Am.. lour.  Pharm.\ 
March,  1896.  / 
Acetone  and  Acetone-Cliloroform. 
155 
=  C6H1202.  In  30  grammes  of  acetone  there  are,  therefore,  1 1  8 
grammes  of  methyloxide,  which,  since  4  atoms  of  methyloxide  con- 
sist of  the  same  elements  as  2  atoms  of  alcohol,  can  form  15-1 
grammes  of  chloroform,  assuming  that  complete  decomposition 
takes  place. 
According  to  the  theory,  half  of  the  acetone  used  must  be  recov- 
ered as  chloroform  ;  but  since  in  the  practical  manufacture  of  chem- 
ical products  the  quantity  prescribed  by  theory  is  never  obtained, 
it  should  be  considered  a  favorable  result  when  one-third  of  the 
acetone  used  is  obtained  as  chloroform,  especially  as  the  experi- 
ments were  made  only  on  the  small  scale. 
From  these  experiments,  it  follows  that  the  preparation  of  chloro- 
form from  acetone  is  quite  unfit  for  practical  use.  Were  even  the 
quantity  of  chloroform  stated  by  Bottger  as  obtainable  from  acetone 
possible,  it  would  have  the  disadvantage  of  being  freed  from  acetone 
with  very  great  difficulty. 
The  paper  of  Siemerling,  from  which  the  above  abstract  is  made, 
seems  to  have  received  the  endorsement  of  Wackenroder,  although 
it  controverts  the  statements  of  both  Reich  and  Bottger,  and  it  may 
be  from  his  high  authority  as  much  as  from  the  paper  itself  that 
the  results  seem  to  have  been  accepted  and  quoted  by  Gmelin,15 
Watts,16  and  other  reference  authorities,  and  the  influence  of  the 
publication  seems  to  have  been,  so  far  as  the  literature  of  the  sub- 
ject goes,  to  prevent  or  obstruct  the  acetone  process  for  many  years. 
As  it  was  so  long  and  so  well  known,  manufacturers  may  have  been, 
and  probably  were,  using  the  process  privately;  but  up  to  1 88 1— 
188317  very  little  information  on  the  subject  is  found.  Still,  the  work 
and  the  conclusions  of  Siemerling  must  have  been  known  to  be 
grossly  erroneous  by  every  one  whose  interest  it  became  to  try 
them.  Calculations  would  show  to  any  one  that  when  ordinary 
acetone  and  bleaching  powder  were  used,  the  proportions  required 
are  about  1  to  10,  or  about  double  the  largest  proportion  of  hypo- 
chlorite used  by  Siemerling,  and  the  resulting  chloroform  should  be 
about  double  the  weight  of  the  acetone  used  ;  and  many  who  pre- 
ceded Siemerling  knew  better  than  he  how  to  save  and  utilize  the 
great  excess  of  acetone  or  deficiency  of  hypochlorite  taken. 
15  Handbook  of  Chemistry,  Vol.  VII,  p.  346. 
J(i  Dictionary  of  Chemistry,  1883,  Vol.  I,  p.  918. 
17  Sadtler,  Am.  Jour.  Phar.,  July,  1889,  p.  321. 
