CHEMISTRY. 459 



but the above method has the advantage of being (luicker, and the 

 results obtained with it compare very favorably witli tliose obtained by 

 the Fresenius metliod. 



Addition of f ormol to milk and a rapid method of detecting it, 

 G. Deniges {Jour. Pharm. et Chim.^ ser. G, 4 {IS!)0), jj. 193 ; ab.s. in 

 Chem. Ztg., 20 {1896), No. 78, Repert., p. 344).— The method is as follows : 

 Ten to 12 cc. of milk is mixed with 1 cc. of fuchsin decolorized with 

 sulphurous acid, and after standing 5 or G minutes about 2 cc. of pure 

 hydrochloric acid is added and shaken. If the milk is free from formol 

 the mixture will be yellowish white, even though it may have been 

 reddish before adding the hydrochloric acid. If formol is present the 

 mixture will be a "blue- violet" color, the intensity varying with the 

 amount of formol. The reaction is said to enable the detection of 0.02 

 to 0.03 gm. of water-free formol per liter of milk, which is sufliciently 

 delicate. 



Butter examination, C. Aschman {Chem. Ztg., 20 {1896), No. 75, 

 pp. 723, 724). — The author describes the following method for distin- 

 guishing butter from oleoinargarin : Five grams of butter fat is 

 saponified with alcohol potash solution in the usual manner, the soap 

 dissolved in water, 4 cc. of dilute sulphuric acid (50 gm. in 150 gm. 

 water) added, made to 200 cc, 60 cc. of ether added, and the whole 

 shaken at intervals for 5 minutes, after which the ether layer contain- 

 ing the volatile fatty acids quickly separates out. Twenty cubic centi- 

 meters of this ether layer is thoroughly shaken in a tube with 30 cc. of 

 salt solution of 1.17.") sp. gr. (300 gm. in 1 liter of water) and 8 cc. deci- 

 normal potash solution. After 1 or 2 hours a precipitate settles out, 

 the volume of which is said to materially increase if oleomargarin is 

 present. With pure butter this is said to be from 20 to 25 mm. in 

 thickness, and in some cases more. The author is endeavoring to adapt 

 the method to quantitative work. 



The estimation of diastatic power in malt, W. G. Sykes and 

 C. A. Mitchell {Analyst, 21 {1896), May, p. 122).— The method pro- 

 posed is a combination of those of Kjeldahl and Lintner and gives a 

 diastatic value in one operation. Into a wide-mouthed 200 cc. flask 

 are placed 100 cc. of a 2 per cent soluble starch solution and 1 cc. of 

 the filtered extract prepared by digesting 25 gm. of ground malt with 

 500 cc. of water for C hours at the ordinary temperature. The whole 

 is shaken and allowed to stand at 70^ F. for 1 hour; 50 cc. Fehling 

 solution is added, the flask covered with a watch glass and heated to 

 98° C. It is then immersed in boiling Avater for 7 nunutes. The 

 cuprous oxid is collected in a Soxhlet tube, reduced in hydrogen, and 

 weighed. The weight found, divided by 0.438 (Cu. contained in 50 cc. 

 Fehling) an<l multiplied by 100 gives the diastatic power. — w. n. kritg. 



A method for the determination of the diastatic power of malt, 

 A. R. LlNfr {Jour. Fed. Inst. Brewing, 2 {1896), p. 335; abs. in Jour. 

 aS'oc. Ghent. Ind., 15 {1896), Xo.8,p. 621). — A determination is first made 



