104 
EXTRACTS  FROM  GERMAN  JOURNALS. 
detect  in  non-oxygenated  oils  a  very  small  amount  of  absolute 
alcohol,  (5  to  10  per  cent.)  The  admixture  of  3  to  5  per  cent, 
of  castor  oil,  poppy,  or  sweet  oil,  does  not  affect  these  reactions. 
If  the  oil  has  previously  become  somewhat  resinified,  the  oil 
may  remain  colorless,  but  the  pieces  of  sodium  will  become 
covered  sooner — in  5  to  10  minutes — with  the  resinous  coating, 
which  may  be  separated  from  the  sodium  by  shaking.  In  unre- 
sinified  oils  this  does  not  take  place  for  18  to  24  hours,  and  in 
many  cases  a  method  is  thus  furnished  for  ascertaining  whether 
resinification  has  taken  place.  Even  in  volatile  oils,  containing 
oxygen,  the  behavior  towards  sodium  affords  a  more  or  less 
accurate  test  for  the  presence  of  alcohol.  Disengagement  of 
gas,  cloudiness,  and  subsequent  browning  and  thickening  being 
produced  upon  the  addition  of  sodium  to  such  oils  contaminated 
with  alcohol.  In  the  pure  oils  this  coloration  is  not  produced 
for  some  hours.  The  author  has  applied  this  method  of  testing 
successfully  to  many  of  these  substances,  in  ordinary  use,  among 
which  are  oil  of  turpentine,  lavender,  rosemary,  caraway,  berga- 
mot,  distilled  and  expressed  lemon,  peppermint,  sassafras,  cubebs, 
mace,  origanum,  cajeput,  fennel,  orange-peel,  wintergreen,  rose, 
anise,  cassia,  cloves,  copaiba,  savin,  &c.  &c. — (Pharm.  Zeit.  f* 
Russland,  in  Vierteljh.  fur  prak.  Ph.  Bd.  xiii.  p.  26) 
On  Freezing  Mix tures.—  Joseph  Hanamann  (Vierteljahres. 
f.  prak.  Ph.  B.  xiii.  p.  3,)  gives  a  series  of  interesting  results 
upon  the  degree  of  cold  produced  by  the  sulphates,  chlorides 
and  nitrates  of  the  alkalies,  upon  solution  in  water.  These 
salts,  in  a  finely  divided,  crystalline,  chemically  pure  state,  were 
dissolved  in  equal  weights  of  water,  kept  at  an  uniform  tem- 
perature with  the  following  results : 
Name  of  salt.       Temperature  at  Decrease  of        Time  in  Reaching 
■  Mixing.  Temperature.      Lowest  Temperature. 
Sulphate  Ammonia 
62°: 
Fahr. 
14° 
Fahr. 
45  seconds. 
Chloride  ammonium 
62° 
a 
25° 
a 
40 
C6 
Nitrate  ammonia 
62Q 
a 
45° 
a 
30 
ii 
Sulphate  potassa 
66° 
a 
8° 
a 
60 
a 
Chloride  potassium 
64° 
a 
21° 
a 
45 
a 
Nitrate  potassa 
62° 
a 
18° 
a 
45 
a 
Sulphate  soda 
64° 
a 
13° 
a 
30 
a 
Chloride  sodium 
62° 
a 
7° 
a 
Nitrate  soda 
62° 
a 
ll9 
a 
30 
a 
