654  Review  of  Advances  in  Pharmacy.  {AmQClo£er  F^gi™' 
of  the  fact  that  this  plant  is  so  closely  related  to  Sesamum  indicum. 
One  would  expect  it  to  be  otherwise,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Halphen 
test  for  cottonseed  oil,  which  is  also  given  by  Kapok  oil,  the  plant 
from  which  this  oil  is  obtained  being  closely  related  to  the  cotton 
plant. 
The  other  results  obtained  with  this  oil  are  within  the  limits  for 
sesame  oil,  although  the  specific  gravity  is  somewhat  lower. 
The  oil  is  edible,  and  could  be  made  of  use  in  the  manufacture 
of  margarine,  etc.,  if  the  seed  were  obtainable  in  large  enough  quan- 
tities. Its  low  free  fatty  acid  content  and  relatively  slight  taste 
should  make  it  available  for  the  preparation  of  edible  oils. — The 
Analyst,  July,  191 9,  page  233,  E.  Richards  Bolton. 
Reaction  of  Aconitine. — The  red  color,  mentioned  by  Dragen- 
dorff  as  characteristic  of  this  alkaloid,  produced  when  aconitine  is 
heated  with  phosphoric  acid,  is  usually  only  obtained  with  amorphous 
products.  The  pure  crystalline  aconitine  heated  with  phosphoric 
acid  (sp.  gr.  1.7)  yields  only  a  faint  gray  color.  By  using  a  mixture 
of  the  acid  (25  grams)  and  sodium  molybdate  (1  gram),  a  brilliant 
violet  coloration  is  produced  with  samples  of  crystalline  aconitine 
which  give  no  color  with  phosphoric  acid  alone.  Of  the  other  com- 
mon alkaloids  the  only  ones  that  give  color  reactions  that  could  be 
mistaken  for  the  aconitine  reaction  are  aspidospermine  (deep  violet) 
and  veratrine  (violet  red).  The  first  may  be  differentiated  from 
aconitine  by  the  action  of  oxidizing  agents,  and  the  other  by  the 
action  of  mineral  acids. — /.  Pharm.  Chim.,  191 9,  19,  295-296.  L.  P. 
J.  Palet,  through  The  Analyst,  July,  1919,  page  236. 
Influence  of  Various  Ammonium  Salts  on  the  Precipitation  of 
Magnesium  Hydroxide. — The  writer  of  this  paper  shows  that  the 
sulphate  of  ammonium  is  rather  more  effective  than  the  chloride  in 
holding  up  magnesium  hydroxide.  This  fact  does  not  agree  with 
the  theory  given  in  many  text-books  to  explain  the  mechanism  of  the 
hindrance  that  ammonium  salts  have  on  the  precipitation  of  mag- 
nesium salts.  Unsuccessful  attempts  were  made  to  apply  this  knowl- 
edge to  the  separation  of  calcium  and  magnesium.  Aside  from  the 
fact,  in  presence  of  sulphates,  solutions  of  calcium  salts  must  be 
highly  diluted,  which  is  inconvenient,  the  writer  has  failed  to  obtain 
•exact  or  even  concordant  results.- — Helv.  Chim.  Acta,  1919,  2,  277, 
through  The  Analyst,  July,  1919,  page  245. 
