16 ABSTRACTS OF CHEMICAL PAPERS BACTERIOLOGICAL, PHYSIOLOGICAL, ETC. Toxicological Detection of Ergot of Rye. F. Narino-Zuco and C. Duccini. (Gazz. Chim. Ital., 1914, 44, 437-447.)-The viscera are acidified with tartaric acid and digested for six hours with twice their weight of 95 to 96 per cent. alcohol at 75O C. beneath a reftux condenser, this treatment being repeated two or three times until a colourless extract is obtained.When completely cold, the alcoholic extracts are filtered and reduced to a small volume on the water-bath, and the last traces of alcohol expelled under reduced pressure. The red-brown syrup is diluted and shaken with twice its volume of ether, which (in the presence of ergot) will extract the oharacteristic rose-red colouring matter, leaving the tartrates of the alkaloids dissolved in the water.The ethereal extracts are separated and concentrated a t as low a temperature as possible on the water-bath, then filtered and shaken with a small quantity of a cold saturated solution of sodium bicarbonate. The colour of the alkaline layer will vary from yellowish-red with a violet tint to the characteristic violet rose colour, according to the quantity of ergot present.The extraction with the alkali is repeated several times, and the united extracts rendered faintly acid with hydrochloric acid, and extracted with ether. The yellow extracts are united and examined spectroscopically, the characteristic absorption bands (two at 538 and 499 respectively, and a third extremely faint one at 467), being seen when ergot is present.As a confirmatory test, Keller’s reaction for ergotinine is used. The acid aqueous layer from the first extraction with ether is made slightly alkaline with a saturated solution of sodium carbonate and extracted with ether. The ethereal extracts (containing the dkaloids) are united and concentrated at a low temperature, and the ergotinine purified by shaking the solution with an aqueous solution of citric acid, which forms ergotinine citrate (remaining dissolved in the aqueous layer).The latter is separated, and the ergotinine liberated by the addition of sodium carbonate, and again extracted with ether. The new extract is evaporated and the residue tested by the following modification of Keller’s reaction : I t is dissolved in 2 to 3 C.C.of glacial acetic acid containing 0.1 per cent. of ferric chloride, and the mixture gently heated on the water-bath, then cooled and, if necessary, filtered, after which 2 to 3 C.C. of strong sulphuric acid are slowly added. A blue ring at the zone of contact, with a violet coloration of the upper acetic acid layer, is characteristic of ergotinine. Since, however, the extraction of the alkaloid is difficult, a negativeORGANIC ANALYSIS 17 result does not necessarily indicate that ergot was not originally present.The author describes experiments which show that by aeans of these two tests the presence of ergot of rye may be detected with certainty in animal matter up to the seventh day of putrefaction. Afterwards the putrefactive changes alter the rose colouring matter of ergot to such an extent as to interfere with the spectroscopic identification.C. A. M. Estimation of Glycogen in Yeast. E. Salkowski. (Zeitsch. Physwl. Chm., 1914, 92, 75-89.)-The author criticises the method of Schonfeld and Hrampf (Cham. ZendraZbZ., 1911, I. 1603-1604), and finds that the material estimated as glycogen according to this method consists largely of yeast gum, a substance which is stable towards 60 per cent. potassium hydroxide, is precipitated by alcohol and is easily hydrolysed by hydrochloric acid, yielding a mixture of mannose and dextrose. Even if this yeast gum be removed, the method is unreliable, because hot potassium hydroxide dissolves a portion of the cell membrane yielding a substance which behaves similarly to glycogen, and which would be estimated as such. E. w.