548 
Chemical  Notes, 
Am  Jour.  Pharm. 
Nov  ,  1880, 
brought  on  the  market  hitherto,  is  changed,  in  part,  when  dried  into 
gallic  acid,  and  therefore  will  not  dissolve  to  a  clear  solution,  is  very 
hygroscopic,  and  forms  in  consequence,  very  readily,  compact  lumps^ 
which  make  it  difficult  of  solution.  To  avoid  these  points  of  diffi- 
culty, E.  Schernig  (Chemical  Joint  Stock  Company)  has  patented  a 
process  whereby  an  aqueous,  alcoholic  or  etherial  solution  of  tannin  is 
evaporated  in  vacuo  until,  on  cooling,  the  mass  can  be  broken  in  pieces. 
These  are  placed  in  a  double- walled  vessel,  heated  by  steam,  the 
bottom  of  which  is  perforated  so  that  the  softened  tannin  on  melt- 
ing runs  through.  The  threads  of  tannin  fall  upon  rapidly  rotating 
wooden  or  metallic  cylinders  placed  some  5  meters  below,  from 
which  the  finished  material  is  taken  off  and  broken  up.  The  brittle 
needles,  of  golden  lustre,  so  obtained  are  not  hygroscopic,  do  not  form 
lumps,  dissolve  easily  and  in  clear  solutioii,  and  contain  no  decom- 
position products. — Dingier  s  Poly  tech.  Jour..,  237,  p.  480.. 
On  a  New  Hydrocarbon  from  Sequoia  gigantea. — G.  Lunge  and  Th. 
Steinkauler  have  distilled  with  steam  the  needles  from  branches  of 
the  California  sequoia.,  and,  after  extracting  with  ether,  have  separated 
therefrom  a  solid  body  and  an  oil.  The  solid  is  quite  soluble  in 
ordinary  solvents,  and  could  only  be  crystallized  by  putting  a  layer  of 
water  upon  the  solution  in  glacial  acetic  acid,  so  that  by  gradual 
mixing  it  might  cause  the  separation  out  of  the  solid.  In  this  way 
it  was  gotten  in  the  form  of  well-crystallized  scales,  which  were 
white,  with  faint  blue  fluorescence,  and  possessed  a  very  penetrating 
odor  of  the  sequoia,  which  here  resembled  somewhat  the  odor  of  oil  of 
peppermint.  The  tusing-point  was  found  to  be  I05°C.,  and  the  boil- 
ing-point between  290°  anJ  300°C.  An  analysis  gave  figures  corre- 
sponding to  the  formula  C\3Hi,3,  to  which  confirmation  was  given  by 
a  determination  of  the  vapor-density.  While  this  formula  is  the 
same  as  that  of  fluoren,  the  fusing-point  distinguishes  it  (f^uoren  has 
a  fusing-point  II3°C.),  and  the  very  characteristic  odor  leaves  no 
chance  of  confusion  between  the  two.  The  authors  therefore  call 
the  new  body  Sequoien.  The  oil  accompanying  it  they  have  not 
fully  investigated  as  yet. — Ber.  der  Chem.  Ges..,  xiii,  p.  1656. 
On  Jpophyllenic  Acid  and  Cotarnin. — In  the  decomposition  of  nar- 
cotin  by  oxidation  with  manganese  dioxide  and  sulphuric  acid,  Wohler 
obtained,  besides  opianic  acid  and  cotarnin,  an  oxidation  product  of 
this  latter  substance,  an  acid  containing  nitrogen,  which,  because  of 
the  resemblance  of  its  crystals  to  the  mineral  apophyllite,  he  named 
