A™'ctober,^9oi!m'}    American  Pharmaceutical  Association.  497 
Sea  Salt. 
By  Joseph  Feil. 
The  author  concludes  that  sea  salt  is  neither  evaporated  sea  water 
nor  rock  salt,  but  is  purified  crude  sea  salt  and  should  find  a  place 
in  the  U.  S.  P.,  owing  to  its  well-established  use. 
Note  on  the  Application  of  the  Cold  Nitric  Acid  Test  for 
Albumen. 
By  F.  W.  E.  Stedem. 
The  author  recommends  the  method  of  Napoleon  Boston  which 
simply  allows  a  little  urine  to  flow  into  a  glass  tube  of  small  calibre 
by  capillary  attraction  and  washing  off  the  outside  of  the  tube  with 
water,  and  then  immersing  the  same  (holding  the  finger  on  the  tube 
to  prevent  the  escape  of  the  urine)  into  a  test  tube  of  nitric  acid. 
Remove  the  thumb  or  finger  very  carefully  from  the  tube,  allowing 
the  gradual  ingress  of  the  nitric  acid  from  the  bottom.  The  greater 
density  of  acid  forces  the  urine  slowly  up  the  tube,  and  the  point 
of  contact  is  distinctly  marked  in  the  presence  of  albumen  by  a 
slight  but  always  distinct  layer  of  coagulated  albumen. 
A  Few  Remarks  on  the  Atomic  Weight  of  Arsenic. 
By  G.  Hinrichs. 
The  Committee  for  the  Revision  of  the  U.S. P.  has  for  over  a 
year  had  the  question  of  atomic  weights  under  consideration. 
In  my  work  just  published  under  the  title  (i  The  Absolute 
Atomic  Weights  of  the  Chemical  Elements,  Established  Upon  the 
Analyses  of  the  Chemists  of  the  Nineteenth  Century,  and  Demon- 
strating the  Unity  of  Matter,"  I  have  presented  the  results  of  my 
investigations  extending  over  almost  half  a  century. 
The  results  obtained  by  me  were  illustrated  before  the  Associa- 
tion by  the  example  of  the  atomic  weight  of  arsenic,  a  metal  of 
special  importance  to  the  pharmacist. 
Sodium  pyroarsenate  is  a  fixed,  accurately  weighable  compound  of 
arsenic,  therefore  suitable  for  atomic  weight  determination.  Prof. 
Edgar  F.  Smith,  of  Philadelphia,  has  shown  that  it  is  readily  and 
completely  converted  into  salt  by  gentle  heating  in  a  current  of  dry 
muriatic  acid  gas. 
Ten  such   determinations  were  made   under  Professor  Smith's 
