174 procep:dings of the American academy. 



C6H2(N02)30CH3NaOCH3 ; 

 C6H2(NOo)30C2HgNaOC2H5 ; 

 C6Ho(NOo)30C3H7NaOC3H, ; 



C6H,(NO,)30C5HuNaOC5Hn ; 

 C6H2(NO,)30CH2CeH5NaOCPl2CeH5. 



To which should be added a substance formed by the action of aqueous 

 baric hydrate on a sohition of triuitranisol in methyl alcohol, probably 



[C6H,(NOo)30CH3]2BaOJl2, 



which was also obtained crystallized with ten molecules of water. All of 

 these substances have vivid red colors, and are decomposed by an acid, 

 or more slowly by water, giving the picric ether. They are remarkably 

 stable for compounds of this class. 



The study of these substances has thrown some light on their consti- 

 tution. The only published theory about bodies of this class is the sug- 

 gestion made by the lamented Victor Meyer in his first paper* on this 

 subject, that they might be formed by the replacement of one of the 

 atoms of hydrogen on the benzol ring by potassium or sodium. Accord- 

 ing to this view our methyl compound would be formulated as follows : 

 C6HNa(NOo)30CH3CH30H ; that is, it would contain a molecule of 

 methyl alcohol of crystallization. Lobry de Bruynf has brought forward 

 an almost, if not absolutely, conclusive argument against this theory in 

 his observation that sojdium does not act on trinitrobenzol, even when in 

 a boiling xylol solution, and therefore that trinitrobenzol cannot con- 

 tain an atom of hydrogen which can be replaced by sodium. Our work 

 described in this paper furnishes two arguments which confirm that of 

 Lobry de Bruyn. First, it has shown that all of the substances analyzed 

 so far contain according to this theory one molecule of alcohol of crystalli- 

 zation, while the salt without alcohol of crystallization predicted by it 

 (CgHNa(N02)30CH3, for instance) has never been obtained. Second, we 

 have found that the methyl compound C6H2(NOo)gOCH3NaOCH3 can be 

 heated to 130° without loss of weight, which could not have been the 

 case had it contained methyl alcohol of crystallization, as is required 

 by this theory. While neither of these arguments is so convincing as that 

 derived by Lobry de Bruyn from the action of metallic sodium, they give 

 it a strong confirmation, $ and we are satisfied therefore that Victor Mey- 



* Ber. d. chem. Ges., XXVII. 3153. 

 t Rec. Trav. Ciiiin. Pays Bas, XIV. 89. 



t Ittnerand one of us (Am. Cheni. Jonrn., XIX. 212) observed that the compound 

 CoH.^INOolaOCHgCOONaNaOaHs gave off alcohol when heated, but this obser- 



