60  Practical  Notes  from  F<yrei(fV  Jnurnals.     f  ^i"- Jo"r.  Pharm. 
Feb.,  1S82. 
Estimation  of  Nicotine  in  Tobacco. — Dr.  J,  Skalweit,  while  making 
a  large  number  of  estimations  of  nicotine  in  tobacco,  has  carefully 
examined  the  various  methods  proposed.  Schloesing's  process  ("Am. 
Jour.  Phar./^  xix,  69)  yields  unreliable  results,  owing  to  the  difficulty 
of  completely  extracting  tobacco  with  ether,  and  of  exactly  neutral- 
izing the  viscous  resinous  liquid  with  acid.  Varying  the  apparatus 
by  employing  those  recommended  by  Soxhlet  and  by  Tollens  for  the 
extraction  of  fat,  or  the  apparatus  of  Schiel  (Ibid.,  I860,  p.  137),  the 
results  were  not  improved.  If  distillation  in  the  presence  of  alkali 
and  water  be  resorted  to,  a  decomposition  of  the  nicotine  seems  to  be 
unavoidable.  The  author  therefore  converts  the  alkaloid  into  sul- 
phate, and  extracts  this  salt  by  98  per  cent,  alcohol. 
The  tobacco  is  dried  at  50°C.,  finely  powdered,  and  the  moisture 
estimated  with  a  weighed  sample,  20"25.  grams  of  the  powder  are 
mixed  with  10  cc.  normal  sulphuric  acid  and  200  cc.  alcohol  of  98 
per  cent.  The  mixture  is  boiled  for  two  hours  in  a  fiask,  connected 
with  a  reversed  condenser,  and  when  cool  poured  into  a  measuring 
flask  of  250  cc,  the  boiler  being  rinsed  out  with  absolute  alcohol 
sufficient  for  obtaining  the  measure  indicated ;  100  cc.  of  the  clear 
liquid  are  placed  in  a  flask,  provided  with  a  funnel  tube  termin- 
ating near  the  bottom  in  a  fine  point,  and  with  a  bent  tube  for  car- 
rying off  the  alcoholic  vapors ;  the  greater  portion  of  the  alcohol  is 
distilled  off,  30  cc.  of  potassa  solution,  sp.  gr.  1*159,  are  added,  and 
the  distillation  is  continued  until  the  liquid,  dropping  from  the  con- 
denser, shows  no  reaction  on  litmus  paper.  The  distillate  is  titrated 
with  tenth-normal  sulphuric  acid,  and  by  dividing  the  cubic  centi- 
meters found  with  5,  the  percentage  of  nicotine  in  the  tobacco  exam- 
ined is  ascertained.  The  absence  of  ammonium  sulphate  is  proven  by 
evaporating  to  dryness  and  dissolving  in  98  per  cent,  alcohol. — Archiv 
d.  Phar.,  July,  1881,  pp.  36-41. 
Detection  of  Starch  Sugar  in  Cane  Sugar. — P.  Casamajor  observed 
that  methyl  alcohol  of  50°  by  Gay  Lussac's  alcoholometer,  if  saturated 
with  starch  sugar,  will  dissolve  cane  sugar,  either  white  or  yellow, 
very  readily  from  mixtures  of  cane  and  starch  sugar,  without  dissolv- 
ing the  latter.  The  degree  of  approximation  in  determining  the  latter 
has  not  yet  been  ascertained. —  Chem.  News,  xlii,  326. 
jfetection  of  Starch-Sugar  Syrup  3 fixed  with  Sugar-house  Molasses. 
— P.  Casamajor  observed  that  straight  sugar-house  syrup,  when  mixed 
with  three  times  its  volume  of  methylic  alcohol,  will  dissolve  by  stir- 
