AmjJanU^8P9?arm'l  Abstracts  from  the  French  Journals.  27 
sodium  hydrate  (15  per  cent.)  and  6  gms.  benzoyl  chloride  are 
placed  in  a  tared  beaker  of  150  cc.  capacity  and  thoroughly  mixed, 
this  causing  the  mixture  to  become  quite  hot ;  after  cooling  50  cc. 
water  are  added,  and  heat  applied  until  the  crystalline  mass  melts, 
and  again  allow  to  become  cold ;  the  clear  liquid  is  run  through  a 
weighed  filter  ^dried  at  1010  C),  and  the  same  operation  of  washing 
the  crystals  repeated  twice  with  50  cc.  water.  To  remove  the 
sesqui-terpene,  which  may  contaminate  the  benzoyl-eugenol,  the 
crystals  have  to  be  washed  with  alcohol ;  this  is  effected  by  adding 
to  the  still  moist  crystalline  mass  in  the  beaker  25  cc.  alcohol  of  90 
per  cent.,  warming  until  solution  is  effected,  rotating  the  solution 
until  the  crystals  begin  to  separate  again,  then  allowing  the  contents 
of  the  beaker  to  cool  to  170  C,  transferring  to  the  weighed  filter 
and  washing  with  a  little  90  per  cent,  alcohol  until  the  filtrate 
measures  25  cc ;  the  filter  with  contents  is  then  at  once  transferred 
to  the  beaker,  dried  at  1010  C.  and  weighed.  To  the  weight  of  the 
benzoyl-eugenol  must  be  added  o  550  gm.,  the  amount  soluble  in 
25  cc.  90  per  cent,  alcohol;  this  weight,  multiplied  by  164  (the 
molecular  weight  of  eugenol)  and  divided  by  268  (the  molecular 
weight  of  benzoyl-eugenol)  gives  the  amount  of  eugenol  in  5  gms, 
oil;  for  the  percentage  multiply  again  by  twenty. 
An  examination  of  sixteen  samples  showed  the  eugenol  to  vary 
from  76- 87  per  cent,  to  90-64  per  cent. ;  the  oil  distilled  from  the 
stems  was  found  (contrary  to  expectations)  to  contain  a  high  per- 
centage of  eugenol,  83-85  per  cent.;  the  specific  gravity  of  the 
oil  was  not  found  to  agree  with  the  percentage  of  eugenol  as  the 
following  show  :  1-059  =  83-2  per  cent.  ;  1  065  =  80  89  per  cent. ; 
1-065  =  82-77  per  cent.;  10615  =  84-10  per  cent.;  1-0655  =z 
9064  per  cent.;  1-061  =  81-18;  this  led  to  the  belief  that  there 
must  be  a  third  constituent  present  in  the  oil,  for  if  there  were  only 
eugenol  and  sesquiterpene,  the  specific  gravity  should  vary  in 
accordance  with  the  percentage  of  eugenol. — Pharm.  Centralhalle, 
1891,  589. 
ABSTRACTS  FROM  THE  FRENCH  JOURNALS. 
Translated  for  The  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy. 
Estimation  of  fats  in  Vaselin. — Messrs.  Vizern  and  Nicolas 
{Jour,  de  Pharm.  et  de  Chim.  1891,  II,  49)  for  this  purpose  use  the 
following  reagents:    (1)  Titrated  sulphuric  acid     (2)  A  solution 
