228       Recent  Literature  Relating  to  Pharmacy.    { AmMay?i9ooarm* 
of  soda  in  the  second  wash  bottle,  the  smoke  gave  up  carbonic  and 
butyric  acids,  but  no  hydrocyanic  acid  ;  while  traces  of  a  volatile  oit 
and  of  carbon  monoxide  were  likewise  detected  in  the  smoke. 
That  the  pyridine  was  a  decomposition  product  of  the  nicotine 
was  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  smoke  from  the  cigars  from  which 
the  nicotine  was  removed  yielded  no  pyridine.  It  is  interesting  to 
note  that  the  cigar  "  stump  "  contained  a  much  larger  percentage 
of  nicotine  than  did  the  whole  cigar.  Thus  twenty  cigars  weighing 
78  grammes  contained  r  1 2  per  cent,  nicotine  ;  while  the  stumps  from 
same,  weighing  4-57  grammes,  contained  4-34  percent.  The  carbon 
monoxide  in  the  smoke  from  I  kilo  tobacco,  estimated  by  precipi- 
tation of  palladium  chloride  solution,  amounted  to  but  20  c.c. 
It  was  found  that  if  15  kilos  tobacco  was  distilled  with  steam,  6 
grammes  of  a  green,  oxygenated,  phenol-bearing  oil  was  obtained. 
On  the  other  hand,  from  the  smoke  of  20  kilos  tobacco  there  was 
separated  75  grammes  dark  brown  oil,  so  irritating  and  malodorous 
that  work  with  it  was  very  trying.  It  consisted  of  a  trace  of  pyri- 
dine, a  phenol  boiling  at  i90°-200°,a  small  quantity  of  furfurol  and 
a  residue  boiling  at  200°-26o°,  containing  sulphur  and  nitrogen  and 
no  terpenes.  H.  V.  A. 
BETULIN. 
C.  J.  Reichart  [Ph.  Cent.,  1899,  587)  reports  on  a  dye-stuff  ob- 
tained from  the  bark  of  Betula  alba,  by  cooking  bark  in  alkali  and 
precipitating  with  hydrochloric  acid.  The  yield  is  20  per  cent,  and 
the  product  is  a  red-brown  powder,  soluble  in  alcohol  and  hot 
glycerin. 
He  has  patented  the  product  and  recommends  it  for  tinting  cos- 
metics and  the  like,  the  shade  produced  being  red-brown  to  rose, 
according  to  amount  employed.  It  is  precipitated  from  solution  by 
acids,  quinine  sulphate  and  lead  acetate,  and,  as  ferric  chloride  colors 
it  green-black,  it  is  presumably  a  tannoid.  H.  V.  A. 
NOTES  ON  HONEY. 
Supplemental  to  his  previous  work  on  honey,  Dr.  Haenle  [Ph.  Zt.y 
1899,  742)  contributes  some  interesting  notes. 
Bees  fed  exclusively  on  a  33  per  cent,  sugar  solution,  the  polariza- 
tion angle  of  which  was  -(-96°,  yielded  a  honey  containing  dextrin 
and  polarizing  at  — 30.   Curiously  enough,  the  same  sugar  solution, 
