ture. It is known in practice that the glycerides heated to 100° C. acquire a rancid flavour.

Cold enfleurage is adopted in the case of the more instable perfumes, which are destroyed by heat, rendering it necessary to impregnate the oily body at a low temperature. For this purpose the flowers are laid in contact with a linen cloth saturated with oil or on a glass tray having a layer of oil spread over the bottom. The flowers are renewed at intervals of twenty-four hours. One inconvenience of this primitive method is the rapid rancidifying of the oily matter under the influence of a partial fermentation of the flowers and of the humid temperature of the climate in which it is necessary to carry on these operations, and the consequent alteration of the perfume. It may be mentioned that in the flower season, the same oily matter stands, for a month at least, in contact with air at a temperature of 35° to 45° C. Besides this there is the loss of a great part of the perfume, the flowers never being quite exhausted when renewed, as well as the loss of the oily matter left in the flowers. To obviate these inconveniences, it has been proposed to employ glycerine and syrup of sugar in the place of oil and fat in the processes of hot and cold enfleurage. Neither of these bodies are susceptible of rancidity, but the solubility of glycerine in alcohol, and the instability of syrups when exposed to contact with air, have prevented their practical employment.

Several years ago paraffin and vaseline were tried as substitutes for olive oil in hot enfleurage; but paraffin has been abandoned, whilst vaseline yields alcoholic extracts of which the perfume is contaminated with a petroleum odour.

Expression is undoubtedly the best of all the processes at present in use. It is applied, however, only to a limited class of oils: those of the lemon, bergamot, orange, cedrat (Citrus medica) and lime (C. Limetta). The products derived in this way from the rind of these members of the genus Citrus, are incomparably superior to those obtained by distillation or enfleurage.

In 1835, Robiquet described the preparation of the delicate perfume of jonquil by means of ether, but the process was not then carried out industrially. Two years after, Buchner, in a note on "L'Arome de quelques Fleurs," expressed the idea that practical application might be made of Robiquet's method. Afterwards, Millon, the principal of the central chemical laboratory in Algiers, in an able memorandum on the nature of the perfume of flowers and on some flowers that might be cultivated in Algeria, mentioned a series of experiments as to the employment of volatile solvents in the extraction of perfumes of flowers. The solvents were chloroform, carbon bisulphide, ether, methylic alcohol, vinic alcohol, etc.; but he distinctly gave the preference to ether. His co-worker, Ferrand, took out a patent with this object in which he described the mode of working. It consisted in introducing the flowers into a displacement apparatus, covering them with ether, and allowing the liquid to run after being in contact for about ten minutes. The ether was evaporated in an ordinary distilling apparatus, the perfume being left as residue.

Apparently Millon and Ferrand had no knowledge of Robiquet's experiments twenty years before, but how ever this may be the results announced by Millon were important. Trials were made on a large scale, but it was nevertheless found necessary to abandon this process on account of the danger of using large quantities of ether in open vessels and the loss of a considerable quantity of the solvent in each operation, through it being impossible to drive off the last traces of it from the perfume. Dr. Quesneville, as early as 1857, had perceived and pointed out the moderate practical value of the process. Since that time, however, new attempts have been made in the same direction, some of which are worthy of notice. An industrial experiment of Lemettars and Bonnière, of Rouen, had for its object the extraction of the perfume from dry species and fresh plants by carbon bi

sulphide rectified by treatment with alkalies in lead salts.

In

Deiss, of Marseilles, introduced a system of purification of perfumes extracted by carbon bisulphide. his patent, Deiss stated that the employment of carbon bisulphide, easily decomposed by the water contained in fresh flowers, communicated a sulphurous odour to the perfumes. He therefore proposed to wash the perfumes with an alkaline solution or a solution of monosulphide of sodium for the purpose of removing chemically the solvent retained mechanically by the perfume mixed with the wax of the flowers. Considering the extreme alterability of certain perfumes by alkalies, this idea was hardly a happy one."

Then came the experiments of G. Ville with chloroform and De Hirtzel with the light petroleums. Neither of these modifications of Millon's method was, however, able to stand a practical test.

The official reports of the Exhibitions of 1862 and 1867 show that the question of solvents had not yet been solved. The reporter at the Exhibition of 1878 mentioned as the only improvement worthy of notice the substitution of steam for the naked flame in the heating of vessels; no mention was made of the industrial employment of volatile solvents.

It is only just, however, to notice the persevering efforts of Piver to replace the ordinary process of enfleurage by what he called the pneumatic method. Piver also proposed in 1862 the washing of the perfumes extracted with carbon bisulphide with an alkaline solution, an idea that had already been patented by Deiss.

This rapid résumé will show that the use of volatile solvents had not been rendered practical, because: (1) owing to the work being done in open vessels there was a great danger of fire and serious accidents; (2) the loss of the solvent was not less than 10 per cent. each treatment; (3) for the purpose of entirely getting rid of the solvent it was necessary to raise the temperature considerably and in doing this the perfume was sensibly altered. Therefore, notwithstanding the incontestible truth of the principle discovered by Robiquet, this method has been practically abandoned.

The author of the present paper, M. Naudin, has been occupied with the study of this question for four years, and has contrived an apparatus by which he seeks to avoid the causes of failure before mentioned. This apparatus, based on the distillation of volatile solvents in closed vessels in a vacuum and at a very low temperature, is composed of the following six elementary parts:→→ (1) A digester (A) in which the perfume is extracted by contact of the volatile liquid with the odorous substance. Instead of a single digester, a series of vessels can be used, communicating with each other in such a manner as to allow of a systematic exhaustion being carried on. (2) A decanting vessel (B) in which the perfumed solu tion is purified by decantation from the aqueous portion of fresh flowers, removed mechanically during the digestion. (3) An evaporating vessel (C) in which the volatile solvent is distilled off, leaving the perfume as a residue. (4) A suction and forcing-pump (P) for the purpose of hastening both the distillation of the volatile solvent by the aspiration of its vapours, and the condensation and liquefaction of the vapour, by compression in the refrigerator (F), and to collect, at the end of the operation, the traces of the solvent remaining in the different parts of the apparatus and drive them into the refrigerator (F). (5) A cylindrical refrigerator (F) in which the volatile liquid is condensed. This condenser is kept cool by one of the known methods, such as ammonia, sulphuric acid, etc. (6) A receiver (R) in which to store up the solvent employed.

The three vessels A, B, C, and the refrigerator can be hermetically closed by means of joints. The tube T, T', which is in connection with the whole apparatus, distributes the vacuum caused by the pneumatic pump (P). This tube communicates with the vessels A, B, C, by the

tubes t, t, t", supplied with taps. Air is readmitted at pleasure by r,,""", or by means of compressed air, consisting of air removed from the apparatus and forced into a special receiver. The manometers M, M' M" indicate at any moment the state of the vacuum in each vessel. The level of the liquid solvent is shown by means of a glass window in each vessel (see E in A). The vessels A and C have each a double lining so as to allow the introduction of air or hot or cold water.

The flowers, leaves, etc., are introduced into the digester (A), and confined in a basket (U). The vessel is closed and a vacuum, obtained by opening the tap (t), causes a suitable quantity of the solvent to ascend from the receiver (R), by the tube n, n'. The materials having been left to digest for about fifteen minutes, the solvent liquid charged with the perfume is passed from A into B, in which a vacuum has been previously made, by connecting A and B by means of the tube G, H, which proceeds from the base of A. The water contained in the flowers is carried over mechanically by the solvent, and accumulates at the bottom of the vessel B, whence it is got rid of by the tube I. A glass window (E) allows the distinct separation of the two liquid layers. Communication being established between the evaporator (C) and the refrigerator (F), a vacuum is established by means of the tube t"; the solvent, charged with perfume and free from water, is then allowed to run from the vessel (B) into the evaporator (C). Communication between B and C is then closed, and the refrigerator (F) cooled energetically, after which the pump (P) is set to work. The vapours of the solvent are drawn from C, and then forced into and rapidly condensed in F. During the distillation, the evaporator (C) is kept at the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere; this is effected by passing a current of water between the double lining, which restores the latent heat borrowed by the volatile solvent upon its conversion into

vapour.

When a very energetic source of cold is at disposal, the employment of the pump as a means of liquefaction

may be dispensed with. In this case the vapour passes directly from C to F. After complete evaporation a white or coloured residue is found on the sides of the evaporator C, which may be a solid, liquid, oily, or semifluid substance, eventually becoming solid.

When the distillation is finished, the distilled liquid condensed in F is allowed to run into the receiver R. If a sufficiently low temperature has been maintained during the distillation this liquid will not be sensibly tainted with any odour, and may be used in the manufacture of different perfumes. The perfume mixed with the wax of the flowers and leaves, dissolved also by the ether, requires to be separated. For this purpose, a given quantity of alcohol contained in the vessel S is drawn up through the tube L by means of a vacuum into C, and is left there to digest some time. Solution is favoured by the readmittance of air through K, which agitates the mass violently; the liquid is then drawn off into the vessel S, which is kept at a temperature of -10° in order to precipitate the wax, whilst the perfume remains dissolved in the alcohol, and the whole is filtered at the same low temperature. The perfume thus prepared consists of an alcoholic solution.

In the manufacture of perfumed oils or fats, this manipulation with alcohol is not necessary; the perfume, mixed with its natural wax, is dissolved in the oil or lard, which are the vehicles generally employed.

The exhausted flowers in the digester A mechanically retain some of the solvent. To recover this the mass is heated by the introduction of steam into the outer jacket, and the solvent is condensed in a special refrigerator. The employment of a vacuum allows the whole of the solvent to be recovered.

It will be seen from the foregoing description that the movement of the solvent liquids from one vessel to another is effected simply by differences of pressure, and that the volatile liquid circulates in closed vessels in a vacuum, without ever coming into contact with the outer atmosphere while passing from liquid into the gaseous state, or vice versa. The other advantages presented by

this apparatus are that there is no danger of fire; the perfume is completely and quickly extracted, however instable it may be; solution is effected in a few hours in an appropriate menstruum (alcohol, oil, grease or glycerine); pure perfumes, containing all the aroma, are obtained, owing to the low temperature maintained during the extraction; the perfumes are condensed in an exceedingly small volume, and in a form which allows them to be kept for an indefinite period; the greater value of the yield from all the perfumes than in the old method; and the use of extremely volatile liquids, amongst which the following have been tried :

Hydride of butyl Hydride of amyl Chloride of ethyl Chloride of methyl Light petroleum spirit.

Boiling point.

0°

30° 9°

- 23°

The choice of a solvent for a particular perfume is not without importance, the delicacy and sweetness of a perfume depending upon the nature and purity of the solvent. This method yields extremely delicate results, and in operating with care the slightest variation in nature may be reproduced with extraordinary fidelity.

Commaille reports that the separation of the odour of the milk of the cow has enabled Millon as well as himself, to recognize certain plants eaten by these animals, the Smyrnium Olusatrum`amongst others. M. Naudin has made a series of experiments which show what accuracy can be obtained in this direction. By using a mixture of hydride of butyl and amyl as a solvent he has been able to distinguish clearly and isolate the perfume of roasted coffee from different sources. He obtained a similar result with the fine shades of quality in tea. He also gives instances of isolating and fixing different special odours, as toasted bread, the human skin, raw or cooked food, earths, etc.

The time of collection of the flower is very important. Each flower must be gathered at an appropriate time of the day, and in a certain degree of bloom which experience alone can recognize. Thus the pink only yields its perfume when collected two or three hours after being exposed to sunlight. On the contrary, roses must be gathered in the morning as soon as they are well open. The flower of the jasmine ought to be picked a few minutes after the first exposure to sunlight. The false acacia always gives a fragrant perfume, but differing according as the flower is gathered in the morning, in the evening, or even in the middle of the day.

In distillation, as Millon has already remarked, all the modifications of the flower are mixed in one and the same essence, which does not resemble any of them exactly; but probably the mixture corrects, up to a certain point, the defective parts of the collection. In the new mode of extraction, the slightest alteration, the least variation in the state or quality of the flowers, is revealed in a perfume; to obtain, therefore, a perfume possessing all the freshness and fragrancy of the flowers it is necessary that the flowers used be fresh and fragrant.

The perfumes obtained by the solvent method, instead of dissipating like ordinary essences, are marked by a great permanence. In fact, perfumes become altered by contact with other principles of the plant, which involve them in their own decomposition; but when once isolated from the destructible organs of the plant, the perfumes escape their influence, and obey their own laws of transformation or decomposition.

Millon states that he has kept isolated perfumes for several years in open capsules or tubes, without finding any sensible loss. M. Naudin also has experimented on perfumes that have been in his possession four years. The experiments were at first limited to flowers gathered under the climate of Paris, such as the pink, narcissus, violet, rose, lilac, hyacinth, the lily of the valley, etc.; but have since been extended to the flowers of Cannes, such as the orange, rose, jasmin, false acacia and tuberose.

All the perfumes obtained from these flowers have remained unaltered even in contact with air.

As already stated, the perfume, although it remains unaltered in the presence of the oxygen of the air, becomes involved in the general decomposition if left in the presence of the decaying organism of the flower from which it was derived. Now the decomposition of certain flowers when plucked from the plant is extremely rapid; it is therefore obvious that when the apparatus for extraction is at a distance from the place of collection, the perfume obtained does not exactly resemble that of the flower, even when extracted by the solvent method. Thus, it is known that the essence of neroli manufactured at Cannes, the centre of floral cultivation in the AlpesMaritimes, is superior to that made at Grasse, about ten miles distant. The reason is that some time is necessarily lost between the moment of gathering and the time of manipulation; besides this, there is the transport of flowers in the hottest days of summer, the effect of which is manifest in the diminution of the yield.

The above inconvenience can be met by keeping the fresh flowers in a special vessel, void of air and full of vapour of the solvent, as of ether. The presence of the latter body and the absence of oxygen prevent fermentation, especially if the temperature be kept sufficiently low. The perfume of the orange has thus been kept in its intensity with the flower itself for a month. A manufacturer could thus preserve his materials from fermentation upon the days when the great abundance of flowers-sometimes 20,000 to 30,000 kilograms-would render his digesters of insufficient size to treat the whole at the same time.

The chemical nature of perfumes has been studied by Millon. He recognizes two classes, the essential oils and the perfumes, properly so called. His experiments led him to the conclusion that the extremely small quantity of these bodies contained in the flowers renders their chemical study difficult, if not impossible. In a great number of cases only a milligram of pure product can be obtained from a kilogram. He is of opinion that the perfume of flowers is a fixed or rarely volatile principle, remaining unchanged in air and contained in the flower in only imponderable traces. It is decomposable by heat when the temperature is raised above the ordinary limits of the atmosphere, but is nearly always volatile without apparent decomposition in alcohol, ether, oily bodies and a great number of liquids such as carbon bisulphide, chloroform, benzine, etc. The perfume is nearly indefinitely diffusible in air, that is to say, it vaporizes and denotes its presence there by a fragrant odour, but does not suffer a sensible loss of weight. It is equally dif fusible in water, to which a beautiful aroma can be imparted by the addition of a few drops of an alcoholic solution of perfume.

As already mentioned, Millon makes a distinction between essential oils and perfumes. M. Naudin thinks this may be correct as long as the term essential oil is confined to those of which the odour forms an integral part of the properties of the body, such as the oil of wintergreen or salicylate of methyl. Most of the oils with welldefined chemical functions (alcohol, phenol, ether, etc.), may be entered in this class, but the oils of the genus Citrus and of the labiates cannot be included in the broad definition which Millon gives. He also believes that in many cases the isomeric hydrocarbons of the group CH2-4 are probably only the substratum of the perfume. A very simple experiment tends to prove this. If the oils of lemon, bergamot, orange, lime (C. Limetta) and cedrat (C. medica) be boiled for a short time with a slight trace of caustic soda, the odour peculiar to each oil will be replaced by a common odour similar to that of terpene C10H16. Indeed the energetic action of caustic alkalies is not necessary to destroy these odours, since light alone, aided by time, has enough influence over these oils to change their special odour into that of oil of turpentine. Oil of angelica, obtained from an umbel

16

liferous plant, gives a C1H1 carbide, terebangeline, with an odour of hops, and possessing the same organoleptic character.

Further than this, these general considerations on perfume can be applied to the special odour of fatty oils. No attempt has yet been made to isolate the perfume dissolved in the glycerides, but no doubt it would reveal the same fact, the solution of a very minute quantity of a very odorous and strongly-flavoured body in an inodorous or nearly inodorous vehicle.

Perfumes have not yet been chemically classified; their organoleptic character alone has served to distinguish them, through want of a more intimate knowledge of them. The question therefore remains very obscure; but M. Naudin is sanguine that this new mode of extraction, by putting uncontaminated substances within the reach of chemists will allow of deeper research into their nature. In any case he believes that therapeutics will find, in pure perfumes, a new field of research and will perhaps discover the means of applying them as medicaments.

NOTE ON THE MANUFACTURE OF PHOSPHORIC

The vulcanite shelf was placed in the bottom of the pan, and distilled water was poured into the pan, until the shelf or diaphragm was barely immersed. The oneeighth inch spaces between the slats of the shelf were then covered with sticks of phosphorus, and the surface of the water brought up to about half the diameter of the sticks of phosphorus. If it be found that there is too much water after the shelf has been covered, it can easily be siphoned off with rubber tubing. The cover of plaster of paris is now placed on, and the apparatus is to be undisturbed for two or three days. At the expiration of that time the cover can be removed for a few moments, without danger of the phosphorus taking fire, and it will be noticed, as Professor Wenzell states, that the acid water has increased in bulk. By means of glass and rubber tubes, sufficient of the acid is drawn off to again partially expose the oxidized sticks.

The cover was replaced and the operation was allowed to continue for three or four more days, when a second portion was drawn off for the last time.

The time for the complete oxidation was about thirteen days, and the time and attention it required during that period did not exceed as many minutes.

The most important and practical feature in the

WENZELL.*

BY PROFESSOR E. W. RUNYON.

At the last meeting of the American Pharmaceutical Association, Professor Wenzell presented a paper containing the observations and experiments he had made in the preparing of phosphoric acid by aerial oxidation. From the published reports of that meeting, it seems that but little discussion took place on the subject. It was spoken of as a very old process, and one not likely to be of practical importance. The writer having made several thousand pounds of phosphoric acid, direct from phosphorus, and having for six or seven years followed the valuable suggestions of Professor Markoe in his paper to the American Pharmaceutical Association, in 1875, was very much interested in the paper of Professor Wenzell on this subject. At his request, some 'weeks ago, I entered upon a series of experiments, to determine the practicability of the process for the manufacture of phosphoric acid in large quantities.

For this purpose I made use of a square, stoneware crystallizing pan, such as are made by R. C. Remmey and Co., Philadelphia, which holds five gallons. For the bottom of this I had made a vulcanite diaphragm resting on supports of the same material; the slats of this tray were 1 inch wide and placed about an eighth of an inch apart. The sticks of phosphorus rest in the divisions so as to prevent their rolling against each other, should the apparatus be jarred. A porous cover was made of plaster of paris, and or 2 inches thick, and sufficiently large to extend about 1 inch over the four sides of the crystallizing pan. This plaster cast was quite thick and heavy, necessarily so, on account of the large size of the pan-17 x 21 inches. It required several days for the plaster cover to dry with the temperature of the drying closet at 130° F. The cover was then levelled off by passing it over medium coarse sandpaper, tacked on a table. The top edges of the stoneware pan were perfectly levelled, by means of a sheet iron plate, and fine emery, with a little water. It is necessary for the cover to fit perfectly and evenly on all sides of the pan, and for this reason, both cover and pan should be ground.

By means of an auger or bit, an inch hole is bored in the plaster cover, and a cork inserted, through which a thermometer is passed, to record the temperature during the process of oxidation. The apparatus is now complete.

From the Proceedings of the California Pharmaceutical Society and College of Pharmacy,' 1883, p. 30. † See before, p. 24.

other processes which I have used, is the ready removal of the arsenic with which commercial phosphorus is universally contaminated. Professor Markoe, and others, who have made large quantities of phosphoric acid, give no other way of removing arsenic from phosphoric acid than by passing sulphuretted hydrogen gas through the diluted acid; and my experience has been, that it is exceedingly troublesome to thoroughly remove it in this way; the small percentage present (one-sixth to onequarter of 1 per cent.) seems hardly worth so much trouble. Even after standing a week or more, traces of arsenic sulphide will be precipitated along with some sulphur. Wittstein, in his valuable little book, says: "If, after saturating with the gas, and allowing the solution to stand some days, a yellow deposit is formed, it must be filtered. The acid cannot yet be considered pure, but must again be treated with sulphuretted hydrogen, and is only to be looked on as pure when this treatment no longer causes a precipitate of sulphuret of arsenic. To arrive at this point I found it necessary to treat the phosphoric acid four times with sulphuretted hydrogen."

Our Pharmacopoeia calls for a preparation free from any trace of arsenic. Now, by Professor Wenzell's process, all the arsenic is separated (owing to the presence of phosphorous acid) by simply heating the acid solution as it comes from the aerial oxidation pan to a given temperature for a short time. Professor Wenzell states that at a temperature of 160° C., the separation of the arsenic as a brownish-black substance is complete. In the manufacture of several hundred pounds by this process, I have not found this to be the case; true, at 160° C'. the liquid was of a dirty black colour, of garlicky odour, owing to the reduction of the arsenic to the metallic state; but when diluted and filtered, it still showed traces of arsenic with hydrogen sulphide.

I find it necessary to heat the acid to 190° C. and 200° C., or to the temperature at which hydrogen phosphide commences to be given off with slight explosions, and keep it a little below this (190° C.) for thirty minutes or more. When at this degree of concentration and temperature, an exceedingly penetrating, disagreeable garlic odour is given off, and the operation should be conducted in a fume chamber.

The acid solution now has a specific gravity of 175, equal to about 89 per cent. H,PO. It is diluted with an equal bulk of distilled water, filtered through double, white filtering paper, and then oxidized with nitric acid. The acid solution has a strong, disagreeable odour of hydrogen phosphide, which is entirely removed during the oxidation of the phosphorous acid.

Finally, the only deviation the writer has made in the manipulation given by Professor Wenzell is that of carrying the temperature to 190° to 200° C., or until hydrogen phosphide begins to be given off. One of the concomitants of that temperature is the decomposition of a portion of the phosphorous acid into phosphoric acid and hydrogen phosphide. There are other interesting features relating to this process, both in respect to time, economy, and material, in which it has given better satisfaction than some other processes employed by the writer, and to which he may refer at some future time. In oxidizing with nitric acid, care should be taken to have a sufficiently large dish, and not to have the temperature of the phosphoric acid solution above 125° C. on the addition of the first portions of the nitric acid, else a portion of the acid will be lost by the sudden disengagement of the nitric oxide. The reaction commences at 118° to 120° C. and the temperature gradually rises to 140° C. The operation of oxidizing with nitric acid was reversed by pouring the phosphoric acid solution into the heated nitric acid, but without success.

CHEMISTRY THE NYMPHÆÆ.*
BY W. GRÜNING.

Amongst popular remedies in Germany, Nymphæa alba and Nuphar luteum have long occupied a prominent place, but were omitted from the officinal list of medicinal plants in the beginning of the present century; they have since attracted the attention of chemists on account of their tannin, as a probable substitute for other tanning materials.

Morin, in 1821, published an examination of the rhizome of N. alba, and Dragendorff, in 1879, described an alkaloid obtained from it. He promised further researches; but did not carry them out. The author undertook their examination at his request, and made both qualitative and quantitative estimations of the constituents of different portions of the two species, N. alba and Nuphar luteum.

Moisture and Ash.-Seeds and stalks dried at 110°, and the residue ignited; N. luteum showed a richness in alkali which, calculated from sulphates, equals Na,O, 463 per cent., and K,O, 32·15 per cent.

Fat and Resin.-The former, obtained by treating the pulverized substance with light petroleum, was greenish in colour and thick, easily saponified with soda. The seeds of N. luteum yielded a fat, congealing at the ordinary temperature, melting on the hand, and transparent when cold; the resin is the residue of the fat operation treated with ether; in the case of nuphar an intermediate washing with water is given to remove the tannin.

Matter soluble in ether should theoretically equal the sum of those soluble in light petroleum and in ether, but in fact there is a difference.

Soluble in Alcohol.-After extraction with absolute alcohol, evaporation, drying, and weighing, the residue was treated with water, a part of the solution again evaporated, the remainder of the aqueous solution was employed for estimation of tannin by Sackur's process— precipitation by copper acetate.

Soluble in Water.-20 grams macerated for one or two days at ordinary temperatures in 400 c.c. water, a part evaporated, dried and weighed, and a part precipitated with alcohol, the precipitate dried and ignited-the nitrogen in both estimated by soda-lime; part treated with lead acetate for tannin, and freed from lead with sulphuretted hydrogen; the remainder was employed to estimate glucose and saccharose. An examination for vegetable acids other than tannin showed the presence of eitric, oxalic, and malic acids. Tests for salicylic, tartaric, benzoic, succinic, and fumaric acids yielded negative results.

From Arch. Pharm., [3], xx., 582-605, and 736-761. Reprinted from the Journal of the Chemical Society.

Soluble in Soda Solution.-Part of the residue from the previous operations was treated with an aqueous solution of 1 per 1000 of soda, filtered, the filtrate neutralized with acetic acid and decomposed with alcohol; the precipitate after deduction of ash was called metarabic acid. Starch.-The residue from the soda treatment, boiled with water, a small quantity of diastase added, left to digest four hours at a temperature of 40°, filtered, 4 per cent. hydrochloric acid added and boiled in connection with an upright condenser for three hours: the resulting sugar, estimated by Fehling's solution, was calculated to starch.

Pararabin.-The residue, after removal of starch, was digested for a day with 1 per cent. solution of hydrochlo ric acid, quickly boiled and filtered, the filtrate treated with alcohol, and the precipitate (ash deducted) reckoned as pararabin.

Wood gum of Thomon was sought, but not found. Cellulose.-After the various processes described, the portions of the plants were treated with freshly prepared chlorine water, and successively with clean water, dilute soda solution, and again fresh water; the loss of dry matter between two weighings, less albuminous matter, was reckoned as lignin and similar substance.

The following table shows the results of the analysis:—

Alkaloids,-The author succeeded in separating an alkaloid from N. luteum, and also from N. alba. Dragendorff had already isolated it in the case of the latter. The chemical and physical properties appear to be identical as well as their behaviour towards group reagents, but in their colour reactions there is a decided difference; Nupharine, as the alkaloid of N. luteum is named by the author, is a whitish, brittle mass, which on being rubbed sticks to the fingers. It solidifies at 40° to 45°; at 65° it is of a syrupy consistence; it is easily soluble in alcohol, chloroform, ether, amyl alcohol, acetone, and in dilute acids, but almost insoluble in light petroleum; the acid solution has a peculiar and characteristic smell, and is acted on by most of the group reagents for alkaloids, potassium chromate, picric acid, iodide of potassium. etc. With trouble the author discovered colour reactions which distinguish it from all other alkaloids. A small quantity when dissolved in dilute sulphuric acid and warmed on a steam-bath, assumes a brown colour, which gradually passes into a dark black-green; the addition of a very few drops of water causes the colour to disappear, with precipitation of a voluminous yellow-brown substance. The acid solution when placed over sulphuric acid and lime, after ten or twelve days, becomes a magnificent green, increasing in intensity for