Am.  Joub.  Pharm.  1 
Dee.  1, 1871.  j 
Gleanings  from  Foreign  Journals. 
543 
JVew  Source  for  Qitric  Acid. — 0.  Silvestri,  Professor  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Catanea,  has  found  a  large  quantity  of  citric  acid  in  Oypho- 
mandra  betacea,  a  solanaceous  plant  of  Mexico,  Peru,  and  other  parts 
of  South  America,  where  it  is  called  tomate  de  la  paz.  It  is  shrubby 
and  attains  the  height  of  4  meters.  The  fruit  yielded  between  1  and 
IJ  per  ct.  acid. — Ihid.^  449,  from  Sehweiz.  Zeit.  f.  Pharm. 
Analysis  of  the  Red  Whortleberry^  Vaccinium  vitis-idcea,  Lin. — 
Dr.  Grager. — The  berries  contain  10-185  soluble  principles,  4*204  in- 
soluble residue,  cellulose,  pectose,  &c.,  and  85*611  water.  The  ex- 
pressed juice  was  found  to  contain  1*975  free  organic  acid  (citric  and 
malic),  5*185  sugar,  0*476  tannin,  2*333  albuminous  and  pectinaceous 
bodies,  suspended  fat,  &c.,  0*216  inorganic  bases  (potassa,  lime,  mag- 
nesia, iron),  and  89*815  water. 
The  insoluble  residue  yielded  0*102  per  ct.  ashes,  consisting  of  sul- 
phate and  phosphate  of  lime,  silicic  acid,  and  oxide  of  iron. — iV.  Jahrb. 
f.  Pharm.,  1871,  Oct.,  208—213. 
Pure  Chromic  Acid  is  prepared  by  E.  Zettnow  by  dissolving  300 
grammes  commercial  bichromate  of  potassa  in  500  of  water,  and  add- 
ing 420  c.  c.  of  oil  of  vitriol.  In  about  12  hours  the  bisulphate  of 
potassa  crystallizes  out,  the  liquid  is  decanted,  and  the  crystals 
washed  with  about  12  c.c.  of  water.  The  liquid  is  heated  to  90°  C, 
150  c.  c.  concentrated  sulphuric  acid  are  added,  and  enough  water  to 
dissolve  the  flocks  of  chromic  acid.  The  solution  is  now  evaporated 
until  a  crystalline  film  appears,  when,  in  the  course  of  12  hours,  a 
crop  of  crystals  is  obtained ;  two  or  three  additional  crops  may  be 
obtained  by  evaporating  the  mother  liquor.  The  crystals  are  collected 
and  drained  upon  a  cone  of  platinum  foil,  perforated  with  numerous 
small  holes,  and  before  the  final  drying  washed  with  pure  nitric  acid, 
spec.  grav.  1*46,  which  removes  the  last  traces  of  sulphuric  acid  with- 
out dissolving  more  than  mere  traces  of  chromic  acid. — Poggendorff's 
Annalen,  1871,  No.  7. 
A  Compound  of  Sugar  and  Chloride  of  Sodium  may,  according  to 
Mr.  Maumene,  be  obtained  by  evaporating  upon  a  water-bath  a  syrup 
containing  100  p.  sugar  to  13  p.  of  table  salt.  The  crystalline  mass 
is  drained  upon  a  funnel,  and  washed  several  times  by  returning  the 
mother  liquor  upon  it.  The  filtrate  will  now  yield  large  prisms  of  the 
composition  Cg^HggOgaNaCl-f  4H0. — Bull,  de  la  Soc.  Chim.  Paris, 
1871.    1st  quarter. 
