480 M. II. Bleibtreu on Cumarine. 



This empirical formula leads us to the following rational 

 one: — 



C. H. O. 



Palmic acid 34 32 5 



Oxide of lipyle ... 3 2 1 

 Palmine .... 37 34 6 

 Had this acid possessed one atom more hydrogen, that is, if 

 the analyses warranted us in assuming 33 atoms of hydrogen 

 instead of 32, the acid would have become one of the mem- 

 bers of the margaryle series, assuming as correct the formula 

 given to it by Redtenbacher. 



Margaric acid C^ H 33 O a 



Palmic acid (assumed formula) C S4 H^ O s 



Stearic acid 2(03^33)05 



But the analyses do not warrant us in this assumption ; and 

 we are therefore compelled to adopt C^ H 32 O s as the formula 

 of palmic acid. 



Now Berzelius, Dumas and Mulder argue that margaryle, 

 the radical of margaric and stearic acids, possesses another 

 equivalent of hydrogen, being in fact C^ H 34 . In this case, 

 palmic acid connects itself with margaric acid in a very in- 

 teresting way. Palmic acid, C^ H 32 5 , may in fact be viewed 

 as margaric acid, C^ H^ 3 , in which two atoms of hydrogen 

 have become replaced by two atoms of oxygen. 



Margaric acid . . . C 34 H 32 H 2 3 

 Palmic acid .... Cg4 H 32 2 O s 

 I previously pointed out a similar case of substitution in 

 cenanthic and myristic acids*. 



Myristic acid . . . C 23 H 27 3 

 GEnanthic acid . . . C 28 H 2G 4 

 The substitution in this case of an equivalent of oxygen for 

 one of hydrogen is exactly the same as with palmic and mar- 

 garic acids, and seems to show that such relations are not 

 merely fortuitous. 



LXVIII. Researches upon Cumarine. 

 By Hermann Bleibtretj-j*. 



r P , HE attention of chemists has long been attracted to the 

 -*- Asperula odorata, a plant well-known in Germany under 

 the name of i Waldmeister/ (' Woodruff') and which in many 

 districts, particularly on the Rhine, is employed in the prepa- 

 ration of the favourite e Maitrank ' or ' Maiwein/ 



* Annalen der Chemic, vol. xxxvii. p. 155. 



t Communicated by the Chemical Society; having been read May 4, 

 1846. 



