Am.  Jour,  Pharir  . ) 
Mar.,  1880,  / 
Chemical  Notes, 
ties,  the  cinchona  tree  could  be  cultivated  in  many  parts  of  the  Pacific 
coast,  and  probably  in  New  Mexico  ;  that  if  irrigation  can  be  made  to 
supply  the  place  of  a  naturally  moist  climate,  the  cultivation  can  be 
carried  into  a  large  part  of  the  Colorado  Valley  and  Texas,  as  well  as 
into  Northern  Georgia  and  Alabama,  and  thence  north  along  the  south- 
ern slope  of  the  Blue  Ridge.  He  would  not  be  surprised  if  the  hardier 
varieties  were  found  to  grow  even  in  Virginia  and  Colorado  and  in 
Arkansas,  in  favored  situations  on  the  southern  slopes  of  the  Ozark 
mountains. —  Set.  Amer.^  Feb.  28,  1880. 
CHEMICAL  NOTES. 
By  Prof.  Samuel  P.  Sadtler, 
Inorganic  Chemistry. —  The  Chemical  Cause  of  the  Poisonous  Nature 
of  Arsenic. — The  old  theory  proposed  by  Liebig  that  arsenous  acid,  like 
corrosive  sublimate,  formed  an  insoluble  compound  with  albumen,  and 
hence  decomposes  the  animal  tissues, has  beengiven  up  since  it  has  been 
found  experimentally  that  these  supposed  albuminates  are  not  formed 
by  the  action  of  arsenous  acid  or  its  salts.  Binz  and  Schulz  find  that 
arsenic  acid,  digested  with  egg-albumen  and  fibrin  of  warm-blooded 
animals,  at  the  temperature  of  the  body,  is  reduced.  They  find  that 
the  mucous  membrane  of  the  stomach,  the  liver  and  the  undecomposed 
protoplasm  of  plants  reduce  arsenic  acid  and  also  oxidise  arsenous  to 
arsenic  acid.  The  authors  find  in  this  alternate  oxidation  and  reduc- 
tion, which  the  two  arsenic  acids  undergo  when  in  contact  with  the 
albumen  molecules,  the  reason  for  the  decomposing  effect  which  arsenic 
in  its  several  forms  exerts  upon  the  tissue,  or,  in  other  words,  for  its 
poisonous  character.  They  draw  an  analogy  with  the  poisonous  effects 
of  nitrogen  dioxide,  which  is  also  a  carrier  of  oxygen,  passing  into 
nitrogen  tetroxide,  and  then,  in  the  presence  of  water,  regenerating 
nitrogen  dioxide.  Phosphorus  and  antimony,  they  consider  as  showing 
similar  characters. — Ber.  der  Chem.  G^^.,  xii,  p.  2199. 
Arsenic  in  Grape  Sugar.— Qlowti  and  Ritter  have  found,  indepen- 
dently, that  all  commercial  grape  sugar  contains  arsenic  in  small  quan- 
tities ;  according  to  Ritter  the  amount  varies  from  -0025  to  '1094 
gram  per  kilo.  The  arsenic  is  probably  derived  from  the  sulphuric 
acid  used  in  the  manufacture. — Bied.  Centr.^  1879,  p.  477. 
On  the  Preparation  of  Sub-nitrate  of  Bismuth  Free  from  Arsenic. — R. 
Schneider  has  found  that  sub-nitrate  of  bismuth,  free  from  arsenic, 
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