420 
Separation  of  Resins. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Aug.,  1888. 
Pyridine  is  not  a  pleasant  remedy  either  to  take  internally  or  to  in- 
hale. It  has  an  unsavory  odor,  but  it  seems  worth  a  trial,  when 
other  remedies  fail  to  relieve  dyspnoea.  See  used  it  by  placing  about 
a  drachm  on  a  plate  in  a  small  room,  in  one  corner  of  which  the  pa- 
tient is  seated.  It  may  also  be  inhaled  from  water,  in  which  it  is 
soluble.  Five  to  twenty  drops  may  be  added  to  IJ  oz.  of  water  in 
an  inhaler,  or  four  or  five  drops  may  be  inhaled  from  a  pocket-hand- 
kerchief. With  regard  to  its  internal  use,  further  clinical  experience 
is  required  before  such  claims  as  De  Renzi  puts  forth  for  it  can  be 
fully  allowed. — Med.  Chronicle,  May,  1888. 
SEPARATION  OF  RESINS.^ 
By  G.  Kliebhau. 
The  relative  solubility  in  various  solvents,  and  the  behavior  towards 
acetic,  sulphuric,  and  nitric  acids,  boiling  aqueous  soda,  and  ammonia, 
afford  the  best  means  of  separating  the  different  resins.  In  the  follow- 
ing experiments,  the  powdered  resins  were  treated  with  three  times 
their  volume  of  the  solvent  at  a  temperature  of  29-80°.  In  boiling 
water,  colophony  forms  a  half-melted  mass ;  shellac,  mastic,  elemi^ 
and  dammar  agglomerate;  sandarach,  copal,  and  amber  remain  un- 
changed. In  alcohol,  mastic,  shellac,  sandarach,  and  colophony  are 
soluble;  elemi  soluble  with  difficulty  ;  dammar  and  amber  insoluble; 
copal  agglomerates.  In  ether,  dammar,  colophony,  mastic,  elemi, 
and  sandarach  are  readily  soluble ;  amber  and  shellac  insoluble ; 
copal  swells  up.  Carbon  bisulphide  dissolves  dammar  and  colophony 
readily ;  mastic,  elemi,  and  sandarach  with  difficulty ;  amber  and 
shellac  not  at  all.  Benzene  dissolves  dammar,  mastic,  and  colophony ; 
sandarach  and  elemi  with  difficulty  ;  whilst  amber,  shellac,  and  copal 
are  insoluble.  Light  petroleum  dissolves  dammar  and  mastic  readily ; 
colophony,  elemi,  and  sandarach  with  difficulty ;  amber,  copal,  and 
shellac  not  at  all.  Acetic  acid  causes  colophony  to  swell,  but  is  with- 
out action  on  the  other  resins.  Sulphuric  acid  dissolves  all  resins, 
but  causes  charring  and  decomposition ;  dammar,  on  the  other  hand, 
when  treated  with  sulphuric  acid  becomes  bright  red.    Nitric  acid 
^Jour.  Chem.  Soc,  1888,  p.  761 ;  Pharm.  Zdt.  Buss.,  xxvi,  777—779. 
