An^iSch;r898arm  }  Recent  Literature  Relating  to  Pharmacy.  165 
interior,  and  that  it  is  preferred  by  some  of  them  to  palm  oil  on 
account  of  its  better  flavor.  The  oil  is  extracted  by  drying  the 
seeds  and  parching  them  over  a  fire.  They  are  then  pounded  in  a 
mortar ;  water  is  added  and  the  whole  boiled  and  the  fat  or  oil 
skimmed  off  as  it  rises.  Recent  analysis  shows  the  seeds  to  contain 
41  per  cent,  of  oil,  which  appears  best  adapted  for  soap  making. 
PREPARATION  OF  ABSOLUTE  ALCOHOL  BY  THE  USE  OF  CALCIUM 
CARBIDE. 
M.  P.  Yvon  {Comptes  Rendics,  cxxv,  No.  26)  has  found  that  when 
coarsely-powdered  calcium  carbide  is  brought  into  contact  with 
alcohol  (90  to  95  per  cent.),  evolution  of  acetylene  gas  takes  place 
and  continues  as  long  as  any  water  remains  in  the  alcohol. 
This  reaction,  therefore,  affords  a  very  simple  means  of  determining 
whether  an  alcohol  is  anhydrous.  In  order  to  test  a  sample,  a  few  cubic 
centimeters  of  the  alcohol  are  put  into  a  test-tube  and  a  few  grains  of 
the  coarsely-powdered  carbide  are  added.  If  no  water  is  present, 
no  gas-bubbles  appear,  and,  on  shaking,  the  liquid  remains  clear. 
But  if  the  mixture  contains  even  traces  of  water,  small  gas-bubbles 
form,  and,  on  shaking,  the  mixture  becomes  cloudy,  owing  to  the 
formation  of  calcium  hydrate. 
To  prepare  absolute  alcohol,  a  quantity  of  90  or  95  per  cent,  alco- 
hol is  placed  in  a  flask  with  one-fourth  its  weight  of  calcium  carbide, 
coarsely  powdered.  The  reaction  is  allowed  to  proceed  a  few  minutes, 
or  until  it  becomes  less  vigorous,  and  then  the  flask  is  shaken  fre- 
quently during  two  or  three  hours,  after  which  it  is  allowed  to  stand 
for  twelve  hours.  The  flask  is  again  shaken,  and,  if  necessary,  a 
little  more  of  the  carbide  is  added.  The  mixture  is  then  distilled. 
The  first  portions  of  the  distillate  contain  some  acetylene  in  solution, 
and  are  collected  in  a  separate  vessel.  The  distillate  afterward  col- 
lected constitutes  the  product  desired. 
A  more  satisfactory  method  consists  in  collecting  all  the  distillate 
in  one  vessel  and  adding  to  it  a  small  quantity  of  dried  copper  sul- 
phate. This  latter  takes  up  the  acetylene  present,  and  the  product 
formed  need  not  be  separated  betore  a  second  distillation  is  carried 
out. 
PURE   CALCIUM  GLYCEROPHOSPHATE. 
Continuing  their  experiments  on  the  glycerophosphates,  Adrian 
and  Trillat  propose  the  following  method  for  preparing  the  pure 
