Ara..Iour.  Pharui.  ) 
Feb.,  1883.  i 
Preservation  of  Butter. 
95 
this  paper,  to  make  the  following  suggestion,  which  I  think  will  make 
a  comprehension  of  the  sources  and  })roperties  of  these  bodies  a  little 
more  easy  to  attain  than  it  is  at  present. 
Since  nataloin  differs  so  distinctly  from  all  the  rest,  it  will  be  conven- 
ient to  retain  that  name  for  that  substance. 
And  since  zanaloin,  socaloin,  and  Jaiferabad  aloin  differ  so  little  from 
barbaloin,  they  may  be  conveniently  classed  together  as  barba loins," 
distinguishing  the  aloin  of  Barbadoes  aloes,  which  was  first  discovered, 
and  differs  in  a  few  particulars  from  the  others,  as  «-barbaloin,  and  the 
later  discovered  aloins,  between  which  no  distinct  differences  are  known, 
as  /3-barbaloin.  The  main  points  of  difference  among  these  bodies 
could  then  be  tabulated  thus: — 
1.  Nataloin,  obtained  from  Natal  aloes,  yields  only  picric  and  oxalic 
acids  by  treatment  with  nitric  acid.  Is  not  reddened,  even  on  heating, 
by  that  reagent. 
2.  Barbaloins  yield  clirysammic,  aloetic,  picric,  and  oxalic  acids  by 
treatment  with  nitric  acid. 
They  may  be  divided  into — 
a.  a  barbaloin,  obtained  from  Barbadoes  aloes.  Is  reddened  in  the 
<3old  by  ordinary  strong  nitric  acid. 
h.  /9-barbaloin,  obtained  from  Socotrine,  Zanzibar,  and  Jafferabad 
aloes.  It  is  not  colored  by  cold  nitric  acid,  but  gives  an  orange-red 
•coloration  whvu  heated  with  it,  and  also  gives  a  coloration  in  the  cold 
with  fuming  nitric  acid. 
The  point  is  not  one  of  great  importance,  but  I  think  this  or  some 
similar  system,  might  now  be  conveniently  adopted,  in  place  of  giving 
a  new  name  to  each  aloin  even  when  it  is  in  no  w^ay  different  from 
others  already  known. —  Clifton  College,  1882, 
Presevation  of  Butter.  — Dr.  W.  Hagemann  has  observed  that  cow 
butter  contains  0*5  to  0  6  p3r  cent,  of  milk-sugar,  which  under  the  influ- 
ence of  bacteria  is  transformed  into  lactic  acid,  and  this  liberates  from 
the  glycerides  the  acid,  containing  less  carbon.  It  is  obvious  from 
this  that  summer-butter  becomes  rancid  more  rapidly  and  strongly  than 
winter-butter,  and  that  for  the  preservation  of  butter  two  methods  may 
be  adopted,  viz.,  either  the  lower  fat  acids  are  removed  by  soda  solu- 
tion, as  proposed  by  Adolf  Mayer  and  Dr.  Clausnitzer,  or  else  the 
milk-sugar  must  be  removed,  or  its  decomposition  prevented  by  sup- 
pressing the  vegetation  of  the  bacteria. —  Chem.  Ztg.,  1882,  No.  67. 
