OP ARTS AND SCIENCES. 227 



Properties. It forms a white amorphous mass which melts at 87° ; 

 all our attempts to obtain it in crystals have been unsuccessful; it is 

 freely soluble in cold alcohol and in ether, insoluble in cold water, 

 but melts under boiling water, and perhajjs dissolves to a very slight 

 extent. It is a perfectly neutral body, neither acids nor alkalies 

 affecting it in the cold ; even alcoholic sodic hydrate or sodic ethylate 

 acts on it with ditliculty ; on the other hand, fuming hydrochloric 

 acid, when boiled with it for twelve hours, decomposes it completely 

 into aniline chloride, phosphoric acid, and a small quantity of carbo- 

 naceous substance. The formation of the aniline chloride was proved 

 by an analysis of the sublimate, 0.2776 gr. giving 0.3114 gr. of 

 argentic chloride, 



Calculated for CuHsNHsCI. Founa. 



Chlorine 27.41 27.74 



the formation of phosphoric acid by qualitative tests with argentic 

 nitrate and ammonic molybdate. 



Action of Nitric Acid. When the substance is gently heated 

 with fuming nitric acid it forms a red solution, from which water 

 precipitates a red resinous body which contains phosphorus, but was 

 not studied further, as the quantity was not large, and its properties 

 were uninviting. By far the principal products of the reaction were 

 contained in the aqueous solution, which left on evaporation yellow 

 crystals having acid properties, and easily characterized by their 

 appearance and melting-point, 120°, as picric acid. Another prepara- 

 tion yielded instead of picric acid the unsymmetrical metadinitro- 

 phenol, melting at llo°-115°. These results can be explained by 

 supposing that the nitric acid saponifies the anilid, forming aniline 

 nitrate and phosphoric acid, and that the former is afterwards con- 

 verted into the nitrophenols by the combined action of nitrous avid 

 nitric acids'. 



Action of Acetic Anhydride. If phosphorous anilid is heated with 

 acetic anhydride and fused sodic acetate on the water-bath, and the 

 product extracted with ether, a viscous mass is obtained, which grad- 

 ually ber-omes partially converted into crystals free from phosphorus, 

 melting at 112° after recrystallization from water, and therefore 

 acetanilid. 



From all the observations described above it appears that the 

 substance behaves like an anilid of phosphorous acid. 



