AmbJe°c"ri8>79*nB*  1  Gleanings  from  the  German  Journals.  60 1 
hydrochloric  acid  and  5  parts  water  until  a  red,  soft  mass  separated, 
allowing  the  mixture  to  cool,  decanting  the  supernatant  liquid,  boiling 
the  red  mass  with  water,  adding  th's  decoction  to  the  decanted  liquid, 
shaking  the  mixture  several  times  with  ether,  distilling  off  the  latter, 
setting  aside  the  residue  to  crystallize  and  recrystallizing  the  obtained 
crystals  from  water.  The  product  obtained  by  heating  the  colorless 
kinoin  to  I30°C.  is  red,  amorphous,  less  soluble  in  water,  more 
soluble  in  alcohol  than  kinoin,  has  the  formula  C56H22022,  and  is  iden- 
tical with  the  red  substance,  which  is  the  principal  constituent  of  kino. 
— Pharm.  Centralbl,  Oct.  9,  1879,  p.  380,  from  Ber.  der  Chem.  Ges. 
The  presence  of  alcohol  in  chloroform  and  chloral  hydrate  is 
ascertained,  according  to  Boettger,  by  adding  very  carefully  and  gradu- 
ally to  the  chloroform  or  to  an  aqueous  solution  of  the  chloral  hydrate 
a  solution  of  molybdic  acid  in  pure  concentrated  sulphuric  acid,  when 
the  presence  of  the  smallest  trace  of  alcohol  will  cause  an  intense  blue 
coloration. — Ztschr.  d.  Allg.  Oest.  Ap.  Ver.,  Oct.  10,  1879,  p.  431,  from 
Jabresb.  Phys.  Ver.,  Frankfurt. 
Detection  of  Phosphorus. — Mix  the  suspected  mass  with  a  little 
subacetate  of  lead  in  order  to  remove  sulphuretted  hydrogen,  if  pres- 
ent ;  shake  a  portion  of  the  mixture  well  in  a  glass  vessel  with  a  little 
ethylic  ether,  close  the  vessel  with  a  cork,  to  the  lower  end  of  wh  ch 
a  strip  of  parchment  paper,  moistened  with  solution  of  silver  nitrate, 
has  been  previously  attached,  and  set  aside  in  a  shady  place,  when 
the  phosphorus  will  in  half  an  hour  impart  to  the  moistened  portion 
of  the  paper  a  black  color,  having  a  metallic  lustre.  The  reaction 
will  always  take  place,  even  when  the  quantity  of  phosphorus  is  so 
minute  that  the  ordinary  methods  yield  no  or  at  least  doubtful  reactions. 
Petroleum  ether  may  be  used  instead  of  the  ethylic  ether  in  this  test, 
but  yields  slower  reactions. — Pbarm.  Post,  Oct.  16,  1879,  p.  310,  and 
Pharm.  Centra  lb. 
Ammonia  in  Caustic  Alkalies. — The  presence  of  traces  of  ammo- 
nia in  preparations  of  caustic  alkali  is  attributed,  by  Hager,  to  the  well- 
known  fact  that  these  preparations  absorb  carbonic  acid  of  the  atmos- 
phere, and  that  this  is  almost  always  combined  with  ammonia,  which  is 
thus  also  absorbed. — Pbarm.  Centralh.,  Oct.  9,  1879,  p.  379. 
Aqua  bisdestillata,  a  strictly  pure  so  called  double-distilled  water 
for  analytical  purposes,  which  is  said  to  keep  unaltered  for  years  in 
