PHOSPHORATED  OIL. 
403 
plates  in  a  drying  room  and  reduce  it  to  powder. — Journ.  de 
Pharmacie,  Juil,  1868,  from  Mon.  Sci. 
ON  PHOSPHORATED  OIL. 
By  M.  C.  Mehu. 
The  author  objects  to  the  process  of  the  French  Codex,  in 
which  almond  oil  is  heated  with  an  excess  of  phosphorus  and 
the  oil  decanted  from  the  excess  when  cold.  He  finds  that, 
owing  to  the  presence  in  the  oil  of  certain  proximate  matters, 
(as  albumen  and  resin)  that  the  solution  alters  by  keeping,  and 
deposits  a  reddish  matter  containing  some  phosphorus. 
To  obtain  a  phosphorated  oil  absolutely  limpid  and  inaltera- 
ble he  recommends  the  following  process  employed  for  many 
years  at  the  Necker  hospital. 
Take  a  sufficient  quantity  of  limpid  oil  of  sweet  almond,  heat 
it  in  a  porcelain  capsule  during  a  quarter  of  an  hour  at  the  temp- 
erature of  302°  Fahr.,  afterwards  during  ten  minutes  at  about 
the  temperature  of  392°  to  482°  Fahr.  It  disengages  at  first 
vapor  of  water,  and  certain  organic  matters  easily  changed  are 
destroyed  or  volatilized,  at  the  same  time  that  the  oil  is  almost 
decolorized. 
The  oil  thus  heated  by  standing,  deposits  the  impurities  as  a 
light  flocculose,  which  may  be  separated  after  standing  or  at 
once  filtered. 
To  transform  this  oil  into  phosphorated  oil,  put  it  into  a 
glass-stoppered  flask,  well  dried  ;  add  a  fragment  of  transparent 
phosphorus  one-hundredth  part  by  weight  of  the  oil  used,  that  is 
to  say  a  grain  of  phosphorus  for  every  100  grains  of  oil.  The 
flask  is  placed  in  a  water  bath  and  heated  to  from  176°  F.  to 
194°  F.,  loosening  the  stopper  several  times  during  the  heating 
to  permit  the  expanded  air  to  escape  ;  then  remove  it  from  the 
bath  and  agitate  briskly  from  time  to  time  until  the  phosphorus 
is  completely  dissolved.  The  solution  is  rapid,  the  color  un- 
changed, and  no  deposit  occurs. 
Thus  prepared  this  oil  contains  one  per  cent,  of  phosphorus, 
whilst  the  oil  of  the  Codex  process  contains  1*2  per  cent.  It  is 
phosphorescent  in  the  dark  and  emits  abundant  white  vapors  in 
