supply is constantly replenished by decaying matter, 

 animal breathing, burning of wood and coal and by volcanoes. 



Properties : 



Chlorophyll is an unstable substance. It is destroyed by strong 

 sunlight, most readily by the red rays. This destruction seems to 

 be an oxidation process, as it takes place only in the presence of 

 oxygen. Chlorophyll is readily soluble in ether, alcohol, fatty and 

 ethereal oils, petrolatum, petroleum, carbon disulfide. Alcoholic solu- 

 tions are emerald green in transmitted light and show a blood-red 

 fluorescence. The spectrum shows seven absorption bands and is ab- 

 solutely characteristic. Benzine dissolves the chlorophyll and caro- 



*Read at the January meeting of the A. Ph. A. 



