126 Dr. A. W. Hofman on the Organic Bases 



brane of the mouth highly inflamed. The blood of the killed 

 animal presented nothing remarkable. These effects are, 

 perhaps, to be attributed rather to the caustic nature of the 

 oil than to any particular action upon the organization, such 

 as that produced by nicotine and coniine. The above-men- 

 tioned dilatation of the pupil after injection induced me to rub 

 the eye of a healthy animal with a few drops of the oil ; no 

 dilatation took place, as is the case with daturine and hyo- 

 scyamine, but on the contrary, a surprising contraction re- 

 sulted, in consequence of irritation. 



I have already adverted to the reactions produced by cyanol 

 when in contact with other bodies, as for example the colori- 

 zation with hypochlorite of lime, and in general with the hy- 

 pochlorites of the alkalies. The smallest drop spreads in violet 

 clouds through the whole liquid. This colour is very ephe- 

 meral, for after some minutes the solution becomes coated with 

 an iridescent film, and the blue appearance changes to a dirty 

 red. The salts of this base are also transiently coloured blue. 

 Acids change the blue colour immediately to a red. An al- 

 coholic solution of cyanol when treated with a hypochlorite 

 assumes a less intense colour ; a solution in aether, on the 

 other hand, is not affected. If the cyanol contains leucol, it 

 will be easily recognized by brownish oil-globules floating upon 

 the surface of the homogeneous blue liquid. It is evident that 

 the presence of much ammonia will prevent this blue reaction. 



I was desirous of ascertaining whether crystalline, aniline 

 and benzidam would exhibit the same characteristic reaction. 

 For this purpose I subjected indigo-blue to dry distillation in 

 order to obtain crystalline. , During the process there passed 

 over with sublimed indigo and carbonate of ammonia a black 

 empyreumatic oil possessing an insufferable smell, which only 

 partially dissolved in hydrochloric acid. The filtered solu- 

 tion, distilled with caustic potash, afforded at the commence- 

 ment ammonia, and towards the end an oil mixed with water, 

 which immediately communicated the violet colour to a solu- 

 tion of chloride of lime ; yet in this experiment the proportion 

 of crystalline obtained was exceedingly small. 



Through the kindness of Mr. William Sullivan I obtained 

 a quantity of pure anthranilic acid, the aniline prepared from 

 which gave the same reaction as cyanol, with chloride of lime. 



Lastly, I prepared Zinin's benzidam. A solution of nitro- 

 benzide in spirit of wine was treated with ammonia and then 

 with hydrosulphuric acid until sulphur no longer crystallized 

 from the liquid. The filtered solution was submitted to di- 

 stillation, towards the end of which benzidam flowed over in 

 considerable quantities, which produced the above-mentioned 



