Am.  Jour  Pharm.i         Color  in  Liquov  Calois  Saccharratus.  179 
April,  iboo.       )  2 
1st.  Action  of  Light. — To  ascertain  the  effect  of  light,  a  bottle  was 
filled  quite  full,  securely  corked,  and  exposed  to  direct  sunlight  for 
three  weeks.  A  second  bottle  similarly  filled  and  corked  was  kept 
during  the  same  period  in  total  darkness.  On  comparing  the  two 
liquids  at  the  end  of  this  time,  hardly  any  development  of  color  had 
taken  place,  and  the  difference  between  the  two  was  barely  perceptible, 
the  one  exposed  to  sunlight  being,  if  anything  the  lighter  of  the  two. 
It  would,  therefore,  appear  that  light  does  not  cause  the  coloration. 
2d.  Action  of  Heat. — A  ,  portion  of  the  liquor  was  then  gradually 
heated  to  the  boiling  point.  This  causes  the  separation  of  a  bulky 
precipitate  consisting  of  a  compound  having  the  formula  (CaO)3C\2H22 
0,j,  which  immediately  re-dissolves  on  cooling,  the  resulting  solution 
being  almost  absolutely  colorless.  This  seems  to  indicate  that  heat  is 
not  the  cause  of  the  coloration.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the  boiled 
liquor  is  chemically  different  from  the  original,  the  union  between  the 
lime  and  the  sugar  being  probably  more  intimate.  Wood  and  Bache 
give  a  formula  for  syrup  of  lime  prepared  by  triturating  400  grs.  of 
well-burned  lime  with  3200  grs.  of  cane  sugar,  adding  to  this  8  oz.  of 
boiling  water,  boiling  for  five  minutes  and  filtering.  It  is  possible 
that  such  a  preparation  would  be  less  liable  to  colorize  than  the  British 
Pharmacopoeia  preparation.  It  may  be  worth  noting  here  that  in  old 
highly  colored  samples  of  liq.  calcis  sacch.  the  precipitate  produced  on 
boiling  was  only  very  slowly  and  not  completely  re-dissolved  on  cool- 
ing, the  quantity  of  insoluble  matter  being  apparently  proportionate  to 
the  depth  of  color. 
3d.  Action  of  Air. — Exposure  of  the  liquor  to  the  action  of  the  air 
was  next  investigated.  A  1-ounce  bottle  was  half  filled  with  the  liquor 
and  allowed  to  stand  in  direct  sunlight  for  three  weeks,  being  repeatedly 
shaken  and  uncorked  during  the  interval.  Under  these  circumstances 
coloration  gradually  took  place,  and  on  comparison  with  a  similar 
bottle  kept  in  the  same  position,  but  quite  full  and  well  corked,  the 
latter  was  found  to  be  practically  unchanged,  while  the  former  was  of 
a  decided  yellow  color,  tending  to  brown,  but  still  quite  free  from 
deposit.  The  same  experiment  was  repeated  with  bottles  kept  in  total 
darkness,  and  the  results  were  precisely  similar.  I  observed  that  some 
of  the  liquor  had  exuded  by  the  cork  from  the  full  bottle  kept  in  the 
dark  and  formed  a  solid  crust,  which  was  transparent,  of  a  deep  brown- 
ish-yellow color,  very  glutinous,  having  a  strong  styptic  taste  and  an 
alkaline  reaction.    A  6-ounce  bottle  was  filled  two-thirds  full  and 
