Am,iovy;^92.rm"}  Gleanings  from  the  German  Journals.  567 
ing  made  a  number  of  experiments  :  (1)  Cold  mercuric  chloride 
solution  (1  :  20)  added  to  a  cold,  dilute  potassium  hydrate  solution 
gave  an  oxide,  which  dried,  first  between  filtering  paper,  later  in  a 
desiccator,  with  oxalic  acid  solution  (1  :  1.0)  changed  at  once  into  the 
white  mercuric  oxalate.  (2)  The  solutions  of  the  same  strength  but 
boiling  hot  gave  an  oxide  which  required  some  time  to  react  with 
oxalic  acid  solution.  (3)  As  in*  2,  but  the  boiling  continued  for 
some  time  (replacing  the  evaporated  water),  a  portion  of  the  oxide 
being  filtered  out  at  intervals  of  one-half  hour ;  the  color  of  all  the 
precipitates  was  pure  yellow,  but  toward  oxalic  acid  solutions  they 
showed  differences,  the  longer  the  boiling  was  continued  the  less 
were  the  precipitates  affected  by  oxalic  acid.  It  is  therefore  not 
possible  to  change  the  yellow  oxide  into  the  red  by  boiling.  (4) 
Repeating  the  experiments  of  Bosetti  (Am.  Journ.  Pharm.,  1 890, 446), 
but  using  potassium  hydrate  instead  of  barium  hydrate,  it  was  pos- 
sible to  prepare  an  oxide  which  in  physical  and  chemical  properties 
was  not  to  be  distinguished  from  the  red  oxide  obtained  by  ignit- 
ing mercuric  nitrate ;  the  details  are  as  follows  :  Into  a  boiling  mer- 
curic chloride  solution  (1  :  5)  boiling  concentrated  potassium  hydrate 
solution  was  dropped  until  the  dark-brown  color  of  the  oxychloride 
was  changed  to  a  bright  red  and  the  liquid  reacted  faintly  alkaline  ; 
the  mixture  was  then  poured  into  about  twenty  times  its  volume  of 
boiling  water,  the  precipitate  collected,  washed  and  dried. — (Ber.  d. 
Niederl.  Pharm.  Ges.)  Pharm.  Ztg.,  1892,  517, 
Assay  of  Iodoform-gauze,  etc. — If  the  material  contain  5-10  per 
cent,  iodoform,  4  grams  are  taken  for  the  assay,  if  it  contain  more 
a  smaller  quantity  suffices ;  the  material  is  placed  in  a  100  cc.  flask. 
60  cc.  alcohol  added  and  boiled,  using  an  inverted  condenser,  until 
the  iodoform  is  dissolved.  After  cooling  alcohol  is  added  to  fill  up 
to  the  100  cc.  mark;  of  this  solution  a  quantity  is  taken  which 
represents  from  200-300  milligrams  of  iodoform,  placed  in  a  flask 
connected  with  an  inverted  condenser,  and  boiled  with  a  solution  of 
5  gm.  potassium  hydrate  in  5  cc.  water  for  one-half  hour,  or  until 
some  of  the  alcohol  distilled  over  is  odorless  or  gives  no  turbidity 
upon  the  addition  of  water  ;  the  solution  is  then  evaporated  to  dry- 
ness, dissolved  in  water,  acidified  with  nitric  acid  and  the  iodine  deter- 
mined with  silver  nitrate.  In  "making  the  calculation  allowance  must 
be  made  for  the  space  occupied  by  the  material,  thus  if  4  gm.  of  a  10 
