Dr. Kane on the Combinations derived from Pyroacetic Spirit. 115 



On the discovery of the compounds which are now about to be described, I 

 was for a time under the impression that I should find, as a product of some of 

 their reactions, the ulmic acid, and consequently I proposed to distinguish the 

 carbo-hydrogen, of which they may be considered to be composed, by the name 

 Pteleyl, from TrreAe?;, ulmus ; this radical being also contained in ulmic acid, the 

 formula of which is 5 (CgHjO^). Now although this acid is not actually formed 

 as a member of the series under examination, yet I am induced to retain the word 

 Pteleyl, as indicating a degree of alliance withit which there is good reason to 

 admit. Provided the name be well understood, the sound does not much sig- 

 nify ; and I could not well find a better. 



It will be seen that most of the following bodies relate to mesitylene, which 

 indeed bears in this series the place of olefiant gas in that of vinic alcohol ; and as 

 the latter may, and indeed should be looked upon as a combination of hydrogen 

 with the radical of acetic acid, — that is, as a hydruret of acetyl, — so may we con- 

 sider, for the illustration of the following results, the mesitylene as a hydruret 

 of pteleyl, — that is, we make the formula Cg h^ = Cg H3 -|- h. 



X. OF THE CHLORIDE OF PTELEYL. 



When a current of dry chlorine gas is conducted into pure mesitylene, it is 

 abundantly absorbed with the evolution of much heat and a strong effervescence, 

 owing to the escape of a large quantity of muriatic acid gas. Continuing the 

 supply of chlorine, small needles begin to form at the edge of the fluid, and 

 finally, the whole quantity solidifies into a mass of acicular crystals. These must 

 be dissolved in boiling ether, from which they are deposited in brilliant white 

 four-sided prisms by cooling, whilst the excess of mesitylene remains dissolved ; 

 they require to be many times redissolved and recrystallized before they can be 

 considered pure, and must be dried finally by pressure between folds of blotting 

 paper,— not by exposure to the air. These crystals resemble very much those of 

 the commercial di-sulphate of quinine. They are insoluble in water ; are not acted 

 on by a solution of potash in alcohol or in water ; are volatile without decompo- 

 sition, but require a high temperature, and can be sublimed in an atmosphere of 



Q 2 



