THE ALUMNI JOURNAL, 



99 



dried, then treated with boiling alcohol and 

 benzin to remove neutral substances, and de- 

 composed. The acids thus isolated, after crys- 

 talization from alcohol, which removes a small 

 quantity of palmitic acid formed from the rnyri- 

 cin, melt at 79°-8o°. By further treatment, with 

 methylic alcohol, cerotic acid is dissolved out, 

 ond on crystallizing is found to melt at 76°, the 

 melting point being raised to 77°5 after a single 

 crystallization from ethylic alcohol. The resi- 

 due melts at 78 , and contains melissic acid, 

 described as identical with that extracted from 

 carnauba wax by Story Maskelyue and Piever- 

 ling. Crude cerotic acid is said to contain from 

 30 to 40 per cent, of analogous acids, and Marie 

 announced his intention of further studying the 

 pure compound and its derivatives. — Phann . 

 Jour. Trans., 1894, 172, from Comp. rend., cxix., 

 428. 



Essence of Pelargonium. — Barbier and Bou- 

 veault assert that Bertram and Gildmeister are 

 wrong in concluding that the lemonol of An- 

 dropogon schcenanthus, the alcohol of essence of 

 pelargonium, and the rhodinol of otto of rose 

 are identical. The alcohol provisionally termed 

 the rhodinol of pelargonium possesses a strong 

 odor of roses, has a density of 0,8866. and is as 

 sociated with another compound, greatly 

 resembling licareol. Altogether, it is found 

 that the essence of pelargonium contains six 

 different substances, the rhodinol-like alcohol 

 predominating. The constitution of this alcohol 

 is considered in a subsequent paper by the same 

 authors. -Comp. rend., cxix., 281 and 337 P.J. T. 



Sensitive Copper Reaction. — P. Sabatier, 

 whilst experimenting with the bromide and 

 other compounds of copper, noted that a very 

 intense coloration was produced on dissolving a 

 little of the bromide in concentrated hydro- 

 bromic acid. The color is due to the formation 

 of a purple hydrated compound, and he bases 

 on its formation a very sensitive test for copper 

 salts, since it is quite appreciable when a single 

 drop of an aqueous solution of a copper salt, 

 containing one part of copper in 30,000, is 

 added to a cubic centimetre of colorless, con- 

 centrated hydrobromic acid. The delicacy of 

 the reaction is somewhat impaired by the 

 presence of free bromine, the color of which 

 masks the lilac tint, but on healing the liquid 

 to ebullition the latter becomes apparent as the 

 bromine is driven off. If desired the concen- 

 trated hydrobromic acid may be replaced by 

 potassium bromide in a saturated solution of 

 orthophosphoric acid. On adding a drop of a 



copper solution to this, heating to ioo°, and 

 then cooling, the coloration is distinctly visible, 

 its intensity depending on the proportion of 

 copper present. — Pharm. Jour. Trans, 1894. 

 172; Bull, de laSoc. C/iitn. de Paris [3], xi., 683. 



Iodides of Mercury. — Berthelot refers to the 

 two isomeric forms of iodide of mercury — red 

 and yellow — and remarks that without doubt, 

 on the condensation of the vapor of the com- 

 pound, the yellow iodide is directly formed, 

 but contact with the least trace of the red iodide 

 suffices for the conversion of the whole into the 

 more permanent state. It must be considered, 

 therefore, that the yellow iodide is only stable 

 at the temperature at which the vapor con- 

 denses. Ou cooling to the ordinary temperature 

 it becomes so unstable that contact with the 

 normal crystals is sufficient to determine the 

 transformation of the yellow into the red com- 

 pound. — Pharm. Jour. Trans., 1894, 172; Bull, 

 de la Soc. Chim. de Paris [3], xi., 748. 



Citric Acid in Milk.- L. Vaudin shows that 

 citric acid exists in cows' milk in the form of 

 an alkaline citrate, which serves to keep in solu- 

 tion the calcium phosphate ; and that the al- 

 kaline citrates and phosphates and calcium 

 phosphate are present in the liquid in propor- 

 tions which are relatively definite. Cows' milk 

 contains from 1.0 to 1.5 Gm. of citric acid per 

 litre, and mares' milk from 60 to 80 Cgm. per 

 litre. Vaudin is of opinion that the acid is 

 formed in the mammary gland at the expense 

 of the lactose, and that the citrogenic function 

 of the gland, variable in different species, as- 

 sures the partial solubility of the calcium phos- 

 phate contained in the milk. — {Ibid.); Ann. de 

 Pi nst. Pasteur, viii., 502. 



Starch of Cacao. — E. S. Bastin finds that the 

 starch grains in different varieties of cacao — 

 Ariba, Tabasco, Surinam, Bahia, Machalle, 

 Grenada, Trinidad, Maracaybo, Java, and Cara- 

 cas—are essentially alike, and agree with the 

 following general desciiption : — Grains spheri- 

 cal, or nearly so, when simple ; hilum centra^ 

 usually quite distinct and sometimes fissured ; 

 fissure simple and straight, or curved, angular, 

 or stellate ; one or two usually distinct lines 

 about the hilum, but no other marks on the 

 grain, some of which may be compound 

 Though closely resembling each other, the 

 staiches of the cacaos are quite unlike those of 

 drugs generally, and sufficiently characteristic 

 to be distinguished from starches added as 

 adulterants. The grains seem to vary from 

 i^to io^in diameter and they show a structure 



