THE NEW YORK JOURNAL OF PHARMACY 



Iodic acid for the same purpose, in ac- 

 cordance with the following reaction : 

 HIO3 + 5HI = 61 = 3H,0 



It is necessary that the Iodic acid be 

 added in excess and in a finely sub- 

 divided condition. The method of pro- 

 cedure recommended is as follows : 



The Iodic acid is dissolved in a mini- 

 mum quantity of distilled water, and 

 this solution then added to a sufificient 

 quantity of strong alcohol. The Iodic, 

 acid is thus precipitated in the form of 

 a very fine powder. After thorough dry- 

 ing it is recommended that 10 grammes 

 of this powder be added to each liter of 

 the decomposed tincture. 



The mixture is now thoroughly shaken, 

 when the reaction as before indicated will 

 take place. Any excess of Iodic acid 

 will separate out, and can be removed 

 by filtration, or may be allowed to re- 

 main for the purpose of decomposing 

 any further hydriodic acid which mav 

 form. 



It must be noted that the amount of 

 iodine obtained by this procedure is 

 larger than that contained in the hydri- 

 odic acid present. The»author therefore 

 recommends that a tincture in which 

 much hydriodic acid has been formed 

 should first be diluted with alcohol in 

 required quantity. 



Dr. W. Stuewe, in Phar. Ztg., 19 14, 

 No. 21, reviews the "Rupp" method for 

 the examination of sublimate pastilles, 

 as ofificial in the D. A. B. As is known, 

 the mercury is precipitated or reduced 

 to the metallic form by means of for- 

 maldehyde, after which it is dissolved in 

 a solution of iodine. Most operators 

 gave complaint about the difficulty of 

 effecting this solution. Struewe recom- 



mends that before the reduction is at- 

 tempted, a small quantity of acacia be 

 added to the liquid. This causes the re- 

 duced mercury to be held in suspension, 

 and facilitates its solution to a great 

 extent. 



ADULTERATED CACAO 

 BUTTER. 



Dr. CI. Grimmer in Hamburg has re- 

 cently subjected a number of samples of 

 cacao butter to a critical examination, 

 with a view of determining the sub- 

 stances used as adulterants. 



He reports that recently a number of 

 brands of this article have been received 

 in Ham])urg from Holland, which were 

 so scientifically and skilfully adulter- 

 ated, that the usually employed physical 

 and chemical methods of determining 

 purity, failed entirely. According to 

 these the articles under investigation 

 were reasonably pure and corresponded 

 to the requirements demanded by the 

 D. A. B. The low price at which these 

 samples were ofifered to the trade, how- 

 ever, excited suspicion, and subsequent 

 examination proved this suspicion to be 

 well founded. 



Flis suspicion was first aroused by the 

 lower congealing point of the fatty acids 

 in the Holland sample as compared with 

 a sample of known purity, namely 

 44.9-45° C, for the former compared 

 with 48.8-49.2'' C of the latter. Again 

 the fatty acids of the pure sample formed 

 light yellow crystals compared with 

 brown crystals of the adulterated sample. 



As all at present known adulterants 

 of Cacao butter, influence the physical 

 and chemical constants of the sample in 

 some material manner, and as the sub- 

 stance or substances used to adulterate 



