24  Gleanings  from  the  German  Journals.  { "mjiZ^rm' 
towards  the  centre  into  a  bulb,  and  tapering  towards  the  lower  end, 
and  there  supplied  with  a  stop-cock.  They  are  shaken  together  and 
allowed  to  stand  for  five  minutes,  when  two  distinct  layers  form,  the 
upper  one  containing  all  the  butter  and  the  lower  one  all  the  lactose 
and  casein.  After  carefully  separating  them  by  means  of  the  stop- 
cock, the  butter  is  obtained  by  concentration  and  purified  by  dissolving 
in  ether  and  evaporating  the  latter.  After  adding  sufficient  distilled 
water  to  make  100  cc.  and  10  drops  of  acetic  acid  to  the  lower  layer 
the  casein  separates,  is  removed  by  filtration  and  the  lactose  determined 
in  the  filtrate  by  Fehling's  solution. — Chem.  Centralbl.,  Oct.  16,  1878, 
p.  663,  from  Compt.  Rend.,  vol.  87. 
Test  for  Resin  as  an  Adulteration  of  Beeswax.— E.  Schmidt 
recommends  the  following  modification  of  Donath's  method,  by  which 
1  per  cent,  of  resin  can  be  easily  detected  :  To  5  grams  of  the  wax, 
heated  with  20  or  25  grams  of  crude  nitric  acid,  sp.  gr,  1*32  to  1*33, 
to  the  boiling  point,  add  an  equal  quantity  of  cold  water  and  sufficient 
ammonia,  shaking  constantly  to  impart  to  the  mixture  an  ammoniacal 
odor,  and  pour  off"  the  alkaline  liquid  from  the  separated  wax  into  a 
cylindrical  vessel.  If  the  wax  is  pure  this  liquid  will  have  a  yellow,  if 
adulterated  with  resin  a  decided  reddish -brown  color,  caused  by  the 
nitro-proaucts  formed. — Archiv  d.  Pbarm.,  Sept.,  1878,  p.  212. 
Detection  of  Ergot  in  Flour  by  a  Simple,  Short  and  Exact 
Method. — Dr.  E.  Hoffmann  recommends  C.  H.  Wolff's  process, 
with  slight  alterations,  as  follows  :  10  grams  of  the  suspected  rye  flour, 
15  grams  of  ether  and  10  drops  dilute  sulphuric  acid  (1  :  5)  are  fre- 
quently shaken  together  and  allowed  to  stand  for  half  an  hour,  when 
they  are  placed  on  a  filter  and  washed  with  ether  until  the  straw-colored 
filtrate  amounts  to  10  grams.  If  this  is  shaken  with  5  drops  of  a  sat- 
urated aqueous  solution  of  sodium  bicarbonate  the  latter  will  immedi- 
ately separate  again  and  will  settle,  possessing  scarcely  any  color  in 
case  the  rye-flour  is  strictly  pure  and  contains  no  ergot,  while  all 
chlorophyll  will  remain  in  the  etherial  solution.  The  presence  of  1  -10 
per  cent,  of  ergot  in  the  flour  will  cause  a  handsome  violet  coloration 
of  the  sodium-bicarbonate  solution,  which  then  holds  all  the  color  of 
the  ergot.  By  this  method  the  author  claims  to  be  able  to  detect  the 
presence  of  1-50  per  cent.  ;  he  also  succeeded  in  determining  by 
this  method  the  presence  of  ergot  in  a  mixture  of  cinnamon,  orange- 
