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TESTING  NITRIC  ACID,  ETC.,  FOR  IODINE. 
are  now  few  pharmaceutical  authors  in  Russia,  owing  to  the 
foreign  literature,  with  which  in  a  mercantile  point  of  view  a 
competition  is  impossible. 
Apothecaries  and  their  business  free  of  any  and  all  taxation. 
ON  IODIDE  OF  ETHYLE. 
Br  Dr  De.  Vrij. 
For  the  preparation  of  large  quantities  of  iodide  of  ethyle  de 
Vrij  recommends  the  following  method.  Absolute  alcohol,  which 
must  be  kept  well  cooled,  is  saturated  with  dry  hydrochloric  acid 
gas,  and  the  amount  of  hydrochloric  acid  determined  in  a  sam- 
ple. This  alcoholic  solution  of  the  gas  is  then  placed  in  a  retort 
with  as  much  powdered  iodide  of  potassium  as  is  exactly  necessa- 
ry to  form  chloride  of  potassium  ;  the  mixture  is  allowed  to 
stand  a  day,  and  then  the  iodide  is  distilled  oft",  washed,  and 
rectified.  In  the  same  manner  iodide  of  methyle  may  be  pre- 
pared. On  adding  wood-spirit  saturated  with  hydrochloric  acid 
to  iodide  of  potassium,  an  action  accompanied  with  consider- 
able rise  of  temperature  is  established.  Bromide  of  ethyle  is 
easily  prepared  by  distilling  4  parts  of  bromide  of  potassium 
with  5  parts  of  a  mixture,  consisting  of  2  parts  oil  of  vitriol  and 
1  part  of  alcohol  of  96  per  cent. — London  Chem.  6faz.  Dec.  1, 
1858,  from  Journal  de  Pharmacie. 
ON  THE  TESTING  OF  NITRIC  ACID  AND  NITRATE  OF  SODA  FOR 
IODINE 
By  Professor  Stein. 
The  problem  to  be  solved  is  evidently  the  setting  free  of  the 
iodine  present  in  the  nitric  acid  in  the  form  of  iodic  acid  (or  per- 
haps more  correctly  chloride  of  iodine) ;  in  other  words  to  effect 
a  process  of  reduction  within  the  strongly  oxidizing  nitric  acid. 
After  several  unsuccessful  attempts  the  author  employed  tin  as 
a  reducing  agent,  and  sulphuret  of  carbon  for  the  detection  of 
the  iodine  ;  and  this  succeeded  so  perfectly,  that  iodine  could  be 
detected  not  only  in  acid  purposely  mixed  with  iodine,  but  also 
in  commercial  nitric  acid  derived  from  various  sources. 
A  quantity  of  the  acid  to  be  tested  is  poured  into  a  test-tube 
