EDITORIAL. 
283 
Bestucheff's  Tincture  of  Chloride  of  Iron. — We  have  received  the 
following : 
"  Prof.  Procter  : — I  would  like  to  call  your  attention  to  the  article 
by  A.  Cushman,  (Am.  Jour.  Pharm.,  1857,  vol.  v.  p.  460)  on  Ethereal 
Tincture  of  Sesqui-chloride  of  Iron,  as  I  suppose  it  is  not,  as  headed,  a 
sesqui  but  a  proto  chloride  of  iron.  Also  to  a  statement  of  its  com- 
position, which,  ;the  writer  says,  "  consists  of  the  green  crystals  of 
sesqui  chloride  of  iron,  &c.  &c.  According  to  the  authorities  I  have 
in  my  possession  the  chloride  mentioned  is  proto,  not  sesqui ;  and  more- 
over, in  the  formula  for  its  preparation,  if  light  green  crystals  are  pro- 
duced it  is  owing  to  an  insufficiency  of  NO5  to  oxidize.  If  changed 
into  sesqui-chloride  by  standing  I  should  think  more  H,C1  was  neces- 
sary to  form  the  salt ;  and  also  how  or  why  is  the  characteristic  taste 
of  the  sesqui  chloride  of  iron  so  lost  in  the  resulting  preparation. 
"With  much  respect  I  remain,  Thuja. 
Thuja  is  correct  in  believing  that  Mr.  Cushman's  sesqui- chloride  is 
mainly  proto  chloride.  He  says  in  his  paper  that  the  first  crystals  are 
colored  with  sesqui  oxide  (sesqui-chloride)  and  have  to  be  washed  with 
alcohol,  thus  removing  the  greater  part  of  the  sesqui-chloride  formed  in 
his  process.  This  result  is  the  effect  of  using  a  deficiency  of  nitric  acid. 
Probably  the  nitric  acid  he  employed  was  much  weaker  than  that  of 
U.  S.  P.  In  the  phenomenon  of  decoloration  by  sunlight  sesqui  chloride 
of  iron  becomes  proto-chloride  and  free  chlorine,  which  last  reacts  on  a  por- 
tion of  alcohol  to  form  hydrochloric  acid  and  aldehyde.  The  hydrochloric 
acid  then  reacting  with  another  portion  of  alcohol,  or  of  the  ether,  produces 
chloride  of  ethyle  and  water.  Proto-chloride  of  iron  is  soluble  in  alcohol 
and  spirit  of  ether,  (but  not  in  pure  ether)  hence  the  resulting  salt  is  re- 
tained in  solution  as  a  mild  neutral  proto-chloride,  quite  different  in  its 
character  from  the  acidulous  sesqui  salt. 
Cavendish  Society. — After  an  interval  of  eighteen  months  another  vol- 
ume has  issued  from  the  press  of  this  useful  Society.  The  11th  volume 
of  Gmelin's  Hand-book  of  Chemistry,  the  fifth  of  the  Organic  series,  has 
just  been  received  and  distributed  to  the  members.  As  this  is  the  first 
volume  for  1857,  all  members  who  have  not  paid  their  subscriptions  for 
1857  should  forward  the  amount  to  "  W.  Procter,  Jr.,  500  South  Ninth  St., 
Philadelphia,"  who  is  one  of  the  Local  Secretaries  for  the  Society.  The 
local  secretary  takes  this  opportunity  to  say  that  those  members  who  sub- 
scribed for  the  1st  and  2nd  volumes  of  Lehman's  Physiological  Chemistry, 
and  have  not  yet  procured  the  3d  volume,  may  get  it  on  application.  The 
Secretary  has  also  two  or  three  complete  copies  of  Gmelin's  Hand-book, 
as  far  as  published,  (11  volumes),  and  several  of  Laurent's  Method  of  Che- 
mistry, the  Life  of  Dalton  and  Bischof  ;s  Chemical  Geology. 
New  Sydenham  Society. — The  inaugural  meeting  of  this  Society  was 
held  on  Monday,  Jan.  18th  1858,  and  resulted  in  the  election  of  Dr.  Wil- 
