THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



tober, 1891, by Thomas George Hodgkins, of 

 Setauket, N. Y. The donor specified that the 

 income from a part of this fund was to be de- 

 voted to the increase and diffusion of more ex- 

 act knowledge in regard to the nature and 

 properties of atmospheric air in connection 

 with the welfare of man. 



An announcement of the prizes which were 

 offered was made by the Secretary of the 

 Smithsonian Institution on March 31, 1893. The 

 offer of a prize of this value excited general in- 

 terest throughout the civilized world, and 

 papers were received from nearly all those who 

 were it all interested in this branch of scientific 

 research. 



It is not likely that the income from this fund 

 will be expended exactly in this way another 

 year, but another method may be adopted, 

 which will accomplish the same purpose. 



Terpene Alcohol Esters. — A patent has been 

 taken out by Bertram, of Leipzig, for the pre- 

 paration of fatty acid esters of the terpene alco- 

 hols, such as borneol geraniol, linalool, and 

 menthol. These alcol ols, or the essential oils 

 containing them, are treated with fatty acids 

 (acetic, valerianic, or propionic) at a low tem- 

 perature with the addition of a small quantity of 

 mineral acid— either H 2 SO t , HN0 3 or HC1. 

 After the reaction is ended, the mixture is dilut- 

 ed with water, and the resulting ester is separ- 

 ated by shaking with soda solution, separating 

 in the usual way, treating with dilute acid and 

 distilling to purify it. The esters are used in 

 perfumery — as bornyl formate and valerianate 

 — and also in medicine. — Berichte. — Br. and 

 Col. Dr. 



Localization of Strychnos Alkaloids .— Sau- 

 van states, as the result of some preliminary 

 micro-chemical tests on the seeds of strychnos 

 Nux Vomica, and S. gaulteriana, that these al- 

 kaloids of Nux Vomica are found solely in the 

 cells of the albumin and of the embryo, and not 

 in the seed coats. — Journal des Pharm. 



Porosity of Glass. --That glass is porous to 

 molecules below a certain weight and volume 

 has been shown by recent "electrolytic experi- 

 ments made by Prof. Roberts-Austen, of the 

 Royal Mint. A current was passed through a 

 a vessel containing an amalgam of sodium 

 separated by a glass partition from mercury. 

 After awhile the amalgam was found to have 

 lost a certain amount of its weight, while the 

 same amount had been added to the mercury. 

 The same result was obtained with an amalgam 

 of lithium ; but with potassium, whose atomic 

 weight and volume are high, the glass could 

 not be penetrated. 



NOTES OF A RESEARCH UPON 

 IPECACUANHA. 



By R. A. CKII'PS, F. I. C. 



The author had, at the Cardiff meeting 

 of the Conference, in conjunction with 

 A. Whitby, read a paper on this drug. 



Eight hundred grammes of ipecacuan- 

 ha was exhausted by successive percola- 

 tion with ether (specific gravity, 717) 

 and rectified spirit. The solvents were 

 recovered by distillation. 



1 Ether Extract = 0.44 per cent, ot 

 Root — By petroleum ether this was al- 

 most entirely dissolved, and on removal 

 of that solvent the residual oily matter 

 was found to be mostly soluble in alco- 

 hol, yielding a fluorescent solution, 

 which by titration indicated acidity 

 equivalent to 0.22 per cent, of oleic acid, 

 by direct weighing 0.205 per cent, was 

 obtained. The fatty acids were con- 

 verted into lead salts and treated with 

 ether, whereby oleate of lead was ob- 

 tained equivalent to 0.15 per cent of oleic 

 acid. This ethereal extract contained a 

 mere trace of an alkaloid, but no gluco- 

 side, and no salicylic acid or salicylate. 

 The actual results obtained were: 



Oleic acid 0.15 percent. 



Palmitic (?) acid.- 0.055 " 



Neutral fat 0.14 " 



Wax. 0.04 " 



Resin 0.025 " 



Alkaloid Mere trace. 



2. Alcoholic Extract. — The residue 

 from distillation of the solvent was dis- 

 solved in water, filtered, etc., extracted 

 by chloroform whilst still acid, and then 

 successively by ether and chloroform, 

 after rendering alkaline by ammonia. 



The Acid Chloroform Extract contained 

 some alkaloid. 



The Alkaloid extracted by ether from 

 alkaline solution was dissolved in 25CC 

 absolute alcohol, 25CC of ether (.717) 

 added — the solution remaining clear — 

 then 50CC of ether containing about 25 

 per cent, of hydrochloric acid gas, 



