226  Abstracts  from  the  French  Journals.  {Am-May%S13?rm' 
seconds.  This  causes  the  oxidation  of  sulphurous  acid  and  elimi- 
nates the  source  of  error  in  Kreis'  method;  no  cc.  are  next  dis- 
tilled off  and  titrated  as  in  the  well-known  Reichert-Meissl's  method. 
— Dr.  J.  Pinette,  Chemiker  Ztg.,  1893,  395. 
Thiuret  and  its  paraphenol  sulphonate. — The  first  of  these,  NC6H5 
CSH-NHCSH-NH,  a  bulky,  odorless,  crystalline  powder,  insoluble 
in  water,  soluble  in  alcohol  and  ether,  is  offered  as  an  antiseptic  to 
be  applied  in  the  form  of  powder,  its  action  depending  upon  the 
liberation  of  sulphur,  cold  dilute  alkalies  easily  decomposing  it.  Of 
the  salts  which  act  more  rapidly  because  of  the  greater  solubility, 
the  one  mentioned  above  is  the  most  suitable  as  it  can  be  used  as 
0-3  or  0-4  per  cent,  aqueous  solution.  In  the  pure  form  it  is  a  yel- 
low, crystalline,  odorless  powder,  having  an  intense  bitter  taste. — 
Pharm.  Ztg.,  1893,  137- 
ABSTRACTS  FROM  THE  FRENCH  JOURNALS. 
Translated  for  The  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy. 
Estimation  of  nitrogen  in  the  urine. — A.  Petit  and  L.  Monfet  report 
to  the  Societe  de  Pharmacie  their  conclusions  in  regard  to  this  sub- 
ject. They  consider  Kjeldahl's  method,  with  several  modifications, 
the  most  rapid  and  most  exact  of  all  known  methods.  The  process 
as  modified  by  them  is  based  on  the  following  principles : 
(1)  Total  transformation  of  the  urinary  nitrogen,  and  of  the 
organic  nitrogen  in  general  into  ammonium  sulphate. 
(2)  Oxidation  and  liberation  of  this  ammoniacal  nitrogen  by  a 
strongly  concentrated  alkaline  hypobromite  solution. 
10  cc.  urine  are  introduced  into  an  Erlenmeyer  flask,  and  5  cc. 
fuming  sulphuric  acid  added  drop  by  drop  ;  heat  just  to  ebullition, 
and  then  add  a  small  globule  of  mercury ;  when  the  foaming  has 
subsided,  raise  the  temperature  and  continue  the  boiling  until  the 
acid  liquid  has  become  entirely  decolorized,  when  the  oxidation  of 
the  nitrogen  is  complete.  Now  allow  it  to  cool,  add  gradually  20 
cc.  distilled  water  and  cool  under  a  current  of  water  by  the  careful 
addition  of  soda  lye,  but  not  to  saturation ;  if  this  is  indicated  by  a 
drop  of  phenolphthaleine  solution,  several  drops  of  pure  sulphuric 
acid  should  at  once  be  added.  Now  pour  the  contents  of  the  Erlen- 
meyer flask  into  a  flask  of  50  cc.  capacity,  and  complete  the  volume 
