232 



C. U. C. p. ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



examined, exactly weighed, and about 

 loo mils of distilled water, are placed in 

 a distilling flask with a long neck, and 

 distilled in a current of steam, about loo 

 mils of distillate being collected in lo 

 minutes. lo mils of the distillate, 50 

 mils of distilled water, 10 mils of 20 

 per cent, sulphuric acid, and 50 mils of 

 N/i(X) potassium permanganate V. S., 

 are placed in a flask, fitted with a ground 

 condenser, heated to boiling, and kept at 

 the boiling temperature for 5 minutes. 

 After the contents of the flask have 

 cooled, 50 mils of N/ioo oxalic acid, V. 

 S., are added, and the contents then 

 titrated wnth N/ioo potassium perman- 

 ganate V. S. If X mils of the latter are 

 used and the volume required for a blank 

 test in which 10 mils of distilled water, 

 replace the fat or oil, is x, the oxidis- 

 ability number will be found by the ex- 

 pression 80 (X — x) /P, P being the 

 weight of fat or oil taken. 



is passed through the filtrate until the 

 latter is neutral to cochineal. The 

 liquid is then concentrated until upon 

 cooling it solidifies. 



Alkaloids in Egyptian Hyoscyamus. 



F. Hughes, in Bulletin 3 of the Tech. 

 Sci. Service, 1916, reports as follows: 

 Hyoscyamus muticus, of Egyptian origin 

 was found to contain varying quantities 

 of alkaloidal material at dififerent times. 

 Thus, if the plant parts be collected after 

 ripening of the seed, only 0.60 per cent, 

 of alkaloids was found, while if collected 

 about the time of flowering, from 1.50 

 to 2 per cent, was obtained. He calls at- 

 tention to the great care which must be 

 taken in drying, stating that in an ex- 

 tract prepared from the plant parts care- 

 lessly dried, no alkaloids were obtainable, 

 although vaporization was carried out 

 under reduced pressure. 



Concentrated Fertilizer. 



A patent for the preparation of a con- 

 centrated fertilizer has been granted by 

 the U. S. Government to W. H. Ros.-. 

 and A. R. Merz, under date of July i8th, 

 1916. The patentees announce that the 

 process is dedicated to the public. The 

 fertilizer, having the composition of 

 xKH^PO^+yNH^H^PO, is formed by 

 treating one equivalent of phosphate 

 rock with 10 equivalents of ortho- 

 phosphoric acid, in this manner forming 

 three equivalents of calcium mono-phos- 

 phate, with six equivalents of phosphor'x 

 acid as excess. Potassium sulphate or 

 carbonate is added in sufficient quantity 

 to precipitate the calcium as either sul- 

 phate or carbonate, and the precipitate 

 removed by filtration. Gaseous ammonia 



Iodine and Starch. 



A. Clementi, in Arch. Farm. Sperim., 

 20, 258-268, calls attention to the dis- 

 turbing influence of certain substances 

 on the color reaction between iodine and 

 starch. He finds that the presence of 

 furfurol inhibits or destroys the blue 

 coloration. The rapidity of the color 

 destruction is directly in proportion to 

 the amount of furfurol present, and in 

 inverse proportion to the amount of 

 iodine_ present. Thus, in a mixture con- 

 taining a large proportion of iodine and 

 a small proportion of furfurol, the loss 

 of color is not noted. The presence of 

 father protein bodies, such as albumins, 

 globulins, plant proteins, albuminoids 

 and phosphoproteins, also causes a more 

 or less rapid loss of color. Tyrosine and 



