Eobertson. — New Compounds similar to Antifebrine. 45 



encloses un burned carbon, and thus further combustion is 

 stopped. 



An item wbich does not enter into serious consideration as 

 far as the more commonly used New Zealand coals are con- 

 cerned is the question of moisture ; this is objectionable, both 

 because of reducing the fuel-value per ton and on account 

 of the heat consumed in evaporating it. A certain amount of 

 the heat produced by fuel is necessary to raise its tempera- 

 ture to that of the grate, as well as for evaporating the mois- 

 ture contained in it. A fuel very low in heating-value may 

 often use up heat in burning, and thus prove a constant 

 source of loss in heat-energy. 



For permission to submit this paper I have to express my 

 thanks to Mr. Gilbert Anderson, managing director of the 

 Christchurch Meat Company, in whose laboratory all the ex- 

 perimental work has been done. 



Art. IX. — Some Neiv Compounds of a Similar Nature to 



Antifebrine. 



By P. W. Eobertson. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 5th July, 1905.] 



Antifebrine, acetanilide, C 6 H 5 -NHCO-CH 3 , is prepared by 

 heating together acetic acid and aniline. The acetic acid may 

 be replaced by any fatty acid, and the resulting compound is 

 known as the anilide of the corresponding acid. Many of 

 these compounds have already been obtained, but the melting- 

 points of the known members of the series show such little 

 regularity that it was determined to prepare the missing 

 members in order to investigate the nature of the irregularities. 

 Again, by treating the derivatives of aniline, such as toluidine, 

 naphthylamine, &c, with the fatty acids, new series of com- 

 pounds can be obtained, and these have hitherto been investi- 

 gated only to a slight extent. No less than thirty-five new 

 compounds of this nature have been prepared in a pure con- 

 dition. Their medicinal properties have not been investigated, 

 but it is quite possible that some of them might prove to be 

 antipyretics as valuable as, if not more valuable than, anti- 

 febrine itself. 



