ON  ADULTERATED  OIL  OF  ANISEED. 
513 
percentage  of  iodide  is  again  found  in  the  number  of  centigrades 
employed. 
Note. — The  alkaline  solution  of  the  iodide  of  potassium  is  freed  from  sul- 
phates and  oxalates  by  treatment  with  hydrate  of  lime, 
ON  ADULTERATED  OIL  OF  ANISEED. 
By  William  Procter;  Jr. 
A  few  weeks  ago,  a  drug  house  of  this  city  received  a  small 
invoice  of  oil  of  aniseed  from  New  York,  purporting  to  be  in 
original  packages.  On  opening  one  of  the  cans,  they  were  led  to 
suspect  its  purity,  and  requested  me  to  examine  it  for  them.  The 
following  results  were  obtained  : — 
1st.  Its  color  and  odor  were  correct,  except  that  the  latter 
was  not  as  decided  as  it  should  have  been. 
2d.  Its  specific  gravity  at  68°  Fahr.,  carefully  ascertained, 
was  .8626,  whilst  that  of  a  fair  commercial  oil  of  anise  was  .9820. 
This  great  levity  indicated  the  presence  of  some  lighter  substance. 
3.  In  a  graduated  tube,  accurately  divided  into  sixty  parts,  the 
suspected  oil  was  poured  until  it  arose  to  the  30th  division,  water 
was  then  poured  in  till  it  arose  to  the  60th  division.  By  contact 
of  the  water,  the  oil  instantly  became  milky,  and  when  the  mix- 
ture, after  being  shaken,  was  allowed  to  stand  several  hours,  it 
consisted  of  two  layers.  The  sub-stratum  was  oily  yellow-colored, 
and  occupied  six  divisions  of  the  measure ;  the  super-stratum, 
occupying  the  remaining  fifty-four  degrees  of  the  measure,  was 
colorless  and  transparent,  and  burned  with  a  pale  blue  flame  on 
a  glass  rod.  This  was  decanted,  and  distilled  to  one-half.  The 
distillate  instantly  inflamed  when  brought  in  contact  with  a  lighted 
lamp,  and  burned  without  residue.  When  added  to  a  dilute 
mixture  of  bi-chromate  of  potash  and  sulphuric  acid  and  boiled, 
the  yellow  mixture  became  green,  as  when  alcohol  is  present, 
which  was  undoubtedly  the  case. 
4th.  As  the  specific  gravity  of  the  oil  in  question  was  .8626, 
and  that  of  a  fair  commercial  oil  .9820,  and  the  admixture  with 
water  indicating  about  one-sixth  of  true  oil  and  five-sixths  of 
alcohol,  the  following  equation  will  show  that  the  two  experi- 
ments corroborate  each  other,  thus, — .9820  (sp.  gr.  of  the  true 
33 
