'^"'apt'ii.'Fsso'"'  }  Gleanings  from  the  German  Journals.  205 
2.  It  is  not  altered  by  fermentation,  but  is  dissolved  in  the  alcoholic 
acidulous  liquid,  the  color  being  changed  to  red. 
3.  The  grapes  grown  in  Southern  France  contain  more  coloring 
matter  than  is  necessary  to  give  the  wines  a  very  d^rk  color. 
4.  The  shade  of  color  is  no  criterion  for  the  quality  of  wines. 
5.  The  color  will  not  serve  to  distinguish  fermented  grape-juice  from 
the-fermented  juice  of  huckleberries. 
6.  Young  wines  always  have  a  bright  colored  foam. 
7.  The  coloring  matter  of  wine  is  a  mild  acid,  which  will  combine 
with  lead  oxide,  and  this  compound  is  again  destroyed  by  acids. 
8.  The  addition  of  ammonia  changes  the  red  natural  color  of  wines 
to  blue,  and  if  used  in  excess,  or  too  concentrated,  destroys  the  color- 
ing principle  altogether.  The  blue  color  produced  by  ammonia  is  the 
original  natural  coloring  matter  of  the  grapes,  restored  by  neutralizing 
the  acid  which  had  turned  it  red. 
9.  Old  wines  usually  yield  a  green  reaction  with  ammonia. 
10.  The  juice  of  fresh  as  well  as  of  old  huckleberries  has  the  same 
behavior  towards  ammonia  as  young  and  old  wines. 
1 1.  The  coloring  principle  of  grapes  is  identical  with  that  of  huckle- 
berries. 
12.  The  coloring  principle  is  not  altered  by  age,  the  varying  reac- 
tions of  old  and  fresh  juice  being  caused  by  other  circumstances,  the 
exact  nature  of  which  will  be  further  investigated  by  the  author. — - 
Ibid.^  Feb.  1880,  p.  90-112. 
Canadian  Castor. — Three  sacs,  having  the  well-known  characteristic 
external  appearance,  were  examined  by  Ed.  Janota.  Two  of  them 
possessed  all  the  properties  of  genuine  Canadian  castor,  while  the 
third  did  not  possess  the  peculiar  odor  of  castor,  and  consisted  of 
fibres,  and  a  large  quantity  of  hair,  thoroughly  saturated  with  a 
reddish-brown  sticky  fluid.  A  fraudulent  adulteration  seeming  impos- 
sible in  the  closed  sac,  and  improbable  even  if  possible,  because  a 
heavier  substance,  less  readily  detected,  would  in  such  a  case  have  been 
substituted  in  the  sac  for  the  removed  castor,  the  author  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  altered  condition  of  the  contents  was  due  to  a 
diseased  condition  of  the  living  animal. — Pharm,  Post^  Feb.  i,  1880, 
p.  48. 
Poisoning  by  Carbolic  Acid. — A  midwife  was  recently  sentenced 
to  two  months'  imprisonment  at  Frankfort  for  causing  the  death  of  a 
child,  by  applying  liquid  carbolic  acid,  containing  88  per  cent,  of  the 
