Am/ept.r;if912arm'}     Volatile  Organic  Matter  in  Water.  471 
tilled  medicinal  waters,  and  isolated  from  green  orange  flower  water 
three  pigments,  viz  :  one  soluble  in  water  with  violet  color,  turning 
brown  on  exposure,  secreted  by  a  variety  of  Micrococcus  cyaneus ; 
one  dissolving  in  alcohol  with  yellow  color,  secreted  by  Bacillus 
aurantii;  and  the  third  insoluble  in  alcohols,  but  dissolving  in 
water  with  a  green  color.  In  some  waters  an  organism  was  found 
producing  a  yellowish  green  fluorescence. 
VOLATILE  ORGANIC  MATTER  IN  POTABLE  WATER 
AND  A  SIMPLE  METHOD  OF  ESTIMATING  DIS- 
SOLVED FIXED  AND  VOLATILE  ORGANIC  MATTER 
IN  WATER.1 
By  W.  C.  Young. 
To  determine  the  total  organic  matter,  1  litre  of  water,  to  which 
0-5  gram  of  dried  and  ignited  sodium  carbonate  is  added,  is  distilled 
in  a  conical  iron  still  of  about  2  litres  capacity,  attached  to  a  tin 
worm-condenser.  The  distillate  is  received  in  a  graduated  measure 
and  when  970  cc.  has  been  collected,  the  source  of  heat  is  removed, 
the  still  disconnected,  the  contents  and  washings  placed  in  a  plati- 
num basin,  and  evaporated  to  dryness  on  a  water-bath.  The  resi- 
due is  then  dissolved  in  a  little  pure  distilled  water,  filtered  through 
an  asbestos  plug  into  a  platinum  basin,  dried  on  a  water-bath,  and 
subsequently  heated  for  an  hour  in  an  air-bath  at  1500.  After 
cooling  in  a  desiccator,  the  basin  and  contents  are  weighed.  The 
residue  is  then  ignited  at  a  low  temperature,  cooled,  and  weighed 
and  the  loss  noted.  The  ignited  residue  is  dissolved  in  water, 
excess  of  sulphuric  acid  added,  and  then  standard  solution  of  potas- 
sium permanganate  (1  cc.  =  O-oooi  gram  O)  until  the  color 
remains  permanent  after  five  minutes.  The  weight  of  oxygen  lost, 
thus  ascertained,  is  deducted  from  the  loss  on  ignition,  and  the 
difference  is  the  organic  matter.  To  deLermine  the  fixed  organic 
matter,  the  same  course  is  followed,  except  that  the  sodium  carbon- 
ate is  not  added  until  the  concentrated  water  is  transferred  from  the 
iron  still  to  a  plantium  basin.  To  determine  the  volatile  organic 
matter,  the  distillate  from  the  last-mentioned  process  is  placed  in 
the  still,  together  with  0-5  gram  of  sodium  carbonate,  and  distilled 
until  about  25  cc.  remains  in  the  still,  afterwards  proceeding  as 
1  /.  Soc.  Chem.  Ind.,  10,  883;  Jour.  Chem.  Soc,  1892,  921. 
