Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
October,  19  L4.  j 
Current  Literature. 
481 
of  Bonn,  Germany,  and  was  prominently  known  before  the  Civil  War 
as  a  teacher  of  languages  to  the  children  of  many  of  our  conspicuous 
families  of  those  days  in  Philadelphia.  In, the  War  of  the  Rebellion 
he  enlisted  in  the  99th  Pennsylvania  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  served 
for  two  years  and  eight  months.  At  the  expiration  of  his  service  he 
came  to  Philadelphia  and  started  a  drug  store  at  Seventy-third  Street 
and  Woodland  Avenue,  West  Philadelphia,  where  he  continued  the 
business  until  his  death.  Mr.  Fox  was  allied  with  the  American 
Pharmaceutical  Association,  the  Philadelphia  Association  of  Retail 
Druggists,  and  various  other  bodies.  The  funeral  of  Mr.  Fox  took 
place  on  Monday,  April  27th,  with  a  Solemn  Requiem  Mass  at  St. 
Clement's  Church,  Paschalville,  of  which  he  was  a  devout  com- 
municant for  many  years.  The  remains  were  laid  at  rest  in  New 
Cathedral  Cemetery. 
CURRENT  LITERATURE. 
Gaseous  Impurities  in  the  Air  of  Railway  Tunnels. — 
Seidell  and  Meserve,  in  Hygienic  Laboratory  Bulletin  No.  92,  have 
taken  up  the  question  of  the  composition  of  the  air  in  railway 
tunnels,  and  summarize  their  work  as  follows : 
(a)  On  account  of  the  particular  conditions  in  hand,  methods  for 
the  determination  of  sulphur  dioxide  based  upon  the  aspiration  of  the 
sample  through  a  small  volume  of  liquid  followed  by  a  gravimetric  or 
volumetric  determination  of  the  retained  sulphur  dioxide  could  not 
be  used.  The  several  possible  variations  of  the  iodometric  titration 
were  examined  and  the  general  source  of  the  errors  discussed.  It 
was  finally  shown  that  a  method  of  direct  titration  with  N/1000 
iodine  solution  gave,  after  applying  proper  correction  factors,  results 
of  satisfactory  accuracy. 
(b)  Experiments  upon  the  rate  of  loss  of  sulphur  dioxide  on 
standing  showed  that  in  the  presence  of  moisture  only  a  small  fraction 
of  the  used  sulphur  dioxide  was  recovered  after  one  hour.  In  dry 
bottles  there  is  usually  an  inconsiderable  loss  within  the  first  two 
hours,  although  with  very  dilute  mixtures  an  appreciable  loss  may 
occur  after  one-fourth  to  one-half  hour. 
(c)  Of  quite  small  amounts  of  sulphur  dioxide  liberated  in  a 
closed  room  only  about  30  to  60  per  cent,  could  be  recovered,  depend- 
ing upon  the  amount  of  stirring  and  the  moisture  content  of  the  air. 
(d)  In  adapting  the  iodine  pentoxide  method  to  the  determina- 
tion of  carbon  monoxide  in  the  samples  of  tunnel  air,  manipulative 
improvements  involving  the  use  of  a  new  form  of  absorption  bulb  and 
