Destructive Distillation of Animal Substances. 461 



in watei* by means of potash, were dried by the addition of suc- 

 cessive portions of that substance, as long as it continued to be- 

 come moist. The dry oil, which was very dark-coloured, was 

 then introduced into a large retort, furnished v^^ith a thermome- 

 ter and a tubulated receiver kept cold by ice, and connected first 

 with a U-tube immersed in a freezing mixture, and then with a 

 large vessel of water, in order to collect the gaseous bases which 

 began to escape with effervescence almost as soon as heat had 

 been applied. At a temperature under 150° Falir. drops began 

 to condense in the neck of the retort, and the fluid entered into 

 rapid ebullition. At 213"^' the receiver was changed, and the oil 

 distilling above that temperature was collected in receivers, which 

 were changed at every ten degrees. 



The quantity of bases which distilled under 212° was much 

 less than I had anticipated, and proportionably much smaller 

 than that obtained when operating on a much smaller scale 

 before ; and I consequently found myself compelled to proceed 

 very carefully, so as to avoid loss in the purification. By 

 distilling the product which boiled under 212°, I collected 

 fractions nearly equal in bulk at every five degrees, all very 

 similar in their general properties. They w^ere all limpid and 

 colourless fluids, with high refractive power, and pimgent odour, 

 remarkably similar to that of ammonia in the lower fractions. 

 They fumed strongly when a rod moistened with hydrochloric 

 acid was brought near them, and presented all the properties of 

 powerful bases. Exposed in the anhydrous state to a mixture 

 of snow and salt, they remain perfectly fluid, but if a small 

 quantity of water be added, beautiful white crystals of a hydrate 

 are deposited. I attempted, by several successive distillations, 

 to obtain fixed boiling-points ; but the quantity I had to work 

 with was too small for an operation involving so much loss of 

 material, and I therefore converted portions of the fractions 

 which I had reason to suspect corresponded with particular 

 bases into platinum salts. I selected, in the first place, the 

 lowest fraction of all, that, namely, which boiled under 150°. 

 It was dissolved in w^ater, saturated with hydrochloric acid, and 

 evaporated to dryness on the water-bath. The highly crystalline 

 residue obtained was dissolved in water, and mixed with a 

 solution of bichloride of platinum, when a yellow crystalline salt 

 was slowly deposited, which dissolved readily in water even in 

 the cold, and still more abundantly on boiling ; and the solution 

 on cooling deposited fine golden scales, scarcely to be distin- 

 guished in their appearance from those of methylamine or 

 of petinine. These crystals were separated, and as the salt 

 was highly soluble, and much remained in the mother-liquor, a 

 mixture of alcohol and setlier was added, when the fluid rapidly 



Phil Mag. S. 4. Vol. 2. No. 13. Dec. 1851. 2 I 



