he test
with 40 grms. of the former, otherwise the melting point of the
arachic acid cannot be estimated. Furthermore, the acids which are
separated from the lead salt by hydrochloric acid must be
recrystallized repeatedly with 90 per cent. alcohol, until the melting
point ceases to rise, in case the latter is not found to exceed 70 deg. C.
at the first estimation. When peanut oil is present, the melting point
will always be above 70 deg..--_Chem. Zeit._

* * * * *

HYDROXYLAMINE.

Free hydroxylamine, NH_{2}OH, has been isolated by M. Lobry de Bruyn,
and a preliminary account of its mode of preparation and properties is
published by him in the current number of the _Recueil des travaux
chimiques des Pays-Bas_ (1891, 10, 101). The manner in which the free
base was obtained was briefly as follows. About a hundred grammes of
hydroxylamine hydrochloride, NH_{2}OH.HCl, were dissolved in six
hundred cubic centimeters of warm methyl alcohol. To this solution a
quantity of sodium dissolved in methyl alcohol was added, in such
proportion that the hydrochloride of hydroxylamine was present in
slight excess over and above that required to convert it to sodium
chloride. After deposition of the separated sodium chloride the
solution was decanted and filtered.

The greater portion of the methyl alcohol was next removed by
distillation under the reduced pressure of 160-200 mm. The remainder
was then treated with anhydrous ether, in order to completely
precipitate the last traces of dissolved sodium chloride. The liquid
eventually separated into two layers, an upper ethereal layer
containing about 5 per cent. of hydroxylamine, and a lower layer
containing over 50 per cent. of hydroxylamine, the remainder of the
methyl alcohol, and a little dissolved salt. By subjecting this lower
layer to fractional distillation under 60 mm. pressure, it was
separated into three fractions, of which the first contained 27 per
cent. of hydroxylamine, the second 60 per cent., and the third
crystallized in the ice-cooled receiver in long needles. This third
fraction consisted of free solid NH_{2}OH. Hydroxylamine as thus
isolated in the free state is a very hygroscopic substance, which
rapidly liquefies when exposed to air, owing to the absorption of
water.

The crystals melt at 33 deg., and the fused substance appears to possess
the capability of readily dissolving metallic salts. Sodium chloride
is very larg