In a paper entitled "The Oxidation of Ethyl Alcohol in the Presence of
Turpentine," communicated to the Chemical Society by Mr. C.E.
Steedman, Williamstown, Victoria, the author states that dilute ethyl
alcohol in the presence of air and turpentine becomes oxidized to
acetic acid. He placed in a clear glass 16 oz. bottle a mixture of 2
drachms of alcohol, 1 drachm of turpentine, and 1 oz. of water. The
bottle was securely corked and left exposed to a varying temperature
averaging about 80° F. for three months. At the end of that time the
liquid was strongly acid from the presence of acetic acid. One curious
fact appears to have light thrown upon it by this observation.
Mr. McAlpine, Professor of Biology at Ormond College, Melbourne
University, has a method of preserving biological specimens by
abstracting their moisture with alcohol after hardening in chromic
acid, and then placing the specimen in turpentine for some time; great
discrepancies arise, however, according as the alcohol is allowed or
not to evaporate from the specimen before dipping it into turpentine.
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