258 
Miscellany. 
more recently, M. Cadet Gassisourt gave an account of a crystalline mat- 
ter in the distilled water of the melilot, to which he gave the name of 
melilotine. About the same time, however, M. Guillemette examined the 
melilot with great care, and has shown : that the crystalline matter is not 
benzoic acid, as stated by Vogel, but an immediate neutral principle, 
having all the properties of coumarine, and consequently entitled to that 
name ; that the distilled water of melilot owes its odour and properties to 
this substance. Ibid. 
Combustion of zinc. — M. Sementini has observed a remarkable property 
in zinc. If when it is melted at a red heat, the crucible be withdrawn 
from the fire, the combustion of the metal will continue as long as any 
of it remains, provided it be continually agitated, and the oxide removed 
as fast as it forms. It would be curious to observe, by operating on large 
masses, whether this combustion would continue for a length of time 
without any other heat than that developed by the metal itself. By this 
combustion it forms a gray oxide differing from the common oxide; its 
specific gravity is greater, and it does not absorb carbonic acid from the 
atmosphere. 
Journ. de Pharm. 
Benzoic acid. — Giovanni Righini gives the following process for puri- 
fying benzoic acid. Dissolve the acid in four or five times its weight of 
sulphuric acid, diluted with six parts of water. During ebullition, add a 
very small quantity of the purest animal charcoal, filter, and while cool- 
ing, the acid will separate in crystals. Should long beautiful needles 
not be found, and should it still possess an odour, the operation must be 
repeated. Collect the crystals on a filter, remove the sulphuric acid by 
washing, and leave them to dry in the shade. Sulphuric acid dissolves 
the resin and oil, which renders the acid impure. To have this acid in 
beautiful crystals, dissolve in alcohol the purified acid, and put the solu- 
tion in a subliming apparatus over a sand bath. Manage the fire in such 
a manner that the alcohol alone shall be volatilized, and long needles 
perfectly white, and without odour will be obtained. 
Gaz. eclet. di Farm, and Ed. Med. and Surg. Journ. 
St. Ignatius' bean. — From an analysis of this article by M. Jori of Reggio, 
it would appear that the active principle is united to tannin, as is the case 
with many other of the organic alkalies. The results of his experiments 
show that it is composed of: 1st, a very soluble, very bitter tannate of 
strychnine ; 2d, of free tannine, which reacts like an acid, and strikes a 
dull green with the salts of iron and their solutions, and especially with 
the salts of the peroxide. ; 3d, of an organic alkaline salt — strychnine 
which is soluble in an excess of tannin, and is precipitated when this is 
