THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



89 



alone for an hour, but by an unfortunate 

 misunderstanding of the transcriber, tin- 

 foil was directed to be added, which will 

 reduce Bi and Sn as well as As. 



To find whether any of the chemicals 

 directed to be tested by the stannous 

 chloride method could influence the de- 

 tection of arsenic, specimens were pre- 

 pared containing the pure chemicals, 

 shown to be free from arsenic by other 

 tests, and with these small portions of 

 arsenic were mixed, and the tests com- 

 pared with those in which arsenic was 

 present in equal amount without admix- 

 ture with the chemicals. 



In no case could any difference in the 

 intensity of the test be made out, nor 

 were the differences in the time of the 

 occurrence of the coloration sufficiently 

 great or regular to justify the assumption 

 that the reaction was impeded or ac- 

 celerated by the presence of other salts. 



7 he Aldehyde from Oil of Lemon Grass. — 

 P. Barbier. When geranaldehyde is treated 

 with chromic acid mixture at alow temperature, 

 it yields formic and acetic acids and a methyl- 

 hexyleneketonecarboxylic acid, C 8 H,O.COOH, 

 which yields iodoform when mixed with potas- 

 sium iodide and sodium hypobromide. This 

 acid would seem to be identical with the oily 

 acid obtained by Tiemann and Semmler; which 

 yielded methyl hexyleue ketone when dis- 

 tilled. When oxidized by means of boiling 

 chromic acid mixture, geranalehyde yields car- 

 bonic anhydride, acetone, acetic acid, and tere- 

 bic acid, C 7 H 12 O s . When boiled with three 

 times its weight of glacial acetic acid for twenty- 

 four hours, geranaldehyde is converted into cy- 

 mene. It would follow from these reactions 

 that geranaldehyde has the constitution CH,. 

 CMeCH,.CH,.C.(COH):CMe,, and not that 

 ascribed to it by Tiemann and Semmler. Its 

 conversion into cymene can be explained by 

 assuming that the acetic acid first acts as a 

 hydrating and afterwards as a dehydrating 

 agent. — Compt. tend., 1894, 1050. 



Meythyl Acetate is a solvent of remarkable 

 powers and in many cases can be used as a sub- 

 stitute for ether. E. R. Squibb is experiment- 

 ing to manufacture this product in large quan- 

 tities from wood spirit and at a proportionally 

 small cost. — Ephemeris, 1625. 



CHEMISTRY IN THE UTILIZATION OF 

 RAW MATERIALS. 



By PROF. ARTHUR H. ELLIOTT. 

 (Continued from March issue,) 



But Thomas found out by a series of 

 careful experiments that in the steel 

 manufactured with lime, the lime 

 took the phosphorus out of the material 

 when it was being melted and formed a 

 slag rich in phosphoric acid and which 

 is utilized as a fertilizer, and to-day there 

 is not an iron ore that will not make good 

 steel by the Thomas process. This means 

 cheaper steel, makes it possible to build 

 bridges and railroads with much more 

 safety. It is a factor of safety, to lessen 

 the loss of life and should lessen the pre- 

 miums on life insurance. 



I have already gone over quite a num- 

 ber of processes of manufacture and 

 could give you illustrations of the 

 utilization of raw materials from many 

 more, but I won't exceed the time allot- 

 ted to me too much- 



I want to make a few general remarks. 

 I fear that I have been too prodigal with 

 figures and that in my own person have 

 been an example of waste, of one wasting 

 time. But I hope not and I believe you 

 have been interested. 



Waste in many cases leads to nuisance 

 and people demand improvement with 

 regard to nuisances. Improvement in 

 this direction is always profitable in the 

 long run ; the products are found to be 

 valuable when they are applied to new 

 uses, and the elements of pollution of air 

 and water have often been found sources 

 of wealth, when properly taken care of. 

 The English law says with regard to the 

 sulphurous acid escaping from chimneys 

 of chemical works, the air shall be sent 

 out containing not more than five grains 

 of sulphurous acid to the cubic foot, and 

 the methods in practice have been so per- 

 fected that this rule is no hardship and 

 to-day it is rare to find a factory that will 



