Practical Notes from Various Sources.

Botanical name: 
Bos taurus
Citrus aurantium
Citrus limon
Preparations: 
Spirits

BY THE EDITOR

Skim-milk as Food.—Ritthausen regards skim-milk as a valuable food for man and beast, 2.8 liters of it containing as much nitrogenous matter as a pound of meat, and it is much cheaper. J. Stohmann has calculated that 1 liter skim-milk corresponds in nutritive value to 160 grams of boneless meat.

J. Koenig shows that skim-milk is by far the cheapest and most nutritious food for adults, and that the proportion of the cost of 1,000 nutritive units is 41.7 for skim-milk, 71.4 for pork, 81.7 for butter, and 201.2 for eggs.—Jour. Chem. Soc., 1883, p. 102.; from Bied. Centr., 1882, p. 641, 693.

Alteration of Preserved Milk.—Several years ago Naegeli observed that preserved milk, which has not been heated to a sufficiently high temperature, or not long enough, gradually acquires an intensely bitter taste, the casein at the same time being peptonized,; he ascribed the change to the influence of schizomycetes ("Naegeli, Theorie der Gährung, p. 89") Recently Meissl examined a milk ("Berichte, 1882, p. 1259"), which had been preserved by beating, and keeping it in well sealed bottles. After one year it had acquired a bitterish taste; the fat was somewhat rancid and bleached, the milk-sugar unaltered 4 to 5 per cent., albumen and casein were mostly peptonized, and minute quantities of leucin, tyrosin, and ammonia were found, together with traces of acids, the nature of which was not established; organized ferments could not be observed, and the changes were ascribed to the long continued mutual action of the constituents upon one another.

C. Loew ("Berichte, 1882, p. 1482") states, that milk which has been heated for some time to 120°C. will keep for a number of years. But he examined a milk which had been kept for 8 years after having been heated to 101°C. for 40 minutes, and which was brownish, of a faint acid reaction, nearly inodorous, but intensely bitter. The milksugar had been completely transformed into lactose and glucose, and the casein and albumin into peptone, so that potassium ferrocyanide and acetic acid produced not even a turbidity, while tannin, alcohol, mercuric nitrate, and phosphotungstic acid gave bulky precipitates. A portion of the peptone had been converted into leucin, tyrosin, and ammonia, while a granular deposit, which was insoluble in boiling water and alcohol, appeared to be an anhydride of tyrosin.

Perfumery.—A. Vomácka recommends the following preparations as being of excellent quality; the alcohol used should be distilled from wine, except where otherwise directed.

  • Eau de Brettfeld, digest for 3 days orris root, 230 grams, in spirit of wine 2,000 grams, and add a tincture prepared from spirit of wine 300 grams, oil of lemon 70 drops, Turkey oil of rose 60 drops, oil of neroli bigarade 70 drops, and musk 0.15 gram.

  • Eau de Cologne.—Dissolve oil of orange and oil of lemon, each 15 grams, oil of bergamot 6 grams in rectified spirit of wine 3,000 grams. Also dissolve oil of neroli petals 1 gram, oil of neroli bigarade 1.5 gram in rectified spirit of rye 1,000 grams. After 5 or 10 days, mix the two solutions. The fragrance improves by age; but a more delicate odor is produced by distilling the mixture. To the distillate, oil of rosemary 2 grams is added.

  • Extrait d'Heliotrope.—Dissolve heliotropin 1 gram, in rectified spirit of wine 100 grams; the addition of ambergris 0.1 gram renders the perfume more permanent.

  • Sachet d'Heliotrope.—Dissolve heliotropin 1 gram, in spirit of wine 25 grams, and incorporate the solution with granulated orris root 200 grains; after partial drying in the air, put into suitable bags. Black silk absorbs the odor best and retains it longest; next follow in the order given blue, red, green, and yellow silk.—Rundschau, 1882, p. 651; from Casopis cesk. lék.

The American Journal of Pharmacy, Vol. 55, 1883, was edited by John M. Maisch.