Amjine"'i87h7arm*}  Gleanings  from  the  Foreign  Journals.  313 
VIII.  The  genuineness  of  optically  indifferent  volatile  oils,  and  of 
such  whose  principal  constituents  are  optically  indifferent,  can,  for  the 
reasons  stated,  only  be  inferred  with  caution  if  they  show  none  or  only 
very  little  rotating  power. 
The  author  comes  to  the  conclusion  that  the  rotating  power  of 
volatile  oils  is  of  no  real  practical  value  to  the  pharmacist,  although  he 
would  not  like  to  see  it  omitted  in  a  full  scientific  characteristic. 
GLEANINGS  FROM  THE  FOREIGN  JOURNALS. 
By  t.he  Editor. 
Preservation  of  Aqueous  Solutions  of  Tartaric  Acid. — Witt- 
stein  has,  as  early  as  1842,  directed  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  floc- 
culent  masses  which  appear  in  a  solution  of  tartaric  acid  soon  after  it 
has  been  made,  is  not  caused  by  the  decomposition  of  the  acid.  It 
being  desirable  to  have  such  a  solution  on  hand  for  analytical  purposes, 
he  has-tried  the  preservative  effects  of  salicylic  acid  with  complete  suc- 
cess in  a  solution  made  with  1  part  of  tartaric  acid,  5  parts  of  water, 
and  one  one-thousandth  part  of  salicylic  acid.  After  three  months  it 
was  as  clear  as  when  first  made. — Zeitschr.  Oest.  Apoth.  Ver.,  No.  7. 
Beech  Tar  Creasote. — F.  Tiemann  and  B.  Mendelsohn  have  made 
the  following  observations  :  The  fraction  of  creasote  boiling  at  220°C. 
consists  mainly  of  creosol  and  phlorol,  most  of  the  former  of  which  is 
separated  as  potassium  salt  bv  dissolving  the  oily  liquid  in  its  own  vol- 
ume of  ether,  and  adding  to  it  a  concentrated  alcoholic  solution  of 
potassa  ;  creosol  =C8H10O2  is  liberated  by  an  acid  ;  when  boiled  for 
several  hours  with  acetic  anhydrid,  it  is  converted  into  acetylcreosol 
=C10H12O3,  an  oily  liquid,  from  which  vanillic  acid  =C8H804  may  be 
obtained  by  diffusing  the  former  in  diluted  acetic  acid  and  oxidizing 
with  a  slight  excess  of  potassium  permanganate,  neutralizing  with  soda, 
evaporating  to  a  small  bulk,  acidulating  with  sulphuric  acid  and  agita- 
tion with  ether  ;  on  the  evaporation  of  the  ether  vanillic  acid  is  left, 
which,  when  pure,  is  inodorous. 
The  mother-liquor  from  the  potassium  creosol  contains  phlorol 
=C8H10O,  which  was  converted  into  methyl-phlorol,  and  from  this, 
by  boiling  with  potassium  permanganate,  oxyphtalic  acid  =C8H605 
was  obtained. — Ber.  d.  Chem.  Ges.,  1877,  p.  57-63. 
