76 
MISCELLANY. 
glycerine : — When castor oil is dissolved in absolute alcohol, and a 
current of dry muriatic gas passed through the warm liquid, the fat is 
decomposed. If, when the muriatic acid gas has acted sufficiently 
long, the liquid be shaken with water, an emulsion is obtained, which 
soon separates into an oily supernatant, and into a strong acid aqueous 
layer. The latter was separated from the layer of oil by means of a 
siphon, and evaporated in a platinum dish in the water-bath. At first 
a large quantity of muriatic acid passes off, and there finally remains 
a yellow syrupy mass. When this is treated with sether, a portion 
dissolves, while the remainder is not acted upon by the sether. After 
the evaporation of the sether an oily substance remains, which consists 
of the combinations of the fatty acids of the castor oil with oxide of 
ethyle ; the substance insoluble in sether forms, after drying in vacuo, 
a slightly yellowish syrup, which has all the properties of glycerine. 
The oxide of glyceryle of the fats contained in the castor oil has con- 
sequently been replaced by oxide of ethyle, while it has combined 
with the water which the alcohol parted with on its conversion into 
sether. — Ibid, from Liebig's Annalen. 
Mode of ascertaining whether Olive Oil has been sophisticated with Rape 
or Poppy Oil. By M. Diesel. — Pure olive oil is coloured green by 
ordinary nitric acid. On the other hand, 1 drm. of olive oil, sophisti- 
cated with rape oil and mixed with 12 drops of nitric acid, exhibited 
a strong yellowish-gray colour. Comparative experiments with vari- 
ous mixtures of oil showed that this reaction was still perceptible even 
with the addition of one -tenth. The adulteration with poppy oil is 
likewise easily detected with nitric acid, but the mixture then becomes 
yellowish-white, and not brownish as in the previous case. Pure 
nitric acid exhibits the reaction in a far less degree. Dr. Bley adds, 
that the samples must be judged of in the course of 12 hours after the 
addition of the nitric acid, as pure olive oil is likewise coloured more 
or less brown after a longer interval. — Ibid, from Archiv. der Pharm. 
Test for Strychnia. By Mack. — Marchand has shown in the Journal 
de Pharmacie ct de Chimie (1843, Sept., p. 200) that when strychnia is 
rubbed with peroxide of lead and sulphuric acid containing some nitric 
acid, it is immediately oxidized and a blue pigment formed, which 
becomes violet, then gradually red, and," after a few hours, yellow. 
This test is so delicate that T oVo tn of a S rain of stl T cnnia can be dis- 
covered by it. But as peroxide of lead is not usually found in 
chemists' shops, Mack substituted peroxide of manganese, and obtain- 
ed similar results. With this test strychnia can be detected in 
