328 
GLEANINGS  FROM  GERMAN  JOURNALS. 
wafers  were  colored  by  lakes  ;  brown  wafers  by  ochre. — ( Wittst. 
V.  Schr.  x.  557—559). 
Pilules  contre  la  goutte  et  les  Rheumatisms  de  Lartigue,  which 
are  sold  in  boxes  containing  twenty-four  pills,  for  ten  francs, 
are  composed,  according  to  Professor  Wittstein,  of  2  grains  pow- 
dered colchicum  seed  and  J  gr.  sugar  and  mucilage,  each  pill 
weighing  about  2i  gr.  ;  they  are  rolled  in  lycopodium. — (Wittst. 
V.  Schr.  x.  598—600). 
Purification  of  Fusel  Oil  B,  Hirsch  rejects  the  fractional 
distillation  of  crude  fusel  oil,  either  with  or  without  previous 
washing  with  water.  He  removes  most  of  the  alcohol  by  agi- 
tating the  crude  liquid  with  a  concentrated  solution  of  table 
salt,  repeating  the  operation  three  or  four  times,  until  the 
volume  ceases  to  be  diminished.  The  fusel  oil,  still  containing 
traces  of  alcohol,  is  distilled  with  three  or  four  times  its  quan- 
tity of  water,  like  the  essential  oils.  The  aqueous  portion  of 
the  distillate  contains  all  the  alcohol,  and  the  fusel  oil  is  ob- 
tained colorless  and  pure,  without  imparting  much  of  its  disa- 
greeable odor  to  the  atmosphere.  It  is  remarkable  that,  from 
beginning  to  end,  the  oil  distills  in  relatively  the  same  quantity, 
so  that  it  suddenly  ceases  to  appear  in  the  distilling  vapors,  which 
now  contain  only  pure  water.  It  is  from  this  behaviour  that  the 
apparatus  afterwards  have  scarcely  an  odor  of  fusel  oil,  and 
are  easily  cleansed.  Thus  the  whole  of  the  fusel  oil  is  obtained, 
except  the  minute  portion  dissolved  by  the  wash  waters — (Buch- 
ner's  N.  Repert.  x.  294—297.) 
On  Chelidoninio  Acid. — Professor  G.  F.  Walz  has  prepared 
this  acid  according  toZvvenger's  directions  (see  Am.  Journ.  Ph. 
xxxiii.  10.)  from  200  lb.  Chelidonium  majus,  and  obtained  by  ether, 
a  small  quantity  of  an  acid,  which  from  its  baryta  salt  and  from  its 
solubility  in  ether,  (1000  parts  dissolved  -016  to  «017),  turns 
out  to  be  succinic  acid.  This  acid  had  been  found  in  celandine 
by  Reinsch  (Jahrb.  d.  Ph.  xiv.  34.)  W\  Engelhardt  (Zeitsch. 
f.  Chem.  and  Pharm.  iii.  No.  20)  obtained  by  ether  a  solution 
of  malic  acid,  which,  after  neutralization  with  lime,  was  decom- 
posed into  succinic  acid.  Walz  supposes  that  the  succinic  acid 
C8  H6  08  originates  from  the  malic  acid  C8  H6  O10  through  the 
