ADA^usrtj9(Srm'}    Pennsylvania  Pharmaceutical  Association.  381 
does  not  give  the  same  reaction  with  this  test.  Sixth :  The  detec- 
tion of  abrastol  is  accomplished  by  adding  a  reagent  prepared  by 
dissolving  mercury  in  twice  its  weight  of  nitric  acid  and  diluting  the 
solution  with  five  volumes  of  water.  This  produces  a  yellow  color 
deepening  to  a  reddish  color  in  the  presence  of  abrastol.  The  test 
can  be  applied  directly  to  milk,  but  with  fruit  juices,  etc.,  the  abrastol 
must  be  separated  in  a  manner  similar  to  that  in  testing  for  salicylic 
acid. 
Some  Notes,  on  the  Detection  and  Estimation  of  Boric  Acid. 
By  Charles  H.  La  Wall  and  H.  A.  Bradshaw. 
The  authors  comment  upon  the  commonly  used  turmeric  paper 
test  which  is  used  for  the  detection  of  boric  acid,  but  which,  as 
usually  applied,  is  not  as  sensitive  as  is  desirable.  The  use  of  tur- 
meric tincture,  and  the  application  of  the  test  to  the  liquid  directly 
which  is  to  be  evaporated  so  as  to  leave  a  thin  film  on  a  watch  glass, 
is  the  method  advocated.  With  milk  the  test  is  very  satisfactory, 
as  applied  directly.  With  meat '  products,  it  is  only  necessary  to 
heat  the  sample  with  water,  and  then  take  a  small  amount  of  this 
aqueous  liquid  for  the  test.  With  substances  which  have  no  ingre- 
dient which  would  leave  a  film,  such  as  is  left  in  the  two  foregoing 
cases,  the  authors  propose  the  use  of  a  5  per  cent,  gelatin  solution. 
By  the  use  of  this  method,  boric  acid  can  be  readily  detected  in  sea 
water.  The  proportion  is  shown  approximately  by  the  intensity 
of  the  red  color  which  results  when  boric  acid  is  present.  Some 
experiments  were  made  with  the  Gladding  method  for  the  estimation 
ot  boric  acid,  by  distillation  with  methyl  alcohol,  to  determine  the 
rate  with  which  the  methylborate  distils  over,  and  it  was  found  that 
it  is  necessary  to  distil  more  than  100  c.c.  of  the  methyl  alcohol  in 
order  to  recover  all  of  the  boric  acid,  as  on  three  separate  distilla- 
tions, where  100  c.c.  were  collected,  95  and  96  percent,  respectively 
were  recovered.  It  was  also  found  that  large  amounts  of  sodium 
chloride  had  no  effect  upon  the  accuracy  of  this  process. 
Are  Show  Windows  an  Advantage  in  Suburban  Sections? 
By  William  G.  Greenwalt. 
The  author  deplores  the  lack  of  attention  which  is  given  to  this 
important  department  of  a  drug  store,  giving  instances  of  good  and 
bad  methods,  and  the  effect  on  possible  customers.    He  states  that 
