334 
Editorial, 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharhs 
\     July  1,  1872. 
Potash  in  Corn-cobs. — Under  this  title,  the  Boston  Journal  of  Chemistryv 
for  June,  contains  a  short  paper,  which,  except  by  the  very  careful  reader,  is- 
readily  taken  as  original,  and  apparently  refers  to  an  analysis  of  the  ashes  of 
corncobs  raised  at  Lakeside  farm.  It  is.  however,  merely  an  abstract  of  the 
essay  of  Mr.  Herbert  Hazard,  published  on  page  152  of  our  April  number,  and 
although  the  last  half  is  copied  verbatim  from  it,  no  credit  is  given  either  to 
the  author  or  to  our  Journal. 
Petroleum-benzine. — In  copying  our  paper  on  "  The  Use  of  Petroleum- 
benzine  in  Making  Oleo-Resins,"*  the  Editor  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal 
and  Transactions  says  in  a  foot  note  : 
"The  application  of  the  term  benzine  to  this  volatile  spirit  is  objectionable? 
inasmuch  as  it  is  liable  to  cause  misunderstanding.  It  is  the  more  volatile  por- 
tion of  petroleum  or  paraffin  oil,  and  would  be  better  designated  petroleum  or 
paraffin  naphtha." 
As  far  as  America  is  concerned,  the  adoption  of  this  suggestion  would  be 
productive  of  confusion,  since  here  the  term  petroleum  naphtha  is  used  to  desig- 
nate a  still  lighter  and  more  volatile  liquid  than  the  one  to  which  the  name  of 
benzine  is  applied  ;  the  former  term  (naphtha)  is  probably  nearly  identical  witia 
what  in  Germany  is  now  called  petroleum-ether.  The  adoption  of  scientific, 
names  for  the  various  products  of  the  distillation  of  petroleum,  will  be  impos- 
sible as  long  as  we  are  unable  to  obtain  them  in  a  state  of  purity,  it  being  well 
known  that  all  these  liquids,  as  now  met  with,  consist  of  mixtures  of  isomeric 
or  polymeric  hydrocarbons,  differing  in  specific  gravity  and  volatility.  The 
adoption  in  the  United  States  of  the  word  benzine  has  been  explained  by  the 
"  Scientific  American,"  in  a  paper  which  was  copied  into  the  "  Chemical  News 
for  May  17th,  and  with  the  prefix  petroleum — to  indicate  its  difference  frorc& 
the  true  benzine  or  benzole — we  believe  it  to  be  as  good  and  definite  a  term  as 
petroleum  naphtha  or  petroleum  ether  ;  or  rather  all  these  terms  are  more  or 
less  indefinite,  since  they  are  not  applied  to  definite  mixtures  in  definite  propor- 
tions of  the  hydrocarbons,  but  rather  to  mixtures  of  lighter  and  heavier  one©* 
having  a  certain  density. 
A  Reliable  Test  for  Creasote,  which  is  at  the  same  time  easy  of  applies*,- 
tion,  has  been  a  desideratum  for  many  years.  We  publish  in  the  present  num- 
ber Mr.  Morson's  recently  proposed  test  to  distinguish  creasote  from  carbolk- 
acid  by  means  of  glycerin,  in  which  the  former  is  said  to  be  insoluble,  if  pure. 
On  examining  a  number  of  samples,  one  of  which  was  known  to  be  Merck's,  we 
found  them  all  miscible  with  an  equal  bulk  of  glycerin  to  a  transparent  home*- 
geneous  liquid,  and  hence  we  are  forced  to  conclude  either  that  all  these  sam- 
ples contain  more  or  less  carbolic  acid,  or  that  Mr.  Morson's  testis  based! 
upon  an  erroneous  observation,  or  that  different  creasotes  differ  in  their  \he- 
havior  to  glycerin.  The  latter  view  seems  the  most  probable,  since  the  diffi- 
culties encountered  in  isolating  and  separating  the  various  constituents  of  crea^ 
sote  from  each  other  are  very  considerable.  Judging  merely  from  the  solvent 
powers  of  glycerin,  we  should  have  expected  that  it  would  dissolve  a  substance 
which,  like  creasote,  is  so  readily  soluble  in  alcohol  and  also  soluble  In  water. 
*  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy,  May,  1872. 
