276 
ON BABUL BARK. 
access of acid, acts upon alcohol in the same manner, and its sub- 
stitution for the acid sulphate of ether would have a certain in- 
terest, in a theoretical point of view, although a change of no 
practical importance in the preparation of ether. 
Sulphuric acid does not appear to be adapted for the etherizing 
of amylic alcohol. M. Balard, by distilling these substances to- 
gether, obtained a variety of hydrocarbons, some of them of great 
density, but no ether. The polymerizing action of the sulphuric 
acid appears to advance beyond the ether stage. I have varied the 
experiment by heating amylic alcohol in a close tube, 350° (176° 
C), with oil of vitriol, to which one, two, three, four, and even 
six equivalents of water had been added, without obtaining 
anything but the hydrocarbons of Balard. The formation of these 
was abundant, even with the most highly hydrated acid, and with 
a very moderate coloration of the fluid. — London Pharmaceutical 
Journal f Jan. 1851, from Quarterly Journal of the Chemical 
Society. 
BABUL BARK. 
Recently a sample of Babul or Babool bark (the bark of Jlcacia 
arabica) has been sent to this country from Calcutta to ascertain 
if it will be likely to sell for tanning purposes. Some of the 
leather tanned on the banks of the Ganges with this bark is but 
little inferior to our oak-bark tanned leather ; but there is reason 
to believe that the freight will be more than the bark will bear. 
In India, this bark is extensively used in tanning leather. The 
specimen which we have seen was in coarse, large, very fibrous 
quills, of a reddish color. — Lon. Pharm. Journ., October 1850. 
