31 



C. U. C. P. ALUMNI JOURNAL 



:.^:\E» sS"n^.z^CT 



Conducted by Prof. George C. Diekman. 



An Imparity Found in Potassium 

 Carbonate. 



Dr. \V. Kohen found that a number of 

 samples of commercial potassium car- 

 bonate which gave nearly negative re- 

 sults when tested for chlorides in the 

 usual manner, gave evidence of abund- 

 ant presence of chlorides after ignition. 

 Investigation showed that the samples 

 contained potassium chlorate as an im- 

 purity, which upon ignition was de- 

 composed with formation of potassium 

 chloride. 



Zinc in Glass. 



Javilli'cr, M., states that he succeeded 

 in extracting 0.0025 gm. of zinc, with 

 acidulated water, from an Erlenmeyer 

 flask having a capacity of 500 mils, and 

 made of Jena glass. A flask of Bo- 

 hemian glass yielded negative results. 

 The author tried to -establish the influence 

 which the presence of zinc might possess 

 in the case of micro-organisms. He con- 

 ducted the investigations with the As- 

 pergillus niger, which is particularly re- 

 active to zinc. The development of this 

 micro-organism in the Jena flask was 

 cjuite abnormal, while in Bohemian or 

 quartz flasks its development made only 

 th'C usual progress. The author calls at- 

 tention to the fact that the presence of 

 such small quantities of zinc under ordi- 

 nary circumstances can be ignored. Con- 

 ditions might, however, arise in which it 

 would have to be taken into account. 



Natural and Artificial Oil of 

 Wintergreen. 



The following is taken from the re- 

 port of Schimmel & Co., October, 191 5. 

 Methods for the difif-erentiation of arti- 

 ficial oil of w^intergreen from the natu- 

 ral oil : 5 drops of the oil under obser- 

 vation are mixed with an equal volume 

 of a 5 : 100 solution of vanillin, the 

 whole shaken well and i mil of alcohol 

 added. After thorough admixture add 2 

 mils of sulphuric acid and again shake, 

 when if the oil is the natural kind, a red 

 color will develop. The artificial oil un- 

 der the same circumstances will show at 

 most a yellow color. 



G. N. Watson and L. E. Sayre are 

 credited with the following in the same 

 report: If the oil under observation be 

 treated with pure sulphuric acid in ex- 

 cess, the natural oil turns deep red, oil 

 of birch turn yellow, or at most light red, 

 while methyl salicylate shows negative 

 results. 



Arsalyt. 



Hahn, in " Der Jahresbericht von E. 

 Merck, 1915," reports on the value of 

 Arsalyt Bis -me thy 1- amino -tetramino - 

 arseno-benzol), in the treatment of S3^phi- 

 litic afTection, claiming for this prepara- 

 tion an equal rank, at least, with sal- 

 varsan. Hahn states that its side and 

 after efifects are l-ess than those often ob- 

 served after the administration of sal- 

 varsan. 



