348 
Miscellany. 
low ar^ impurities to subside, then decant off the clear liquor and keep 
it in well stopped bottles for use. When too little spirit is added, the 
mixture is apt to ferment. Neither wine nor the bulbs of the plant enter 
into the composition as supposed by Dr. Paris, Mr, Brande, and others. 
Rennie. Alphabet Med. Bot. 
Oxalic acid. — M. Robiquet considers the following, as the best mode 
of manufacturing this acid on a large scale. Twelve kilogrammes of 
fecula, are to be divided among a number of tubulated retorts placed on 
the same sand bath ; to this fecula is to be added 36 kilog. of the nitric 
acid of commerce, when the action has ceased, 12 additional kilog. of 
acid are to be added, and a slight heat employed. The fluid is to 
be poured into proper vessels and permitted to crystallize ; the first pro- 
duct will be 2 kilog. 500 oxalic acid ; the mother waters are to be united 
together, and 12 kilog. of nitric acid added at intervals. This will give 
2 kilog. 250 of acid; The same operation is to be repeated a third and 
fourth time. The total product in purified acid will equal about half the 
fecula employed, requiring six times its weight of nitric acid. 
Diet, de V Industrie Manufac. 
Succinic acid. — M. H. G. de Claubry states that succinic acid is often 
adulterated with tartaric acid or bisulphate of potash, to which a little oil 
of amber is added ; as this is volatile, it is easy to separate it from these 
two bodies, and thus identify the fraud. It is also imitated with sal ammo- 
niac and oil of amber ; in this case both sublime, but by mixing the sus- 
pected mass with chalk, the ammonia will be readily detected by the 
smell. Ibid. 
Pure Alcohol. — The following method of obtaining nearly absolute al- 
cohol is said to give good results. An ox bladder is to be steeped in 
water well washed, cleaned from all extraneous matters, the uretes 
tied, turned inside out in order that the mucous lining may be removed. 
It is then to be inflated and dried, and one coat of fish glue given to the 
inside, and two to the exterior. When it is perfectly dry, it is to be filled 
with the alcohol to be concentrated, the neck tied, and the whole suspended 
over a stove or sand bath, so that it will be in a temperature of 100 to 
120. If the alcohol used be 29° to 30° B., in three or four days it will 
become nearly anhydrous. A bladder thus prepared can be used for a great 
number of operations. When the alcohol marks 30° B., the outside of the 
bladder does not become moist, but when it is only at 16° or 18° it be- 
comes very damp. After removing the alcohol, if it is wanted perfectly 
pure, it must be distilled to separate any organic matter it may have dis- 
solved. Rid. 
