370 
CUTTER  AS  A  RFAGENT  TCIl  COITER,  ETC. 
most  advantageous  results  as  much  with  respect  to  the  Leauty 
and  richness  of  the  color  as  with  respect  to  the  yield.* 
After  separating  the  benzine  by  congelation  from  light  and 
volatile  hydrocai  bides,  in  no  case  must  the  mother  liquors  be 
mixed  with  the  residues. 
On  the  contrary,  they  must  be  treated  as  if  the  benzine  were 
still  present,  and  hence  peihsps  the  names  toluine,  nitrotoluine, 
and  commercial  toluidine. 
Such  a  separation  and  classification  will,  no  doubt,  facilitate 
the  prcpaiation  and  classification  of  anilines  most  suitable  for 
various  red,  violet,  and  blue  tints,  and  will  contribute  an  impor- 
tant step  to  the  theory  of  the  formation  of  these  coloring  matters. 
— Chem.  News,  London,  May  14,  1864,  from  Moniteur  fccienti- 
jique,  vi.,  329. 
BUTTER  AS  A  REAGENT  FOR  COPPER  AND  ITS 
COMPOUNDS. 
By  E.  Lancelot,  Pharmaceutist,  Chatil'on,  (Indie.) 
I  take  the  opportunity  of  the  Scientific  Commission  now  meet- 
ing at  the  Vienne  (France),  to  communicate  to  my  fellow- phar- 
maceutists a  fact  which,  I  believe,  is  new  to  the  science  of  chem- 
istry, and  ma}7  ultimately  prove  highly  interesting  as  a  question 
of  hygiene  and  toxicoiogy. 
Sometime  ago,  an  inhabitant  of  our  city  had  a  copper  hydrant 
put  up#in  his  yard.  The  inner  part  of  the  copper  pipe  had  not 
been  tinned,  that  precaution  being  commonly  deemed  superfluous. 
The  water  supplied  by  this  hydrant  for  the  usual  wants  of  the 
household,  had  never  been  suspected  of  containing  noxious  mat- 
ter ;  but,  one  day,  the  lady  of  the  house  told  her  husband  that, 
having  left  a  slice  of  butter  for  several  days  in  water  drawn 
from  the  new  hydrant — the  water  having  been  renewed  five  or 
six  times, — she  found  that  the  immersed  surface  of  the  butter 
had  turned  quite  green. 
Anxious  to  ascertain  the  cause  of  this  singular  alteration,  the 
proprietor  divided  a  pound  of  butter  into  three  equal  parts,  and 
*  See  Chemical  News,  vol.  viiL  p.  4  : — Dr.  Hoffman's  "  Memoir  on  the 
necessity  of  Mixing  Aniline  and  Toluidine  to  produce  Aniline  ived. ' 
