334  GLEANINGS  FROM  FRENCH  JOURNALS. 
modification  of  the  salt  of  iron  and  the  production  of  a  small 
quantity  of  salt  of  the  protoxide  in  proportion  as  the  syrup  gets 
older. 
4th.  That  this  new  syrup  possesses  a  taste  altogether  different 
from  that  of  the  syrup  of  the  simple  citrate,  and  a  composition 
varying  with  the  epoch  of  its  preparation. 
5th.  That  to  obtain  a  ferruginous  syrup  of  cinchona  in  which 
the  iron  and  cinchona  will  be  only  mixed,  without  reacting 
chemically  upon  each  other,  it  is  preferable  to  use  a  syrup  of 
cinchona  made  with  Malaga  wine,  in  place  of  the  aqueous  syrup 
of  cinchona. — Jour,  de  JPharm.,  July,  1865. 
The  authors  find  the  ammonio-citrate  of  iron,  with  excess  of 
citric  acid,  to  be  preferable  to  the  simple  citrate  with  excess  of 
acid,  and  has  less  tendency  to  blacken  the  syrup.  That  the  inky 
taste  so  disagreeable  in  compounds  of  astringents  with  iron  salts, 
is  due  to  the  formation  gradually  of  proto  salt  of  iron  by  the  re- 
duction of  the  sesqui  oxide,  and  that  it  is  more  marked  in  old 
preparations  than  in  those  that  are  recent.  In  this  country  the 
preference  is  given  in  some  cases  to  the  soluble  pyrophosphate, 
and  in  others  to  the  acid  citrate. 
To  detect  the  presence  of  alcohol  in  small  quantity.  By  M. 
Carstanjin. — The  liquid  to  be  assayed  is  mixed  with  a  portion 
of  platinum  black  in  a  little  flask,  heated  to  124°  F.,  agitated  well, 
and  filtered.  To  the  filtrate  a  few  drops  of  liquor  potassse  is 
added,  and  evaporated  to  dryness  on  a  water  bath.  The  residue, 
mixed  with  a  little  arsenious  acid,  is  submitted  to  heat.  If  al- 
cohol is  present,  cacodyl  is  produced,  recognizable  by  its  garlic 
odor.  M.  Nickles  suggests  that  propylic  alcohol  will  also  yield 
cacodylic  products  by  this  treatment. — Jour,  de  Ph.,  July,  1865. 
Culture  of  Opium  in  Upper  Egypt. — Prof.  Grastinel,  occupying 
a  position  under  the  Egyptian  Government,  has  addressed  a 
letter  to  the  President  of  the  Society  of  Pharmacy  at  Paris, 
relative  to  the  culture  of  opium  in  Egypt.  M.  Gastinel,  as  a 
member  of  the  Acclimatation  Society  of  France,  had  turned  his 
attention  to  this  culture,  and  concluded  to  make  some  experi- 
ments, with  a  view  to  determine  whether  the  low  grade  of 
Egyptian  opium  was  due  to  climate  and  mode  of  culture,  or  to 
