(38 4s the PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [February 25, 1871. 
modus operandi: —The reagents used are solution of po¬ 
tassium iodide in 5-5 times its weight of distilled water 
and over-saturated with free iodine ; 2 , a solution of po¬ 
tassium hydrate of about 10 per cent, strength. To the 
liquid to he examined 5-6 drops of the latter solution are 
added. After warming to about 50° C., so much of the 
potassium iodide solution is added drop by drop that its 
colour, after gentle agitation, remains yellowish-brown ; 
then the liquid is carefully discoloured by the addition 
of a few drops of the potassium hydrate solution. When 
set aside the iodoform crystals deposit, and are recognized 
under the microscope. 
The process is obvious: it is effected not alone by 
ethyl alcohol, but by a number of different substances, 
among which are aldehyde, acetone, gum, sugar, lactic 
r.c'.d, methyl alcohol, propyl alcohol, and many volatile 
oils. The formation of iodoform does not take place with 
amyl alcohol, ether, ethyl chloride, chloroform, chloral 
hydrate, glycerin, phenol, and by acetic, benzoic, butyric, 
citric, formic, oxalic, succinic, valerianic and tartaric acids. 
The following test is, according to Hager, superior to 
any for the detection of alcohol in chloroform and chloral 
hydrate:— 
Chloroform. —To determine the presence of alcohol in 
chloroform, 2 vols. chloroform are mixed with 5 to 10 
vols. of water, of about 50° C. The liquid, after some 
shaking, is poured on a filter previously completely sa¬ 
turated with water. The filtrate is then examined as 
described above. After twelve to twenty-four hours’ de¬ 
positing, the sediment is examined under the microscope. 
Chloral Hydrate. —Chloral forms with ethyl alcohol 
chloral alcoholate, corresponding to chloral hydrate in 
its chemical and physiological properties. Since the 
equivalent weight of ethyl alcohol is five times greater 
than that of water, it is of considerable pecuniary ad¬ 
vantage to the manufacturer to bring the chloral alco¬ 
holate into the market instead of the hydrate; besides, 
the former crystallizes finer and more solid. 
The examination is made with a solution of the sample 
in distilled water, in the above given mode. When dis¬ 
coloring the iodinized liquid, each drop of the potassium 
hydrate solution produces turbidity, which, however, 
disappears on gentle agitation. If the sample contains 
alcoholate, the liquid remains more or less turbid, or 
deposits iodoform crystals after a time, although this is 
partly soluble in the presence of chloral. Of some com¬ 
mercial samples examined by Hager, Schcring’s chloral 
hydrate was the only one entirely free from alcoholate. 
— Charm. Centr. H. 1870, no. 18. 
More recently Schering calls attention to some more 
distinctions between chloral hydrate and chloral alcoho¬ 
late ; when warmed in a test tube in twice their bulk of 
water, the hydrate, as is known, dissolves readily, but the 
alcoholate melts without solution, and on cooling con¬ 
geals under the water. Sulphuric acid, when warmed 
with chloral hydrate, remains colourless, whilst it turns 
brown with the alcoholate. When warmed in nitric 
acid of 1‘2 sp. gr., chloral hydrate gives none or but a 
very slight reaction, whilst with the alcoholate a vehe¬ 
ment reaction ensues under evolution of nitrous oxide 
gas.— Journ. Pharm, from Charm. Centr. H. 
THE SO-CALLED “OLIVES” OE SOUTHERN 
CHINA. 
BY H. F. HANCE, P1LD., ETC. 
In his excellent “Notes on Chinese Materia Medica,” 
Mr. D. Hanbury refers to certain fruits known to fo¬ 
reigners resident in this country by the name of Chinese 
Olives ; and he suggests the desirableness of more precise 
information being obtained in regard to them. Of those 
which Mr. Hanbury mentions as sold at Foochow and 
tShang-hae, I have no knowledge at all; and the follow¬ 
ing observations relate exclusively to the fruit vended 
everywhere in the south of Kwang-tung province, of 
which there are two kinds,—the U-lam , or Black, and 
the Cak-lam or White Olive,—produced respectively by 
Canarium Cimela , Konig, and C. album , Rasuschel. 
On these two plants and a third Cochinchinose spe¬ 
cies, occurring also throughout the Moluccas, Loureiro 
founded his genus Cimela * * * § which, by the consent of all 
subsequent botanists, was merged in Canarium , until 
again distinguished by the late Professor Blume, who 
considered it a “ genus optimo jure dignum esse quod 
restituatur.”fi The only characters, however, by which it 
differs from C. commune and its allies consist in the thin 
foliaceous not fleshy cotyledons, and in the insertion of 
the stamens at the base instead of the margin of the disk; 
distinctive marks which Dr. Hooker very naturally re¬ 
gards as of merely sectional value. J 
Both the white and black Olives are a good deal 
grown around Whampoa, whilst I have seen none in the 
immediate neighbourhood of Canton, or in Hongkong, 
and their cultivation is therefore apparently local: I 
can gain no intelligence of their occurrence in a wild 
state. They are trees from twenty to thirty feet high, 
with a whitish trunk, and a close round crown of foliage, § 
which in hot sunny days exhales a grateful balsamic 
odour; in which respect, as well as in general aspect, 
they resemble our common walnut. The two species, 
though perfectly distinct, are singularly alike, so much 
so, indeed, that even now, after having made them an 
object of special study, I am quite tumble, in the ab¬ 
sence of fruit, to tell one from the other at a few feet 
distance. Blume gives the following differential cha¬ 
racters :— 
Canarium Cimela; foliolis 9-11 oblongis acutis inmqui- 
lateris glabris, racemis lateralibus simplicibus. 
Canarium album ; foliolis 11-13 ovato-lanceolatis supra 
glabris subtus scabris, racemis confertis subtermina- 
libus. 
These are, however, never quite accurate, nor by any 
means sufficient for the discrimination of the two species ; 
and, in their place, I propose the following, drawn up 
after a careful comparative examination of living speci¬ 
mens of each tree. 
Canarium Cimela; petiolo petiolulisque viridibus, fo¬ 
liolis 4-5-jugis cum impari oblongo-lanceolatis 3-6 poll, 
longis 2|-3rf poll, latis venulis elevato-reticulatis, race¬ 
mis plus minus compositis, drupis pedicellis clavato-in- 
crassatis 5-7 lin. longis suffultis fusiformibus utrinque 
obtusis subtrigonis 20 lin. longis immaturis glauco-viri- 
dibus maturis purpureo-nigris laevibus, putamine obtuse 
fusiformi lsevi.|| 
Canarium album ; petiolo petiolulisque alutaceis, foliolis 
5-6-jugis cum impari oblongo-lanceolatis 2^—4 poll, 
longis 12-16 lin. latis venulis supra non prominulo-reti- 
culatis, racemis simplicibus, drupis sessilibus ovoideis 
15 lin. longis immaturis flavido-viridibus maturis sor- 
dide flavidis valde rugosis, putamine- acute fusiformi ru- 
guloso. 
I should remark that, when dried, the leaves of both 
species have the veinlets prominent, but the network is 
much closer and finer in those of the white olive. 
As regards the mode of using these fruits, the follow¬ 
ing is the information I have myself gathered, from 
personal observation and inquiry of the natives:—The 
white olive is either eaten fresh, in which state its 
strongly resinous flavour renders it disagreeable to the 
* FI. Cochinch, ed. Willd. vol. ii. p. 494. 
f Mus. Bot. Lugd.-Bat. vol. i. p. 220. 
j Gen. Plant, vol. i. 325. The fores longc pedicellati, as¬ 
signed as a character in this work, do not occur in C. album. 
§ The name by which these trees are properly known to 
J foreigners, and their dense tufted foliage, recall to mind the 
Homeric— 
"H8e 5 ’ e7rl Kparbs \iyevos Tarv^>v\\os ’EA.a/77. 
Odyss. xiii. p. 346. 
j| The three very slightly elevated bands, scarcely conspi¬ 
cuous, are represented far too prominently in Kouig’s figure 
(Ann. Bot. vol. i. pi. 7, fig. 1. g.). 
