296 
Testing  of  Peru  Balsam. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1881. 
calcined  and  converted  into  carbonate  to  l)e  causticized  with  lime, 
while  the  palmitate  is  either  decomposed  with  snlphuric  acid  as  just 
mentioned  and  the  sulphate  of  potassium  converted  into  the  carbouate 
by  the  Leblanc  process,  or  palmitate  of  calcium  is  formed  by  heating 
with  lime  under  pressure,  caustic  potash  being  thus  directly  reproduced 
and  the  lime-salt  afterwards  decomposed  b}'  sulphuric  acid.  The 
value  of  the  principal  by-product  of  the  fatty  acid  manufacture,  gly- 
cerin, constantly  increases  as  its  useful  properties  are  applied  in  new 
directions  and  upon  a  continually  larger  scale.  As  a  solvent  in  phar- 
macy, in  connection  witli  perfumery  and  various  articles  of  food,  as  a 
preservative  of  animal  and  vegetable  substances  from  decay,  as  an 
ingredient  in  the  manufacture  of  beer,  as  the  means  of  keeping  moist 
and  soft  such  articles  as  chocolate,  tobacco  and  soap,  as  preserving  the 
pliancy  of  leather  aud  maintaining  the  softness  and  delicacy  of  the 
living  skin,  as  a  lubricant,  in  admixture  with  water  to  guard  gas- 
meters  against  stoppage  by  freezing,  as  the  material  for  makiug  nitro- 
glycerin and  in  sundry  other  directions  this  substance,  twenty-live 
years  ago  but  little  known  or  used,  has  acquired  an  important  place 
in  general  consumption.  While  its  price  has  been  greatly  lowered, 
the  state  of  purity  in  which  it  is  placed  upon  the  market  has  been 
improved  until  now  there  is  \mi  little  left  to  be  desired  in  this 
regard. — Amer.  Chem.  Jour.j  iii.,  p.  60. 
TESTING  OF  PERU  BALSAM. 
By  Pkof.  F.  a.  FLiicKiGER. 
Translated  from  ''Pliarm.  Ztg.,"'  1881,  No.  30,  p.  222.    Bv  Fred.  B.  Pow  kr. 
Peru  balsam  is  a  mixture  of  about  two-thirds,  or  somewhat  less,  of 
benzyl  cinnamate,  the  so-called  cinnamein,  with  one-third  or  more  of 
a  brownish-black  resin,  besides  some  few  ])er  cent,  of  cinnamic  acid. 
These  chief  constituents  are  not  always  present  in  the  same  amount, 
and  are  most  probably  accompanied,  although  in  a  subordinate  degree, 
by  other  bodies,  e.  g.,  benzylic  alcohol,  cinnamyl  cinnamate  (styracin) 
and  benzoic  acid.  Even  the  specific  gravity  of  the  balsam,  which  at 
15°C.  varies  from  1'140  (or  perhaps  1'138  as  minimum?)  to  1*145  (or 
1'147  as  extreme  maximum?),  indicates  that  the  proportionate  amount 
of  its  constituents  varies,  although,  indeed,  within  narrowly-confined 
limits.  The  high  price  of  the  balsam  invites  to  sophistication,  which, 
in  consequence  of  the  thick  consistence  and  dark  brown  color,  is  made 
