202 
ON  NITROBENZOLE  IN  BITTER  ALMOND  OIL. 
more  agitated  and  then  poured  into  cold  water.  After  washing 
the  oily  product  different  times  with  water,  it  represented  a 
clear  nearly  colorless  liquid,  with  a  smell  between  cinnamon 
and  bitter  almond  oil,  but  more  resembling  the  first  one  than 
the  latter.  This  I  found  also  stated  in  a  notice  contained  in 
Gmelin  s  Handbook  of  Chemistry,  1856. 
Basing  upon  this,  I  thought  it  not  impossible,  that  the  nitro- 
benzole,  as  it  is  sold  in  commerce,  contains,  if  it  does  any,  but 
very  little  of  this  substance,  and  is  in  most  cases  only  a  mixture 
of  nitro-combinations  of  various  homologous  carbo-hydrogens, 
which  are  found  among  the  products  of  the  distillation  of  coal- 
tar,  viz.  toluol,  etc.  etc. 
I  heated,  therefore,  a  portion  of  commercial  nitrobenzole  dis- 
solved in  alcohol  with  gaseous  ammonia  and  sulphuretted  hydro- 
gen for  a  day,  but  could  not,  either  with  nitric  acid  or  chloride 
of  lime  obtain  any  of  the  characteristic  reactions  of  anilin. 
I  resume,  therefore  :  the  commercial  nitrobenzole  is  not  what 
it  is  represented  to  be,  and  deserves  another  name. 
ON  THE  PREPARATION  OF  NITROBENZOLE  AND  ITS  DETECTION 
IN  BITTER  ALMOND  OIL. 
By  Dr.  F.  Mahla. 
Before  I  had  finished  the  above  described  operation,  I  found 
in  one  of  my  German  periodicals  a  method  for  the  discovery  of 
an  adulteration  of  the  bitter  almond  oil  with  nitrobenzole.  This 
method  is  based  upon  the  fact,  that  genuine  bitter  almond  oil, 
treated  with  an  alcoholic  solution  of  caustic  potassa,  is  trans- 
formed into  the  benzoateof  potassa,  while  nitrobenzole  under  the 
same  treatment  changes  into  a  dark  brown  resin,  insoluble  in 
alcohol,  but  soluble  in  ether.    This  resin  can  be  obtained  from 
an  ethereal  solution  in  yellow  crystals,  forming  the  azobenzid. 
The  test  is  best  made  in  the  following  manner : 
To  15  grains  of  the  suspicious  oil,  dissolved  in 
2  drachms  of  alcohol,  are  added 
15  grains  of  caustic  Potassa, 
*[Note. — The  test  referred  to  in  the  German  periodical  is  that  of  John  M« 
Maisch,  of  Philadelphia,  published  originally  at  page  544,  1857,  of  this  Journal' 
— Ed.  Amer.  Jour.  Pharm.] 
