1 30 Dr. J. Stenhouse on the Action of Chlorme 



obtained the oil to which I have aheady referred; and on re- 

 peating his experiment I was soon convinced that the oils pro- 

 duced by acting on cinnamic acid either with hypochlorite of 

 lime or with chlorate of potash and muriatic acid are identical. 

 I may mention that the cinnamic acid on which I operated 

 was prepared from liquid storax by the following process: — 

 The storax was boiled for a couple of days with a very strong 

 alkaline lye. The alkaline liquor when cold was diluted with 

 a considerable quantity of water, which precipitated most of 

 the resin which it held in solution, and it was then decom- 

 posed b}' an excess of muriatic acid. The cinnamic acid pre- 

 cipitated in a very impure state, being mixed with a large 

 quantity of resin. 



If the alkaline liquor is neutralized while hot, this resinous 

 matter melts and aggregates into large masses, which inclose 

 much cinnamic acid, which is not easily separated from them, 

 as they are not I'eadily acted on by water. The cinnamic 

 acid was purified by repeated crystallizations; the resin of the 

 storax which had escaped decomposition during the first ope- 

 ration was again digested with an alkali, and the process above 

 described repeated so long as it continued to yield any cinna- 

 mic acid. Cinnamic acid is usually prepared from balsam of 

 Peru by means of an alcoholic solution of potash; balsam of 

 Peru however is very difficult to decompose, does not yield 

 quite so much cinnamic acid, and is more than twice the price 

 of liquid storax, which is therefore by far the more oecono- 

 mical source of that acid. ' 



Action of Hypochlorite of Lime on Ci7ina7nic Acid. 



When a quantity of cinnamic acid is dissolved in a saturated 

 solution of hypochlorite of lime and subjected to distillation, 

 a violent effervescence ensues, owing to tiie escap<3 of carbonic 

 acid gas, and a quantity of oil mixed with some acid and water 

 passes over into the receiver. This oil is heavier than water, 

 and has a very peculiar aromatic smell, intermediate between 

 that of bitter almonds and Spirea ulmaria^ though not exactly 

 like either of them. Its taste is sharp and burning, pretty 

 closely resembling that of cress seed. The oil was first washed 

 with water to remove adhering acid. It was then left to stand 

 for some days over a mixture of fused chloride of calcium and 

 fragments of unslaked lime, to free it from moisture and muri- 

 atic acid; when poured off' this mixture, the oil was strongly 

 alkaline. It was tlien very cautiously distilled: the first sn)all 

 portion which came over was colourless and neutral, but what 

 followed became more and more acid, the last portions exceed- 

 ingly so, evolving fumes of muriatic acid and assuming a deep 



