Oil of Citronella
This is often substituted for lemon oil. It may be detected by the same test which was used for citral. Instead of the red color and the white compound, citronella gives a bright yellow color, which does not disappear for some time.
Tartaric or Citric Acid
Precipitate the oil by the addition of an equal volume of water. Filter and add a very little of the filtrate to a test tube nearly full of cold lime water. A precipitate will form if tartaric acid is present and it will dissolve in an excess of ammonium chlorid or acetic acid. Filter, or, in case no precipitate forms, heat the liquid. Citric acid is precipitated in the presence of a large excess of hot lime water.
Methyl Alcohol
Mullikin and Scudder.—Take 2 ft. of No. 12-15 copper wire and bend at right angles about 8 or 10 inches from one end. Grasp this bent end and an ordinary lead pencil side by side in such a way that the bend will be about the middle of the pencil. Wind the wire around the pencil and toward the free end of the short part of the wire until you have a coil 3 or 4 cm. long. Remove the pencil and twist the unwound parts together for a handle for the coil.
Dilute a portion of the sample 3 or 4 times, and oxidize 10 cc. of the diluted liquid (preferably in a test tube) by heating to a red heat the above copper coil in the oxidizing flame of a Bunsen lamp. Thrust the heated coil quickly into the liquid contained in the test tube. In a second withdraw and immerse in water. Continue this operation till the oxid of copper fails to be reduced (usually 4 or 5 times is sufficient). Cool the liquid by immersing the tube in water. Separate into two parts and test each for formaldehyde by the following methods:
Mullikin, S. P.—Place one of these parts in an evaporating dish, and add to it 1 cc. of strong ammonia, boil gently over the free flame till the vapors cease to smell of ammonia. Add 2 or 3 drops of strong hydrochloric acid and heat just to boiling, and cool quickly by dipping the dish in cold water. Make the test for formaldehyde: Add a drop of a solution of resorcin (1 : 200) and pour this mixture slowly down the side of an inclined test tube which contains 3 cc. of strong sulfuric acid, taking care to keep the liquids separate. After 3 minutes give the tube a rotary motion by rolling between the hands for a minute or more but only gradually mixing the water and acid, but mixing only about half of the acid.
Flecks of a rose-red color form if methyl alcohol is present. Bands of color or flecks of other colors, even though they be tinged with red or a rose-red solution without the precipitate, should never be taken as proof that methyl alcohol is present. These conditions, however, are good grounds for repeating the test; 10 per cent or even less may be detected by this test.
Hydrochloric Acid and Ferric Chlorid Test.—Add a few drops of the other part of the above oxidized liquid to about 10 cc. of milk, known to be free from formaldehyde, in a porcelain casserole, and add 10 cc. of commercial hydrochloric acid (sp. gr. 1.2) which contains 1 cc. of 10 per cent ferric chlorid per 500 cc. Heat slowly over the open flame nearly to boiling. Give the liquid a rotary motion to break up the curd. If formaldehyde is present, the liquid will be colored violet. If not, it slowly turns brown. The presence of formaldehyde proves that methyl alcohol was in the original extract.