Am.  Jour.  Pharm.\ 
February,  1900.  J 
Editorial  Notes  and  Comments. 
99 
local  fire  which  broke  out  in  a  gun-cotton  magazine  ;  the  fire  began  slowly, 
the  gun-cotton  simply  decomposed  and  burnt.  After  this,  the  fire  spread,  and 
eventually  a  moment  arrived  when  the  gas  generated  could  not  escape  suffi- 
ciently quickly,  and  thus  collected,  it  acted  the  part  of  a  detonator  and  caused 
the  remainder  of  the  gun-cotton  to  explode  with  violence.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
chlorate  of  potassium  requires  a  much  more  powerful  detonator  than  does  gun- 
cotton  ;  it  is  not  combustible  by  itself,  but  it  is  probable  that  at  St.  Helens  a 
portion  of  the  salt  was  decomposed  by  a  local  fire  in  the  immediate  neighbor- 
hood of  the  magazine,  and  that  the  rapid  accumulation  of  gas  caused  the  explo- 
sion above  referred  to. 
In  a  contribution  to  the  Chemistry  of  Honey,  O.  Haenle1  has  made  a  com- 
parison of  (i)  pure  honey  produced  by  bees  from  flowers  with  that  (2)  pro- 
duced by  bees  fed  upon  sugars  and  the  so-called  (3)  "  artificial  "  honey.  He 
found  that  they  gave  marked  and  characteristic  polarization  numbers,  as  fol- 
lows :  The  first  was  —  350  to  —  370  ;  (2)  gave  —  30  and  (3)  —  500. 
Continuing  their  researches  on  essential  oil  of  jasmine,  Hesse  and  Miiller2 
have  recently  communicated  an  analytical  process  suitable  for  the  quantita- 
tive determination  of  the  components  of  a  mixture  of  benzyl  acetate.  It  is 
based  upon  the  behavior  of  the  said  compounds  toward  a  cold  3  per  cent,  solu- 
tion of  potassium  permanganate.  This  reagent  causes  the  quantitative  oxida- 
tion of  the  benzyl  alcohol  into  benzoic  acid.  Benzyl  acetate,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  not  attacked  ;  while  linalool  and  linalyl  acetate  are  completely  decom- 
posed with  the  formation  of  acetic  and  carbonic  acids.  The  authors,  after  hav- 
ing tested  the  practical  usefulness  of  their  method  on  artificial  mixtures  of  known 
composition,  have  applied  it  to  the  examination  of  essential  oil  of  jasmine, 
with  the  result  that  this  oil  was  found  to  contain  about  65  per  cent,  of  benzyl 
acetate,  7-5  per  cent,  of  linalyl  acetate,  6  per  cent,  of  benzyl  alcohol,  and  16 
per  cent,  of  linalool. 
In  a  paper  on  the  sola?iaceous  alkaloids,  Hesse 3  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that 
pure  atropine  is  optically  inactive  and  that,  on  keeping,  it  becomes  active,  owing 
to  the  presence  of  hyoscyamine.  Atropine  and  hyoscyamine  yield  tropin  and 
atropic  acid  according  to  the  following  : 
C17H22N03  =  C8H15NO  +  C9H802. 
Hyoscine  and  atroscin  (in  root  of  Scopolia  atropoides)  yield  oscin  and  atropic 
acid  as  follows  : 
C1TH21N04  =  C8H]3N02  +  C9H802. 
Botany. — In  a  note  on  a  spurious  Alexandria  senna}  Henry  G.  Greenish 
calls  attention  to  a  so-called  "  Alexandria  senna  "  imported  from  Suez,  which 
differs  from  the  official  drug  in  that  the  leaflets  are  obovate  in  outline,  maybe  2 
centimetres  by  1  ceutimetre,  have  a  rounded  mucronate  apex  and  distinct  primate 
venation.  The  upper  surface  is  glabrous  and  the  lower  pubescent.  The  odor  is 
senna-like,  the  taste  being  mucilaginous.  In  powder  the  peculiar  papillae-like 
epidermal  cells  of  the  under  surface,  resembling  those  in  coca,  are  character- 
istic. 
xPharm.  Zeit.,  1899,  No.  83  ;  ibid.,  797. 
2£er.  d.  Deutsch.  Chem.  Ges.,  1899,  P-  765  ;  through  Schimmel&  Co.'s  Report,  October,  1899. 
2 Ann.  d.  Chem.,  1899,  Bd.,  309,  p.  75. 
