312 
PHARMACOPCEIA  OF  INDIA. 
rock  oil  as  a  thick  black  liquid  of  a  very  unpleasant  odor.  I 
distilled  it,  and  treated  the  portion  boiling  below  150°  C.  with 
concentrated  nitric  acid,  which  acted  violently.  The  acid  liquid 
was  then  diluted  with  water,  and  heavy  liquid  nitro-com pounds 
separated,  possessing  the  odor  of  bitter  almonds.  These  were 
treated  with  tin  and  hydrochloric  acid,  and  the  solution  thus  ob- 
tained was  distilled  with  caustic  potash.  The  aqueous  distillate, 
in  which  some  drops  of  an  oily  liquor  were  suspended,  had  the 
odor  of  analine,  and  gave,  with  a  solution  of  bleaching  powder, 
the  most  distinct  aniline  reaction.  The  beautiful  rosaniline  re- 
action, could  also  easily  be  obtained  by  heating  one  of  the  oily 
drops  with  bichloride  of  mercury.  Canadian  petroleum  contains, 
therefore,  the  series  of  benzol  hydrocarbons.  In  the  preparation 
of  hydride  of  decatyl  from  rectified  petroleum,  the  portion  boil- 
ing between  150°  and  170°  was  purified  by  nitric  and  sulphuric 
acids,  and  thus  liquid  and  nitro-solid  compounds  obtained.  The 
solid  portion  was  several  times  recrystallized  from  alchohol  and 
the  whole  of  the  needle-shaped  crystals  thus  obtained  gave,  on 
analysis,  numbers  very  nearly  agreeing  with  the  formula  of  tri- 
nitro  cumol,  C9  H9  (NOg  )3 . — Chem.  News,  London,  June  2, 1865, 
from  Trans.  Roy.  Soc,  v.  xiv.,  p.  168. 
PHARMACOPOEIA  OF  INDIA. 
For  some  months  past,  a  proposition  relative  to  a  pharmaco- 
poeia for  India  has  been  under  the  consideration  of  the  Secretary 
of  State  for  India.  The  Bengal  Dispensatory  of  1842  and 
Bengal  Pharmacopoeia  of  1844,  both  published  at  Calcutta  un- 
der order  of  the  Government,  by  Dr.  W.  B.  O'Shaughnessy, 
have  long  been  out  of  print,  and  copies  of  either  work  can  only 
be  obtained  with  difficulty.  Meanwhile  the  study  of  medicine 
has  made  great  progress  among  the  natives  of  India,  and  gradu- 
ates in  medicine  and  surgery  are  constantly  quitting  the  Presi- 
dency colleges  of  Calcutta,  Madras,  and  Bombay,  and  establish- 
ing themselves  in  various  towns  of  the  empire.  The  European 
population  is  also  upon  the  increase,  and  the  attention  of  the 
intelligent  classes  is  being  directed  more  than  ever  to  the  de- 
velopment of  the  resources  of  that  rich  country. 
