CHEMICAL NEWS, August 18, 1876. Platinum Combustion Tubes. PLATINUM COMBUSTION TUBES. IN Liebig's system of organic analysis glass combustion tubes are employed, to the exclusion of either metallic or porcelain retorts. But the chemists who first performed ultimate organic analysis occasionally used metallic combustion tubes, and Henry, in his work on chemistry, published in 1826, states:-"The tube for containing the mixture of the oxide and the body to be analysed is by some preferred of copper, by others of crown or green bottle-glass; but glass tubes seem, on the whole, to be preferable to metallic ones." Although glass combustion tubes have been successfully used for a number of years, yet it is questionable whether glass is really the best material from which to construct apparatus intended to bear exposure to high temperatures. A glass tube, as a rule, can only be used once, and when several analyses have to be performed "charging" the combustion tube becomes an extremely irksome duty. For filling the combustion tube is an operation which requires strict attention to minutiæ, a slight deviation from some rule being sufficient to vitiate the results. And even when a tube has been carefully filled there is always a chance that it may either crack or "blow out" during ignition. If an analysis could be performed in a few minutes an unsatisfactory result would be of trifling moment; but when the time spent over an analysis is remembered, a defective combustion means the loss of some hours' labour. Platinum is apparently well suited for the construction of combustion tubes, and if tubes of that metal could be employed it is probable that the time spent over mechanical details in organic analysis would be considerably lessened. A platinum tube about 18 inches in length, and open at both ends, would be of convenient size for a combustion tube. Its internal diameter might be rather narrower than that of a glass tube, while its sides need not be thicker than that of an ordinary crucible. One end of the tube ought to be provided with a platinum cap, which should either slide or screw on, so that the junction between the two may be gas-tight at a red heat. Given, then, a tube as above described: the question arises-How is it to be filled with cupric oxide? The following is a simple plan :: (1.) The inner surface of the tube is to be coated with The substance to be analysed should be mixed with cupric oxide, and placed in a platinum "boat" about 5 inches in length; one end of the "boat" ought to be filled with dry potassic chlorate. The "cap" having been fitted on, and the potash and sulphuric acid bulbs attached, the whole of that portion of the tube which contains the 9 inches of cupric oxide can be heated to redness, and the analysis conducted in the usual manner. By using small tubes, which could readily be weighed, it would be possible to determine the loss of oxygen experienced by the cupric oxide during a combustion. Suppose it is necessary to examine a body containing CHO. Arrangements would have to be made so as to allow a stream of nitrogen to pass through the apparatus. The substance to be analysed is to be mixed with cupric oxide, and placed in the "boat." The bulbs, &c., are 67 then attached, and a stream of nitrogen passed through the apparatus so as to displace the air, and the analysis conducted in the usual way. If the combined weight of the combustion tube and boat, with their contained oxide of copper, is known before ignition, then the loss after combustion will represent the the substance analysed contained no oxygen, then the amount of oxygen abstracted from the cupric oxide, and if bulbs will be equal in weight to the oxygen lost from the amount of oxygen found in the potash and sulphuric acid oxide of copper. But should the body contain oxygen then the difference between the amount of O lost by the cupric oxide and that found combined with the H and C will represent the amount of O present in the substance analysed. With a platinum tube filled with cupric oxide in the manner above described it would be possible to perform a succession of analyses, thus greatly economising time. This arrangement of apparatus is based on purely theoretical considerations. I have had no opportunities of practically testing the value of platinum combustion tubes. C. J. H. W. Bhagulpore, Bengal. PHOSPHINE (PH3). THE only method of obtaining absolutely pure phosphine is by the decomposition of phosphonium iodide by water, which yields PH3 and HI, but very pure phosphine may be obtained by the action of sodic ethylate on P in alcoholic solution. The evolution of gas commences on warming slightly, and will continue regular for some days. From a strong alcohol solution the excess of hydrogen rarely amounts to more than 1 per cent. Aqueous and alcoholic solutions of ammonia (nitrine) produce, when digested with phosphorus, mere traces of phosphine, only either at the ordinary temperature or the boiling-point. Clear phosphorus immersed in strong alcoholic ammonia and exposed to light (direct sunlight when that could be obtained) for a period of nearly six months, yielded only a very small amount of gas containing a trace of phosphine merely, a white crystalline deposit forming on the sides of the glass vessel in very small quantity. (It appears to be only white phosphorus.) Similar formation of crystals was noticed by Commaile. A smaller amount of similar looking white crystals mixed with red phosphorus formed on the sides of a flask containing aqueous ammonia to which phosphorus had been added. Glycerin does not prevent the formation of the spontaneously inflammable gas when added to the aqueous potash solution used for generating it; even strong glycerin with only 1 to 2 per cent water when treated with potash and phosphorus gives off the spontaneously igniting gas at the ordinary temperature slowly. W. R. H. Royal College of Chemistry. CYANOGEN. CYANOGEN, in solution in alcohol or water, rapidly undergoes decomposition, para-cyanogen, ozulmic acid, and ammoniacal products being formed. With absolute alcohol saturated with dry gaseous cyanogen in the dark, a colouration due to decomposition was observed to commence after about an hour's exposure to sunlight (in February and March); the same solution maintained in darkness required four hours to develop the same depth of colour. The rate of decomposition is about the same when ether is used. Ir may perhaps be interesting to know that plastic sulphur may be formed at the ordinary temperature. When sulphuretted hydrogen is passed into water containing iodide in suspension, hydric iodide is formed and retained in solution, and a mass of sulphur is formed which may be drawn out into threads, and behaves in all respects like the plastic sulphur formed in the usual way by heat. The whole of the sulphur is not in the plastic state, there being some ordinary precipitated sulphur intermixed. The colour is light red, due to iodine or probably a sulphur iodide. Royal College of Chemistry. NOTICES OF BOOKS. W. R. H. On the Presence of Arsenic in the Vapours of Bone Manure; a Contribution to Sanitary Science. By JAMES ADAMS, M.D. Ir appears that early in the present year a gentleman in the north of Scotland, whilst passing into a railway station," encountered a volume of offensively smelling vapour that was suddenly disengaged from a bone manure works, which (somewhat singularly, in our opinion) prac- | tically forms part of the station." He immediately, as we are told, became sick and faint, and "continued vomiting until he reached Inverness," where, in spite of the best medical advice there to be procured, he died on the fourth day after encountering the evil odour. His previous health is represented as having been excellent. On this fact, which, we should say, indicated some peculiar idiosyncrasy or very abnormal susceptibility on the part of the deceased gentleman, Dr. Adams founds a serious charge against chemical manure works in general. The nuisances which they occasion are, according to our author, of a complex nature. There are, first, the gaseous exhalations from decomposing animal matter, which, we are told, "may not only cause a nuisance but they may kill." Of these gases carbonic acid and sulphide of ammonium are given as examples. We believe it is rather uncommon for these two compounds to be thrown off from a manure works in such an amount as to affect the health of the vicinity. There are next miasms, morbid poisons, or organic poisons, the causes of fever, cholera, &c. These are by many authorities considered as solid organised bodies, merely held in suspension in the air. Dr. Adams, however, pronounces them "another class of gaseous exhalations proceeding from decomposing animal matter." However this may be he ventures to consider a manure works as dangerous, on this score, as a crowded churchyard. To this view we must take decided exception. The amount of putrescible matter received in ordinary manure works is very small. A large part of the bones worked up arrive as bone-ash and as spent bone-black; a | {CHEMICAL NEWS, August 18, 1876. further portion consists of boiled bones, and even of the green bones a large quantity is generally dry and very unlikely to undergo decomposition. How stores of such materials can produce effects at all comparable to those of a crowded church-yard, where the bulk of the mat.er deposited is of a putrescent nature, Dr. Adams might find it difficult to show. But there is yet a third class of emanations-volatile compounds of arsenic and antimony. The sulphuric acid employed contains arsenic, generally in the state of arsenious acid. This arsenious acid, in the process of dissolving bones, coprolites, apatite, &c., is decomposed by the chlorides, fluorides, &c., present, and there is, in consequence, an evolution of such delightful compounds as arseniuretted hydrogen, chloride and fluoride of arsenic, &c. in sulphuric acid, is not to be disputed. Nor can the reNow the presence of arsenic in pyrites, and consequently action by which it is said to be volatilised be pronounced impossible. But that it is given off to the extent here assumed may well be questioned. If arsenic is as widely diffused and as generally present as Dr. Adams holds the greater is the probability that it may have been present not in the suspected material but in some of the reagents employed. We should like to know whether, in all the so-called "blank experiment" was first made to eliminate investigations described or referred to in this pamphlet, a this source of error. But there is yet a further question :-To what extent can chlorides and fluorides of arsenic and antimony be mixed with moist air, and to what distance can they be conveyed without undergoing decomposition? We should recommend Dr. Adams to take a station 600 yards from a manure works-the distance of Bunchrew House from the inculpated factory-to draw a few thousand litres of air through water and to examine the resultant solution for arsenic. Let us now examine the three sources of death and disease alleged to be given off from manure works, as here laid down. Miasms or organic poisons could scarcely meet with a more efficient corrective than chloride of arsenic, fluorine, and other of the volatile compounds said to be given off. On the other hand sulphuretted hydrogen and sulphide of ammonium are admirably calculated to purge the atmosphere of arsenical fumes. We have had abundant occasion to examine chemical manure works, and have observed not merely the proprietors, officials, and workmen, but the population of the respective neighbourhoods. But there were neither mysterious and inexplicable deaths, nor a generally lowered tone of vitality. The only complaints we have ever heard had reference to the injury to vegetation from the fumes escaping from the chambers. We consider ourself fully justified in declaring that if manure works were the sole or the most formidable sanitary nuisance in existence we should have reached the condition of Dr. Richardson's model city. We should recommend manure makers to take every practical precaution (as indeed most of them already do), but we must protest against their being singled out for special condemnation on the score of a single case. If we load chemical manufacturers with conditions which render it impossible for them to work at a profit the result is not difficult to foresee. Tables forming an Appendix to W. Dittmar's " Manual of Qualitative Chemical Analysis." Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas. We have some time ago had an opportunity of expressing our opinion of Mr. Dittmar's valuable manual. The collection of tables, issued as an appendix, embrace "Metals, their mechanical and physical properties, and behaviour in the heat (an un-English expression); behaviour of metals with aqueous reagents; properties of the more important metallic oxides; metallic oxide and dry-way reagents; generic reactions of mineral acid solu-, tions of groups of metallic oxides; data for the discrimination of the oxides of the silver and copper groups; data for the discrimination of the oxides of the arsenic, iron, barium, and magnesia groups; general scheme for the analysis of a complex of metallic oxides dissolved in aqueous mineral acid or alkali; examination of filtrate from sulphuretted hydrogen precipitate; conspectus of methods for detection of non-metallic elements; action of salts on general acid detectors; and general scheme for the analysis of solids. The tables are printed on good paper and the characteristic reactions are brought prominently before the reader. Annual Record of Science and Industry for 1875. Edited by SPENCER F. BAIRD. London: Trübner and Co. THIS useful record has now reached its fifth annual volume, and in our opinion maintains its satisfactory character. In addition to a classified selection of extracts from scientific journals and the Transactions of learned societies, there is a general summary of scientific and industrial progress during the year 1875, an obituary of eminent scientific men, and a bibliography, which, however, does not profess to be exhaustive. We believe that few discoveries, inventions, or other scientific facts of importance, will be found to have been omitted, and, as there is in every case a reference to the original authority, the work will be invaluable to all who wish to know the general results obtained during the past year. Much that is novel cannot be expected, since a considerable time must elapse after the expiration of the year before such an extensive assortment of facts can be compiled. The classification of subjects is—Mathematics and astronomy, terrestrial physics and meteorology, general physics, chemistry and metallurgy, mineralogy and geology, geography, general natural history and zoology, botany, agriculture and rural economy, domestic and household economy, mechanics and engineering, technology, materia medica, and miscellaneous. This classification might doubtless be amended in several respects, but methodological accuracy is not in request in England, where the majority of the "respectable and intelligent classes" cannot even discriminate between "science and "art," and apply the former term to very strange pursuits. Causeries Scientifiques. Par HENRI DE PARVILLE. Paris THIS work has now reached the fifth year of its useful career. The present issue, like its predecessors, gives a brief, chatty, and readable account of recent discoveries, inventions, and other topics of scientific interest. The first paper, on the invasions of the sea, contains, among other things, a hypothetical map of the ancient isle of Atlantis,-not in accordance with the modern Dutch theory, and a somewhat better established chart of the coast of France in the times when Jersey and Alderney were still part and parcel of the mainland. It is a somewhat unpleasant fact that the lands submerged within the last few thousand years seem generally to have had mild climates, whilst the territories recently elevated -such as certain parts of Siberia-are not merely cold and dreary in themselves, but are the lair whence the late Canon Kingsley's favourite wind issues to desolate Western Europe. 69 strange remark that since the researches of Darwin "no one will accuse savants of being devoid of imagination!" Further on we are told-"Let the Darwinists continue their interesting romance." From some occult reason the countrymen of Lamarck look coldly upon modern Evolutionism, and have contributed very little to the recent progress of the organic sciences. The account of the experiments of Prof. Heckel, of Montpellier, on the action of substances which hasten the germination of seeds, ends with a curious,, and as some of our readers will think, an impertinent reflection:"Who knows? pharmacy, which does so much evil to man, may, by way of compensation, do some good to vegetables." There is an interesting notice of the effects of the rarefied air of high mountains upon the human life. The monks of St. Bernard rarely exceed the age of 35, and the majority of them die between 25 and 30. At the Little St. Bernard, according to Dr. Niepce, none of the inhabitants attain the age of 45. The author nevertheless thinks that moderate elevations, say from 800 to 1500 metres, are favourable to health and vigour. Here, although the amount of oxygen inhaled is smaller, yet, according to Jourdanet, the carbonic acid is eliminated more readily from the blood, and the vital energy may be consequently greater. It is mentioned as a curious fact that ashes from the great fire of Chicago fell in the Azores on the fourth day from the commencement of the conflagration, whilst the empyreumatic odour led the inhabitants to suspect that some great forest was burning on the American continent. According to the investigations of Dr. Viand Grand Marais the bite of the common viper is much more dangerous than is commonly supposed. Out of 362 cases which he has recorded, 63, or rather more than one-sixth, have proved fatal, one of the deaths occurring in two hours after the bite. It is remarked that in all these cases "ammonia had been largely employed," though we do not learn in what manner. The question is somewhat complicated by the fact that there are two species of venomous serpents in France, as indeed in all the more southern parts of Europe, the true viper, "pelide" (Pelias Berus), found also in England, and the asp "aspic" (Vipera aspic), well known and dreaded in Illyria, Southern Hungary, &c. The latter is decidedly the more dangerous. At the same time, however, our attention has just been called to a reputed fatal case in England. A young man, named George Thompson, was bitten by a viper, whilst ascending Leith Hill, on July 27th, and died on the 29th notwithstanding medical treatment. The section on vaccination and the small-pox may prove interesting during the present agitation anent the compulsory vaccination-laws. The author's views would scarcely, we fear, find grace in the eyes of the Local Government Board. He says "No, vaccination does not place you in any case absolutely out of danger. Vaccinated, re-vaccinated, re-vaccinated again, you may still contract small-pox during an epidemic." These views, which are declared to be those of the highest medical authorities, certainly detract not a little from the glory popularly ascribed to Jenner. On the sewage-question the author takes the opportunity of committing himself. He says--" Chemical processes of purification are costly and inefficacious. The sulphate of alumina, on which so much dependence has been placed, certainly clarifies sewage; the gelatinous alumina agglutinates the solid substances, but the dissolved matters, mineral and organic, are nowise retained (!) It clarifies; it does not purify." It is somewhat strange if chemists have still to learn that salts of alumina are perfectly able to precipitate not merely suspended, but dissolved organic bodies. Centuries of experience in over-dyeing and lake-making have put this beyond doubt. Nor must it be thought that colouring-matters are the only organic compounds capable of thus uniting with nascent alumina. It must further be remarked that in The next chapter contains an account of the "patent colours" of Croissant and Bretonnière, and of the tempered glass of M. de la Bastie, though the rival process of M. Siemens, of Dresden, seems to have been looked. A notice of the recent discoveries on the carnivorous habits of certain plants is introduced, with the somewhat 70 CHEMICAL NEWS, Weldon's Process for the Manufacture of Chlorine. August 18, 1876. the best precipitation processes the salts of alumina, iron, The question of animal automatism, recently resuscitated, is also discussed here, and is very naturally extended from the rest of the animal kingdom to man. We cannot further multiply extracts from this volume, but we have, we trust, furnished proof sufficient that it is replete with interesting and suggestive matter. The Errors of Homœopathy. By Dr. BARR MEADOWS. THE fundamental principles of Homœopathy do not appear A majority of the believers in Homœopathy, however, will decline to discuss principles and confine themselves to the success of some Homœopathic practitioner or hospital. This argument is very fully met. In Fleischmann's celebrated Homœopathic Hospital, at Vienna, the mortality is actually greater than-in fact, nearly double -the average mortality of half a dozen English provincial infirmaries and hospitals. Yet in the former the propor | Analytical chemistry, chemical technology, metallurgy, A laboratory sufficient for all present wants has been built and fitted up. It comprises a large analytical room, a convenient lecture hall, store-rooms, office, &c. Apparatus, both chemical and physical, seem to have been liberally supplied. The works on chemistry and physics in the University Library amount to 2697 volumes. The arrangements for the study of biology are scarcely so complete, but we learn with pleasure that the students are encouraged to form botanical and zoological collections. We are suprised to find such an utterly unsatisfactory work as Guizot's " History of Civilisation" history and philosophy. Will it be surprising if some day Japan should become one of the seats of research, whilst England, suffocated by competitive examinations, reaches that state of immobility which we once thought characteristic of the far East? selected as a text-book in the course of instruction on CORRESPONDENCE. OF CHLORINE. tion of really serious, not to say incurable, cases is much | WELDON'S PROCESS FOR THE MANUFACTURE the smaller. Somewhat amusing are the two countertestimonials at the close of the work. An amateur Homœopathist declares "it is a national calamity and nothing else when a doctor is converted." On the other hand, a qualified Homeopathic physician denounces the credulity of his amateur colleagues and laughs at their supposed cures ! The Calendar of the Tokio Kaisei-Gakko, or Imperial THE wonderful progress of the Japanese in Science and To the Editor of the Chemical News. SIR,-In the portion of your translation of Dr. E. Mylius's contribution to Dr. Hofmann's "Report on the Development of the Chemical Arts during the last Ten Years," which appears in the CHEMICAL NEWS, vol. xxxiv., p. 33, facture of chlorine which bears my name, "the following Dr. Mylius says, with respect to the process for the manuaccount is founded partly on Mr. Weldon's paper in the CHEMICAL NEWS (vol. xxii., p. 145), and partly on his letter to Dr. A. W. Hofmann, dated March 12th, 1874.” In the portion of the same translation which is given in the CHEMICAL NEWS, vol. xxxiv., p. 55, Dr. Mylius attributes to me, as having been made in the letter referred to, the statement that M. Kuhlmann, among others, was "preparing," at the date of that letter, to adopt the process in question; and on this Dr. Hofmann says in a foot-note: On September 18, 1874, I found in the establishment of M. Kuhlmann no preparations for the introduction of Weldon's process." As I am thus made to appear in the Berichte and in your columns, as having written to Dr. Hofmann something which is not true, I am sure I shall not count in vain on CHEMICAL NEWS, August 18, 1876. Chemical Notices from Foreign Sources. your permitting me to show how utterly unjust is the | position in which that foot-note places me. M. Here, Sir, are the ipsissima verba of what I said about M. Kuhlmann in my reply, written on March 12, to the letter which Dr. Hofmann had addressed to me on February 22, 1874:-" The process has also been adopted in France by the Compagnie de St. Gobain, and is on the point of being adopted by M. Merle, M. Kuhlmann, and other French manufacturers." I thus simply did not use the expression attributed to me by Dr. Mylius, to which Dr. Hofmann attaches his foot-note. And as regards the expression I did use, I can conceive no form of words more exactly fitting the facts as they stood then. Kuhlmann had accepted a license for the use of my process as early as April, 1870. He had not at that time actually determined to adopt my process, but was waiting, like so many others, to see the results of Mr. Deacon's. The time came, however, when, on each occasion of my visiting Lille, he spoke of the adoption of my process as a thing now settled and decided upon, to be carried into effect so soon as the necessary attention could be spared for it. Early in 1874, before the date of my letter to Dr. Hofmann, I had been shown the site in the works at Loos, which had been determined upon for my apparatus; I had had prepared, at M. Kuhlmann's desire, the drawings and specifications from which, with some modifications, the plant now at work there has since been built; I had been consulted as to whether certain existing vessels and constructions could not be turned to account for it, and it had been decided that some of them could and should be, and that others of them could not; and I had received repeated and positive assurances that the construction of the plant would be commenced either towards the end of the year then current, or at the beginning of 1875. Under these circumstances, I thought then, and I think now, that to say that M. Kuhlmann was "on the point of adopting" the process was to put the matter as accurately as it could be put without entering into unnecessary detail. And surely, Sir, looking back now on what has happened since, it is plain that the expression which I used in March, 1874, has been justified by the event, notwithstanding that M. Kuhlmann was a year longer in getting to work than M. Merle, who was equally spoken of in the sentence in which that expression occurs. I believe that M. Kuhlmann's apparatus was not actually ordered until January, 1875; but I have before me as I write evidence that M. Kuhlmann had opened negociations with the Lancashire firm of engineers, of whom he eventually bought the mechanical part of it as early as July 17, 1874, so that this negociation had been commenced two months before that visit to Loos on which Dr. Hofmann "found no preparations for the introduction of Weldon's process." Earlier even than that, namely, in the month of Mayfour months before Dr. Hofmann's visit to Loos, and only two months after my letter of March 12-at a meeting at Paris of the French Association of Chemical Manufacturers M. Kuhlmann had said-"Although I am myself the inventor of a process for the regeneration of manganese, I am going to employ, not my own process, but Mr. Weldon's." In the face of these facts I cannot understand Dr. Hofmann's foot-note. That he "found" "no preparations," &c., is quite intelligible in the sense that he saw no new constructions on behalf of the process either in progress or completed; but how he failed to become informed of how far those "preparations" had been carried which necessarily precede constructive work is very puzzling. I am not concerned, however, with the fact stated in the footnote, but merely with the manner of stating it. It is so put as to do me very serious injustice. I am quite satisfied that the injustice is wholly accidental; and the far higher qualities which we all know to be united with the splendid intellectual gifts of Dr. Hofmann, and which have made him for so many of us not only a hero but almost an idol, make it certain that the accident has not befallen through any lack of the most conscientious care. foot-note does me grave injustice all the same. 71 But the On another occasion I may ask your permission to point out certain errors into which Dr. Mylius has fallen in his account of the chlorine manufacture. Meantime I conclnde by entreating of your courtesy that this letter may appear in your to-morrow's issue if possible.-I am, &c., WALTER Weldon. Abbey Lodge, Merton, Surrey, August 17. CHEMICAL NOTICES FROM FOREIGN SOURCES. NOTE.-All degrees of temperature are Centigrade, unless otherwise expressed. Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Seances, de l'Acade.nie des Sciences. No. 2, July 10, 1876. Influence of Physico-Chemical Forces on the Phenomena of Fermentation.-H. Ch. Bastian. The author concludes from his experiments that the fermentation of urine is absolutely independent of germs which exist in the air. Mineralogical Notices.-M. F. Pisa ni.-An account of the Amesite, of Chester (Massachusetts); Euchlorite; from the same locality: yellow Spessartine, of St. Marcel in Piemont; and Bastite from Elba. No. 3, July 17, 1876. Note on the Fermentation of Fruits, and on the Diffusion of the Germs of Alcoholic Ferments.-M. L. Pasteur. Note on the Alteration of Urine, with reference to a Communication by Dr. Bastian.-M. L. Pasteur. Intercellular Generation of the Alcoholic Ferment. M. L. Fremy. These three papers are rather biological than chemical, and relate to the vexed question of spontaneous generation. Fourth Note on Electric Transmission through the Soil.-M. Th. du Moncel.-Not adapted for abstraction. Measure of Electric Resistance in Liquids by mann. means of the Capillary Electrometer.-M. G. Lipp Transformation of Saccharose into Reductive Sugar during the Operations of Refining.-M. Aimé Girard. Among the impurities which have an effect on the yield obtained from crude sugars in refining, practical men place in the first rank the reductive sugar found among the products of the cane. Till lately it was admitted that this glucose by its mere presence threw a double proportion of saccharose into an immovable state. Doubts have latterly been thrown upon this explanation; the facts are beyond dispute. The author finds that saccharose is alterable not merely in an acid medium, but even in such as are neutral or verge upon alkalinity. Peligot has already pointed out that under various conditions glucose becomes converted into acid compounds, and in that state doubtless acts upon the saccharose. Detection and Determination of Magenta and Arsenic in Wines Artificially Coloured.-M. C. Husson. The author places a few grms. of the suspected wine in a phial, and adds a little ammonia, when the mixture turns a dirty green. He then steeps in the liquid a thread of white woollen yarn, withdraws it when saturated, places it vertically, and allows a drop of vinegar to flow along it. If the colour of the wine is natural, as the drop advances the wool returns to its original whiteness, but if the wine has been sophisticated with magenta it is dyed of a rose, deeper or paler. He has also examine |