252 



but the proof of this decomposition was not attained, as much of the* 

 original salt remained unchanged. 



With strong ammonia in a heated sealed tube, a more complex 

 ehange appears to take place ; but its nature was also not made outr 



Chloride of ethylostrychnine also yields a small crystalline deposit 

 when left in contact with ammonia for some days. 



Nitrate of Amylostrychnine. — This is a beautiful salt, crystal- 

 lizing from water in groups of colourless prisms, which have the 

 composition, 



G52 H33 N^ O, NO,, HO, + 10 aq. ; 

 the salt is not obtained anhydrous at 212°, but when so dried, is 

 C,2 H33 N, 0, NO,, HO ; 



it furnishes a crystalline double salt with mercurous nitrate. 



Bichromate of Amylostrychnine. — This is a yellow crystalline 

 salt, difficultly soluble in cold water ; when dried at 212°, it is found 

 to have the composition,. 



C,,H3,N,0, CrO„HCrO^, 

 analogous to the corresponding compound of the ethyl base. 



Chloride of amylostrychnine, when treated with oxide of silver, 

 yields an alkaline purple solution, which agrees in properties with 

 solution of ethylostrychnine, and leaves, on evaporation in vacuo, a 

 crystalline residue, whose characters are so like that left by the other 

 that there can be little doubt the crystals obtained by use of alcohol 

 and ether are the hydrate of amylostrychnine, having a composition 

 closely corresponding with the ethyl product. 



It is hoped to clear up, in a future paper, some of the points 

 touched upon in the present, and the following inferences are drawn 

 from the facts brought forward :• — 



That the new basic compounds, ethylo and amylo strychnine, are 

 analogous to Hofmann's ammonium bases, and quite distinct from the 

 natural alkaloids. 



That the already complex molecule of the vegetable alkaloid is 

 rendered more susceptible of change by association with additional 

 hydrocarbons. 



That strychnine appears to be made up of a complicated molecule 

 in which the one atom of nitrogen, as in ammonia, is associated with 

 a nitrogenous aggregate of elements, whose function is that of three 

 atoms of hydrogen, and whose nitrogen is in some distinct form of 



