OF ART&i AND SCIENCES. 157 



der Geruch des Kreosots wahrgenommen. Aus diesen Reactionea 

 ergiebt sich dass das Oel . . . ein sehr gemengtes . . . ist. Ei 

 entlialt eia eigenthiimliches Oel (Pyroxanthogen), das durch die Ein- 

 wirkung von Alkalien in Pyroxanthin ubergeht ; Kreosot ; fernei 

 mehrere fliichtige Oele, die durch Alkalien in braune Korper umge- 

 andert werden die in Kali theils loslich theils unloslich sind. Diese 

 letzteren Oele sind unstreitig identisch mit den fluchtigeren Oelen die 

 bei der Destination des Zuckers erhalten werden, Furfurol, u. s. w." 

 I have quoted the passage with but little abbreviation, that the char- 

 acter of the qualitative tests upon which Volkel based his conclusion 

 may be aj^preciated. 



Quite recently since the publication of a preliminary note by me 

 upon this subject, V. Meyer * has found in the commercial glacial 

 acetic acid of the continent, a small quantity of furfurol which mani- 

 fested itself by the intense red color developed when the acid was 

 mixed with aniline. 



Although these two observations are all I can find recorded of the 

 presence of furfurol among the products of the dry distillation of wood, 

 its formation from wood by other means has been more frequently 

 noticed. Although Doberciner t could obtain no furfurol from sawdust 

 by distillation with sulphuric acid, Fownes t none from linen, and 

 Cahours § and Gudkow IT were equally unsuccessful with pure cellu- 

 lose, Emmet ** obtained it by the same method from woody fibre, 

 Stenhouse tt ^oni sawdust, afterward from mahogany M and madder.§§ 

 Gr. Williams Hlf also found that it was formed when wood was heated 

 under pressure with water, although none could be obtained at ordi- 

 nary pressures. Similar results were obtained by H. Miiller.*** 



A brief description of the method of distillation which has furnished 

 the material for this investigation may prove of interest: since the 

 product obtained in this way contains considerable quantities of fur- 

 furol, while the percentage formed by the ordinary methods must be 



* Berichte der deutsch. chem. Gesellsch., xi. 1870. 



t Journ. pract. Chem., xlvi, 168. 



J Pharmaceutical Journal and Transactions, viii. 113. 



§ Ann. Chim. Phys., [3] xxiv. 277. 



1 Zeitschr. fiir Chem., 1870, 360. 

 ** Amn. Jour., xxxii. 140. 

 tt Ann. Chem. u. Pharm., xxxv. 301. 

 tt Ibid., Ixxiv. 278. 

 §§ Ibid., Ixxx. 325. 

 Tl Chem. News, xxvi. 231 and 293. 

 *** Ibid., xxvi. 247. 



