AmNo°v.r;i877.rm' }    New  Method  of  Detecting  Alcohol.  5  53 
whereby  the  bitter  acid  tannate  is  decomposed  and  the  tasteless  neutral 
tannate  left  upon  the  filter. — Jour.  Phar.  Chim.,  4th  ser.,  xxv,  p.  420. 
Adulterated  Sulphate  of  Morphia. — D.  B.  Dott  has  met  with  a 
sample  of  this  salt,  offered  in  the  English  market,  which  contained 
34*63  per  cent,  of  anhydrous  sodium  sulphate. — Phar.  your,  and  Trans., 
August  4th. 
Liquor  Ferri  Albuminati. — Dr.  Friese  prepares  a  solution  of  iron 
albuminate  by  mixing  the  white  of  one  egg  with  10  grams  liq.  ferri 
sesquichlorati,  Ph.  Germ.,  washing  the  mass  well  with  distilled  water, 
and  adding  to  the  insoluble  portion  500  grams  of  distilled  water  and  12 
drops  of  muriatic  acid.  An  almost  complete  solution  is  effected  in  three 
days,  and  is  given  in  doses  of  a  tablespoonful  three  times  a  day. — Phar. 
Cent.  Halle,  No.  31,  from  Berl.  Klin.  Wochenschr. 
Spiritus  Athens  Nitrosi. — For  estimating  the  amount  of  nitrous 
ether,  Th.  Rosenbladt  proposes  to  decompose  the  ether  by  caustic 
potassa,  whereby  potassium  nitrate  is  formed,  which  is  left  behind  on 
evaporation.  The  residue  is  transferred  to  a  small  flask  containing 
solution  of  ammonium  chloride,  and  filled  with  carbonic  acid  gas.  On 
heating  it,  ammonium  nitrate  is  formed  and  then  decomposed  into  water 
and  nitrogen  :  NH4N02  yields  2H20-f-2N.  The  gas  is  passed  over 
potassa,  and  the  amount  of  ethylnitrite  is  calculated  from  the  volume 
of  nitrogen  obtained. — Phar.  Zeits.f.  RussL,  No.  9. 
Volatile  Oil  of  Storax. — j.  H.  Vant  Hoff  corroborates  Bertholet's 
observation  that  this  oil  is  laevogvre,  but  finds  it  due  to  styrocamphene, 
probably  C10H18O,  of  which  storax  yields  only  1-20  per  cent.  ;  it  boils 
between  1700  and  i8o°C.  and  sodifies  at  about  io°C.  Bertholet 
found  the  volatile  oil  to  contain  styrolene,  which  E.  Kopp  regards  to  be 
identical  with  cinnamene. — Bull.  Soc.  Chim.,  2d  ser.,  xxv,  p.  175. 
A  NEW  METHOD  OF  DETECTING  ALCOHOL  WHEN 
USED  as  an  ADULTERANT  of  the  ESSENTIAL  OILS. 
By  Edmund  W.  Davy,  A.M.,  M.D.,  M.R.I. A., 
Professor  of  Forensic  Medicine  in  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons,  Ireland. 
It  is  well  known  that  one  of  the  most  frequent  of  the  adulterants 
of  the  essential  or  volatile  oils,  at  least  of  those  that  are  the  more 
*    expensive,  is  alcohol  ;   this  being  the  case,  at  the  suggestion  of  my 
friend  Mr.  Charles  Tichborne,  I  made  some  experiments  on  the  appli- 
