Am  octu!*i£3arm'}  Abstracts  from  the  French  Journals.  497 
the  precaution  is  taken  to  remove  the  camphor  two  or  three  times 
carefully  from  the  sides  of  the  capsule  into  the  bottom,  the  exact 
weight  of  the  camphor  will  be  found  again  after  standing  about 
thirty-five  minutes. 
Estimation  of  camphor  in  camphorated  alcohol. — Place  20  gm.  of  the 
camphorated  alcohol  into  a  flask  of  150  cc.  capacity  and  add  about 
100  gm.  of  water:  the  camphor  precipitates;  add  10  cc.  of  65  per 
cent,  ether  and  agitate  ;  after  several  minutes  decant  the  lower  layer 
of  the  liquid  by  means  of  a  siphon,  place  the  last  50  cc.  into  a  bro- 
mine tube,  decant  the  ethereal  layer,  evaporate  in  the  tared  plati- 
num capsule,  and  take  the  weight  of  the  camphor  thirty-five  minutes 
after  the  visible  evaporation  of  the  ether. 
Estimation  of  camphor  in  celluloid. — Dissolve  2  or  3  gm.  of  cellu- 
loid shavings  in  a  mixture  of  10  gm.  strong  alcohol  and  35  gm.  65 
per  cent,  ether — with  constant  agitation,  complete  solution  will  be 
effected  in  fifteen  minutes.  Add  a  large  excess  of  water,  when  the 
nitrocellulose  and  the  camphor  will  be  precipitated  separately ;  add 
10  cc.  ether  and  agitate;  the  gun-cotton  powder  will  form  a  separ- 
ating layer  between  the  dissolved  camphor  and  the  supernatant 
ether.  Filter  through  paper  previously  moistened  with  ether,  place 
the  filtered  liquid  in  a  bromine  tube  to  remove  the  water  which  may 
have  passed.  Decant  the  ether  carefully  and  finish  the  operation  as 
in  the  above  process. 
Estimation  of  camphor  in  camphorated  oil  or  ointment. — In  this 
process  it  is  necessary  to  first  distil  (about  200  cc.)  the  fatty  body 
in  a  current  of  steam  which  carries  over  all  of  the  camphor  as  well 
as  some  fatty  acids.  Saponify  the  fatty  acids  by  the  addition  of 
several  cc.  of  solution  of  caustic  soda,  and  submit  the  whole  to  dis- 
tillation. When  150  cc.  have  passed  over,  treat  the  resulting  liquid 
with  10  cc.  ether,  decant  the  camphorated  ether  and  proceed  as  in 
the  other  processes. 
Assay  of  iodoform  gauze. — Fr.  Gay  {Rep.  de  pharm.,  July,  1893, 
p.  298)  gives  the  following  process :  The  gauze  is  rolled  up  and 
placed  in  a  bath  of  90  per  cent,  alcohol,  in  a  Soxhlet  percolator, 
connected  with  a  reflux  condenser  and  attached  to  a  flask,  into 
which  an  alcoholic  solution  of  caustic  potassa  is  introduced.  If  a 
ten  per  cent,  gauze  is  operated  upon  the  strength  of  the  solution 
should  be  5  gm.  potassa  to  100  cc.  alcohol.    The  apparatus  is  placed 
