SOUTH" AFRICAN TOHACCOS. IQI 



are weighed out in a porcelain dish, lo c.c. of the so<hc hych-ate 

 solution added ( 6 grammes of solid sodic hydrate dissolved in 

 40 c.c. of water and filled up to 100 c.c. with alcohol of 96 per 

 cent volume), and the contents of the dish mixed, transferred to 

 a Soxhlet apparatus, and the nicotin extracted by means of ether. 

 This is allowed to continue for about two hours, when all the 

 nicotin contained in the 20 grammes taken will be in solution in 

 the ether. The ether is recovered by attaching the flask of the 

 Soxhlet apparatus containing the nicotin in ether to a long 

 Liebig condenser and distilling over the ether. The residue in 

 the flask will be the nicotin, chlorophyll, etc. (The ether may 

 also be expelled by placing the flask in a water -bath previously 

 heated to about 50° Centigrade and placed at a safe distance 

 from any flame. Even the hot sun suffices to drive olf the 

 ether. ) To the residue in the flask add 50 c.c. of sodic hydrate 

 solution made by dissolving 6.4 grammes of solid sodic hydrate 

 in 100 c.c. of water. Attach to this flask a cork with a glass 

 inlet connected to a boiler, and the outlet to a Liebig condenser, 

 and hence distill over the nicotin until the distillate measures 500 

 c.c. In this distillate will be all the nicotin contained in the 20 

 grammes of tobacco. Remove 100 c.c. of this by means of a 

 pipette into a clean beaker, and titrate by means of a decinormal 

 solution of sulphuric acid, using Cochineal* as indicator, until 

 violet blue turns onion red. Every i c.c. of decinormal sulphuric 

 acid indicates .0162 gnamme of nicotin. Repeat, using 100 c.c. 

 each time, and take the average number of c.c. of decinormal 

 sulphuric acid used. 



Let X ^ average number of c.c. used for each titration. 

 Then x X .0162 X 25 ^ percentage of nicotin. 



WiRBLBSs Forecasting to Ships at Sea— For 

 the benefit of vessels on the Atlantic the lUireau Central Meteoro- 

 logique de France has begun a regular system of despatching 

 wireless messages broadcast from the Eifi^el Tower, Paris, daily 

 at II a.m., Greenwich mean time. These messages will include 

 the latest observations of barometric readings, the direction and 

 force of the wind, and the state of the sea, and will comprise 

 reports from Reykjavik, Iceland; \'alentia. Ireland; Duessant, 

 France ; La Coruna, Spain ; Horta, Azores ; and Saint Pierre- 

 Miquelon, America. 



*The cochineal indicator used is obtained by dissolving i gramme 

 of powdered cochineal in 20 cc of alcohol and diluting to 100 c-c with 

 water. 



