■2o8  Gleanings  from  European  Journals.  {^^{^I'S.jt'^"'' 
boiling,  with  the  formation  of  kinon. — Annal,  d.  Chemie^  Vol.  175,  pp. 
62-75. 
On  the  Nature  and  Constitution  of  Tannic  Acid. — Hugo  Schiff  reviews 
the  older  analyses  of  the  salts  of  this  acid,  and  shows  that  they  agree 
with  the  modern  views  of  its  composition,  according  to  which  it  is  an 
etherial  anhydrid  of  gallic  acid,  expressed  by  the  empirical  formula 
Cj^Hj^Og,  first  proposed  by  Mulder  twenty-six  years  ago. — Ibid. ^pp. 
165-178. 
Pure  Chloroform^  entirely  free  from  alcohol,  has,  according  to  Rump 
and  Biltz,  a  specific  gravity  of  1.052,  and  boils  at  62°  C. — Archiv  d. 
Pharmacie^  Dec,  1874,  Vol.  205,  p.  504. 
Adulteration  of  Saffron. — Jul.  Muller  reports  having  met  with  saff'ron 
adulterated  with  25  per  cent,  of  carbonate  of  calcium,  and  lately  with  9 
per  cent,  of  sulphate  of  barium. — Ibid..^  p.  517. 
Test  fr  Codeia. — R.  Calmberg  observed  that  powdered  codeia,  treated 
with  concentrated  sulphuric  acid,  acquires  a  rose-red  color,  changing  in  a 
few  days  to  violet,  or  more  rapidly  on  the  addition  of  a  piece  of  ferric 
chloride  ;  if  solution  of  ferric  chloride  is  used,  an  olive-green  color  is 
obtained,  changing  to  violet  after  a  few  hours  ;  in  both  cases  a  bluish 
precipitate  is  formed  after  some  time,  while  the  supernatant  liquid  re- 
mains violet. — Ibid..^  Jan.,  1875,  Vol.  206,  p.  25. 
The  Resins  of  Agaric. — E.  Masing  exhausted  agaric  by  boiling  with 
distilled  water,  afterwards  by  boiling  with  95  per  cent,  alcohol;  on  cool- 
ing, the  latter  separated  globular  yellowish-white  crystalline  masses,  which 
is  partly  soluble  in  chloroform.  The  portion  insoluble  in  chloroform 
is  a  white  crystalline  powder,  inodorous  and  tasteless,  and  fusing  at  1 25°  C; 
its  formula  appears  to  be  C^^H^^Og.  The  portion  soluble  in  chloroform 
was  obtained  as  a  yellowish,  faintly  bitter  and  somewhat  crystalline 
mass,  of  the  composition  CgH^^O^  and  fusing  at  about  90°  C. 
The  cold  alcohol  solution  left,  on  evaporation,  a  brownish-red  resin, 
of  an  intensely  and  persistently  bitter  taste,  readily  soluble  in  chloro- 
form, acetic  acid,  benzol  and  amylic  alcohol.  The  alcoholic  solution, 
repeatedly  precipitated  by  water,  gave  a  filtrate,  which  left,  on  evapora- 
tion, a  brown-red  residue,  having  a  bitter  taste  like  the  precipitate. 
Agaric  contains  no  glucoside  ;  umbelliferon  is  found  amongst  the 
products  of  the  dry  distillation  of  its. resin,  and  piric  and  succinic  acids 
were  noticed  amongst  the  oxidation  products  obtained  by  boiling  the 
resin  with  nitric  acid. — Ibid.^  Feb.,  pp.  111-125.  , 
