140 AESTRACTS OF CHEMICAL PAPERS ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS PUBLISHED IN OTHER JOURNALS. FOOD AND DRUGS ANALYSIS. Note on Ghee. K. C. Browning and M. Parthasarathy. ( J . Soc. C h n . Id., 1917, 36, 118.)-Bolton and Revis have stated (ANALYST, 1910, 35,343; 1911, 36, 392) that the Reichert-Meissl value of ghee usually approaches or even exceeds 30. Kesava Menon ( J . Soc. Chew. Id., 1910, 29, 1428) records 26 for cow ghee and 18 for buffalo ghee of undoubted genuineness. K.H. Vakil (ANALYST, 1915, 40, 284) also found values between 24 and 25. The authors, having also found much lower values than Bolton and Revis in many ghees they had rewon to believe genuine, prepared several samples in the laboratory from milk they had seen drawn from the cow or buffalo. Four buffalo ghees gave %chert-Meissl values of 18-9, 189,27*0, and 30.2; five cow ghees, 21*4,22-3,23-9,28-0, and 20-9.Ghees prepared in their laboratory in Ceylon from imported frozen Australian butter had Reichert- Meissl values 29.4 and 28.0. NoTx.-’Fhere appear to have been several attempts recently to show that pure ghee may have very low Reichert-Meissl values. This may be true in the case of samples made in the labbrstory from the milk of single animals, but this in no way proves that such values are to be coneidered normal, just as has been the case with similar values for butterfat.To admit the validity of such values as a guide to the possible redts obtained from commercial samples is to leave a very exknaive loophole to wholesale adulteration. The figures given by Bolton and hvk have been confirmed by Trimen (ANALYST, 1913,38,246).-EDITOR.G. C . J. Estimation of Free Alkali Hydroxide in Soap. V. A. Izmailsbi. ( J . Rum. Phyix-Chem. Soc., 1916,4$, 411-432; through J. Soc. Chem. Id., 1917, 36, 295.)- For the estimation of the free alkali hydroxide in soap neither the alcohol method nor fhe barium chloride method yields results which are accurate or reproducible by different workers.The emm of the alcohol method are due principally to the capa- bility of colloidal map in an alcoholic medium of adsorbing free alkali, and the difficul6 solubility in alcohol of the ‘‘aI1L8li soap ” thus formed and its marked retention of the filtrate. when barium chloride is used, special precautions are necessary to prevent hydrolysis of the soap itself.From the results of experiments made by the author the following method has been devised: A portion of the soap is freshly cut from the interior, and a b u t 100 grms. weighed into a h s k of about 400 C.C. capacity fitted with a rubber stopper, and dissolved in 200 C.C. of boiling distilled water. To the hot solution is gradually added 20 C.C. of neutralised (towards phenolphthalein) barium chloride solution containing 30 p s .of the salt to 100 grms. of water, the liquid being rotated and boiled for a short time until the precipi- tate no longer settles down. During the dissolution and boiling, the flmk is loosely closed with the stopper. When the precipitate settles the flask is cooled under the tap and tightly stoppered, the cold liquid being immediately filtered through a rapid filter into a conical flask and the filter washed with cold boiled water.Any precipi- tate remaining in the original flask is washed with three portions of boiled and cooled water, amounting to 100 c.c., in the closed flask. The liquid is titrated with N/10 acid in presence of phenolphtble’in. The values thus obtained, which the author terms the “ alkali numbers,” are characteristic for different types of soap.FOOD AND DRUGS ANAKYSIS 141 Detergent Action of Soap.S. U. Pickering. (J. Chern. ~ o c . , 1916, 111, 86-101.) - Although the detergent action of soap is much increased by the presence of excess of alkali, it exists to some extent independently of such excess (ANALYST, 1916, 41, (311, 352).It is in part due to its power of emulsifying oil, the globules of which become enclosed in a pellicle which prevents them rendering contiguous substances oily; in part to the lowness of surface tension between oil and soap solution (cf. Hillyer, J . Amer. Chem. Soc., 1903,25,511). The union of dirt with the acid soap produced by hydrolysis is also a factor, but a more important one still is the fact, often overlooked, that oils, even paraffin oils, dissolve in soap to form soluble compounds which may contain in some cases nearly equal weights of oil and soap.Thus, when 'a potassium soap and paraffin oil are mixed together (this taking some little time for complete incorporation), the mixture suddenly becomes opaque and almost solid, and " wets " the containing vessel.I n the case of a soda soap the final mixture is almost transparent. The mixtures are permanent if a concentrated soap is used, and when treated with excess of water they dissolve completely, forming solutions which are either clear-except for the presence of some acid soap-or, if the proportion of oil is larger, milky, owing to the presence of an emulsion which separates as a cream on the surface in the course of some hours or days.Except when *he oil added is small in amount, a certain proportion of it becomes emubified and incapable of combining with the soap owing to the protecting pellicle; hence considerable excess of oil must be taken for the soap to combine with the maximum amount of oil possible. The compound formed is not decomposed by excess of water, but dilution of the soap previous to its treatment with oil results in much less oil combining with it, because a larger proportion of the latter becomes emulsified.The combination of soap with oil is accompanied by a series of physical changes explicable by the nature of the products formed-a soluble limpid compound on the one hand, and an emulsion which is almost solid on the other.The propor- tions of oil and soap which will unite depend on the chemical and not merely physical nature of the reagents, and an appreciable heat disturbance, either negative or positive, accompanies the reaction: Naphthalene does not behave towards soap as paraffin does, but dissolves in it to a limited extent, some of the crystalline sub- stance separating on cooling or dilution.The presence of naphthalene decreases the amount of paraffin dissolved by soap. Some remarks on the value of soap- paraffin and soap-naphthalene mixtures as insecticides are included by the author (cf. J . S.E.Agric. Colt., 1896, 5, 51). H. F. E. H. Spinacene: a New Hydrocarbon from Certain Fish-Liver Oils. A. C. Chapman. ( J . Chern. SOC., 1917, Ill, 56-69.)-A sample stated to consist of cod-liver oil was found by the author to have the following constants: Specific gravity (15"/15"), 0.8686; saponification value, 22.5; iodine value (Wijs), 358; unsaponifiable matter, 89.1 per cent.; iodine value of unsaponifiable matter, 3'76.2 ; free fatty acid (as oleic), 0.42 per cent.; bromine precipitate insoluble in ether, 76.5 per cent.From these it was concluded that 89 per cent. of some unsaturated hydrocarbon oil was present, raising doubts as to the oil being a liver oil a t all. Further inquiries showed that the oil was undoubtedly obtained from the livers142 ABSTRACTS OF CHEMICAL PAPERS of two fishes known in Portugal as " Barroso " (Centrophorus grunulosus) and " Carocho " (Scymnw Eickiu), both belonging to the Spinacidce or SQruaZidce family of the shark group.Upon fractionally distlilling the residual oil after the removal of the saponifiable portion, a small amount of cholesterol was found to separate from the first fraction, while the great bulk of the oil proved to be a hydrocarbon which on distillation over sodium yielded a colourless and fairly mobile oil with a faint odour suggesting lemon oil terpenes, and burning with a smoky flame; the boiling- point was 280" C.(corr.)/17 mm. The average of five analyses showed carbon 87.75 per cent. and hydrogen 12-45 per cent.; C,oH,o requires carbon 87-8 and hydrogen 12.2 per cent. A freezing- pointo determination in benzene pointed to 375 as the molecular weight; C,,H,, requires 410. The oil is optically inactive and does not solidify at -20" C.; the specific gravity at 15"/15" C.is 0.8641; and the index of refraction at 20" gave the following values : ltHa = 1.4932. ltD = 1.4967. nHP = 1.5054. nHy =1*5130. At 16" C. the index of refraction for the D line is 1.4987, and the specific refraction calculated by the formula -- is 0.3394, the molecular refraction being 139.1.Taking Conrady's average numbers for the atomic specific refractions (D line), C30E150 with six ethenoid linkings requires 137-7. The viscosity as determined by time of flow through the aperture of a Redwood viscometer showed a time of flow of 78 seconds for 50 C.C. as compared with 370 seconds for rape oil. On prolonged exposure to an atmosphere of oxygen, 1.662 grms. of spinacene absorbed 0.397 grm.of oxygen and became very viscous. Thin films form a hard skin on exposure to air similar to linseed oil. A number of halogen and nitrogen derivatives were prepared (cf. also J . Ind. and Eng. Chern., 1916, 8, 889). Volatile Reducing Substance in Cider Vinegar. R. W. Balcom. ( J . Amer. Chern. Soc., 1917,39,309.)-The volatile reducing substance obtained by the distilla- tion of vinegar was first observed by Farnsteiner, who showed that it was neither furfural nor formaldehyde.It reduces Fehling's solution readily even in the cold, and separates silver from alkaline silver solutions. Pastureau ( J . Amer. Chem. SOC., 1903,25,29-31) identified acetylmethylcarbinol in the distillates from some abnormal vinegars, and prepared from it a crystalline osazone melting at 243" C. He gave reasons for disbelieving t'hat diacetyl was present. The author confirms Pastureau's conclusions, but has found diacetylmethylcarbinol in all the normal samples of cider vinegar examined. An average value for this substance expressed in terms of invert sugar is about 0.25 to 0.30 grm. per 100 C.C. Estimations of the nitrogen in t,he diacetylphenylosazone prepared from the distillate showed 21.08 and 21.01 per cent. of nitrogen ; theory requires 21.05 for this derivative. Acetylmethylcarbinol may be considered as a normal constituent of cider vinegar (cf. ANALYST, 1913, 38, 565). H. F. E. H. n2- 1 (n2 + 2)d H. F. E. H.