46 ABSTRACTS OF CHEMICAL PAPERS ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS PUBLISHED IN OTHER JOURNALS. FOOD AND DRUGS ANALYSIS. Accurate Aeration Method for the Estimation of Alcohol in Fermen- tation Mixtures. A. W. Dox and A. R. Lamb. ( J . Amer. Chem. SOC., 1916, 38, 2561 -2568.)-The estimation of ethyl alcohol by oxidation with sulphuric acid and dichromate solut'ion, followed by titration of t,he acetic acid produced as originally described by Duprh (J.Chem. SOC., 1867, 20, 495), was carefully studied. It was found unnecessary t o reduce the excess of dichromate with zinc before distilla- tion, and the oxidat'ion of the alcohol proceeds quite readily by merely allowing the mixture to stand in the distilling flask for a few minutes before distillation. The preliminary separation of the alcohol solution for oxidation from the medium containing it within a reasonably small volume is tedious and troublesome, even when it is distilled from a satmurated salt solution, and ie often far from quant'itative.It is recommended as an improvement that the alcohol solution should be saturated with ammonium sulphate and the alcohol carried over into concentrated sulphuric acid, which absorbs it readily, by a current of air passing for about eight to ten hours at room temperature.The alcohol-sulphuric acid solution may then be mixed with a solution of potassium dichromate, and the acetic acid distilled off at once. Resulte accurate within 1.5 per cent. of the amount used were obtained by this method. Acetone distils practically unoxidised, and methyl alcohol is converted entirely to carbon dioxide and water.Acetaldehyde or ethyl acetate, if present, give acetic acid and must be allowed for; toluene and pyridine are unaffected. H. F. E. H. Coconut Toddy in Ceylon. K. C. Browning and C. T. Symons. ( J . SOC. Chem. Id., 1916,35, 1138-1142.)-The author8 give a full account of the prepara- tion of toddy (palm juice) as drawn from the coconut palm (COCOS nucifera) in Ceylon, and describe the methods of collecting the juice and obtaining sugar, t,he fermented toddy, arrack, and vinegar from it.With one t>apping a day the yield varies from 600 to 1,200 C.C. per tree; with two and three tappings the yield may rise to over 3,000 C.C. The best yields are got when the weather is neither very wet. nor very dry, trees near the sea yielding better than those farther inland.The juice is drawn from the unopened flower spathe, which is bruised a considerable t,ime before the actual incision for collecting purposes is made. For use as a sugar basis the toddy mu& be drawn unfermented, the inhibition of fermentation being obtained under official regulation by placing a small amount of slaked lime in the collecting pots each day.I f drawn into a clean and new vessel, no natural fermentation ensues; but if the vessel is that ordinarily employed and containing adhering yeasts and bacteria, fermentation starts at once. The actual process of manufacture of the crude sugar or " jaggery " is very primitive, and consists of straining off the juice containing lime and boiling down to a thick syrup, after which it is allowed to solidify to aFOOD AND DRUG8 ANALYSIS 47 deliquescent solid in coconut shells.One gallon of toddy yields about 14 pounds of jaggery, which has now ceased to be exported, and is used locally as a substitute for imported sugar and as a sweetmeat. l a e n collected in unlimed vessels, fermentation at once ensues, and the liquid is drunk as a somewhat turbid but strongly sparkling and refreshing beverage, with a smeU which to a European is unpleasant. It rapidly sours, and after twenty-four hours is too acid to drink.When distilled in primitive copper stills it furnishes arrack, a very crude and impure spirit of low quality seriously coptaminated with copper. Since it is kept several days before distilling, the yield is very poor and a high acidity develops. The total amount of arrack distilled in Ceylon is about 1+ million gallons per annum of 25" under proof.Por the production of vinegar, toddy is allowed to become sour, and is then stored in open vats for long periods mixed with various herbs. The acidity may rise to as much as 6 per cent. reckoned as acetic acid.A typical analysis of the unfermented juice collected in a sterile vessel is as follows : Sp. gr. 1.063 (at 80" F.), conductivity (K) estimated on an Evershed and Vignoles dionic water tester, 4,500; refractive index R. 30" C., 71.8; total solids, 16.22 grms. per 100 C.C. ; ash, 0.185 per cent. ; cane-sugar, 12.3 per cent. (Hilger polari- meter, solution cleared with solid basic lead acetate separated with potassium oxalate) ; proteins, 0-29 per cent. A fermented toddy had the following composition: Sp.gr. 1-005 (at 85" I?.) K=5,000; total solids, 3-36 per cent.; ash, 0.23 per cent.; acidity (as acetic acid), 0.32 per cent.; alcohol per cent. by weight, 4.9. The per- centage of alcohol in fermented foddy varies extremely owing to the crude fermen- tation methods employed; thus, in one distillery 92 samples taken throughout the year varied from 843 to 2-6 per cent.by weight, the average being about 4 per cent. No sugars other than cane-sugar, dextrose, and laevulose have so far been detected in the juice, the average percentage of sugar in the unfermented juice being about 1i per cent.; but, owing to bad methods, only about half this is actually obtained.The following organisms have been isolated from toddy: (1) Typical S. cerevisice (t30p fermentation) ; (2) a wild yeast resembling S. ellipsoidew; ( 3 ) schizo-saccharo- myces; (4) zygo-saccharomyces resembling 2. Barkeri; (5) a yeast resembling 8. Ludwigii. No film-forming yeasts, mycoderma, or torula! were found. Moulds resembling Monilia and Oidium and many bacteria were also present.H. F. E. H. Delicate Test for Dimethylaminophenyldimethylisopyrazolone (Pyram- idone). L. Guglialmelli. (Anal. SOC. Quim. Argentina, 1916,4, 180-182 ; through J . Chern. Xoc., 1916, 110, ii., 587-588.)-Arsenotungstic acid gives with dimethyl- aminophenyldimethylisopyrazolone a white precipitate soluble in alkali with pro- duction of an intense blue coloration.Arsenotungstomolybdic acid gives a white precipitate, soluble in alkali to an indigo-blue solution. Both nitric acid and ferric chloride gave an indigo-blue coloration. Estimation of Fat in Cacao Powder. Keller. (Apoth. Zeit., 1916,31,330.)- There is no advantage in mixing the cacao powder with sand before extracting the48 ABSTRACTS OF CHEMICAL PAPERS fat with ether; moreover, the admixture with sand prevents the use of the extracted powder for the eetiination of the crude fibre.The cacao powder should be extracted in a Soxhlet apparatus for sixteen houra in order to obtain the whole of the fatl. Theobromine is extracted together witrh the fat, and forms a white deposit on the wall of the extraction flask; in most casep this small quantity of theobromine may be ignored, but, if desired, the fat, after being weighed, may be dissolved in ether, the flask rinsed wit.h tvhis solvent, and then reweighed with the deposit of theobromine Besides theobromine, the ethereal extract of cacao contains another basic substance which yields a gold salt having a melting-point and gold percentage different to those of bromine gold chloride.w. P. s. Sensitive Reaction for Apomorphine. L. P. J. Palet. (Alan. s’oc. Quim. Argentina, 1916, 4, 83-86; through J. Chem. Xoe., 1916,110, ii., 587.)-With Guglia.1- melli’s arsenotungstic or arsenotungstjomolybdic reagent, apomorphine gives an indigo-blue coloration; the coloured substance diesolves in amyl alcohol to a, solution of the same colour, and in benzene to an intense violet solution.Mieroehemical Distinction of Morphine from Codeine. 0. Thnmann. (Apoth. Zeit., 1916, 31, 148-150; through J . Chem. Soc., 1916, 110, ii., 655-656.)- When treaked with hydriodic acid, morphine and codeine yield crystals which have always the same forms and allow of the differentiation of the two bases. A little of a salt of the base is sublimed by heating on an asbestos plate, and the sublimate covered with a cover-glass, at the edge of which a drop of hydriodic acid is then introduced. A slight granular precipitate is thus formed, and this disappears on heating. When the preparation is cooled, crystals of the tetra-iodide are formed immediately in the case of morphine, whereas with codeine crysfals of the tri-iodide are formed only after three to five minutee, but more rapidly in presence of a small drop of alcohol.The morphine tetra-iodide crystals are always very flat, quad- rangular, mostly rectangular plates, on the avemge 30 to 50 p broad by 80 to 120 p long, and are of prismatic character and show direct extinction and a blood-red to brownish-red colour. The bulk of the crystals are united to ladder- and step-like aggregates more than 1 mm.in length, and these in their turn are combined to stars and crosses. Codeine tri-iodide crystals are paler, thicker, and smaller, the aggregates being not more than one-third of the size of morphine tetra-iodide crystals. Single crystals (20 to50 p x 40 to 80 p) are very rare, and form half-moon-like triangles with a concave base and a blunted apex.The majority are twinned crystals, which always grow out on the convex side and give butterfly- and goblet-like forms, by which these crysfals a,re recog- nisable at the first glance. Pleochroism is either very slight or non-existent . St,rong pleochroism is observed in this case. Chemical Composition, Digestibility, and Feeding Value of Vegetable Ivory Meal. C. L.Beak and J. B. Lindsey. (J. of Agric. Research, 1916, 7, 301-320.)-Vegetable ivory, or the corozo nut, is the seed or nut of the palm-like plant Phytelephas macrocarpa, found in South America. Thousands of tons are exported annually for t,he ma.nufact.ure of buttons, etc., and the turnings, chips,FOOD AND DRUGS ANALYSIS 49 etc., have been employed when mixed with other ingredients as a cattle food and as an adulterant of concentrated feeds, Analyses show that it contains about 5 per cent.of protein and 7.5 per cent. of nitrogen-free extract ; fat and a.sh are negli- gible in amount, while crude fibre averages 7 per cent., and pento%ans 2.5 per cent. Lignin, galactan, starch, and dextran are absent, while 91.5 per cent. of the nitro- gen-free extract consists of mannan, an anhydride polymer of mannose.A non- nitrogenous alcoholic precipitate can be obtained from a boiling aqueous extract of the meal amounting t o about 2.5 per cent. on the sample, which is not pentose in nature and differs from fruit “ pectin ” in not forming muck acid and not reducing Fehling’s solution. By t‘he use of Fehling’s solution about 0.5 per cent.of water- soluble reducing material and 2 per cent. of total sugars are shown to be present after inversion with hydrochloric acid in the cold. The rnannan is not entirely hydrolysed short of at least four and il half hours, boiling in an acid solution. The calorie value of the meal ranks welt with other carbohydratte foods, and it possesses a fuel value equal to one-half that of soft coal.Sheep eat it readily when mixed with other grains, and digest it thoroughly. Eighty- four per cent. of the dry matter and 92 per cent. of the nitrogen-free extract were digested, and all the carbohydrates appear to have been hydrolysed and absorbed in the digestive tract. Cows ate the material when mixed with other food, but not alone. When fed as an addition to a basal ration, the increase in milk obtained indicated its positive vrilue as a productive food, though not equalling maize meal. NOTE.^. L. Baker and T. H. Pope ( J . Chern. SOC., 1900, 77,696) showed that the polysaccharide present in the ivory nut was a lzievulomannan which on hydrolysis yielded about 95 per cent. of manaose and 5 per cent. of lzevulose. H. F. E. H. Water-Content of Margarines prepared from Hydrogenated Fats. K. Brauer. (Zeitsch. offentl. Chem., 1916,22, 209-216.)-Hydrogenated fats and oils yield an emulsion containing more water than does an emulsion prepared with ordinary fats and oils, and, consequently, margarine made with hydrogenatred fats is liable to contain more water than does margarine prepared under the same condi- tions from ordinary fats. The excessive quantity of water “ held ” by hydrogenated fats is not. readily removed by kneading the mixture, and it is not unusual to find as much as 20 per cent. oE water in this class of margarine. w. P. s.