312 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles, 



'b 



in cold water, and gelatinizes on cooling, provided the solution is 

 perfectly neutral when examined by litmus paper : if, however, ex- 

 cess of acid be added, another sulphate is formed which crystallizes 

 in flat needles ; cinchonia, on the other hand, crystallizes with sul- 

 phuric acid in neutral solutions. 



The following is the composition of this substance : 



Atomic Calculated 



By direct Analysis. Constitution. Results. 



Carbon .... 71'00 20 70-93 



Hydrogen . . 7*00 24 6-95 



Azote .... 8- 2 8-21 



Oxygen ...14* 3 .... 13-96 



Estimating the atomic constitution according to the weights 

 generally adopted in England, the atoms of hydrogen and azote in 

 this statement, and the following analyses, will be reduced to one 

 half the above numbers. M. Pelletier remarks, that if the analysis of 

 aricina be compared with those of cinchonia and quina by Liebig, it 

 will be seen that they may be represented as consisting of a com- 

 mon radical, united with 1, 2, 3 atoms of oxygen ; this radical being 

 C-° H 44 Az~, we shall have 



(C*> H 24 Az*)+0 = Cinchonia. 

 (O H24 A« a )+0* = Quina. 

 (O H« Az a )+0 3 = Aricina. 

 M. Pelletier is of opinion, however, that cinchonia contains two 

 atoms more of hydrogen than were found by M. Liebig. M. Pelletier 

 observes that cinchonia, quina and aricina will then be considered 

 as three degrees of oxidizement of the same substance, which ex- 

 plains the fact that aricina requires more acid to saturate it than 

 the other two; and it will explain how two salifiable bases, as he 

 discovered with respect to quina and cinchonia, may exist in the 

 same bark. 



Santaline. — This is the colouring matter of red saunders wood 

 (Plerocampus santalinus). An account of this substance has been read 

 before the Academy of Sciences, to which the author refers ; but he 

 mentions a curious circumstance respecting it. Sulphuric aether does 

 not immediately dissolve santaline ; the process takes place slowly, 

 and the solution, instead of being red, as in alcohol, is orange or even 

 yellow. J3y the spontaneous evaporation of the aether, exposed to 

 the air, the colouring matter is obtained of a superb red ; if the 

 sether be quickly evaporated in vacuo, the colour is much less in- 

 tense, often it is even quite yellow. It is further remarked, that 

 deprived of water, as the aether employed may be, and although the 

 santaline may have been perfectly dry, water always remains after 

 the evaporation of the a3thereal tincture : it sometimes even hap- 

 pens that ice is obtained when the aether is rapidly evaporated un- 

 der the receiver of the air-pump. M. Pelletier seems inclined to 

 believe that while dissolving in the aether, the santaline loses a por- 

 tion of its oxygen, which forms water with the hydrogen of the 

 aether, and that afterwards, the santaline, by exposure to the air, 

 regains its colour by absorbing oxj'gen. 



