414 
CAPRYLIC  ALCOHOL  AND  ITS  DERIVATIVES. 
improves  the  resulting  wine,  by  increasing  the  deposit  of  tartar 
at  the  expense  of  the  acid  of  the  grape. 
As  brandy  is  frequently  made  from  weak  wines,  which  retain 
much  of  the  tartar,  the  residue  of  the  brandy  still  is  another 
source  of  cream  of  tartar,  which  will  be  rendered  available.  From 
Mr.  Rehfuss's  experiments,  he  believes  that  grape  juice  will 
yield  one  per  cent,  of  tartar.  This  gentleman  has  been  made 
Chairman  of  a  Committee  to  report  on  the  subject  of  the  pro- 
duction of  wines  and  tartar,  to  the  next  annual  meeting  of  the 
American  Pharmaceutical  Association,  and  we  may  anticipate  an 
interesting  account  of  the  whole  matter  from  his  able  pen. 
ON  CAPRYLIC  ALCOHOL  AND  ITS  DERIVATIVES. 
By  J.  Bouis. 
Caprylic  alcohol,  C16  H18  O2,  is  a  transparent,  colorless,  oleagi- 
nous liquid,  producing  stains  upon  paper  like  the  essential  oils ; 
it  is  insoluble  in  water,  but  soluble  in  ordinary  alcohol,  in  wood- 
spirit,  ether  and  acetic  acid  ;  it  readily  dissolves  fatty  substances, 
resins,  sulphur,  phosphorus  and  iodine.  It  burns  with  a  fine 
white  flame,  and  has  no  action  upon  the  plane  of  polarization ; 
its  density  is  0-823  at  63°  F. ;  it  boils  at  354°  F.,  without  de- 
composition, under  a  pressure  of  0«760mm. 
Sulphuric  acid  converts  it  into  sulphocaprylic  acid,  which  is 
capable  of  combining  with  bases,  or  into  a  fluid  carburet  of  hy- 
drogen isomeric  with  olefiant  gas,  amylene,  &c.  This  carburet 
is  also  produced  by  fused  chloride  of  zinc. 
Caprylic  alcohol  is  attacked  by  potassium  and  sodium,  fur- 
nishing compounds  in  which  a  portion  of  the  hydrogen  is  re- 
placed by  the  metal.  Chloride  of  calcium  combines  with  it, 
furnishing  well-defined  crystals ;  this  compound  is  more  soluble 
in  the  cold  than  by  heat,  and  is  decomposed  by  water. 
Castor-oil,  when  suitably  treated  by  potash,  always  furnishes 
one-fourth  of  its  weight  of  sebacic  acid  and  one-fourth  of  its 
volume  of  perfectly  colorless  alcohol ;  the  residue  consists  of  a 
mixture  of  fatty  acids,  one  fluid,  resembling  oleic  acid,  the  other 
solid,  and  presenting  the  composition  of  ethalic  acid.  The 
alcohol,  when  purified  by  repeated  distillation  from  fragments  of 
