Am.  Jour.  Pharro.  > 
Dee.,  1878.  I 
Laboratory  Notes. 
567 
Pectous  substances,  etc.,      .......      6  27  per  cent„ 
Seeds,  skins,  etc.,      ........  9*64 
Citric  acid,    .        .        .  2  27 
Sugar,        .   223 
Water,   82-23 
Sum  of  special  determinations,   .....  102*64 
There  was  found  1*25  per  cent,  of  ash  included  in  the  above,  mostly 
in  the  seeds  and  skins.    The  determinations  of  the  pectous  substances 
can  only  be  approximate.    No  tartaric,  malic,  oxalic  or  tannic  acid 
was  found  to  be  present. 
It  was  found  that  good  cranberry  jelly  could  be  made  from  the  berries 
with  less  than  the  usual  amount  of  sugar,  by  first  expressing  and  reject- 
ing a  portion  of  the  juice,  so  that  the  jelly  should  consist  more  largely 
of  the  pectous  substances  of  the  fruit.  Taking  eleven  ounces  of 
berries,  expressing  from  four  to  six  ounces  of  juice,  boiling  the  residue 
with  water,  straining  through  a  cloth,  concentrating,  adding  two  and  a 
half  ounces  of  sugar,  and  concentrating  till  a  pellicle  formed,  there 
were  obtained  four  ounces  of  very  fine  jelly.  From  this  it  is  apparent 
that  the  jelly  might  be  obtained  as  a  by-product  in  manufacturing 
citric  acid  from  the  berries.  Also,  as  Mr.  Moody  verified  by  trial,  the 
residue,  after  expressing  the  juice,  can  be  fermented  and  distilled  for 
alcohol. 
From  one  hundred  pounds  of  berries,  two  pounds  of  citric  acid  and 
about  thirty-three  pounds  of  jelly  could  be  obtained.  Or,  instead  of 
the  jelly,  about  one  pound  of  absolute  alcohol,  or  its  equivalent  of 
weaker  alcohol,  might  be  had. 
V.  The  Purity  of  Carbonate  of  Magnesium. 
The  requirements  of  our  Pharmacopoeia  are  pretty  strict  for  carbon- 
ate of  magnesium,  ordaining  the  almost  absolute  exclusion  of  calcium 
salts,  sulphates  and  sodium  carbonate,  as  follows  :  u  Wholly  dissolved 
by  sulphuric  acid,  forming  a  solution  which  does  not  precipitate  with 
oxalate  of  ammonium  (a  delicate  test  for  calcium).  Distilled  water, 
which  has  been  boiled  with  it,  does  not  change  the  color  of  turmeric 
(sodium  carbonate)  and  yields  no  precipitate  with  chloride  of  barium 
(sulphates)  or  nitrate  of  silver  (chlorides,  etc.)  "  As  generally  manu- 
factured, the  three  impurities  named,  calcium  salts,  sulphates  and 
sodium  carbonate,  would  be  of  natural  occurrence,  and  their  traces 
would  not  be  "  medicinal  impurities  "  in  the  administration  of  carbon- 
