SCIEKTIPIC SUMMARY. 393 
and an acid free from alkaline oxalates will be produced. — Memoir pre- 
sented to the French Academy, January, 1864. 
Chemistry of the Oil of Nutmeg. — The nutmeg owes its peculiar aromatic 
properties and flavour to a volatile oil which is present in large quantities, 
but up to this it has not been submitted to a chemical examination. This oil 
may be extracted by boiling the kernel in an ordinary retort, but in this 
process only a portion of the essence is obtained. A preferable method 
appears to be the treatment of the finely-powdered nutmeg with bisulphide 
of carbon or sulphuric acid. The mixture is then filtered, and a stream of 
vapour is caused to play upon the residue, which then loses all the essence 
it contained. The composition of the essence obtained in this manner is 
the same as that of volatile oil of turpentine. When exposed to the action 
of the air, it absorbs oxygen slowly and loses its fluidity. It is rapidly 
attacked by chlorine, giving off at the same time fumes of hydrochloric 
acid, and is transformed into a chlorinous compound of a viscid, non- 
crystallizable nature. Bromine affects it in a similar manner. It is 
slightly soluble in water, and perfectly so in absolute alcohol. A mixture 
of this essence, alcohol and nitric acid, when kept for some months, gave 
rise to no hydrate ; this is the first chemical character which distinguishes 
this substance from volatile oil of turpentine. Nitric acid reacts upon it 
powerfully, causing fumes to be given off, and producing oxalate of am- 
monia and several other compounds. It is soluble in concentrated sul- 
phuric acid, to which it gives a brown colour, sulphurous acid being dis- 
engaged. The action of hydrochloric acid on this compound differs from 
that on volatile oil of turpentine, in the production of a liquid and not a 
solid hydrochlorate. Its formula may be represented as C J0 Hj 6 .— See a 
paper by M. Cloez, in Comptes Rendus , lviii. No. 2. 
Composition of the Thermal Waters of Wildbad-Gastein . — Herr Ullick 
has informed the Vienna Academy of Sciences that he has determined the 
proportion of lithium contained in the waters of the above-named locality, 
and that he has also found in them traces of titanic acid, rubidium, and a 
comparatively large proportion of caesium. — V Institute No. 1,565. 
Isomeric Forms of Titanic Acid . — In a paper read before a recent meet- 
ing of the Academy of Sciences, in Berlin, Ilerr Rudolph Weber stated 
that the difference which existed between the hydrated titanic acid obtained 
by precipitating with alkalis and acid solution of this substance, and that 
obtained by the ebullition of a dilute solution of titanic acid, led him 
to believe that there existed two analogous and isomeric forms of titanic 
acid ; to the first he gave the term of titanic, and to the second that of 
meta-titanic acid. These two compounds may be distinguished by the 
circumstance that the first is very soluble, and the second sparingly soluble 
in acids. Besides, the meta-titanic acid is precipitated from its solution in 
sulphuric acid by hydrochloric, whilst the titanic is not thrown down under 
similar conditions. 
Blowpipe Reaction of Copper. — Dr. Gerland mentions in an article in the 
Chemical News of February 13th, that the appearance of the bead pro- 
duced by the influence of the blowpipe flame on copper has not been 
accurately described. After long practice he has so far succeeded in the 
management of the blowpipe flame produced by a gas jet, as to have it 
