Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
April,  1901.  J 
Oil  of  Walnuts. 
173 
blast  furnaces  in  Europe,  especially  in  Belgium  and  in  Germany. 
This  type  of  engine  was  shown  at  the  late  Paris  Exhibition  and 
seems  to  have  attracted  considerable  attention.  It  is  claimed  by 
men  who  have  made  a  study  of  blast  furnace  practices  that  it 
would  be  possible  to  generate  a  considerable  excess  of  power  at 
these  plants  as  a  result  of  the  introduction  of  this  type  of  engine. 
The  power  generated  from  this  source  would  necessarily  be  more 
or  less  irregular,  so  that  it  could  be  used  to  advantage  only  in  the 
manufacture  of  some  more  or  less  unimportant  by-product.  It 
could,  for  instance,  readily  be  converted  into  electric  energy,  and 
this  in  turn  could  be  used  in  the  production  of  various  nitrogen 
compounds,  the  raw  materials  for  which  are  always  at  hand  and  in 
unlimited  quantities.  This  available  source  of  energy,  with  a  large 
and  constantly  increasing  demand  for  nitrates  as  fertilizers,  would 
seem  to  offer  considerable  inducement  for  the  practical  application 
of  a  process  for  the  artificial  production  of  nitrogen  compounds. 
OIL  OF  WALNUTS  (JUGLANS  NIGRA,  L.).1 
By  Lyman  F.  Kebi^r. 
Frequent  and  repeated  efforts  were  made  to  secure  a  pure  oil  of 
walnuts,  with  the  invariable  result  that  the  dealers  were  either 
unable  to  supply  it,  or  oils  like  the  following  were  sent : 
No.  1.  Walnut  Oil,  White. — This  article  was  colorless,  of  a 
sweetish  taste,  with  a  peppermint-like  flavor  and  soluble  in  water 
and  92  per  cent,  and  50  per  cent,  alcohol.  Farther  investigation 
showed  it  to  be  diluted  glycerin,  flavored  with  a  menthol-like  body. 
No.  2.  Walnut  Oil,  Cone- — The  word  concentrated  immediately 
cast  a  halo  of  suspicion  about  this  oil,  and  on  submitting  it  to  a 
fractional  distillation  about  80  per  cent,  came  over  between  78  and 
85 0  C,  which  was  chiefly  ethyl  alcohol.  Then  the  thermometer 
rose  rapidly  to  205 0  C,  which  is  the  boiling  point  of  nitrobenzene 
(oil  of  mirbane)  and  the  odor  confirmed  the  boiling  point.  A  small 
amount  of  non-volatile  matter  was  left. 
When  it  is  remembered  that  oil  of  walnuts  is  chiefly  used  by 
artists  for  paints,  because  it  dries  into  a  varnish  which  is  less  liable 
to  crack  than  linseed  oil  varnish,  the  enormity  of  such  adulterations 
becomes  self-evident. 
1  Read  before  the  Chemical  Section  of  the  Franklin  Institute  and  contributed 
by  the  author. 
