168 Dr. T. Anderson on certain Products of Decomposition 



{5*50 J grs. of an oil less volatile than the preceding gave 

 15*762 ... carbonic acid, and 

 6*292 ... water. 



r 4*191 grains of another portion of oil gave 

 III. < 12*185 ... carbonic acid, and 

 L 4*720 ... water. 



Which correspond to the following results per cent. : — 

 I. II. III. 



Carbon . . 75*03 78*79 79*95 



Hydrogen . 12*20 12*72 12*75 



All these oils, when treated with fuming nitric acid, yielded 

 an abundant precipitate of the sulphate of barytes; but as the 

 results of the combustion were not constant, no quantitative 

 determination was made. 



The action of precipitants however upon this oil afforded 

 a more satisfactory method of obtaining some of its consti- 

 tuents. It gives with corrosive sublimate a bulky white pre- 

 cipitate, and with bichloride of platinum a yellow compound, 

 the characters of which vary slightly, according as it is pre- 

 pared from the more or less volatile portion of the oil. Ni- 

 trate of silver and acetate of lead, mixed with the alcoholic 

 solution of the oil, produce only a slight cloudiness, but on 

 boiling the solutions, the sulphurets of silver and lead are de- 

 posited. 



The Mercuri) Compound, — In order to obtain this substance 

 in the pure state, the oil was dissolved in alcohol, and an 

 alcoholic solution of corrosive sublimate added. The preci- 

 pitate which fell was collected on a filter, and washed with 

 lEther until the oil was thoroughly extracted, for which pur- 

 pose a considerable quantity of aether is required. It is then 

 boiled with a large quantity of alcohol, which dissolves a part 

 of it ; and the solution being filtered hot, allows the compound 

 to deposit, on cooling, in the pure state. It is then in the 

 form of a white crystalline powder, having a very fine pearly 

 lustre, and exhibiting under the microscope crystals of a very 

 peculiar form. They are six-sided tables, two opposite angles 

 of which are rounded off, so as to give them a very close re- 

 semblance to the section of a barrel. It possesses, even after 

 long-continued washing with aether, a peculiar slight sickening 

 smell, which becomes more powerful on heating, and its pow- 

 der irritates the nose. It is insoluble in water, which moistens 

 it with difficulty. It requires several hundred times its weight 

 of boiling alcohol for solution, and is almost entirely deposited, 

 on cooling, in microscopic crystals. In aether it is almost in- 

 soluble. When heated, it is decomposed with the evolution 



