230       Recent  Literature  Relating  to  Pharmacy.  {AmMa"'i£»frm" 
six  out  of  this  number  contained  above  45  per  cent,  of  resin.  The 
samples  were  taken  from  asafetida  considered  to  be  deficient  in  per- 
centage content  of  resin.  The  articles  of  high  quality  were  not 
sampled,  consequently  very  guarded  conclusions  must  be  drawn. 
L.  F.  K. 
METHYL  ALCOHOL,  FURFUROL  AND    DIACETYL  IN  CARAWAY  RUNNINGS. 
It  has  been  found  that  the  first  runnings  of  water  during  the 
process  of  distilling  caraway  oil  from  the  seed  contain,  as  is  the 
case  with  cloves,  methyl  alcohol  and  furfurol.  In  both  cases  the 
methyl  alcohol  is  colored  intensely  yellow.  This  coloration  cannot 
be  removed  by  distillation.  From  certain  reactions  this  body  is 
considered  diacetyl. — ScliimmeV  s  Report,  Oct.,  1899,  P- 
L.  F.  K. 
THE  ELECTROLYTIC  PREPARATION  OF  CHLOROFORM. 
L.  Zambelletti-Mailand  has  established  a  plant  at  Como  for  manu- 
facturing chloroform  by  an  electrolytic  process.  A  20  per  cent, 
sodium  chloride  solution  is  placed  in  a  lead-lined  still,  provided  with 
a  rotating  carbon  shovel,  which  serves  the  double  purpose  of  an 
agitator  and  an  anode.  The  still  is  heated  by  steam.  An  electric 
current  of  from  5  to  6  amperes  is  passed,  and  when  the  temperature 
reaches  100°  C,  acetone  is  slowly  introduced  from  the  bottom. 
The  nascent  chlorine  developed  acts  on  the  acetone,  forming  first 
trichlor-acetone,  which  is  next  broken  up  by  the  sodium  hydrate 
produced  into  chloroform  and  sodium  acetate.  Theoretically,  100 
pounds  of  acetone  should  yield  210  pounds  of  chloroform,  but  thus 
far  only  180  pounds  have  been  obtained  in  practice. — V.  Lucchini, 
L Elettricita,  1899,  8,  664;  through  Chem.  Zeit.  (Rep.),  1899,  Vol.  23, 
p.  336.  L.  F.  K. 
BECCHI  REACTION  FOR  COTTON- SEED  OIL. 
The  presence  of  sulphur  in  cotton-seed  oil  has  been  considered 
doubtful.  Soltsien  found  that  oil  obtained  by  the  medium  of  petro- 
leum spirits  did  contain  sulphur,  but  cold  expressed  oil  gave  a 
doubtful  reaction  for  sulphur. 
Becchi's  reaction  is  due  not  only  to  the  reduction  of  the  silver, 
but  also  to  the  production  of  silver  sulphide,  if  sulphur  is  present. 
— P.  Soltsien,  Ztsch.  offentl.  Chem.y  5,  306 ;  from  Chem.  Centralblatt 
(1 899),*,  539.  L-  F.  K. 
