THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



189 



determine the amount of free fatty acid 

 present, calculate the quantity of alkali 

 necessary to saponify it, and subtract 

 from the first figure. The process is as 

 follows: Weigh out in a glass flask same 

 as used before, say, 5.000 Grams of the 

 fat, add 100 C.c. of pure neutral alcohol 

 and I C.c. of phenol phthalein solu., 

 place on the water bath and heat gently, 

 shaking occasionally, in about ten 

 minutes remove from heat and run in 

 from a burette tenth normal aqueous 

 KOH, shaking well after each addition 

 until a permanent faint pink color is 

 established; observe the number of C.c. 

 used, divide by ten and subtract from 

 the number of C.c. of alkali used in the 

 orginal Koettstorfer determination, cal- 

 culate as before and the result will be 

 the amount of KOH used by the true 

 glyceride. The acid figure or rancidity 

 is calculated by multiplying the number 

 of C.c. of aqueous KOH reduced to nor- 

 mal strength, by 0.281 the corresponding 

 value of each C.c. in terms of oleic acid; 

 subsequent division by five and multipli- 

 cation by 100 give the per cent- of fatty 

 acid. 



Certain fats of the butter class and 

 also waxes do not saponify easily even 

 with alcoholic alkali unless slight press- 

 ure is used. Furthermore, butyric and 

 other volatile ethers are likely to form 

 and would be lost under the ordinary 

 conditions applied. To avoid this, pro- 

 vide the flask with a cork bearing about 

 one metre or yard of glass tubing (^- 

 inch bore) to act as a reversed condenser. 



Great care must be taken that the 

 alkali does not absorb carbonic acid from 

 the air during the test, this is not likely 

 to happen unless the test is allowed to 

 get cold or is allowed to remain too long 

 in a dry state after evaporating ofi" the 

 alcohol. The duration of the operation 

 from start to finish should be about one 



hour, and if carried through carefully 

 the results are very satisfactory. 



The test serves as a certain index of 

 the presence of unsaponifiable matter 

 and also of the character of the oil. If 

 the residue from the evaporation is dark 

 red, rosin is usually present, if fishy in 

 odor some fish oil is present. These are 

 only indications, but they are much 

 more certain than many of the color 

 tests. 



The following table shows the varia- 

 tion due to insufficient saponification, 

 etc. I Gram of cotton seed oil being 

 taken : 



Treatment of solution Mg KOH per Gm. 



Heated until clear 155. 



Evaporated to dryness 189. 



and 



diluted with water 

 Evaporated to dryness 



160.7 

 189.3 



(To be Continued.) 



CIRCULAR LETTER TO PHARMACISTS. 



The following circular letter to pharmacists generally 

 has been Issued by the Committee on Alcohol Legisla 

 tion appointed at the Pharmaceutical Meeting of the 

 Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, held Oct i6, 1894: — 



Committee on Alcohol Legislation. 



PhiIvAdelphia College of Pharmacy, 

 145 North Tenth Street, Philadelphia. 



Dear Sir: — At a meeting of Phar- 

 macists held at the Philadelphia College 

 of Pharmacy on Tuesday, October i6, 

 1894, the section of the Tariff" Bill 

 enacted on August 28 last, relating to 

 the repayment of tax on alcohol used 

 for manufacturing purposes was dis- 

 cussed. 



The section reads as follows; 



"Section 61. — Any manufacturer 

 finding it necessary to use alcohol in the 

 arts, or in any medicinal or other like 

 compound, may use the same under 

 regulations to be prescribed by the Sec- 

 retary of the Treasury, and on satisfying 

 the collector of internal revenue for the 

 district wherein he resides or carries on 



