November 18,1871.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS 
409 
performed by dissolving the oil in alcohol, and agitating 
the solution with a large volume of water. The requi¬ 
site quantity of alcohol in any case need not exceed four 
times the volume of the oil; and although there exists 
even in bottles partially filled, if they are kept cool and 
excluded from the light .—The Chicago Pharmacist . 
ounces of water, and then diluted chlorhydric acid by 
gradual addition, until, firstly, the carbon dioxide has 
been liberated and expelled ; and, secondly, the available 
chlorine has all been set free and absorbed by the water, 
a marked difference in the solubility of volatile oils in j aided by frequent agitation. This product seems to be 
water, a solution of one minim in two fluid ounces of more permanent than the officinal article, as it retains 
water can invariably be obtained; but frequently much ; the powerful odour of chlorine for a considerable time, 
more will dissolve, and therefore an excess of oil should 
always be used to make a saturated solution. 
The writer’s process for the aromatic waters, with the 
■exception of camphor water, consists in using the offici¬ 
nal quantities of oil and water, together with four times 
as much alcohol as volatile oil. It is performed by dis¬ 
solving the oil in the alcohol, and pouring this into an 
appropriately-sized bottle two-thirds full of distilled 
water. The mixture is now violently shaken for a few 
minutes, and the solution passed through a filter pre¬ 
viously moistened with water. 
The writer finds that the officinal quantity of camphor 
is much too great for the presci'ibed quantity of water. 
It is a grand mistake to assume that one pint of water 
dissolves fifty grains of camphor, which the Dispensatory 
•distinctly states. The writer finds, by gradually adding 
an alcoholic solution of camphor to a measured quantity 
of water, that one fluid ounce of it, at the ordinary me¬ 
dium temperature, will dissolve nearly three-quarters of 
a grain of camphor, and that ice-cold water will dissolve 
nearly 20 per cent. more. The superior solvent power of 
•cold water upon camphor can be very forcibly exhibited 
by agitating an excess of camphor previously dissolved 
in alcohol with ice-cold water, and filtering into a bottle 
until this is so full as to safely admit the insertion of a 
■cork. The bottle is now securely closed and set aside. 
As the temperature of the water rises, the camphor begins 
to separate abundantly in shining crystals, which remain 
suspended until the water has reached the normal tem¬ 
perature, when, at the end of twelve hours, they will 
have mostly collected on the narrow surface of the 
liquid. 
The writer makes camphor water by dissolving thirty 
grains of camphor in two fluid drachms of alcohol, pour¬ 
ing this solution into two pints of water, agitating for a 
few minutes in a bottle, as above directed, and filtering. 
Chlorine water is a very unstable preparation.' It 
should always be either fresh or quite recently prepared 
before use. But as the United States officinal process is 
not an extemporaneous one, and as the preparation is 
but rarely used in some localities, it becomes very diffi¬ 
cult for pharmaceutists to furnish, at all times, chlorine 
water of the officinal strength. 
Chlorine water rapidly deteriorates when exposed to 
light, or in partially filled bottles, by abstracting the 
hydrogen of the water and forming chlorhydric acid. 
An extemporaneous process would therefore be very de¬ 
sirable. A method of this kind is much in use, and, 
.although the product may be equally efficient, it never¬ 
theless is not by any means chlorine water in the offici¬ 
nal meaning of the term. In this process potassium 
chlorate is acted on by chlorhydric acid, and the deep 
yellow solution diluted with water ; the result is mainly 
a solution of a mixture of the lower oxides of chlorine 
and probably free chlorine. The writer has long em¬ 
ployed an extemporaneous process which yields a solu¬ 
tion of pure chlorine, containing however sodium chloride, 
which is not an objectionable impurity. The method 
•consists in the use of the officinal solution of chlorinated' 
soda, chlorhydric acid and water. The officinal solution 
of chlorinated soda is a mixture of sodium hypochlorite, 
disodic carbonate and sodium chloride in aqueous solu¬ 
tion. When brought in contact with chlorhydric acid, 
the sodium carbonate is first converted into sodium 
chloride with evolution of carbon dioxide, and, secondly, 
the sodium hypochlorite is decomposed into free chlorine 
and sodium chloride. The process is conducted by pour¬ 
ing into a quart bottle four fluid ounces of solution of 
■chlorinated soda previously mixed with twelve fluid 
A NEW THEORY OF FERMENTATION. 
BY A. PETIT.* 
An attentive study of the phenomena of fermentation 
has led the author to propose a new theory, based on the 
following facts:— 
1. Ferment globules may be produced without fer¬ 
mentation. 
2. Fermentation may take place, as has also been 
shown by Berthelot, in the absence of ferment globules. 
3. In a filtered fermentable liquid, globules form with¬ 
out inducing fermentation. It commences only when 
a certain number of globules are deposited at the bottom 
of the vessel, the bubbles of carbonic anhydride then 
proceeding exclusively from the bottom. 
4. Fermentation is retarded, and even stopped, when 
the sugar is in very dilute solution. 
5. By augmenting the relative proportion of ferment, 
the resistance which certain anti-fermentescible sub¬ 
stances, creasote, sublimate, organic and mineral acids, 
oppose to fermentation may be overcome. 
6. When the proportions of ferment and sugar are 
suitable, fermentation commences instantaneously. 
7. By varying the sugar within very wide limits 
(from 20 to 300 grms. per litre in the author’s experi¬ 
ments), the volume of gas disengaged is the same for the 
same quantity of ferment. 
8. After a certain time, necessary to attain a maxi¬ 
mum, the quantity of gas disengaged is exactly pro¬ 
portional to the time. 
9. Sulphites do not prevent fermentation; they are 
converted into sulphates. 
10. Beer-yeast suspended in water absorbs a certain, 
quantity of iodine, converting it into hydriodic acid. 
This liquid saturated with iodine can, after fermenting 
some time, again absorb a further quantity. In pre¬ 
sence of yeast, water is thus decomposed, the hydrogen 
uniting with the iodine, the oxygen with the globules. 
This property of the globules of absorbing oxygen has, 
moreover, been thoroughly established in the case of the 
blood-corpuscles and the acetous ferment. 
On these observations the following theory is founded. 
The sugar being dissolved in water in presence of yeast, 
water becomes decomposed, and hydrogen and oxygen 
are set free. The oxygen enters, momentarily at least, 
into combination with the substance of the globules; 
the hydrogen in the nascent state attaches itself to a 
molecule of sugar, and causes its decomposition, the pro¬ 
ducts being alcohol, carbonic anhydride, and one equiva¬ 
lent of hydrogen, which decomposes a further molecule 
of sugar, and so the reaction proceeds:— 
C g H 12 O g + H = 2 C 2 II G 0 + 2 CO., + H. 
A single molecule of hydrogen should theoretically de¬ 
compose an indefinite quantity of sugar, were it not that 
secondary reactions occur, the principal of which consists 
in the formation of glycerin:— 
C 6 H 12 O g +4H = 2C 3 H s O,. 
The author was led to consider the hydrogen the 
prime agent—although the oxygen may equally well be 
so regarded, and nothing proves that under certain con- 
* Compt. Rend, lxxiii. 267-270, from the Journal of the 
Chemical Society. 
