THE NEW YORK JOURNAL OF PHARMACY 



11 



Professor George C. Diekman 



A New Reaction for 

 Acetyl-Acetic Acid in Urine 



is described by W. H. Hurtley (Lancet, 

 1913) as follows: To 10 Cc. of urine 

 are added 2,50 Cc. of concentrated 

 hydrochloric acid and i Cc. of a i-ioo 

 solution of sodium nitrite. The mixture 

 is shaken thoroughly, and set aside for a 

 period of 2 minutes. 



After this 15 Cc. of stronger ammonia 

 water and 5 Cc. of i-io solution of fer- 

 rous sulphate, or an equivalent quantity 

 of solution of ferrous chloride are added, 

 and the mixture again thoroughly shaken. 



The mixture is then poured into a 50 

 Cc. cylinder, preferably without filtering. 

 The appearance of a violet or purple 

 color indicated the presence of acetyl- 

 acetic acid. 



If small quantities of this acid be pres- 

 ent, the reaction is apt to be tardy. The 

 rapidity with which the color change 

 takes place is an indication of the quan- 

 tity of the acid present. The reaction is 

 negative for aceton. Acetyl-ethyl keton, 

 it present, imparts a blue color to the 

 liquid, but only when considerably larger 

 quantities of sodium nitrite solution are 

 employed. 



The reaction may be employed for the 

 quantitative estimation of acet\-l-acetic 



acid, upon comparing the color produced 

 with that obtained from solutions of the 

 acid of known strength. 



E-erlin. klin. Wochenschr, 1913, 1028. 



The Detection of Albumin 



in Urine 



by Means of Eschbach's Reagent 



in Presence of Hexamethylentetramin. 



There has been much discussion con- 

 cerning the matter of an accurate deter- 

 mination of albumin in urine, by the 

 F.schbach method, if the urine contains 

 at the same time quantities of hexame- 

 thylentetramin, or other similar bodies. 



Schmiz, a pharmacist of Brakel, in 

 I'har. Zeitung, IQ13, .S8, after studying 

 the question, arrives at the following 

 conclusions : 



( 1 ) That the Eschbach method for de- 

 termination of albumin in urine cannot 

 be employed if correct results are de- 

 sired, if the urine contains, besides al- 

 bumin, hexamethvlentetramin, or other 

 allied bodies. 



(2) That all samples of urine should 

 first be tested with a view of establishing 

 the presence or absence of such chemical 

 substances. 



H. Pfau. of Basel, in Phar. Zeitung, 

 iyr4. No. 10, page 103, as the result of 



