178 Dr. T. Anderson on the Products of the 



Both the more and the less volatile oils contain a variety of 

 bases, and were separately treated for their extraction. In 

 neither, however, is the quantity large. I obtained from the 

 more volatile portion of three hundred pounds of bone-oil less 

 than two pounds of the mixed bases; but as in the course of 

 the various processes to which it was submitted, some small 

 portions were lost, the whole may perhaps amount to about 

 three-fourths per cent, of the total quantity of oil. The less 

 volatile portion yields a larger quantity, which may be esti- 

 mated at two or three per cent, of the crude oil. These, of 

 course, are only rough estimates, but they may serve to give 

 an idea of the quantity of the products. 



Preparation of the Bases. 



For the preparation of the bases precisely the same pro- 

 cesses were followed throughout for both portions into which 

 the oil was separated by distillation ; and as the bases to be 

 described in the present paper were contained in the more 

 volatile portion, I shall detail the steps followed in reference 

 to that quantity only. The oil was mixed in a cask with sul- 

 phuric acid diluted with about ten times its weight of water, 

 and the fluids left in contact for a week or two, during which 

 time they were frequently agitated. More water was then 

 added, and the whole drawn off, and the process repeated with 

 fresh quantities of sulphuric acid as long as any bases were 

 extracted. The solution, which had a reddish and sometimes 

 very dark brown colour, contained the bases, along with a 

 quantity of non-basic oil and of pyrrol. It was mixed with 

 an additional quantity of sulphuric acid, introduced into a 

 glass distilling apparatus, and heat applied. As the fluid 

 approached the boiling-point, a quantity of the red resinous 

 matter before alluded to began to separate, and occasioned 

 succussions of so violent a character as to endanger the 

 safety of the vessel, and render it necessary to interrupt 

 the process for the purpose of filtering it off, after which the 

 distillation proceeded without difficulty. A small quantity of 

 oil distilled over, and the water which accompanied it had 

 exactly the smell of the water in a gas-meter, and contained 

 pyrrol*, which continued to pass over for a long time, during 

 the whole of which the distillation was continued. This di- 

 stillation I had recourse to at first, from a suspicion that some 

 of the bases were separated from the acid, and volatilized 



* These odours were so exactly alike, that I was induced to seek for 

 pyrrol in the water of gas-meters ; and I found that when mixed with sul- 

 phuric acid and distilled, the product gave the characteristic reaction of 

 pyrrol with fir-wood. Ammonia remained in combination with the sulphuric 

 acid. 



