362  Gleanings  from  European  Journals.  { 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Aug.  1,  1874. 
of  water,  and  filter.  If  the  quinia  was  present  as  sulphate,  the 
greater  portion  of  it  will  remain  undissolved,  while  the  morphia  salt 
will  be  found  in  the  filtrate,  to  which  a  few  drops  of  iodic  acid  are 
added,  and  after  agitation  a  little  chloroform  ;  the  latter  will  dissolve 
the  liberated  iodine,  or,  in  case  morphia  is  not  present,  will  remain 
colorless,  while  the  filtrate  becomes  fluorescent. 
In  the  presence  of  the  more  soluble  muriate  of  quinia,  the  reaction 
is  a  little  different.  After  proceeding  as  stated  above,  a  yellow  col- 
oration will  at  once  be  produced  if  morphia  be  present;  but  the 
iodine  will  not  be  dissolved  in  the  chloroform,  unless  an  excess  of 
morphia  be  contained  in  the  mixture.  The  yellow  color,  however, 
produced  by  the  formation  of  a  compound  insoluble  in  chloroform, 
between  the  liberated  iodine  and  the  quinia,  is  sufficient  to  indicate 
the  presence  of  morphia,  or  of  a  foreign  body  with  a  similar  behavior 
towards  iodic  acid. — Arch.  d.  Pharm.,  1874,  June,  517. 
The  Rapid  Evaporation  of  Ethereal  Tinctures  from  narrow  vessels 
is  effected  by  the  following  simple  contrivance  of  Dr.  G.  Vulpius. 
The  ethereal  tincture  is  introduced  into  a  beaker  or  cylinder,  and  a 
glass  syphon  is  arranged  in  such  a  manner  that  the  short  leg  is  sus- 
pended at  a  distance  of  not  over  one  centimeter  above  the  surface  of 
the  ethereal  liquid,  while  the  long  leg  may  reach  nearly  to  the  floor. 
Slight  suction  at  the  latter  aperture  will  cause  the  heavy  ether  vapor 
to  be  siphoned  off  from  above  the  liquid,  and  the  evaporation  of  the 
ether  and  removal  of  its  vapor  continues  so  rapidly,  that  at  the  sum- 
mer temperature  the  ether  will  run  off  in  drops  if  the  long  leg  be 
surrounded  by  a  layer  of  moist  paper.  The  short  siphon  leg  should 
be  lowered  in  proportion  as  the  ethereal  liquid  evaporates. — Ibid., 
■p.  522. 
Dry  Syrup  of  Almonds. — To  avoid  the  inconveniences  resulting 
from  the  separation  and  rapid  decomposition  of  almond  syrup,  Dr. 
Enders  suggests  a  dry  preparation  from  which  the  syrup  may  be  very 
easily  obtained.  Twenty  parts  of  sweet  almonds  are  made  into  an 
emulsion  with  sufficient  distilled  water ;  the  emulsion  is  mixed  with 
seventy-two  parts  of  sugar,  and  in  a  steam-bath  rapidly  evaporated 
to  dryness  ;  the  residue  is  powdered  and  kept  in  well- corked  vials. 
To  prepare  one  hundred  parts  of  syrup,  sixty-eight  parts  of  this 
powder  are  dissolved  in  twenty- four  parts  of  water  by  the  aid  of  heat, 
and  then  five  parts  of  orange-flower  water  and  three  parts  of  bitter 
almond  water  are  added. — Ibid.,  p.  511. 
