392 Scientific Intelligence. 



thus determined the volume which it had occupied. These data 

 sufficed for ascertaining the weight of ozone compared with that 

 of oxygen, and several determinations made in this way served to 

 confirm the accepted view in regard to the molecular weight of 

 this substance. — Berichte, xxxiv, 631. h. l. w. 



3. The Preparation of Chlorine from Sodium Chlorate. — Since 

 sodium chlorate is now produced on the large scale as a very 

 pure product, and since this salt is extremely soluble in water, 

 C. Graebe recommends its use for preparing chlorine gas in the 

 laboratory by allowing the concentrated solution to flow slowly 

 into boiling dilute hydrochloric acid. This is a modification of 

 the method recommended by Gooch and Kreider, in which warm 

 hydrochloric acid is allowed to act upon lumps of previously 

 fused potassium chlorate in a Kipp generator. 



Graebe finds that his process yields chlorine containing only 

 about 5 per cent of chlorine dioxide. For small quantities of the 

 gas he uses hydrochloric acid of 1*10 specific gravity, while for 

 larger quantities he prefers 1*12 acid. The acid can be used until 

 the strength has fallen to 5 or 6 per cent. With 100 cc of 1*10 

 acid about 16 g. of chlorine can be obtained, and with the stronger 

 acid, about 20 g. 1 g. of sodium chlorate yields about 2 g. of 

 chlorine. The solution of this salt is made by dissolving 100 g. 

 of it in 120 to 150 cc of hot water and afterwards diluting to 200 cc , 

 so that l cc corresponds to a gram of chlorine. A special cylin- 

 drical, graduated dropping funnel is recommended, and the end 

 of its stem should dip under the surface of the acid and be drawn 

 out and bent upward. — Berichte, xxxiv, 645. h. l. w. 



4. New Alkaloids in Tobacco. — Heretofore only a single alka- 

 loid, nicotine, has been found in tobacco, although most other 

 alkaloid-yielding plants have been found to contain a number of 

 these bodies. Pictet and Rotschy have now shown that tobacco 

 contains several alkaloids in addition to nicotine, and, conse- 

 quently, that this plant is not an exception to the general rule. 

 These chemists used the aqueous extract, concentrated in a 

 vacuum, of 100 kg. of dried Kentucky tobacco. The liquid 

 amounted to about 11*4 kg. and contained about 10 per cent of 

 nicotine. After adding caustic soda and distilling with steam, 

 both the residual liquid and the crude volatile alkaloid were 

 examined for new bases. From the former, by extraction with 

 ether and subsequent purification, two alkaloids were obtained. 

 One of them, a liquid boiling at 266-268°, to which the name 

 Nicoteine is given, gave analytical results corresponding to the 

 formula C 10 H 12 N 3 . The other, called Nicotelline, was obtained as 

 a solid from a higher-boiling fraction. This melts at 147-148°, 

 and apparently has the formula C 10 H 8 N 2 . By a somewhat 

 intricate process a third alkaloid, called Nicotimine, was extracted 

 from the large mass of crude nicotine. This base boils at about 

 250°, which is several degrees higher than the boiling-point of 

 nicotine. It shows great similarity to the latter alkaloid and is 

 believed to be isomeric with it. 





