178 
BALATA. 
Chloral  is  an  oily,  colorless  liquid,  of  a  penetrating  odor,  and 
somewhat  biting  taste ;  it  boils  at  94°  C.  without  decomposition. 
Mixed  with  little  water,  heat  is  evolved  and  hydrate  of  chloral 
produced,  forming  a  colorless  mass  consisting  of  acicular  crys- 
tals ;  these  crystals  are  soluble  in  water ;  the  solution  possesses 
odor  and  taste  of  chloral,  and  on  evaporation  over  siilphuric  acid 
yields  large  rhombic  crystals  of  hydrate.  Heated  with  alkalies 
it  is  decomposed  into  chloroform,  metallic  chloride  and  formiate 
of  alkali. 
Stadeler's  method  is  as  follows  :  7  parts  of  muriatic  acid  are 
gently  heated  with  1  part  starch  until  the  paste  is  converted 
into  a  liquid  ;  3  parts  black  manganese  and  a  little  table  salt 
are  then  added  ;  the  mixture  is  rapidly  heated  to  boiling  when 
the  fire  is  at  once  removed.  The  mass  foams  considerably,  giv- 
ing off  carbonic  acid  and  continuing  to  boil  for  some  time.  After 
boiling  ceases,  heat  is  again  applied  until  the  distillate  ceases  to 
be  rendered  turbid  by  strong  potash  lye.  The  oily  drops  float- 
ing upon  the  surface  are  carefully  removed,  the  liquid  is  satu- 
rated with  table  salt  and  distilled,  the  distillate  being  again 
carefully  freed  from  an  odorous  sulphur  yellow  oil.  The  distil- 
lation over  table  salt  is  repeated  several  times,  to  obtain  a  con- 
centrated aqueous  solution  of  chloral,  which  is  saturated  with 
chloride  of  calcium  and  rectified  from  an  oil  bath,  when  the 
hydrate  distils  as  a  colorless  liquid  which  soon  congeals.  On 
mixing  the  hydrate  with  four  times  its  volume  of  sulphuric  acid, 
chloral  is  separated  as  a  colorless  liquid,  which  is  freed  from 
muriatic  acid  by  slow  boiling.  This  purified  chloral,  mixed  with 
water,  yields  pure  hydrate  of  chloral. — Zeitschr.  d.  oesterr, 
Apoth.  Ver,  1869,  524. 
BALATA. 
By  a.  Sperlich. 
For  some  years  past  an  article  has  been  met  with  in  commerce 
under  the  name  of  balata,  which  has  properties  intermediate 
between  caoutchouc  and  gutta  percha,  and  is  used  for  similar 
purposes.  Balata  is  prepared  from  the  milky  juice  of  the  bully 
tree,  Sapota  Mueller^  Sapotacece,  which  is  indigenous  to  Guyana, 
the  product  being  exported  to  Europe  mainly  from  Berbice. 
