CHLOROFORM  NOT  DECOMPOSED  BY  SUNLIGHT.  319 
It  is  very  evident  that  the  production  of  chloride  of  potassium 
at  Stassfurth  will  soon  make  competition  with  it  impossible,  and 
that  the  markets  of  Europe  will  be  chiefly,  if  not  exclusively, 
supplied  from  thence. — -(Condensed  from  an  article  by  Stro- 
meyer,  in  Dingier  %  Polytechnisches  Journal,  vol.  clxxxi,  p.  376  ? 
for  Am.  Jour.  Pharm.— -G.  J.  S.) 
CHLOROFORM  NOT  DECOMPOSED  BY  SUNLIGHT. 
By  Dr.  H.  Hager. 
In  previous  volumes  of  the  "  Pharmac.  Central  Halle,"  I  have 
repeatedly  expressed  my  doubts  regarding  the  decomposition  of 
chloroform  by  sunlight ;  I  have  also  stated,  that  the  decomposi- 
tion of  chloroform  has  been  observed  when  daylight  was  excluded, 
and  that  the  cause  of  this  spontaneous  decomposition  is  to  be 
looked  for  only  in  the  presence  of  higher  chlorine  substitutions. 
This  last  view  is  perfectly  justified  by  the  fact  that  this  spon- 
taneous decomposition  has  been  observed  only  in  chloroform  of 
very  high  specific  gravity. 
After  the  decomposition  of  chloroform  had  thus  been  repeated- 
ly reported,  I  was  surprised  by  the  order  of  the  Prussian  Minis- 
terium  of  July  9,  1867,  requiring  the  chloroform  to  be  kept  not 
only  in  blackened  bottles,  but  likewise  in  a  dark  place.  I  was 
induced  to  make  several  experiments,  which  gave  the  following 
results  : 
1.  Chloroform  of  1-490— 1*493  spec.  grav.  is  neither  altered 
or  decomposed  by  diffused  or  direct  sunlight,  between  16°  and 
18°  C. 
2.  Chloroform  of  the  same  gravity,  in  contact  with  air,  is  not 
altered  either  by  direct  or  diffused  sunlight. 
3.  Chloroform  of  a  higher  specific  gravity  than  1*495,  in  con- 
tact with  air,  has  a  great  inclination  to  decomposition,  which,  at 
a  temperature  of  about  20°  C,  proceeds  gradually  in  the  dark, 
but  more  rapidly  under  the  influence  of  direct  sunlight. 
The  experiments  which  warranted  these  conclusions  were 
performed  by  keeping  several  commercial  specimens  of  chloro- 
form in  white  glass  bottles,  entirely  and  partly  filled,  in  the 
dark,  in  diffused  daylight,  and  in  the  direct  sunlight. 
