Dr Anderson on the Properties of PicoUne. 155 



distilling the oil, and collecting the product as long as it dis- 

 solves. These results, however, have been called in question 

 by subsequent observers; Reichenbach, especially, asserts 

 that he was unable to separate any basic compounds, and con- 

 siders the substances obtained by Unverdorben to be mix- 

 tures of empyreumatic oil with ammonia. As, however, the 

 properties which Unverdorben has attributed to odorin, ap- 

 proximate in some respects to those of picoline, I thought it 

 desirable to ascertain the existence of this substance, and 

 whether or not it is identical with picoline. In order to pre- 

 pare odorin, I rectified the oleum cornu cervi, and then dis- 

 tilled the product ; but on allowing the first drops of oil to 

 fall into water, they were not dissolved as Unverdorben has 

 asserted, but floated unchanged upon the surface. Finding 

 this process unsuccessful, I agitated the crude oil with dilute 

 sulphuric acid ; the acid fluid immediately acquired a very 

 deep reddish-brown colour, and when separated from the oil, 

 and supersaturated with potass, a semisolid viscid mass sepa- 

 rated from the fluid. This, when distilled with water, yielded 

 a mixture of several oily bases, while a dark-coloured resin- 

 ous substance, probably Unverdorben' s Fuscin, was left in 

 the retort. The mixed bases which I thus obtained, formed 

 an exceedingly small fraction of the oil employed. They were 

 purified by several successive rectifications, and generally in 

 a method similar to that employed for picoline, and the first 

 portions of the product collected apart. It then constituted 

 a colourless oil, which became brown in the air, dissolved 

 readily in water, and presented an odour similar to, though 

 not quite the same as, that of picoline. It gave, with chlo- 

 ride of gold, a dirty-yellow precipitate, which dissolved in hot 

 water, and deposited, on cooling, in the pulverulent form, and 

 with bichloride of platinum, a compound in red wart-like crys- 

 tals. By an accident in the laboratory, the small quantity of 

 this substance which I had prepared for analysis was de- 

 stroyed, so that the evidence of their identity cannot be con- 

 sidered as sufficient. The characters of odorin, as given by 

 Unverdorben, are not perfectly identical, either with those of 

 picoline or the base which I obtained. Odorin, according to 

 Unverdorben, boils at about 212°, and its salts are oleaginous 



