584 Drs. Muspratt and Hofmann on certain 



oxamic acid ; the decomposition, however, takes place in quite 

 another way ; the salt evolves first all its ammonia, then the 

 acid undergoes a metamorphosis, which Cahours previously 

 foretold when working upon oil of anise, namely, that the sa- 

 licylic acid separates into carbonic acid and hydrate of phe- 

 nyle (phenol). 



C,4 H5 O5, NH4 O = NHg + 2CO2 + C,2 H5 O + HO. 



V I 1 I 



Salicylate of oxide of ammonium. Hydrate of phenyle. 



The possibility of salicylamide yielding aniline was much 

 more likely ; for if we regard the latter as the amide of phenyle, 

 it was to be expected that, by decomposition, it would afford 

 the amide compound of the same radical as we get by the di- 

 stillation of the acid, the oxygen compound of phenyle. 



C^H^Os, HO = Cj^HgO, HO + 2CO2. 



Hydrated salicylic acid. Hydrated oxide of phenyle. 



Ci4 H, O4, Ad = C,. H, Ad + 2CO3. 



Salicylamide. Phenamide. 



We prepared, therefore, a large quantity of salicylamide, 

 according to the method prescribed by Cahours. The cry- 

 stalline substance, fused at a low heat to expel any adhering 

 water, was introduced into the closed end of a combustion tube, 

 the fore part of which we filled with caustic lime. After 

 heating the lime to incipient redness, the vapour of the sali- 

 cylamide was allowed to permeate it. Some moisture from 

 the lime condensed in the recipient, upon which floated 

 brownish drops of oil ; there was besides given off" a large 

 quantity of ammonia at the same time that a considerable 

 portion of carbon deposited in the tube. 



The distillate, when mixed with an excess of hypochlorite 

 of lime, afforded immediately the blue colour so characteristic 

 of aniline, while a chip of fir-wood moistened with an acid 

 and then immersed in the oil partook of a deep orange-yellow 

 tinge. 



When a portion of the distillate, however, was supersatu- 

 rated with hydrochloric acid, only a minute quantity of the oil 

 dissolved; what remained intact, from its smell and its solu- 

 bility in potash, &c., manifested itself to be hydrate of phe- 

 nyle. The mixture was allowed to percolate a moist filter 

 and the filtrate distilled with hydrate of potash. During this 

 process a fluid trickled from the retort, which gave with hypo- 

 chlorate of lime the evident reaction of aniline. The quantity 

 of the base obtained from this source is, however, extremely 

 small. We have repeated the experiment in many ways, e.g. 



