112 
ON THE ADULTERATION OF CREOSOTE. 
due in the retort, which is the creosote, perfectly pure. If 
this latter is colored, it may be purified by continuing the 
process. 
We have procured creosote directly from the laboratories 
of Germany, and have seen, with pain, that some manufac- 
turers of that country, ordinarily honest and conscientious, 
follow the errors occurring in the markets of Paris. One spe- 
cimen marked 6°; from this there was derived a light liquid, 
having all the characters of alcohol. The liquid in the retort, 
after having lost, by distillation, all its alcohol, marked, when 
cold, 9°; on mixing together these two products, viz., that 
which came over in the distillation, and that remaining in the 
retort, the mixture, as before, marked 6°. 
As an approximation, it is found that creosote of 6° contains 
seven per cent, of alcohol of 33°; and that 34.per cent, causes 
the gravity to descend to zero. 
When very strong alcohol is used to mix with the creosote, 
it requires but very little to cause the indications of the gra- 
vity to descend, while if very weak alcohol is used, the pro- 
portion may be great to produce the same effect, so that it is 
difficult to indicate the proportion of creosote in any mixture 
without distillation; but as alcohol of 33° is that usually found 
in commerce, it is this which fraudulent dealers would most 
commonly use. X. 
Journ. de Chim. Med. 
