1872.] Chemucal Sctence. 411 
specimen submitted to Dr. Hodges by a number of provision cutters and 
curers, was composed of naphtha and a slight colouring of whisky. The men 
who had imbibed a small quantity of it were affected with serious symptoms; 
and this, said Dr. Hodges, was a fair specimen of the drink sold in low-class 
public-houses. The trade in this noxious compound is carried on withimpunity, 
no local authority in Belfast or in the Province of Ulster caring to exercise 
the powers with which the legislature has invested them for the suppression 
of the traffic. 
Mr. J.T. King recommends the following process for detecting sulphuric acid 
in vinegar. It will dete@ the 5ooth part of free sulphuric acid, and is accurate 
for all practical purposes. An ounce of the vinegar to be examined is, by 
evaporation upon a water-bath, reduced to about half a drachm, or the con- 
sistency of a thin extrac ; when quite cold half a fluid ounce of strong alcohol 
is thoroughly incorporated; the free sulphuric acid will be taken up by the 
alcohol, to the exclusion of any sulphates; the alcoholic liquid solution should 
stand for several hours, and then be filtered; add to the filtrate 1 fluid ounce 
of pure distilled water, and evaporate off the alcohol by the application 
of a gentle heat ; the remaining liquid is again left standing for several hours, 
and again filtered; to the filtrate, previously acidulated with a few drops of 
pure hydrochloric acid, a solution of chloride of barium is added, which, if 
sulphuric acid be present, will yield a white precipitate. 
Dr. Personne accidentally obtained a small piece of a chocolate-brown 
substance, which originally was apparently a paste, but is now hard. On 
further examination it was found to consist of a lime-soap, mixed with myrrh, 
olibanum, benzoin, and probably some essential oil. The author states that 
at the present day there is sold in Egypt as a perfume a substance of similar 
composition, and locally known as Bouh-Kourre-bare, which means perfume 
from the Arabian frontier. 
M. A. Muntz has instituted, with great care and on a praétically large scale, 
a series of experiments, with the view of ascertaining the quantity of 
materials consumed by the hop-plant during its growth and development from 
spring to autumn (hop-picking time), for a number of 6316 plants placed ona 
hectare (= 2°47 acres). The quantities alluded to, expressed in kilos., are— 
Water, 11270°270 kilos.; carbon, 2624°361; hydrogen, 315°547; oxygen, 
2011°393; nitrogen, gt'141; phosphoric acid, 22°699; magnesia, 24°352; 
potassa, 41°812; soda, 0455; non-specifically determined mineral matters, 
133°278. 
According to G. Salet, when a crystal of iodine is put into a hard glass tube, 
the tube sealed, and then strongly heated to redness at some distance from the 
iodine, the latter substance will be seen, after the heating of the tube has been 
discontinued, to become volatilised, and to exhibit when entering the still hot 
portion of the tube a brilliant red light. This experiment may be also made 
by means of a glass tube provided with a spirally-wound platinum wire, which 
is made red-hot by means of an eleétric current. 
A new product of decomposition of commercial aniline has been found by 
R. Braun and Ph. Grieff. When a large quantity of commercial aniline is 
distilled along with lime, the last portion of the distillate is not quite freely 
soluble in hydrochloric acid ; further investigation led to the conclusion that 
the properties of that substance agree with those of carbazol, as described by 
Graebe and Glaser. Carbazol is present in crude tar oil, but the authors 
surmise that this substance might be formed by the drying of the mixture of 
aniline and lime in contac with the very hot metal of the iron still. 
Based upon experiments very successfully made with animals, Drs. Eulen- 
berg and Wohl propose the use of animal charcoal, made up into pills as an 
efficient antidote against the bad effets of phosphorus in the lucifer 
match manufadtories ; they prefer this substance to oil of turpentine, which, 
though an effectual antidote against phosphorus, causes, in many instances, 
severe headaches when internally taken. 
