184 Drs. Muspratt and Hofmann on Toluidine. 



C,6 Hg O4 + 2BaO = Ci4 Hg + 2(BaO, COJ? 



Benzoate of the Toluole. 



oxide of methyle. Benzoene. 



Deville has given benzoate of the oxide of ethyle as one of 

 the products of distillation of Tolu balsam ; hut if we consider 

 how minute is the difference per cent, between the ethyle 

 and methyle compounds of benzoic acid, as also that Deville 

 did not either analyse the alcohol from the former, or change 

 it into acetic acid, we may readily infer that his compound is 

 not benzoic aether, but benzoate of methyle, which by the 

 temperature acquired in the distillation is partly converted 

 hito toluole and carbonic acid. Considerations of this kind 

 prompted us to study the action of caustic lime upon benzoate 

 of the oxide of methyle. We passed the vapour of this body 

 over incandescent lime previously strewn in a combustion 

 tube, and obtained an oil which was not dissolved by potash 

 ley. From its comportment and analysis it proved to be 

 benzole and not toluole. It solidified at 0° C. into a crystalline 

 mass resembling loaf-sugar, and could be converted readily 

 into aniline. The transformation which the benzoate of the 

 oxide of methyle undergoes is therefore of a different kind, 

 and there is probably generated olefiant gas, or an isomeric 

 compound, which we did not however collect. 



C16 Hs O4 + 2CaO = C12 He + C^ H^ + 2(CaO, CO^) ? 



Benzoate of methyle. Benzole. Olefiant gas. 



The metamorphosis observed in the salicylate of the oxide of 

 methyle appears therefore to be peculiar only to the aethers 

 of those acids whose hydrates contain six atoms of oxy- 

 gen. 



Preparation of Toluidine, 



We acted upon toluole with concentrated nitric acid, and on 

 the addition of water procured an oily fluid perfectly analo- 

 gous to nitrobenzide. This substance is nitrotoluide, and 

 when it is dissolved in alcohol, saturated with ammoniacal 

 gas, treated with sulphuretted hydrogen, and then allowed to 

 repose in a corked flask for some days, a beautiful crystalliza- 

 tion of sulphur appears, and the liquid loses the smell of sul- 

 phuretted hydrogen. It must now be saturated anew with 

 hydrosulphuric acid, and this process repeated until that 

 gas no longer disappears. This method is very convenient, 

 but tedious, as to obtain a sufficient quantity of the base for 

 an investigation two or three months are required. To hasten 

 the process, it is necessary, after each treatment with sulphu- 



