AmMa?chtimm'}  Recent  Literature  Relating  to  Pharmacy.  163 
RECENT  LITERATURE  RELATING  TO  PHARMACY. 
EXTRACTION  OF  GUTTA  PERCH  A  FROM  LEAVES. 
An  account  of  this  industry  as  it  is  carried  on  at  the  Straits  Set- 
tlement, India,  is  given  in  the  issue  of  Kezv  Bulletin  for  May  and 
June,  1897.  The  leaves  are  imported  dry  in  sacks  from  Borneo  and 
johore.  The  trees  are  overcut  in  Singapore,  and  it  is  reported  that 
there  are  no  more  leaves  left.  The  leaves  and  twigs  cost  $4.50  a 
picul  (133  pounds).  They  are  put,  damped  with  hot  water,  into  a 
rolling  machine,  two  rollers  working  against  each  other,  which 
grind  them  to  powder.  The  powder  is  thrown  into  tanks  and  shaken 
about.  The  gutta  percha  floats  in  the  form  of  a  green,  mealy-look- 
ing stuff.  It  is  lifted  out  by  fine  copper  gauze  nets,  put  in  warm 
water  and  pressed  into  moulds.  It  is  said  to  be  a  very  curious  little 
manufactory.  It  is  thought  that,  on  account  of  the  difficulty  of 
procuring  leaves,  the  trade  will  sooner  or  later  stop. 
THE  PREPARATION  OF  PURE  IODINE. 
Bevan  Lean  and  W.  H.  Whatmough  [Chemical  News,  Vol.  77, 
No.  1993)  state  that  iodine  is  most  conveniently  prepared  from 
cuprous  iodide  by  heating  it  in  a  stream  of  dry  air  at  2200  to  2400 
and  condensing  the  vapors  upon  a  cold  surface.  Although  the 
greater  portion  of  the  iodine  is  quickly  expelled  from  the  copper 
salt,  it  is  not  easy  to  expel  the  whole.  After  heating  1-7101 
grammes  at  4000  for  eighteen  hours,  0-15  per  cent,  of  the  iodide 
was  still  undecomposed.  The  authors  proved  that  the  action  of  air 
upon  cuprous  iodide  is  not  dependent  upon  the  presence  of  moisture. 
This  they  did  by  sealing  cuprous  iodide  in  glass  tubes  in  the  pres- 
ence of  phosphoric  anhydride. 
The  iodine  obtained  at  2400,  as  described  above,  leaves  no  resi- 
due when  volatilized  at  75 °.  Neither  does  an  examination  with 
the  spectroscope  give  any  evidence  of  the  presence  of  copper.  The 
melting  point  (uncorrected)  is  112-5°  to  1 14°. 
The  authors  have  also  discovered  that  cuprous  iodide  can  be  pre- 
pared by  sprinkling  iodoform  in  small  quantities  at  a  time  upon  a 
hot  surface  of  copper,  the  product  being  free  from  bromide  or 
chloride. 
A  NEW  SYNTHESIS  OF  GLYCERIN. 
O.  Piloty  [Berichte,  xxx,  3 161)  reports  a  new  synthesis  of  glycerin, 
which  result  is  not  only  a  matter  of  technical  interest,  but  is  also 
