So alla 
CHEMICAL PREPARATIONS AND DRUGS. 109 
poured off from the resinous separation does not fluoresce, and when the solvent has 
been evaporated from it, affords a yellowish-brown oil, which should develop no 
foreign odour when heated to 150°, and should acquire at first a transitory cherry-red 
and afterwards an orange-brown colour upon the addition of a mixture of equal parts 
of sulphuric and nitric acids. 
In the other test, which Dieterich calls the light petroleum test, 1 gram Peru balsam 
is heated for 10 minutes with 10 cc. light petroleum on a steam-bath on a reflux-con- 
denser. Then, when 2 cc. of the poured-off solution are evaporated, the residue should not 
assume a greenish or bluish-green colour when a drop of nitric acid (specific gravity 1,42) 
is added to it. 3cc. of the light petroleum solution, when shaken with 3 cc. of copper 
acetate (1:1000) should not acquire a green or bluish-green colour. 
As the outcome of his investigations, the author concludes that the present test of 
Peru balsam requires suitable amplification. He is of opinion that, in addition to the 
estimation of the acid value, the saponification value, the cinnameine-content, (for 
which the author demands 60 p.c. instead of the 56p.c. prescribed by the German 
Pharmacopeeia, 5th Ed.) and the saponification value of the cinnameine certain quali- 
tative tests should be adopted. For the latter he believes the two Swiss Pharma- 
copceia tests enumerated above, together with Enz’s light petroleum test and the 
nitric acid test to be the most suitable. In conclusion, Dieterich recommends the 
characteristic zone-test*) which he has worked out, and which is easily made with 
a little practice. This test consists in extracting the resin-ester, (after dissolving it in 
soda liquor and separating it out with hydrochloric acid), with ether, carefully under- 
laying the ethereal solution with sulphuric acid, and adding hydrochloric acid. In all 
cases there results a beautiful red coloured lower zone and, where the balsam is 
genuine, a red-brown upper zone. When all these tests are applied it is at any rate 
possible to detect the principal artificial products now known and the other usual 
modes of adulteration which are practised. 
It should be added that Dieterich’s paper was discussed in detail by Enz’), who 
in his criticism again recommends his own light petroleum test and foreshadows further 
contributions on the subject. 
Phenyl-Ethyl Alcohol. This preparation plays a very important part in modern 
perfumery, and its increasing consumption warrants the belief that it has a great future. 
Phenyl-ethyl alcohol is a body which was first detected in rose-blossoms, but it also 
occurs in the oils of other flowers, such as Réunion geranium oil and neroli oil. Its 
principal use is in the manufacture of the newer rose-scents and in rose-soaps. The 
most important properties of a pure article are as follows: diso 1,023 to 1,026, b. p. 220 
re 222°. 
Pollantin. The well-known collaborator with Prof. Dunbar in his fundamental 
researches into the pathology of hay-fever, Carl Prausnitz, is the author of the chapter 
on “Hay-fever Poison and Hay-fever Serum” in the “Handbuch der pathogenen Mikro- 
orgamsmen’”’*). This article covers 30 pages, and it is our purpose to discuss it here 
at some length, especially for the benefit of that numerous section of new readers of 
our Report who are interested in the subject. The first portion of the article deals 
1) Berichte d. deutsch. pharm. Ges. 18 (1908), 142. — *) Suidd. Apotheker-Zeitung 1914, 94; Apotheker Ztg. 29 
(1914), 168. — *%) Handbuch der pathogenen Mikroorganismen, edited by Kolle-v.Wassermann. 2°¢ Ed., Vol. Il. 
p. 1469. Published by Gustav Fischer, Jena. 1913. 
