144  Acetone  and  Acetone-Chloroform.  {^fiS™' 
ture.  I  also  take  note  of  the  zone  of  contact ;  this  renders  the 
modification  test  more  delicate  than  the  original.  This  note  is  pre- 
sented here  because  it  is  maintained  that  the  test  as  modified  is  too 
delicate.  Thus  far  I  have  failed  to  secure  a  genuine  sample  of 
balsam  copaiba  that  responded  affirmatively  with  this  test.  I 
requested  the  party  who  informed  me  concerning  the  shortcoming 
of  the  modified  test  to  forward  me  a  sample  of  the  genuine  balsam 
copaiba  with  which  this  test  indicated  gurjun  balsam.  Thus  far  I 
have  not  received  it,  and  probably  never  will.  Any  reader  meeting 
with  such  a  sample  of  balsam  copaiba  will  do  me  a  great  favor  by 
sending  a  portion  to  me. 
305  Cherry  Street,  Philadelphia. 
THE  MANUFACTURE  OF  ACETONE  AND  OF  ACETONE- 
CHLOROFORM  FROM  ACETIC  ACID. 
By  Edward  R.  Souibb,  M.D.,1  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Just  one  year  ago,  January  II,  1895,  the  writer  read  a  paper 
before  this  Society,  upon  "  Improvement  in  the  Manufacture  of 
Acetone,"  and  this  paper  was  published  in  the  Journal  for  March, 
1895,  at  Page  l%7-2  The  improvement  claimed  consisted  in  the  use 
of  acetic  acid  instead  of  acetates,  and  in  the  use  of  a  rotary  still  for 
the  decomposition.  The  results  given  were  obtained  from  a  model 
apparatus  on  a  table. 
During  the  year  that  has  elapsed  since  that  paper  was  read,  a 
large  rotary  still,  12  feet  in  length  by  2  feet  in  diameter,  has  been 
set  up,  and  this  has  decomposed,  in  126  hours,  about  1,700  pounds 
of  absolute  acetic  acid,  giving  about  90  per  cent,  of  the  theoretical 
yield  of  acetone,  against  about  80  per  cent,  in  the  small  apparatus. 
But  the  patentees*  of  the  processes  for  making  acetone  from  ace- 
tates object  to  the  use  of  this  process  and  apparatus  as  being  in 
conflict  with  their  patents. 
The  acetone  produced  was  converted  into  chloroform  by  the  Watts 
(Siemerling)  proportions  of  material,  in  an  apparatus  described  by 
the  writer  in  1857  (Ephemeris,  Vol.  IV,  No.  1,  p.  71),  and  used 
1  Read  before  the  N.  Y.  Section  of  The  American  Chemical  Society,  January 
10,  1896.    From  Squibb's  Ephemeris,  Vol.  IV,  p.  1743- 
-  Am.  Jour.  Pharm.,  ot,  144. 
