<60 
Chemical  Notes. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
X      Feb.,  1881. 
its  formula  should  be  C^H^qO-  and  that  it  is  the  anhydride  of  an  acid, 
CgHjoO^.  Saccharin  fuses  at  160°  to  161°C.  Its  behavior  with  the 
alkaline  earths  distinguishes  it  from  cane-sugar,  milk-sugar,  trehalose 
and  the  members  of  the  cane-sugar  group.  They  form  weak  com- 
pounds ^v[th  lime  and  baryta,  which  are  decomposed  already  by  car- 
bonic acid  gas.  Saccharin  gives  rise  to  true  saccharates,  a  much  more 
stable  class  of  compounds.  The  free  saccharic  acid,  when  liberated 
from  the  combination,  however,  gives  up  a  molecule  of  water,  and  the 
anhydride  saccharin  is  formed.  It  therefore  belongs,  in  Scheibler^s 
opinion,  to  the  class  of  lactones  discovered  by  Fittig. — Ber.  der  Chem. 
Ges\,  xiii,  p.  2212. 
Flavescin,  a  New  Indicator'  in  Alkalimetry. — F.  Lux  recommends  as 
an  indicator  a  coloring  matter  which  he  calls  flavescin.  It  is  obtained 
from  oak  shavings  by  distilling  them  with  steam  after  heating  in  moist 
air  to  220°  to  260°C.  The  acid  distillation  is  exhausted  with  ether 
and  the  solution  evaporated  to  dryness  to  free  it  from  acetic  acid,  when 
the  residue  is  taken  up  with  water.  The  solution  when  very  much 
diluted  will  still  be  colored  yellow  l)y  alkalies  and  decolorized  by  acids. 
Neutral  alkaline  carbonates  color  it  yellow,  but  bicarbonates  leave  it 
uncolored.  It  may,  therefore,  serve  not  only  as  an  indicator  for  alkali, 
but  for  carbonic  acid  as  well.  In  this  case  it  is  necessary  to  work  with 
solutions  to  which  some  33  per  cent,  of  alcohol  has  been  added. — -Zeit. 
far  Anal.  Chem.,  19,  p.  457. 
On  the  Behavior  of  certain  Resins  when  Distilled  tvith  Zinc  Dust. — 
K.  Botsch  finds  that  dragon^s  blood,  freed  from  the  constituents 
insoluble  in  alcohol  and  distilled  with  zinc  dust,  yields  styrol,  toluol, 
ethyl  benzol  and  a  liquid  boiling  at  200°  to  300°C.,  from  which  he 
separated  a  phenol-like  body  (boiling  at  236°  to  240°C.  and  possessing 
approximately  the  composition  Cigll2o03),  as  a  very  pleasant  smelling  oil 
(boiling  at  214°  to  215°C.,  and  possessing  the  formula  Ci^HigO,  and 
an  oil  of  less  pleasant  odor  of  the  formula  C13H20O)  and  boiling  at 
256°  to  260°C.  The  chief  constituent  of  the  crude  distillate  is  the 
styrol  (some  66  per  cent.)  and  then  the  ethyl-benzol  and  the  others  in 
smaller  amount. 
He  has  also  submitted  to  similar  treatment  guaiacum  resin  purified 
by  alcohol,  and  obtained  a  distillate  containing  50  per  cent,  cresol,  30 
per  cent,  toluol,  meta-  and  paraxylol,  a  little  pseudo-cumol  (boiling 
point  166°C.),  and  a  hydrocarbon,  Ci2Hi2-  This  last  sublimes  in  thin, 
bluish-fluorescing  scales  which  fuse  at  97°  or  98 °C.  and  dissolve  in 
