Am'No°v.?i92hiarm'}     Scientific  and  Technical  Abstracts.  807 
dioxide,  filtered,  and  10  cc.  of  the  filtrate  is  mixed  with  25  cc.  of 
water,  10  cc.  of  dilute  sulphuric  acid  and  100  cc.  of  alcohol  are 
added;  the  precipitated  lead  sulphate  is  collected  and  weighed.  A' 
control  determination  is  made  at  the  same  time,  using  water  con- 
taining 5  drops  of  glacial  acetic  acid  in  place  of  the  vanilla  extract. 
The  quantity  of  lead  precipitated  by  the  extract  and  expressed  as 
g.  per  100  cc.  is  the  lead  value;  for  genuine  undiluted  extracts  it 
is  not  less  than  0.55.  Sugar,  glycerol,  and  coumarin  do  not  inter- 
fere with  the  determination;  if  added  vanillin  is  present  it  must  be. 
removed  by  extracting  50  cc.  of  the  sample  with  three  successive 
quantities  of  50  cc.  of  a  mixture  of  equal  vols,  of  ether  and  petro- 
leum spirit;  the  extracted  aqueous  solution  is  then  used  "for  the 
determination. — (W.  P.  S. ;  through  The  Analyst.) 
Alcohol  as  Locomotive  Fuel  in  Brazil. — Consul  C.  R. 
Cameron  of  Pernambuco,  reports  that  there  are  in  his  district  ap- 
proximately eighty  modern  cane-sugar  factories,  which  have  about 
800  miles  of  railway,  of  from  0.75  to  1  meter  gauge,  operated  at 
present  by  wood-burning  locomotives.  The  fuel  problem,  how- 
ever, is  becoming  a  serious  one  and  as  a  result  the  sugar-mill  oper- 
ators are  turning  their  attention  to  the  matter  of  reducing  wood 
consumption  and  the  substitutes.  Consequently  great  interest  is 
being  shown  in  the  substitution  of  alcohol,  which  is  produced  in 
large  quantities  on  the  sugar  plantations  from  the  molasses  finals. 
Pernambuco  has  recently  adopted  the  use  of  alcohol  to  which  5  per 
cent,  gasoline  has  been  added  as  an  automobile  fuel  (see  Commerce 
Reports,  Mar.  15,  1921).  The  manufacturers  are,  therefore,  nat- 
urally interested  in  using  their  own  inexpensive  product  for  their 
railways.  The  current  price  of  alcohol  is  about  $0.22  per  gallon, 
but  the  cost  to  the  producer  is  much  less.  It  is  suggested  that 
American  manufacturers  of  locomotives  capable  of  burning  alcohol 
communicate  with  the  Pernambuco  sugar  mills,  a  list  of  which  may 
be  obtained  from  the  Latin- American  Division  of  the  Bureau  of 
Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce  or  from  any  of  the  district  or  co- 
operative offices  by  referring  to  File  No.  L.  A.  12012. —  (Through 
Commerce  Reports.) 
Formaldehyde  and  Paraformaldehyde;  Determination  of 
— — in  Tablets.  N.  Evers  and  C.  M.  Caines.  Brit.  Pharm.  Conf.,. 
June,  192 1.  Pharm.      192 1,  470. — A  tablet  is  weighed,  boiled  with 
