EDITORIAL. 
81 
during  and  after  the  solution  had  been  boiling  for  a  considerable 
time.  These  tubes  were  also  exposed  to  the  action  of  direct 
sunlight ;  after  three  and  four  months'  exposure,  the  tubes  and 
contents  were  examined  ;  those  wherein  no  air  at  all  was  left 
were  found  to  be  perfectly  colorless,  no  decomposition  of  the 
contents  having  taken  place.  As  regards  the  other  tubes,  the 
following  results  are  noticed :  1.  Under  the  influence  of  light, 
the  oxygen  of  the  air  decomposes  iodide  of  potassium,  iodine  in 
small  quantity  is  set  free,  while  hydrate  of  potassa  is  found  in 
the  liquid.  2.  This  decomposition  is  limited,  and  does  not,  even 
when  a  large  quantity  of  oxygen  is  present,  increase,  because  a 
portion  of  the  iodine  set  free  enters  again  into  combination 
with  the  caustic  potassa  set  free,  forming  iodide  of  potassium 
and  iodate  of  potassa.  3.  The  testing  for  ozone  by  means  of  a 
solution  of  iodide  of  potassium  and  starch  (or  paper  prepared 
therewith),  is  of  ho  value  whatever,  unless  care  has  been  taken 
to  exclude  direct  sunlight. — Chemical  N'ews,  Dec.  3,  1869. 
(E&itorial  Department, 
Our  Journal. — Forty-second  Volume. — In  commencing  a  new  volume 
it  is  usual  with  many  editors  to  offer  some  remarks  apposite  to  the  work 
in  their  charge.    It  is  not  often  that  we  have  taken  advantage  of  this 
practice,  but  the  present  seems  to  offer  a  fitting  occasion.    Our  readers 
will  find  an  unusual  amount  of  original  matter  in  the  present  issue  ;  in  fact 
nearly  the  whole  of  it  is  the  work  of  our  contributors.    Attention  is  par- 
ticularly called  to  the  valuable  paper  of  Dr.  Wormley,  whose  well  known 
and  extensive  labors  in  toxicological  chemistry  cause  this  contribution 
to  be  highly  appreciated.    The  view  of  Pharmacy  in  Sweden  opened  by 
Mr.  Oldberg  will  gratify  many  by  its  plain,  free  style,  and  his  feeling 
acquaintance  with  the  subject.    Swedish  Pharmacy  has  been  a  nursery  of 
great  men  in  science;  Scheele,  the  father  of  Organic  Chemistry,  passed 
through  the  routine  described.    Our  friend  Dr.  Squibb  treats  us  to  one 
of  his  old-fashioned  exhaustive  articles  on  the  preparation  and  titration 
of  opium,  as  exhibited  in  his  "  Liquor  Opii  Compositus."    He  has  sub- 
stituted the  disagreeable  Hoffman's  anodyne  by  chloroform  and  acetic 
ether,  for  reasons  which  he  gives  at  length.    Mr.  Campbell  gives  a  more 
explicit  statement  of  his  "method"  of  applying  percolation  in  the  prepa, 
ration  of  fluid  extracts.  The  evident  interest  excited  by  his  former  paper^ 
published  in  our  September  issue,  has  not  abated,  as  will  be  seen  by  com- 
6 
