570 
VARIETIES. 
pettishly  tossing  upon  the  prescription-counter  the  virus  which  he  had 
recently  purchased.  "But,"  urged  the  druggist,  "there  must  he  some 
mistake  ;  it  has  been  tried  repeatedly,  and  with  invariable  success."  «  I 
have  used  it  in  a  dozen  of  cases,  and  not  one  of  them  has  'taken  ;7  there  is 
your  stuff,  sir,  ca\l  it  what  you  please — I  call  it  a  humbug  and  a  swindle, 
sir  !"  quoth  the  doctor,  waxing  wroth.  The  scab  was  examined.  Part  of 
the  foil  had  been  removed  and  some  small  encroachment  made  upon  the 
wax,  but  the  virus  itself  remained  imbedded  in  its  tenacious  sheath  entire. 
The  truth  flashed  upon  the  pill-maker,  and  an  unwonted  smile  radiated  in 
wrinkles  over  every  feature.  The  learned  professor  had  inoculated  a  dozen 
patients  with  white  wax ! — American  Druggist's  Circular. 
Adulteration  of  Peru  Balsam  with  Castor  Oil. — Dr.  Wagner  (Annalen  der 
Chemie  und  Pharmacie,  civ.,  109,)  recommends  for  the  detection  of  this 
adulteration,  a  method  based  upon  the  characteristic  reaction  of  aldehydes 
with  bisulphites  of  the  alkalies.  Pure  Peru  balsam  gives  by  distillation, 
acid  products,  but  no  aldehyde.  Castor  oil,  on  the  contrary,  yields  the 
aldehyde  of  oenanthylic  acid. 
In  testing  Peru  balsam,  about  one  hundred  grains  is  to  be  distilled,  until 
the  portion  which  has  passed  over  amounts  to  rather  more  than  one-half. 
This  distillate,  consisting  of  two  layers  of  liquid,  is  then  to  be  shaken  with 
baryta  water,  the  floating  layer  of  oil  removed  by  means  of  a  pipette,  and 
then  shaken  with  a  concentrated  solution  of  bisulphite  of  soda.  If  the 
Peru  balsam  contained  castor  oil,  this  liquid  immediately  solidifies  to  a 
crystalline  mass,  from  which — after  recrystallizing  from  boiling  alcohol, 
until  the  smell  of  acrolein  is  removed — the  oenanthylic  aldehyde  may  be 
separated,  by  means  of  potash  or  dilute  sulphuric  acid,  as  a  colorless  liquid, 
insoluble  in  water.  The  crystalline  soda  compound  has  the  composition 
C14  H13  Na  S2  06  +  4  aq. 
More  probably  it  contains  a  mixture  of  oenanthylic  and  caprylio  alde- 
hydes, and  may  be  better  represented  by  the  following  formula : — 
Na  S2  06  -f  4  aq. 
since  it  appears  that  by  the  dry  distillation  of  castor  oil,  caprylic  acid  is 
produced  as  well  as  oenanthylic  acid. — London  Pharm.  Jour,  and  Trans., 
June  1,  1858. 
^14  "13 
