October 22 , 1870.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
323 
SYNTHESIS OF OIL OF RUE.* 
BY E. VON GORUP-BESANEZ AND FEIiD. GRIMM. 
Tlie volatile oil of garden rue, which had been 
regarded by Gerhardt and Caliours as the aldehyde 
of capric acid C 10 H 20 O, was examined by Williams 
and Hallwachs, who assigned to it the formula 
C n H 22 0. Hallwachs, moreover, suspected that it 
might turn out to be a ketone, and not an aldehyde. 
This view was maintained by Harbordt, who, work¬ 
ing in Strecker’s laboratory, showed that it did not 
undergo oxidation easily, and that it did not yield 
the acid C 10 H 20 O 2 on oxidation. According to 
Harbordt, oil of rue consists of me th}d- 110113 d ketone 
CO 
L C 9 Hjg 
The authors have confirmed this formula by pre¬ 
paring it synthetically. They subjected to destruc¬ 
tive distillation, at as gentle a heat as possible, a 
mixture of acetate of lime and caprate of lime in 
equivalent proportions, and obtained an oil which, 
on examination, turned out to be identical with 
the natural oil of rue, and to have the composition 
C n H 22 0. The equation explaining its production 
is as follows :— 
Acetate. 
i9— , 0 , ch 3 coi 0 
Caj U + Caj U 
Caprylate. 
C o H, 9 C0) 
- co lo 
- Ca 2 j * 
It boils at 223° to 
Methyl-nonyl ketone. 
+ col CH * 
F co |c 9 h I9 
224° C., and has a sp. gr. of 
(18295 at 17‘5° C., and forms a crystalline compound 
with bisulpliates. The capric acid employed in the 
research had been extracted from a specimen of 
Hungarian fousel oil.— Abstract from the Neaes 
Repert. fur Pharm. von Buchner, 1870. 
ACRIDINE—A NEW ORGANIC BASE. 
Graebe and Caro have discovered an interesting vola¬ 
tile alkaloid of the formula C ]2 H 9 N, on which, from its 
violent irritating and acrid qualities, they have bestowed 
the mame Acridine. It accompanies anthracene, the hy¬ 
drocarbon from which artificial alizarine is made, and 
was discovered during the purification of anthracene. It 
is one of the most stable organic compounds, being cap¬ 
able of withstanding a temperature of 360° C., which is 
its boiling-point. It is a colourless crystalline substance, 
and fuses at 107° C. In ether and in alcohol it is easily 
soluble. In cold water it is almost insoluble; hot water, 
however, dissolves it to some extent. It is a strong base, 
capable of uniting with acids to form salts.— Journal fur 
Traktische Chcmie , No. 14, 1870. 
GLUCOSE. 
BY TROF. CHARLES A. JOY. 
In the year 1811, Kirchhoff, a celebrated German 
chemist, discovered that it was possible to convert starch, 
by means of sulphuric acid, into sugar. Great expecta¬ 
tions were founded upon the announcement of the dis¬ 
covery, as, in consequence of Continental wars and the 
English blockade, sugar had become a very dear article, 
and it was at first thought that an ample supply could 
be obtained in this way; but everybody was destined to 
be grievously disappointed as soon as the subject was 
more thoroughly investigated, and it was found that the 
sugar thus produced was of a different character from 
that to be obtained from the cane and beet. Still, the 
discovery of Kirchhoff was of great importance, and has 
* Read at the Royal Bavarian Academy on June 11. 
led to many practical applications. It was soon found 
that glucose or grape sugar could be made in several 
ways, and that it was always the product of the germi¬ 
nation of starch grains, and sometimes occurred already 
formed in nature. 
It is probable that both cane and grape sugar are 
formed from the starch contained in the cellular tissues 
of the plant, cane sugar being formed first, and then 
grape sugar, if acids be present. Acidulous fruits con¬ 
tain only grape sugar, whereas cane sugar occurs in 
those that are free from stronger acids. The chief natu¬ 
ral sources of the grape sugar are in the sap of the 
grape vine, in plums, cherries, figs, honey, in the liver 
and in diabetic urine ; but it would not be economical to 
prepare it from any of those sources. 
One of the latest methods for the preparation of grape 
sugar is the one proposed by Maubre, and is as follows : 
—The mixture of dilute sulphuric acid and starch meal 
is boiled under pressure of six atmospheres. The neces¬ 
sary boilers are similar to those used for high-pressure 
engines, and are lined with lead and provided in the 
interior with a perforated lead tube for the passage of 
steam. The boiler is further furnished with safety-valve, 
stop-cocks, thermometers, etc. In the process of manu¬ 
facture 561b. of sulphuric acid of 66° B. are diluted with 
5600 lb. water, and heated to 212° F. A mixture of the 
same amount of Acid and water is made in a separate 
wooden vessel, the heat of which is raised to 86° F. 
Into the second mixture 2240 lb. of starch meal are well 
stirred and heated to 100° F. This is gradually added 
to the first mixture, and after heating with open valves 
for a few minutes to 212° F., the stop-cocks arc all closed 
and the heat raised to 320° F. and continued until all of 
the starch is converted into sugar, which requires from 
two to four hours. 
The contents of the boiler are then run into a wooden 
tank, and 1681b. of pure chalk or carbonate of lime, pre¬ 
viously stirred up with 5001b. of water, is gradually 
added to neutralize the acid ; the gypsum is caught on a 
filter and the filtrate evaporated to 20° B., and afterwards 
clarified by blood and bone-black and again filtered. In 
this way the product is obtained pure, and free from 
bitter and empyreumatic taste, and is well suited for 
any of the purposes to which grape sugar is adapted. 
Another way is to convert the starch into sugar by 
means of malt. For this purpose 10 to 12 lb. of barley- 
malt are well stirred with 400 lb. of water, and to this 
is added 1001b. of starch, and the whole is heated 
to 158° F., and kept at that temperature for several 
hours, under constant agitation. At 158° F. the starch 
becomes pasty, the grains burst, and at first there are no 
signs of sugar, but in a quarter of an hour the liquid 
becomes more fluid and begins to have a sweetish taste. 
Great care must be observed to retain the heat at the 
same temperature, not to have it either higher or lower 
than above indicated, and to ensure this several thermo¬ 
meters ought to be put in different parts of the apparatus. 
After six hours the liquor can be filtered and clarified, 
and evaporated to a syrup. The sugar prepared in this 
way always retains the taste of malt and is only adapted 
to use in breweries, where this property will not prove 
deleterious. 
Grape sugar, or glucose, can be prepared in open ves¬ 
sels by allowing a mixture of starch and water to flow 
gradually at a temperature of 130° F. into a vat con¬ 
taining water acidulated with 1 per cent, of sulphuric 
acid. By keeping it at a boiling-point the starch is at 
once altered, without producing mucilage. The amount 
of starch taken is usually about one-half the weight of 
water employed. After all of the starch is added, boil 
for half an hour and decant. The sulphuric acid is neu¬ 
tralized by carbonate of lime as before, and the liquid 
evaporated to the specific gravity of 1’28, and set aside 
to crystallize. The molasses is allowed to drain off, and 
the sugar is dried at a gentle heat in a current of dry air. 
In the United States, especially in the west, it is more 
