DETECTION  OF  ALCOHOL. 
525 
first  steam  vessel,  and  thus  expose  the  largest  possible  surface  to 
the  action  of  the  steam  in  flowing  through  the  pierced  diaphragm 
into  the  worm. — Chemical  Gazette,  August,  1854,  from  Dublin 
■Journal  of  Industrial  Progress. 
ON  THE  DETECTION  OF  ALCOHOL  IN  JUDICIAL  INVES- 
TIGATIONS. 
By  Dr.  Ed.  StpvAuch, 
Thomson  has  recommended  the  use  of  chromic  acid  for  the 
detection  of  alcohol.    The  author  confirms  the  distinctness  of  the 
reaction  by  reduction,  formation  of  aldehyde,  &c,  but  points  out 
the  inaccuracies  which  may  arise  from  the  reduction  being  also 
caused  by  many  other  bodies,  although  these  affect  less  the 
distillate. 
The  essential  portion  of  the  author's  communication  is  the  fol- 
lowing description  of  a  method  of  determining  alcohol  by  means 
of  platinum,  which  enables  us  to  decide  within  a  quarter  to  half 
an  hour  whether  the  distillate  of  the  substance  under  examina- 
tion for  alcohol  contains  that  body  or  not. 
The  part  of  the  body  to  be  examined  for  alcohol  is  to  be  finely 
divided  immediately  after  it  has  been  taken  out  of  the  corpse ; 
or  if  the  test  cannot  be  immediately  applied,  it  must  be  placed 
in  a  well-closed  vessel,  in  order  to  prevent  the  volatilization  of 
any  alcohol  that  may  be  contained  in  it.  If  the  substance  under 
investigation  have  an  acid  reaction,  a  few  drops  of  very  dilute 
solution  of  potash  are  carefully  added  to  it  until  a  piece  of  litmus- 
paper  dipped  into  the  mixture  is  no  longer  reddened.  The  sub- 
stance is  then  put  into  a  tubulated  retort,  either  by  means  of  a 
funnel  or  a  pair  of  forceps.  This  may  be  of  such  a  size  as  to 
hold  about  1  lb.  of  water.  For  smaller  quanties  smaller  retorts 
may  be  made  use  of,  but  it  is  always  well  to  use  as  much  as  pos- 
sible of  the  substance  to  be  tested.  If  it  be  desired  to  detect 
alcohol  in  the  lungs,  the  retort  must  only  be  half-filled,  as  the 
lungs  when  heated  froth  very  much,  and  by  this  means  a  portion 
of  the  mass  in  the  retort  may  boil  over.  The  retort  is  placed  in 
a  water-bath,  and  so  arranged  that  its  neck  may  be  but  little 
bent  down.  This  is  broken  off  so  far  up  that  a  tray  of  platinum, 
fine  silver  or  glass,  of  about  Jrd  of  an  inch  in  breadth  and  2 
