194 
Tests  for  Arsenic, 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t      April,  1880. 
Reinsch's  test,  as  distinguishing  arsenic  from  antimony.  The  cross- 
examiner  read  from  a  work  on  jurisprudence,  that  the  hypochlorite  of 
sodium  test  was  wholly  unreliable,  as  it  would  also  dissolve  the  antimonial 
spot^  though  more  slowly.  This  is  in  direct  conflict  with  the  U.  S, 
Dispensatory,  p.  34,  fourteenth  edition.  Query:  Which  is  correct.? 
The  production  of  octahedral  crystals,  which  is  considered  so  charac- 
teristic of  the  arsenical  sublimate,  was  shown  to  be  unreliable  from  a 
recent  statement  of  Prof.  Wormley's,  that  antimony,  under  certain  con- 
ditions, will  produce  octahedral  crystals^  which  cannot  be  distinguished  in 
appearance  from  those  of  arsenic.  This  seems  to  destroy  a  distinguishing 
test  for  arsenic,  hitherto  considered  as  one  of  the  most  delicate  and 
reliable.  If  antimony  does  act  like  arsenic  under  certain  conditions, 
perhaps  the  "Journal"  can  give  those  conditions.  The  toxicologist 
should  know  what  they  are.  The  woman  was  acquitted,  and  we  have 
no  doubt,  the  fact  that  subnitrate  of  bismuth  had  been  prescribed  for 
the  deceased  had  its  weight  with  the  jury.  The  arsenic  might  have 
been  an  impurity  in  the  subnitrate  of  bismuth.  Lesson  :  Every  drug- 
gist should  test  his  bismuth  preparations  and  be  sure  of  the  absence  of 
arsenic. 
Ne-xvcomerstoivn^  O.,  March  19th,  1879. 
Note  by  the  Editor. — It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  author  does 
not  give  the  alleged  authority  for  the  solubility  of  antimony  in  hypo- 
chlorite of  sodium.  Taylor  (On  Poisons)  states  that  *'a  solution  of 
chloride  of  lime  does  not  dissolve  the  antimonial  deposit."  Dragen- 
dorff  (Ermittelung  von  Giften)  and  Schwanert  (Pharmaceutische  Chemie) 
state  that  the  antimonial  spots  are  insoluble  in  hypochlorite  of  sodium, 
which  is  free  from  uncombined  chlorine.  Dragendorff  calls  this  test 
an  excellent  (vortrefflich)  one  and  recommends  preparing  the  solution 
by  decomposing  chlorinated  lime  with  carbonate  of  sodium. 
Regarding  the  production  of  octahedral  crystals  from  antimony,  Prof. 
Wormley  has  kindly  sent  us  a  reprint  of  his  paper  "Fallacies  of 
Reinsch's  test  for  arsenic,"  which  appeared  in  the  "Amer.  Journal  of 
the  Medical  Sciences"  for  October,  1877.  It  will  be  observed  from 
this  paper,  which  we  reproduce  in  full  as  far  as  it  relates  to  this  subject, 
that  while  it  is  possible  to  obtain  from  an  antimony  deposit  octahedral 
crystals,  which  in  themselves  are  not  to  be  distinguished  from  those 
obtained  from  arsenic,  yet  the  general  character  of  the  antimony 
