636 
Notes  and  News. 
f  Am,  Jour.  Pharm. 
1  November,  1896. 
NOTES  AND  NEWS. 
Vermilion  is  prepared  in  the  wet  way  by  adding  lime  water  to  a  solution  of 
corrosive  sublimate  and  to  the  resulting  precipitate  sodium  thiosulphate  until 
solution  is  effected  and  the  liquid  has  assumed  a  yellow  color.  If  it  is  now 
heated  to  7o°-8o°,  mercuric  sulphide  separates  as  a  fiery  red  powder. — Pharm. 
Post,  1896,  p.  322.  $ 
Examination  of  Licorice  Roots} — The  undried  samples  were  received  from 
Ant.  C.  Denotovich,  of  Fresno,  Cal.,  who  calculated  that  they  would,  when 
dry,  show  a  shrinkage  of  about  55  per  cent.  They  were  grown  on  the  "white 
ash"  land  of  the  San  Joaquin  Valley,  near  Fresno.  A  careful  examination 
gave  the  following  results  : 
Per  Cent. 
Extract  in  the  "  green  "  or  fresh  roots   22-80 
Extract  in  the  air-dried  sample   42-22 
Total  Sugar  in  the  "  extract  "   17-00 
2  Glycyrrhizin  in  the  "  extract  "   14*70 
Licorice  has  been  grown  on  a  large  scale  for  some  time  by  parties  near 
Stockton,  on  partly  sandy,  partly  adobe  land,  also  in  the  Garden  of  Economic 
Plants,  of  the  University  of  California,  for  ten  or  more  years,  and  does  well. 
The  only  question  in  its  culture  is  the  commercial  one  as  to  whether  it  can  be 
profitably  grown  with  our  expensive  labor,  in  competition  with  Europe  and 
Asia  Minor.  There  are  millions  of  acres  of  soil  well  adapted  to  the  culture, 
both  in  California  and  Oregon,  where  a  native  species,  also  with  a  sweet  root, 
grows  wild  and  is  a  great  pest  in  certain  soils.  The  licorice  plant  becomes 
a  weed  when  allowed  to  escape  from  cultivation  in  certain  favorable  soils.  The 
wild  licorice  of  this  country  is  very  largely  found  on  alkali  land. 
Composition  of  Goose-fat.  J.  Rozsenyi.  (Ber.  Chem.  Inst.  Buda  Pest; 
through  Zeit.  ang.  Chem.,  1896,  364.)  The  following  constants  were  obtained 
with  four  samples  of  goose-fat  rendered  by  the  author  : 
1. 
2. 
3- 
.4- 
0-9258 
0-9228 
0-9300 
Melting  point  |ended  
.  26-6° 
•  •  27-5° 
30-0° 
3i'4° 
29-5° 
317° 
29-5° 
3ro° 
18*3° 
18-1° 
i8-i° 
™  »■         •  *  c  4.*       -a   f  commenced  . 
Melting  point,  fatty  acids  j  en(je(j 
•  •  35'2° 
.  .  36*6° 
35*3° 
37-5° 
39-  o° 
40-  2° 
•  •  587 
62-8 
66-4 
62-5 
03 
o'3 
0*2 
191*2 
191  "6 
I93-0 
95"3 
50-0 
'50-5 
50'5 
—  The  Analyst,  Vol.  21,  No.  246. 
1  Report  of  work  of  the  Agricultural  Experiment  Stations  of  the  University  of  California 
for  the  year  1894-95. 
2  Determined  by  method  given  in  Vol.  II,  Nahrungs-  und  Genussmittel,  by  Konig,  p.  751. 
