Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
Aug ,  1877.  I 
Varieties, 
421 
Huber's  test  for  free  mineral  acids  consists  of  a  mixture  of  ammonium  molyb- 
date  and  ferrocyanide  of  potassium.  If  some  of  this  yellowish  liquid  is  added  to  a 
*clear,  colorless  aqueous  solution,  a  reddish-yellow  to  dark-brown  coloration  or 
turbidity  is  at  once  produced  in  the  presence  of  traces  of  free  mineral  acids  (sul- 
phuric, muriatic,  nitric,  phosphoric,  arsenic,  sulphurous  or  phosphorous  acid)  ;  the 
color  disappears  instantly  on  the  addition  of  excess  of  alkali.  It  is  evident  that 
salts  other  than  of  the  alkalies  and  earths  must  not  be  present.  Boric  and  arsenious 
acids  do  not  produce  the  reaction — Pharm.  Zeitung,  No.  19. 
A  new  reagent  for  potassium  is  proposed  by  Prof.  Mohr.  It  is  a  saturated 
solution  of  the  acid  tartrates  of  potassium  and  of  sodium,  the  latter  converting 
neutral  potassium  salts  into  cream  of  tartar,  which  is  in  a  short  time  precipitated, 
since  the  liquid  is  already  a  saturated  solution  of  this  salt. — Phar.  Zeitung,  No.  20. 
Analyses  of  Hair  Dyes. — The  London  "Lancet"  had  recently  twenty-one  "hair 
restorers,"  "hair  dyes"  analyzed.  Fourteen  consisted  of  a  solution  of  lead  with 
sulphur  in  suspension,  and  many  were  described  as  "  perfectly  harmless."  They 
varied  in  price  from  25  cents  to  $1.50  per  bottle.  Two  consisted  of  a  solution  of 
lead  salt  in  hyposulphite  of  sodium  ;  one  was  a  solution  of  lead,  free  from  sulphur 
compounds ;  another  contained  two  bottles,  one  filled  with  solution  of  ammonio- 
nitrate  of  silver,  the  other  with  pyrogallic  acid. 
The  remaining  three  preparations  analyzed  were  intended  for  lightening,  instead 
of  darkening  the  color  of  the  hair.  No  substantial  difference  between  these  samples 
was  detected.  Each  was  found  to  contain  a  tolerably  concentrated  and  slightly 
acidulated  solution  of  peroxide  of  hydrogen.  It  is  well  known  that  this  is  the 
active  agent  in  preparations  of  this  kind.  It  can  hardly  be  considered  as  poisonous, 
but  its  action  on  the  hair  is  said  to  be  injurious  — Med.  and  Surg.  Reporter,  Feb.  17. 
Manufacture  of  Volatile  Oils. — We  find  it  stated,  in  a  German  trade  circular, 
that  a  so-called  liquid  oil  of  orris  is  much  in  demand  in  Europe,  and  that  it  is  pre- 
pared by  distilling  the  root  after  the  addition  of  oil  of  cedar  wood. 
The  manufacture  of  oil  of  bitter  almonds  having  considerably  increased  in  France 
the  seeds  of  apricots  have  been  imported  from  Asia  Minor  in  considerable  quantities 
to  be  used  in  place  of  almonds. 
So-called  Moravian  oil  of  anise  consists  almost  entirely  of  the  stearopten  of  oil  of 
fennel. 
Oenotaera  biennis  (which  part  ?)  has  been  used  by  Dr.  N.  S.  Davis,  of  Chicago, 
in  more  than  twenty  cases  of  asthma,  associated  with  chronic  indigestion  or  gastric 
irritability,  and  in  all  of  them  with  more  or  less  benefit.  It  was  given  in  the  form 
of  fluid  extract  in  doses  of  20  to  30  minims,  repeated  every  3  to  6  hours,  as  the 
case  may  require. — Amer.  Pract.,  Jan.,  p.  14-18. 
The  formation  of  ethylic  salicylate  in  wine  has  been  noticed  by  Dr.  H.  H.  Ende- 
mann.    The  wine  (from  Southern  New  Jersey)  had  been  mixed  with  1  grain  of 
