MISCELLANEA. 
91 
again becomes discoloured. The flask must be cautiously shaken from time to .time. 
The whole operation occupies about forty-eight hours. 
In operating with a syrup containing half a drachm of iodine to the ounce, I obtained, 
with some trouble, however, a similar colourless product. 
The greater the proportion of iodine, the more attention is required; and towards the 
end of the operation, care must be taken to remove the syrup as soon as it turns white. 
Arrived at this point, if the preparation is left exposed to heat, it soon colours again; 
by -and-by the sugar is transformed into caramel; and this burned sugar, quickly destroyed 
in its turn, gives rise to carbonic acid, and to a blackish, light, and spongy substance, 
partly soluble in water and alcohol. Treated by hydrochloric acid, potash,, etc., this sub¬ 
stance shows the same reactions as ulmin and ulmic acid. To carry on this operation to 
the entire decomposition of the sugar, all necessary care must be taken to prevent a frac¬ 
ture of the flask by the expansion of carbonic acid gas, which is formed in quantities, and 
can be collected. 
The more the temperature is elevated, the larger is the proportion of iodine, and quicker 
is the sugar decomposed. 
This white syrup of iodine, or iodinized syrup, has sometimes an aroma of fruit; it is 
acid, unalterable by air, heat at 100° C. decomposes it; it contains much glycose. Treated 
with the reagents, it behaves like iodides in general. 
These are the facts; the theory remains to be given. 
Does the iodine, all or in part, combine with the sugar Cj 2 H n O n I, or to the glycose 
C 12 H 14 0 14 I, to form iodides similar to the iodide of starch, C 12 H 10 O 10 I? 
Or rather, in presence of sugar acting as a catalytic agent, should not iodine decom¬ 
pose the water into its elements, hydrogen and oxygen, and unite with them to form 
hydriodic and iodic acids ? If so, these acids once formed, would decompose the sugar 
precisely in the same way as the mineral and some other acids. 
If not so, what are these acids, and how are they formed ? Is it from’ the decomposi¬ 
tion of the sugar, or of the water ? 
Bromine acts upon sugar in the same manner as iodine, with the difference that the 
diverse phenomena follow more rapidly. 
Chlorine acts upon simple syrup still more promptly than bromine; into water freshly 
saturated with chlorine, at a very cold temperature, I have thrown sugar, and heated 
the liquor as I have described for iodine. In less than half an hour the chlorine had dis¬ 
appeared, and the liquor was acid. 
Chlorine 'was probably transformed into hydrochloric acid.— Amer. Journ. Pharm. 
E. Fougera, Pharmacien , New York. 
MISCELLANEA. 
Poisoning by the Seeds of the Cure as Purgans (Jatropha Sluts).—x\bout 
thirty boys, a short time since, had a narrow escape from being poisoned by eating 
these nuts. It appears that by order of the London and North-Western Railway Com¬ 
pany a sale of several sacks of these nuts had taken place, and a quantity of them were 
allowed to lie scattered about thd floor. The boys obtained access to them, and not only 
ate the nuts, but gave some to their companions; all the boys were taken very ill, and 
some were conveyed to the General Hospital, where, by the employment of prompt treat¬ 
ment, they were restored. An interesting paper on the properties and uses of these nuts, 
by Dr. Hamilton, will be found in this Journal, Vol. V. p. 23. 
Poisoning by jDecoction of Tobacco.—On Wednesday, July 13, a lady named 
Pickersgill, residing at Clapton, died from the effects of drinking half a pint of de¬ 
coction of tobacco, taken, it is supposed, medicinally, as she had been suffering from 
illness for some time. 
Suicide by Laudanum.—On Tuesday, May 10th, Mr. George Fielding, of Albion 
Street, Bayswater, committed suicide by drinking laudanum. Shortly before live o’clock 
he retired to his room, desiring his daughter to call him at six o’clock, having previously 
expressed his intention of going to the theatre. On entering his room, Mr. Fielding was 
found lying on the bed, and a bottle, which had contained laudanum, lying by his side. 
Medical aid was obtained, but life was extinct. 
