A^£Sh;S£.rm'}   Gleanings  from  the  German  Journals.  141 
conditions  several  thousand  times  its  weight  alcohol  can  be  con- 
verted into  ether.  This  process,  the  most  continuous  of  all  artificial 
processes,  has  another  advantage  in  its  practical  application,  namely, 
the  purity  of  the  products. — (Berichte  d.  d.  Chem.  Ges.)  Chemiker 
ztg.,  1893, 1876. 
Picramnia  camboita,  Engl. — The  crystallizable  fat,  isolated  from 
the  fruit,  is  the  glyceride  of  an  unsaturated  fatty  acid,  C18H3202.  See 
Am.  Journ.  Pharm.,  1893,  379-  The  same  acid,  an  isomer  of 
stearolic  acid,  has  recently  been  isolated  by  A.  Arnaud  in  the  seeds 
of  Picramnia  Sow  or  tariri  (Aublet)  and  called  by  him  tariric  acid. 
— Dr.  B.  Griitzner,  Chemiker  Ztg.,  1893,  1850. 
Test  for  glucose  in  urine. — Small  strips  of  a  pure  woollen  fabric 
are  impregnated  with  an  aqueous  ten  per  cent,  solution  of  stannous 
chloride  and  dried  at  a  moderate  temperature.  If  a  few  drops  of 
the  urine  be  placed  upon  such  a  prepared  fabric  and  dried  at  a 
moderate  temperature,  or  even  over  a  burner,  a  dark  coloration 
reveals  the  presence  of  glucose ;  by  comparison  with  the  colorations 
produced  with  glucose  solutions  of  definite  strengths  approximately 
quantitative  glucose  determinations  can  be  quickly  made. — Bruno 
Bizzari  (Gazz.  d.  Farm.)  Pharm.  Post,  1894,  35. 
Chloral  alcoholate  in  chloral  hydrate  can  be  detected  by  warming 
I  gr.  of  chloral  hydrate  with  I  cc.  nitric  acid  (specific  gravity  1*38); 
pure  chloral  hydrate  will  give  a  colorless  mixture;  10-20  per 
cent,  alcoholate  in  the  hydrate  produces  a  yellow  coloration,  without 
the  application  of  heat,  in  from  3-5  minutes ;  upon  heating  the 
color  appears  after  a  few  seconds ;  5  per  cent,  alcoholate  will  not 
give  the  reaction  in  the  cold  but  immediately  upon  warming ;  1  per 
cent,  alcoholate,  after  3-4  minutes'  heating,  develops  the  color 
followed  after  about  ten  minutes  by  the  evolution  of  yellow  fumes. 
The  test  for  alcoholate  may  be  formulated  as  follows :  One  gram  of 
the  chloral  hydrate  covered  with  I  cc.  nitric  acid  (sp.  gr.  1-38) 
should  not,  at  ordinary  temperature  or  after  warming,  produce  a 
yellow  colored  mixture  or  emit  yellow  vapors. — E.  Hirschsohn, 
Pharm.  Ztschr.,  F.  Russl.,  1893,  8l7- 
In  the  estimation  of  glycerin  in  fluid  extracts  the  published  methods 
for  estimating  glycerin  are  not  suitable,  owing  to  certain  plant 
constituents  being  extracted  and  weighed  along  with  the  glycerin. 
Dr.  O.  Linde  publishes  the  following  method,  which  has  proven  to 
give  fair  results  (a  loss  of  5  or  6  per  cent,  by  evaporation  is  not  to 
